Stop Location Tagging

I agree. On our American Adventurist social media I’ve already started tagging photos with tongue in cheek locations.

Unless it’s a public event, or visually obvious where you are (at which point the tag becomes irrelevant) there’s no point in sending 1000 random people to your favorite spot with a geo tag.
 
I don't even know where I am half the time anymore, why would I want to send people there?:confused::rolleyes:.

I agree with the principle of the idea though.
 
The Leave No Trace people want us to stop tagging our photographs with location data:

https://fstoppers.com/originals/please-stop-tagging-locations-your-outdoor-photographs-291790

The catch 22 of this hobby. You want to share knowing that there are good folks that may be inspired, but you can also attract crowds with less pure intentions.

I agree. On our American Adventurist social media I’ve already started tagging photos with tongue in cheek locations.

Unless it’s a public event, or visually obvious where you are (at which point the tag becomes irrelevant) there’s no point in sending 1000 random people to your favorite spot with a geo tag.

You mean that wasn't Cape Canaveral???
 
Same here. Was having a discussion on this recently. If it’s a well known spot, it’s kinda hard to keep the anonymity of the area, but on the lesser traveled spots, I’ll keep it to a minimum on who I’ll share.
 
As the Eagles sang: "Call someplace paradise, Kiss it goodbye". I have spent most of my life exploring the far outback of the American Southwest. If there is a dirt track turning off a main trail I take it, not knowing where it goes. Along the way, I have stumbled upon/discovered a large number of of exquisitely beautiful places with awesome campsites. Places no one or very few people know about. I give each of these places a name (one of them even has the name: "The Valley Where Nobody Goes"!) These places are very precious to me. I post pictures and videos of these places but I never provide the location because I know that they will be overrun and that the next time I go there, someone else will be occupying "my" spot. Yes, my motivations have been selfish but at least now, Leave No Trace has vindicated me!

Many people have contacted me and begged me for the location of one of my posts. If I don't know you well, the answer is definitely no. For those that I do know well, they will have to submit to an interview process in which I set down conditions that must be agreed to for the location information.

Finding these very special places takes a huge investment of time, money and risk. I don't take it lightly.

Cam
 
Just leave the thing blank, a location isn't required, and does nothing to promote the relevance or significance, so a blank location isn't hurting a post.

If I see a post on instagram with a location tag that is irrelevant, I pass it by; no like, no comment, regardless of how the image strikes me.
 
Just leave the thing blank, a location isn't required, and does nothing to promote the relevance or significance, so a blank location isn't hurting a post.

If I see a post on instagram with a location tag that is irrelevant, I pass it by; no like, no comment, regardless of how the image strikes me.

But that means I can’t have fun putting a total BS location on a photo... go ahead and ignore our posts then, because I will continue my subliminal messages...

;)
 
The Leave No Trace people want us to stop tagging our photographs with location data:

https://fstoppers.com/originals/please-stop-tagging-locations-your-outdoor-photographs-291790

LNT is not the only org lately to promote not tagging specific locations, and I'm really glad it's happening, and really pleased to see American Adventurist adopting it, as well.

There have been numerous articles discussing the large increase in visitors to most outdoor places, and at least one study to show that visitors to well-tagged locations in the PNW has increased at a rate seven times faster than the population. Here's that article, from May of this year in the Seattle Times.

Here's another one, written three years ago, from Washington Trails Association.

I can no longer abide sites, and people, who promote that the increase to far-flung locations is due to population increase alone. That's a sloughing off of responsibility and is taking the easy way out; a shrug of the shoulders as if to say "Oh well, it is what it is. Here are the cool spots!"

WE, current visitors and content creators and writers and photographers, are responsible for the increase as much as anything else and social media makes spreading the word and name of locations that much more ubiquitous.

I've been tagging images with generic locations, not specific. When folks ask, whether online or in-person, I tell them a general area. If they inquire further, I suggest that finding their own favorite spots instead of being hand-fed locations, will result in the location and their experience, both in getting there and being there, becoming much more meaningful and memorable.

Really gets under my skin when someone responds to a post and asks "coordinates?" without even so much as a hello, who they are, what their experience is, or any sort of introduction. Even if they explain it all, I'm going to reply as I wrote above. They will learn more, and appreciate the experience and location more, when finding things on their own.

I always have. Hell, that's half the excitement of being out there, for me, is the making my way back in somewhere and the discovery of it all.
 
I can no longer abide sites, and people, who promote that the increase to far-flung locations is due to population increase alone. That's a sloughing off of responsibility and is taking the easy way out; a shrug of the shoulders as if to say "Oh well, it is what it is. Here are the cool spots!"

WE, current visitors and content creators and writers and photographers, are responsible for the increase as much as anything else and social media makes spreading the word and name of locations that much more ubiquitous.

I've been tagging images with generic locations, not specific. When folks ask, whether online or in-person, I tell them a general area. If they inquire further, I suggest that finding their own favorite spots instead of being hand-fed locations, will result in the location and their experience, both in getting there and being there, becoming much more meaningful and memorable.

Really gets under my skin when someone responds to a post and asks "coordinates?" without even so much as a hello, who they are, what their experience is, or any sort of introduction. Even if they explain it all, I'm going to reply as I wrote above. They will learn more, and appreciate the experience and location more, when finding things on their own.

I always have. Hell, that's half the excitement of being out there, for me, is the making my way back in somewhere and the discovery of it all.

Agreed, and GREAT post!
 
Agreed, and GREAT post!

Thank you, Dave.

I feel strongly about the Tread Lightly and Leave No Trace principles. Along with that is a growing concern among most of us that locations are being much more heavily used and, unfortunately, abused.

It behooves us all, especially as folks who get out and adventure more than most, to act more responsibly and to promote what I call "low-impact land use and responsible recreation." Not my phrase entirely, but sure puts into words what we should all be doing on a regular basis.

Lead by example. The more people do it, the more it will be seen as the right thing to do.
 
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