Stuff about me:

1. I live in the Southeast USA and like to backpack in the Appalachian foothills and mountains.

2. My love for the outdoors and backpacking developed from going on stealth backpacking trips with my close friend.

3. I am a hammock guy for the comfort, weight, and ease of use.

4. I do not have hundreds of dollars to spend on my hobby so my gear is mostly budget stuff, DIY, used, or surplus. I practice "no trace" camping and firmly believe everyone else should too.

5. I am terrified of grizzly bears (this is why I stay in the southern Apps rather than venture into the Rockies or go up north).

6. I am /t/keto and do not eat more than 40g of carbs on the trail, I don't eat more than 20g on regular days. I know this freaks a lot of people out but if you do some research, it is actually very safe and I assure you, I am not losing muscle :)

7. I nearly died once while backpacking because I read a product description wrong. I bought a new sleeping bag for a winter trip and made sure to get one rated for 0 degrees as I didn't know how cold it would be at the elevation we were climbing to. Well, ends up the elevation made for a much colder than expected night (-13F) and I quickly found out that my bag was rated for 0 degrees... CELSIUS. I was near hypothermic but luckily my buddy and I had both bought a HUGE package of "Hot Hands" and we were able to stuff all of them into my clothes/bag to keep me warm.

I didn't.

Currently I use Voat.co, Reddit.com, AND Snapzu.com. They each fill a different role for me. You see, I love thoughtful discussion but some times I just want to see what's happening and browse interesting links/videos/pics. Reddit is still pretty good for the latter and eventually Voat will be good enough to replace it, I think.

1. Voat is what I am looking at to eventually replace Reddit as I don't like all the politics and hate going on with Reddit. I mainly use it to keep up with current topics and trends as well as find interesting tidbits of info. It has been better than Reddit for the most part. People are less angry and hateful and the voting system is much better than Reddit. I am really just waiting for their enhancement suite to be officially released so I can hide posts after I have read them. At that point, I will drop Reddit altogether. Voat has more content than Snapzu and the format for the content is easier to consume. I also like that I can tell which links I have seen already, this makes browsing easier than Snapzu.

2. Snapzu is my source for interesting, polite, and thoughtful conversation. I am here because the community here is AMAZING! Snapzu has NOT been a good replacement for Reddit, however, as it doesn't seem to have near as much interesting content and the navigation/use is cumbersome at best. As of now, most non-text posts are reposts from reddit or simply not noteworthy. I think a lot of this has to do with how voting is done but the majority is most likely due to having a smaller community. I generally agree with the philosophy behind the downvote on Snapzu but the drawback is that a lot of crap floats to the top. Also, as much as I love some of the innovative features on Snapzu, the UI is pretty confusing. Furthermore, there are a LOT of features that need to happen before Snapzu could become a viable content aggregator for me. (ability to hide posts after being read, ability to view one's own comment history with visible scores, an enforcement policy for the down vote policy, and the ability to have all links open in a new tab)

3. Reddit is the ex girlfriend who still hasn't completely moved out of my house. I still see her from time to time- I get in about 10 minutes of catching up before a fight breaks out and I leave. Won't be long now.

I am really confused by your post, perhaps you could elaborate a bit? I apologize, I haven't had my afternoon cup of joe yet and I'm starting to drag.

An Atheist doesn't care if a God exists or not, so stating whether or not a God exists or not is irrelevant to an Atheist

It is this sentiment that I am struggling with. I am an Atheist and I WOULD care if a god exists but I don't because I see no indication that he does. Is that the same thing as what you are saying?

Basically, my position is that no one can be certain of something that has no proof and therefore I cannot be certain that there is no god, however the burden of proof rests on the claimant and no one has yet produced proof that a god does exist; therefore I see no need to entertain the notion of a god.

The overwhelming size and complexity of the universe that baffles our little minds often leads us to conclude that something much, much smarter than us made everything. However, that same feeling was present in our ancestors when they saw the sun rise up over the horizon, when they saw it fall at the other side of the sky, when darkness overtook the entire world each night. They couldn't fathom what kind of natural process could possibly coordinate such an amazing feat; a feat that produced such a natural rhythm for life everywhere. Obviously, we learned that these seemingly coordinated, complex, and intelligently motivated things are actually explainable when you have the knowledge and tools to properly observe and analyze them.

We are still that creature that looked up at the sun and called it a god. We look at the cosmos in its complexity and we say "it must be made by a god" simply because it seems so far beyond our understanding that we can't comprehend it existing and working without design. That is flawed logic and we have proven it time and time again. We can't assign a reason to phenomena without first identifying that reason by use of the scientific method. The scientific method is for us to hypothesize, test, and repeat over and over again until we have enough evidence to confidently declare that something is known. At this point, since there is no way for us to test if a god exists, it does us no favors to hypothesize or worse yet, to have "faith" that there is a god.

I say all that to explain my own position, not to belittle yours- but reading back through what I wrote, it sounds a bit preachy. I am truly sorry for that. I did my best to edit it a bit and make it less so but, alas, I am not sure I succeeded. If any offense is taken, I truly apologize- that was not my intent.

Focusing on profits and focusing on the user's experience, in this case, are pretty much the same thing

Plenty of companies like Reddit can do and have done many things that aren't in the best interest of the userbase but make TONS of money. It just depends on how you make the change.

You're leaving out the angle of "spin." Say you have a new idea that would increase revenue for your company but your user base will never go for it. Spin it. Call it something entirely different like "Mod Tools" and conveniently leave out the part where you eventually monetize celebrity accounts with the new "Mod Tools." Let everyone get on board with "Mod Tools," no one will fight "Mod Tools." And then, under the nose of the user base, tell celebrities that they can pay your company for a "Celebrity Account" with necessary "PR Tools" that will allow them to have multiple people use their account (like PR reps), they can ban and hide people in their threads, and censor out inappropriate questions or content that hurts their brand. Now, your user base would never go for this idea if you marketed it as "We are moving forward with a plan that will allow celebrities to censor content on our website for our company's financial gain."

Welcome! Glad to have you in the community!

I too came from Reddit seeking another link aggregator and instead I found a wonderful, warm, welcoming, and conversational community. This place is, IMHO, so much better than Reddit ever was (even before the great Digg migration!). There are some really key differences between Snapzu and Reddit and I found that some of them were less than obvious so here are some things that might help:

1. Ask lots of questions. People here are happy to help, don't be afraid to ask.

2. Read through the FAQ and the Site Rules to get a good feel for how the site operates and what guidelines you should follow.

3. Be active. One GOOD thing we can bring with us from Reddit is our participation and original content. Start messing around with "snaps," and get involved in some of the tribes here, we can really add a lot of content if we all start contributing :)

4. The down vote arrow is super serious here. Only down vote if the content violates the terms of use, is spam, or is not relevant.

Thanks for saying hello!

Well you are certainly heard here! Welcome!

I came from Reddit too and I think you will really like this community, it is warm, welcoming, and very conversational! There are, however, many key differences between this community and Reddit. I had to learn the ropes for a while before I got a handle on things so here are a few things that might help you as well:

1. Snaps are awesome! Snaps are Snapzu's unique way of sharing content. It is equivalent, roughly, to a "post" on reddit but it has much more to it than that. Clicking the "submit" button on the top right will start a snap. Here you can add links, text, video, pictures and more to your snap. You can make a post that has everything in it and then you can share it to multiple relevant tribes at once! Go ahead and mess around with it a bit and get a good feel for it, this community is active and loves original content!

2. The down vote is not used like it is on Reddit. Only downvote a post/comment if the content violates the site's rules, is spam, or is not relevant. This is widely observed here and not ignored like it is on other websites, I am hoping all of us Redditors don't mess this up because it has been key to creating a great community here.

3. Please read the FAQ and the Site Rules as they are unique to Snapzu and necessary for you to orient yourself.

Other than that, welcome to Snapzu! Feel free to ask questions or seek help, everyone is very friendly!

Welcome! I'm glad you made it to this community!

This place is, indeed, very different from Reddit (I came from there too!). I had to learn a few things when I joined so I figured I could give you a heads up on some stuff:

1. The down vote is different than it is on Reddit or other sites. Only down vote if the content is in violation of site rules, spam, or not relevant. Do NOT down vote content to indicate disagreement or dislike.

2. Snaps are a new way to post. Clicking the "Submit" button in the upper right will start the process to create a "snap." Snaps are like posts on Reddit except that you can add multiple types of content to one snap. You can link a video and then add a text module where you could write a review of said video and then you can add a picture relevant to the video and much more! There is even a button to add sources to your snap!

3. The rules and pretty much everything are different from Reddit. Please read through the FAQ and the Site Rules to get oriented.

Enjoy Snapzu, start sharing content, and feel free to ask any questions you might have. The community here is very warm and receptive. Discussions abound and help is plentiful.

I am doing quite well. I am wasting away my work day, checking Snapzu instead of writing out the meeting itinerary that I need to get done.

Honestly though, in the spirit of good conversation, a lot more is going on under the surface:

I have been dealing with the potential that I may be autistic. I dont' want to sound like a crazy self-diagnoser, please hear me out. I am close friends with someone who has aspergers, I have a close relative who is working on becoming an ABA and her son has Aspergers. I am very familiar with the traits associated with various cases of autism and have also taken multiple screening tests. Based on my screening results and the opinions of a few experienced people, I believe I may be a high functioning autistic person. I could get a formal diagnosis but it really doesn't appeal to me because I have lived my whole life up to this point without it and I don't know that I see the benefit of getting it. To be more truthful, basically I am afraid to get the diagnosis.

Looking back at my life and examining my childhood, a lot of previously perplexing things have started to make a lot of sense through the perspective of potentially being autistic. However, I fear how this might change people's perception of me if I were to get formally diagnosed. A couple of my close friends have asked me before if I was autistic but I just chalked it up to my introversion and short attention span, never really giving the idea much thought. I fear that though most would be outwardly understanding and nice about it, many would inwardly view me differently and perhaps even think of me as less intelligent, less compassionate, or less of something.

Also, another thing on my mind is my work. I really hate my job but it pays super well, considering my lack of qualifications. In this job I have had the awesome opportunity to provide our company's services to an LGBT group and my superiors are doing everything in their power to make sure the deal falls through. My company is very conservative and maintains ties with right-wing conservative views, they view any event associated with the LGBT community as bad press. I know what the right thing to do is by my "moral code" but it may mean risking my family's only source of income. Furthermore, I would be unqualified to find another job making equal pay.

All that being said, I truly am doing quite well. I have food, shelter, water, sex, love, and family. I don't fear for my life on a daily basis, I don't have any real problems, mostly just little stuff that starts to chafe away at me over time.

Welcome! I think you'll really enjoy the community here, I know I have. Everyone is warm and receptive, ready to start a conversation. Please drop by and check out the FAQ and the Site Rules to get started.

The rest of the journey is simply learning the UI, understanding the community, and sharing LOTS of content. As others have mentioned, I would be interested in seeing some of your pictures and reading some of your experiences from your tour of the US. I don't do Facebook but please update us here if you ever post something to Snapzu! I am particularly interested in your take on Alaska and what parts you visited. Thanks!