Not very original

[Matt]

I actually considered using the NYH template for NYFalls, but found
1. the map to be a bit to dominant over the written content.
2. limiting of one point to represent a gully that could be a mile long and have a dozen falls to be not useful to our visitors
3. Driving directions to the GPS location of the falls, rather than a parking lot, could end up in a lot of confusion.

I think it works great for NYH though (228 markers and counting!)
If i would have known about content management systems back when I started NYFalls, I would have had a nicer working/looking site than this mess of a FrontPage system.

I new design is in the works, though. Fully content-managed and will work beautifully on a phone or ipad.

[hobkyl]

http://bobbieswaterfalls.com/

It's too bad that people who put all this effort into recording all these waterfalls want to do it on their own-and not participate here.

[Kelly]

Hmmmm. I wonder if she conveniently left a resource off of her list......

http://bobbieswaterfalls.com/resources/

[hobkyl]

I'm not sure if she did or not. She also is a part of NNYWaterfalls.com which has been around for some time. They seem to just have the goal of logging the various falls around the state without any additional desire or effort put into showcasing them. Seems pointless to me, but to each their own I guess.

From NNYWaterfalls...

Bobbie Yager Sweeting is an avid hiker who loves to visit waterfall locations. From Camden, New York, she has contributed pictures and information on many waterfalls. Bobbie demonstrates something I have been saying for some time. No one knows the area like the locals! Not only has she contributed a large quantity of pictures and information on falls we knew of, she has also made us aware of a number of lesser known falls in her area that we didn't know about.

[Matt]

I think Bobbie has contacted me in the past to show off her photos. She definitely gets out to a lot and has a lot of photos on her photo account. Although I don't want to assume, NYFalls.com is hard to ignore as a reference. When you google a place, we usually com up in the top 3.

[hobkyl]

This is true, but in her "defense" she does have a good number of waterfalls that we don't...yet. The funny thing of it is, is there are several comments on her various pages of falls from people saying thank you and how they had been looking for a waterfall directory website. Um, hello? I just didn't like the site layout. Her site came up when searching Fall Creek Gorge.

[Matt]

definitely not slamming her. She has a nice collection.
Definitely enough room for competition in this arena.

Can't beat the NYFalls board though.

I see DigTheFalls has slowed down.

[digthefalls]

Good Afternoon everyone! Hope all are doing well!

I wanted to follow up on this great thread as it brought up some very good points that we have been working on for some years now.
The templating situation has since been resolved (I had customized the template enough that I was unable to continue upgrading it and eventually gave up on the platform), but prior to choosing the template that was called into question at the beginning of this thread (which is for sale to the public, still), I had been in search of something similar for a couple of years. I had written many developers and happened across Matt's NYH page. I instantly knew that was the template I had been searching for. I apologize if it felt ingenuous, but I did search for similar templates only to find one other that offered similar mapping options, but did not have the functionality I wanted. (One can easily find out what template and exactly which plugins you are using for almost any site on the web...).

Working on my own collecting all the waterfall data, up until this last year, I found it very difficult to gather good information. I had networked with MANY in the waterfall community and gathered some really great information. NYFalls was the easiest to find on a Google search, but was never a primary or secondary source of waterfall information for Dig The Falls. (Bobbie Yager, Scott Ensminger, Russell Dunn, David Schryver and many others helped me along the way and I have grown very fond with working with them from time to time). This was always a personal project of mine and I had never been in competition with any other sites, so I do apologize if this was ever the impression anyone got.

I did enjoy my time working on Waterfalls of New York State with David and Scott! It got me out to a lot of other waterfalls I never would have dreamed of visiting. You may have heard of the book?

Matt - You may not remember, but you and I had gone back and forth by email long ago. I had asked your thoughts on the waterfalls subject and we had a good conversation. Thank you for that!

I did not want to go into too much detail of our intentions, since it seems as if people may already have the wrong impression... NYFalls has etched out a really great spot in the waterfall industry and it has been well deserved! To date Dig The Falls has recorded well over 2,000 waterfalls inside the state lines. It's a number that will continue to grow, even if we are not able to publish as much information for each location as NYFalls has been able to publish. We will also cull any private locations, due to land owner concerns... Some who have cited NYFalls as the reason for posting their properties...

I hope you all stay well and happy waterfalling!!
Edward Smathers