Hi John. I actually wasn't trying for “severe”. My post was a simple observation which, as I tapped it in, was sounding so pompous that I had to ham it up a bit, don't you know, what, what!
It is a serious point though.
But I don't want to be stepping on anybodies toes here.

Sections on a Forum are solely required when the post-threads become too numerous to easily handle. Once sections are introduced there will be questions of how many sections is best, what they should be and how strict/lax the users are expected to be & how draconian the moderator.

So if I was thinking of a long distance expedition say Land's End/John O'Groats, where would I look? Long Distance Paths or Events? Perhaps Long Distance Paths should be “Expeditions & Long Distance Paths”

If I was looking for advice on water bottles or a bag for carrying mint cake (although why anyone would want to carry mint cake – for throwing at angry farmers, perhaps? Oh. A comment in a newspaper about a countryside sign I've not heard before “The farmer allows walkers to cross this field for free. It is the bull that charges!”); for bottles and bags the Gear! section would be a place to look. But what goes in the bottle/bag (nourishment) probably gets relegated to the Bothy. Perhaps Gear! Should be “Gear & Provisions”

The trials & lessons of a local group organising a challenge walk would perhaps go in Local Groups but the usefulness of clipping cards on such events? Bothy again? Spare gear for a local group – Local Groups or Gear? Perhaps the section should be “Local Groups & Local Event Organising”

There will still be discussion of the best boots or walking sticks appearing within an Event thread on say the Dorset Doddle if the rain were to turn the path into a skid-pan (although I'm sure that never happens!). And there will still be people starting threads in confusing places.

To restate the point - in my opinion, the Events section is suffering an inappropriate invasion – but I'm easy about it, honest.

That's a bit severe Al. I take your point that some is hardly a literate feast, but most topics are relevant: clipping is performed only on Events, the free gear offer was available to Groups running Events and you can keep your horrid, unhealthy mint cake! Event reports are often followed by someone trying to inject a touch of humour or naturally shoot off at a tangent into reminiscence. Without some of this stuff, the Forum would have no activity at all, take a look at some of the sub-sections on the Forum.

There seems to be a growing habit of posting idle chitchat on the Events section of this Forum. This is a deplorable situation. Cannot the membership of the LDWA read plain English any more?
The description of what should and should not be in the Events section is quite obvious - "Discussions regarding recent & future events; transport & accommodation tips; lifts etc." What could be plainer? The Events section is for the discussion of proper specific events, like "The Torrid Trudge" or "Whimsical Wander."
Yet at time of my writing this post, half the top of the Events section is posted incorrectly with ridiculous discussions about clipping walk participants, nourishment be damned (for goodness sake, what's wrong with water and mint cake), ad hoc adventures across the length and breadth of the entire country & unbelieveably, free walking paraphernalia.
Perhaps if the 'Events' section were renamed 'Events News' as was sensibly suggested earlier, this tittle-tattle would be posted correctly. Alternatively we could make an example of the miscreants that start a wrongly-positioned post by giving them a good clipping and see how they feel after that.

Ok, ladies. I'll look at both these suggestions. I think "Events" might be better as "Event News"? If I put them together we'll get pre-event comments followed, in the same thread, by event reports, which might work in some cases, in others not.
Garfield

Is there maybe some way of refreshing/regenerating the Groups bit on this forum too? No one's been near it for ages - it's a bit sad-looking.

Could I suggest that the "Events" and "Event Reports" threads are combined? There have been a couple of events I've done where there's been a thread before the event about routes etc and it's nice to hear how it's gone. I don't know where to look or where to post.