by Alicia MacLeay
December can feel like the busiest time of year, and that includes a lot happening here at Trailspace from your user reviews and forum posts to work behind the scenes.
Here's a roundup from the past month of Trailspace developments, updates, and new features.
More Sharp Stuff
Estwing, Gransfors Bruks, Sven, and Wetterlings. Agricultural pests, Nordic superheroes, or outdoor brands? The last.
You can now review and compare prices on these and other specialty axe and saw brands. We've expanded the Knives and Tools gear category to include not only Knives and Multi-Tools, but also Axes and Hatchets, Camp Saws, and Camp Shovels and Trowels.
Know another axe, knife, or outdoor brand we should add to our directory of outdoor gear brands? Tell us about it below or in a review.
Flagging
See a spam post? Members can now flag forum posts and reviews that need moderator attention. Flagging gives the community an easy way to report violations of the Community Rules and Guidelines, without needing to PM or email a moderator or staff member directly.
To flag something, click the little blue "Flag" link at the bottom of reviews and forum posts. Then select the reason the post needs moderator attention, for example: spam, offensive or abusive content, off-topic, no disclosure, or another reason.
Find the Best Gear and Save Money
Giving the gift of outdoor gear and recreation this Christmas? Trailspace's database of 27,000 independent reviews and thousands of price comparisons can help you cut through the clutter to find the best gear, while saving time and money.
You can browse thousands of outdoor gear, apparel, and footwear in specific categories, from canister stoves to baselayer tops to climbing shoes, sorting by price and ratings. Then read user reviews of the products on your gift list, find the best deals in a product's "Where to Buy" section, and finally, click “Where to Buy” links to buy directly from one of our retail partners.
Buying your gear through Trailspace supports us so we can share the best, independent, real-world outdoor gear reviews and product information for free. We want everyone to have a voice, and to get outside! Plus, with two weeks left till Christmas, many retailers are offering great deals on products and shipping.
Increased Fraud Detection
Trust and credibility are essential to our community and to us. We’ve further improved detection and filtering of spam and fraudulent registration attempts, added checks for mistakenly created duplicate accounts, and clarified the "Use one account only" rule in the Community Rules and Guidelines.
Bugs Zapped
Two pesky bugs have been eradicated: 1) one in the "sort by store" option in products’ "Where To Buy" lists, and 2) a bug where forum links in email notifications would occasionally lead to a "404 Not Found" error page. Gone!
Product Gender and More
We've better identified gender-specific products as such on their product pages. So, if you're checking out a women's daypack or a men's soft shell, you'll see its gender listed up top under the product name.
Additionally, we’ve optimized the newsletter signup process for non-members, decreased the load time of user avatars on profile pages, and improved compatibility with adding a home-screen shortcut on Android devices.
Thanks for all of your contributions to Trailspace and our great outdoor gear community in 2013! Here's hoping your December includes plenty of time to explore outdoors.
