Overlanding is: "Vehicle Dependent Travel". Nothing else. We will not further define "overlanding".

[bgenlvtex]

Overland Bound, founding principles, item number one.

Pretty straight forward, and clearly of good intent. For the record I don't think "Overlanding" CAN be defined beyond that.

Now here we are today. the hobby having enjoyed exponential growth over the last few years, this forum being arguably the preeminent "overlanding" forum on the web has enjoyed the same exponential growth.

With that growth has come many ,many questions beginning with "Do I need........xxxxxxxx.........", and in most cases the OP will provide little or no context to go with that question. At that point, a critical error has been made, a question has been directed that simply can not be answered, unless the specific question is "Do I need a vehicle?" and I have never seen that question asked. Always the questions are gear specific.

Using as an example, the recent thread titled "Do I need an electric winch" (or some such similar), the OP asks what is seemingly a valid question, does so reasonably, and ostensibly seeking a reasonable answer. Fair enough, now go back and read the first item in the OB founding principles, because the ONLY possible answer when the question is devoid of context is "No". Overlanding can be sleeping in your Prius in the Kroger parking lot, riding the Dalton highway on a motorcycle, or the McKenzie trail in a full on built Jeep and every answer to the OP question, other than "No" will reflect the respondents own personal views and experiences as the term "overland" applies to him or her.

I think it is incumbent on the board members, moderators and staff of this site, when they see a question like that, to first direct the poster to those founding principles, and encourage them to bring context to the table, to avoid the predictable arguments that will inevitably arise as people rabidly defend their opinion.

I am as guilty as the next of defending my opinion, and mincing words is not a familiar trait to me. I get it, I'll do better, I'm just asking the rest of you to do something similar.

 

[Boostpowered]

I'm tired of hearing or reading the word overland, overlanding etc.
I'm going back to calling it an expedition vehicle. I'm not as camping centric as everyone else and we actually go on expeditions when we go out, I'm not looking for an awesome campsite though I usually find them, we go out first and foremost to use our 4x4 and have fun but the destinations I pick are usually for lost treasures, gold, silver, diamonds , ghost towns, aircraft wreckage, and sometimes to look for a missing person.

I have to many other hobbies and interests to identify as a overlander and make that my whole lifes mission.

It takes every ounce of me to hold back on the (what should i) questions. Its like some have never heard of Google or some other search engine.

So much crap is being sold as overland or with overland in the name now its ridiculous

 

[Boostpowered]

Heck its bad enough I removed these off my truck.

 

[Lil Bear]

Some of the questions are seemingly crazy or ridiculous...to some! But if you can't come here and ask these questions then what's the point of a community of folks that's supposed to be found on the principles of helping, niceness, informative...etc? Sure there is Google but really?? You google anything "overlanding" and I'm willing to bet that a good 90% of the time this forum is going to come up in the search results. To be honest I see a lot of folks within the adventure community that look down at others and seem to think they have a higher position in life simply because they have spent more money then "driver A" over here, or went to one or more of the "cool" spots people want to see. It's quite sad to see people act like that. People ask for advice and get chastised for it. When I got into this hobby I hoped it would be like hiking and backpacking. The people I have met on the trail while hiking have always been the nicest and coolest people! I can't say that about this hobby.

 

[Boostpowered]

Some of the questions are seemingly crazy or ridiculous...to some! But if you can't come here and ask these questions then what's the point of a community of folks that's supposed to be found on the principles of helping, niceness, informative...etc? Sure there is Google but really?? You google anything "overlanding" and I'm willing to bet that a good 90% of the time this forum is going to come up in the search results. To be honest I see a lot of folks within the adventure community that look down at others and seem to think they have a higher position in life simply because they have spent more money then "driver A" over here, or went to one or more of the "cool" spots people want to see. It's quite sad to see people act like that. People ask for advice and get chastised for it. When I got into this hobby I hoped it would be like hiking and backpacking. The people I have met on the trail while hiking have always been the nicest and coolest people! I can't say that about this hobby.

Really you don't see the problem with someone just randomly asking (what shocks should I get?) Without any context to what they drive it is stupid to even answer them.
How about the person that asks what size tires they should get without knowing what they have then you ask them and they are like oh I don't have my rig yet. Its not our fault if someone don't want to take the time to learn something for themselves.

Talking about being inclusive, how about the registry posts like ( Landover) or (subaru) etc registry. First off why do you feel like you need that and second that just further separates you from everyone else. To start a special group inside of a supposedly inclusive group is elitist and really just sad.

Maybe you ought to search through the forums and see just how dumb the questions get.
Maybe we're getting mean cuz we're tired of helping people who won't help themselves. Its 2021 and you know you can just ask Alexa or whatever service you have. If you want vehicle specific information this ain't the forum for you either unless you directly address or ask someone with the same exact vehicle a question. You'd be better off asking these things on a forum specific to your vehicle.

Want info on tire specs call the tire mfg like the rest of us. We didn't become good at offroading by flooding a forum with questions
Do you need bigger tires, lift, winch, tent, whatever, the answer should be go out and find out because I can't tell you what you will need where you are driving whatever it is you have. Only way to know is to do it yourself and find out.

 

[bgenlvtex]

Some of the questions are seemingly crazy or ridiculous...to some! But if you can't come here and ask these questions then what's the point of a community of folks that's supposed to be found on the principles of helping, niceness, informative...etc? Sure there is Google but really?? You google anything "overlanding" and I'm willing to bet that a good 90% of the time this forum is going to come up in the search results. To be honest I see a lot of folks within the adventure community that look down at others and seem to think they have a higher position in life simply because they have spent more money then "driver A" over here, or went to one or more of the "cool" spots people want to see. It's quite sad to see people act like that. People ask for advice and get chastised for it. When I got into this hobby I hoped it would be like hiking and backpacking. The people I have met on the trail while hiking have always been the nicest and coolest people! I can't say that about this hobby.

I'm certainly not saying that people should not ask questions.
I AM saying that context should be provided, and answers should be consistent with context.

Lacking context, if any answer is correct, nobody will ever know it.

 

[Boostpowered]

I'm not sure how if you have a 50k rig you can act like your the same as a 20k or less rig. Same with experience vs none.
We will talk about electric winches and the little guys claim a hi lift is where its at for winching.
If your inexperienced don't argue with someone who has experience that there is one huge problem I see on nearly every single post.

Same thing with posts about lift vs stock or bigger tires vs stock or a/t vs m/t tires. Easy to figure out who really goes off-road and who sticks to highways

Let's say your in the NFL would you feel right playing NFL ball with a junior varsity high-school team?

 

[Correus]

I think all of you have spoken words of wisdom so far.

I'm tired of the whole 'overlanding' thing as well - it's way over used. In reality, what the vast majority of the people on here do is nothing more than glorified camping on steroids! Some fall more inline with glamping even. I personally know 2 guys who have 'overlanding' setups that coast more than my house(!!!) , and you know what - the longest they tend to go out 'overlanding' is an extended holiday weekend.

This whole thing is becoming more and more just one big advertisement site for name brands and boutique gear.

So many have a holier-than-thou attitude that if you don't own 'this multi hundred dollar cooler', or a hoity toity camp chair, or this specific winch, or this specific RTT (or heaven forbid you don't actually own a RTT), or a glorified trailer that costs multi thousands of dollars - well then, YOU are NOT an overlander.

The last two people I met, who I would consider REAL overlanders, were a couple who had just retired. They were traveling from the south (Georgia I think) and heading for Alaska to visit family. They were in a plain ol' 4×4 (not tricked out with every gadget possible) that was pulling a homemade adventure trailer (not tricked out either). The fanciest thing they had was a used RTT mounted to the trailer.

I'm so tired of the snobishness that is taking over.

I think the absolute, most absurd, topic I've seen on here so far is the guy whining about finding inserts for his camper cabinets so his wine glasses didn't rattle (or some such). Seriously?!?! The rig he was driving was pushing $200k!!!

Sheesh... talk about 1st world problems.

I think what annoys me the most, and it's hard to explain, are those who get on here and spell out exactly what they own in such a way that it comes off as "look at me, look at me - see what I can afford (more than likely went into major debt for)".

Yet out of all of that, there are still many on the list who are not this way. I really enjoy the threads dealing with surplus military type gear, or the ones on how to repurpose something. Most of all, I like the DIY threads.

 

[bgenlvtex]

Hmmm, this thread isn't going exactly as I had hoped, but maybe we can get some of this out of the way and move on.

 

[grubworm]

Let's say your in the NFL would you feel right playing NFL ball with a junior varsity high-school team?

...the Saints would...
(they might even win)

 

[Boostpowered]

Hmmm, this thread isn't going exactly as I had hoped, but maybe we can get some of this out of the way and move on.

If you expect anything less than a post devolving into something else just go look up my old (what do you do if you run out of tp) post.

 

[bgenlvtex]

I think all of you have spoken words of wisdom so far.

I'm tired of the whole 'overlanding' thing as well - it's way over used. In reality, what the vast majority of the people on here do is nothing more than glorified camping on steroids! Some fall more inline with glamping even. I personally know 2 guys who have 'overlanding' setups that coast more than my house(!!!) , and you know what - the longest they tend to go out 'overlanding' is an extended holiday weekend.

This whole thing is becoming more and more just one big advertisement site for name brands and boutique gear.

So many have a holier-than-thou attitude that if you don't own 'this multi hundred dollar cooler', or a hoity toity camp chair, or this specific winch, or this specific RTT (or heaven forbid you don't actually own a RTT), or a glorified trailer that costs multi thousands of dollars - well then, YOU are NOT an overlander.

The last two people I met, who I would consider REAL overlanders, were a couple who had just retired. They were traveling from the south (Georgia I think) and heading for Alaska to visit family. They were in a plain ol' 4×4 (not tricked out with every gadget possible) that was pulling a homemade adventure trailer (not tricked out either). The fanciest thing they had was a used RTT mounted to the trailer.

I'm so tired of the snobishness that is taking over.

I think the absolute, most absurd, topic I've seen on here so far is the guy whining about finding inserts for his camper cabinets so his wine glasses didn't rattle (or some such). Seriously?!?! The rig he was driving was pushing $200k!!!

Sheesh... talk about 1st world problems.

I think what annoys me the most, and it's hard to explain, are those who get on here and spell out exactly what they own in such a way that it comes off as "look at me, look at me - see what I can afford (more than likely went into major debt for)".

Yet out of all of that, there are still many on the list who are not this way. I really enjoy the threads dealing with surplus military type gear, or the ones on how to repurpose something. Most of all, I like the DIY threads.

Show and tell is part of every hobby group I've ever been exposed to. And in each of them (shooting in particular) there is a contingent that spend oodles of money on equipment but possess none of the skills needed to employ them.

I'm as blue collar as they come, but I had parents who guided me to the launch pad correctly. I've worked all my life, starting when I was 12, saved money when I didn't have any, raised a family on a high school education. As a result, today I can afford some of the nicer stuff and I'm not ashamed of it,quite the opposite.

BUT, there is a difference between having the best you can afford, and being an elitist snob. I don't think anyone here should feel unwelcome or a lesser member because they don't have the latest greatest. If they DO feel that way, (including you) then we have failed as a community.

 

[Louiston]

...

 

[LostWoods]

My bad, I'll keep my rants to myself going forward lol.

 

[LostWoods]

Heck its bad enough I removed these off my truck.

Yeah I've never installed mine and I'm torn about it for reasons I'm not getting in to because I'd rather not have people take what I'm saying the wrong way.

 

[bgenlvtex]

My bad, I'll keep my rants to myself going forward lol.

I think everybody should keep their "rants" to themselves, or at least to a minimum.

If sharing your knowledge and experience is best described as a rant, then maybe just adjust your delivery vehicle a little.

I've already said it,I'm as guilty as anyone and I think much of it is just frustration in legitimately trying to help someone and having to fight someone else to do it.

I have sweated blood to support my children and provide for them in the fashion they deserve, nothing is more frustrating than wwatching them make a mistake I already made and paid the price for. Advice given here is not entirely different than that, if you are a good person you don't want to see anyone make an unnecessary mistake and suffer as a result.

 

[Lanlubber In Remembrance]

...View attachment 186459

Damn, they didn't put butter in my popcorn, ass holes !

 

[Boostpowered]

Yeah I've never installed mine and I'm torn about it for reasons I'm not getting in to because I'd rather not have people take what I'm saying the wrong way.

Pretty sure I can think of a few of those reasons. I think I'd rather a jeep trail rated badge on my gm, prolly get made fun of less.
I replaced my ob badge for a AEV bison emblem its a lot harder to trash AEV.

 

[bgenlvtex]

Damn, they didn't put butter in my popcorn, ass holes !

This post clearly illustrates the importance of proper punctuation.

 

[Correus]

Show and tell is part of every hobby group I've ever been exposed to. And in each of them (shooting in particular) there is a contingent that spend oodles of money on equipment but possess none of the skills needed to employ them.

I'm as blue collar as they come, but I had parents who guided me to the launch pad correctly. I've worked all my life, starting when I was 12, saved money when I didn't have any, raised a family on a high school education. As a result, today I can afford some of the nicer stuff and I'm not ashamed of it,quite the opposite.

BUT, there is a difference between having the best you can afford, and being an elitist snob. I don't think anyone here should feel unwelcome or a lesser member because they don't have the latest greatest. If they DO feel that way, (including you) then we have failed as a community.

Agreed. It's the "elitist snob" aspect that really annoys me, not the show-n-tell aspect. Like I said, it's hard to explain. We all know the type though.

As to owning nice things, nothing wrong with that either - it's when someone lords it over another person. You've seen it, I've seen it, everyone has seen it - those who buy the expensive ??? and come across with an elitist attitude.

Like you, I come from a blue collar background as well. My parents started a trenching/cable laying company when I was younger. By the time I was 12 part of my chores were making sure the trucks and equipment were clean and ready to roll the next day. When I turned 14 I spent my summers literally digging ditches, instead of hanging out at the pool or riding bikes, as well. My parents were all about humility, being thankful and charity, I had no idea my family had "money" until after I graduated high school because of this. As a kid this was driven into me to the extent that if my parents caught me showing off to someone, in regard to something I had, I got into trouble; in one case my parents actually took the item and donated it to charity. If I copped a 'holier-than-thou' attitude with anyone I was disciplined &/or grounded.

That being said... it's just really the elitist attitude that bothers me. And you are correct, every hobby group has this dark side. Unfortunately, in my case, the 'overlanding' groups (like this one and the other one) and some of the Land Rover groups are the worse.