The Old Ruminator
Well-known member
Note the question mark so its not a critiscism. I have been reading caving literature fo 60 years and in that time there has been a definite shift to include more foreign trip reports. I noted the same with diving mags to such an extent that I no longer bought them . The end for me came when I had a well researched item on HMS Formidable refused. Not as pretty as Belize I suppose. So for the caving literature I did bit of a tally up. The current issue of Descent has 10 images of UK caves and 18 images of foreign caves. The latter all very pretty and photogenic. Those supported by 16 pages of text out of a total of 38. At random I looked at a Descent from 1991. 15 images of UK caves and 2 of foreign caves. I next looked at a recent club journal for this year. 13 pages of text for foreign trips out of a total of 20 pages. Certainly things have changed as foreign travel becomes more affordable for all and ultimately editors can only publish items that they receive. Striking a balance is the hard part hence my question. Sad to say whilst I do appreciate the sparkling foreign photos I dont plough my way though the text. Maybe I am at odds with everyone else. Basically I dont give a toss how somebody got to Patagonia or wherever nor what they did when they got there.
Now if you look at this forum the balance swings the other way. In the first 50 new topics today only one relates to foreign caves. Clearly there is a divide between posts here and items published in print. ( OK I may be one or two out as I am only going by topic heading ). Interesting though I would say and not so easy to explain. Clearly a heck a lot more folk contribute to the forum than those writing for the printed media. I do know that club journal editors are struggling for material and may well welcome a treatise on Patagonia just to fill up the space. Some clubs used to do occasional publications for such material but more and more it gets fed into the club journal itself now. Like I said not a criticism merely a reflection on how things are now. I would much rather read about ten metres of new cave on Mendip than 1,000 metres in some far off jungle. Maybe I am in a minority after all so lets have some comments please.
Now if you look at this forum the balance swings the other way. In the first 50 new topics today only one relates to foreign caves. Clearly there is a divide between posts here and items published in print. ( OK I may be one or two out as I am only going by topic heading ). Interesting though I would say and not so easy to explain. Clearly a heck a lot more folk contribute to the forum than those writing for the printed media. I do know that club journal editors are struggling for material and may well welcome a treatise on Patagonia just to fill up the space. Some clubs used to do occasional publications for such material but more and more it gets fed into the club journal itself now. Like I said not a criticism merely a reflection on how things are now. I would much rather read about ten metres of new cave on Mendip than 1,000 metres in some far off jungle. Maybe I am in a minority after all so lets have some comments please.