As a new hat holder in Outdoor Gear (that blue one, an Advisor) I just wanted to say that I am very excited about being part of this category and I look forward to working with everyone here.

Anyone else get new hats in Outdoors?

jeff

It's a great category with a great lead. Enjoy. jo

Just added a new TR hat here in Outdoors - so now I have another (unneeded) excuse to get more outdoor gear. I can see my boyfriend rolling his eyes right now - and saying "just what we need, more gear..."

Any other new hats in the category?

Jeff

Congrats on the new one. Hey you never have enough hats. Are you going to the M & G in NYC? jo

Congrats on both of your new hats and a late welcome to the Outdoors category! I should read the boards more...

Mac

It is pretty quiet...

We need to find more outdoor types...

Jeff

Congratulations to any new Outdoor Gear hat holders!

Jeff

Ohh good. Now you can rate my reviews MH. I am a TR in the category. lol.

Congrats on the hats (and I made a rhyme too!)

Patty

Not sure who's gotten the new hats this time around, so congrats to everyone in OG who kept them and who gained them!

Jeff

I'm wondering if the Advisor hats for Outdoors are going to be eliminated, now that Sports & Outdoors are merged. It's not a big deal to me, but I hope no one who really worked hard for one hat or the other gets squeezed out. -Dave

Eps staff is working on fixing this. The hats and leads I guess will be adjusted to fit the new categories that have been created with the site upgrades. Here's Andyman's response to my question about whether or not the "spheres of influence" for hatted members would be expanded...

RE: categories...

Quote: jps246
I'm guessing that the hatted 'spheres of influence' will be expanded/modified to fit the new categories

You got it dead-on exactly right. The display of hats is our most urgent outstanding bug right now.

The whole text of my original questions was this:

RE: categories...
I've got a question about the new categories in general...from what I understand is that in order to merge with the shopping.com info - new categories had to be created. For example most Outdoor Gear items now seem to have become "Sport and Outdoor" topics, not Outdoor Gear topics. Is that a real change with new categories or will everything eventually be merged back down into the existing categories we are used to? If they won't, then I'm guessing that the hatted 'spheres of influence' will be expanded/modified to fit the new categories since at the moment there appears to be no advisors or TRs (or leads) in many of those categories. Just curious - thanks for the earlier clarifications on the categories and search in general.

Andyman and Garrett have been answering questions and offering advice in this thread on the General Epinions Board.

Jeff

Thanks for the info. If nothing else there seems to be a lot more listings in the database. There are 5,500 items under tents! I just hope they show up in searches. My outdoors reviews collect quite a few outside hits. In the meantime I may move some reviews to better positions in drill-down listings (which is something Andy said would be OK to do).

-Dave