Outdoor Questions - The Empty Game

Outdoor questions are a funny thing.

I was surfing the outdoor blogs the other day, when I came across one sponsored by a major outdoor publication. In the headline the author posed this question: "What Is The Best State To Fly Fish." He then proceeded to build a case for his favorite.

I’m always amused by outdoor questions in such articles, whether they appear in print or on the web. Having been in this business more than three decades I recognize why they are done. And it always bothers me.

Don’t get me wrong. Starting with a question isn’t always bad. It could be a way into a story that’s filled with good content, a tale the author shares from which you take away new knowledge or just find entertaining.

But when questions are phrased in this manner, there’s usually one or two reasons for it. First off, the writer, who’s usually a columnist or has a regular department, is in a slump. The well is dry. Can’t think of a thing to write about. So he or she falls back on a trick of the trade---picking a subject in which nothing really has to be said. You fill up the allotted space, sure. But the story is more air than substance.

A friend of mine once summed up such stories as contributing nothing to the literature of the subject except bulk.

Full disclosure statement: I’ve been guilty of that sort of thing myself, on more than one occasion. It happens to all of us, sooner or later.

The other, more common reason for outdoor questions, is to start a controversy for it’s own sake. Anytime you make a statement based on subjective criteria there are sure to be people who disagree. Strongly. Articles and columns like that are designed for one reason and one reason only: to get an argument raging.

What happens is that people then write letters to the editor, if a magazine, or add to the comments section, if a blog. With the result that the publishers can point to their high level of proactive readership.

This can be a big help selling advertising. But it certainly isn’t meaningful on any other level.

You can almost always tell these designed-for-controversy outdoor questions. For openers, the key phrases will be very baggy (that is, you can put anything you want into them). And the answers will be based on subjective criteria, rather than hard data.

Take the the example that sparked this discussion of outdoor questions. There is no “best” flyfishing state, because the variables are many and diverse. If your criteria is, say, trout fishing in spring creeks, your choice will be far different than that of an angler who’s looking for diverse species. If you’re strictly a big-fish angler, then you’ll choose a different state than the fisherman interested in numbers over size. If you’re a lake fisherman looking for hawg largemouths, your “best” state will be far different from the angler looking for bronzebacks in moving water.

Compare this with a question whose answer is meaningful. If the writer had asked, “which is the best state for trout in spring creeks?” there would have been specific criteria and facts to support his answer. And people who are interested in spring creek fishing would have learned something---where to go, and, perhaps, what to do when they get there.

But, of course, real outdoor questions reduce the response rate . And the “proactive readership” claims would go out the window.