Best free place on web for barbel river reports?

[David L Johnson]

Sorry Mods but I have to mention other websites in this thread.

I'm looking for the best free site for barbel river reports as sadly the, previously excellent, Ribble section on this site is now rarely updated. 15-20 years ago I used to use Barbel Fishing World's river reports section to see how the Great Ouse was fishing. I now fish mainly the Ribble and, on returning to barbel fishing after a break, I tried to log in and found they are now charging £5 to post or even read the BFW site. The reason I was given was by having my card details they'd know my real name and that prevented abusive posters. I don't mind paying a fiver but no way am I giving my bank card details to a site that's wide open to be hacked (not specifically BFW, but all these small hobbyist sites are hackers dreams and I was stung that way in the past when my card details were stolen from a hacked hobby site).

I've just tried the Barbel Society but similarly it's paid members only. Back in the day I think there was some kind of falling out between these two sites but I've no interest in fishing politics.

Is there anywhere free left that has regularly updated barbel river reports?

 

[thecrow]

Since changing to the current system imo BFW has been a much better place to visit, none of (well hardly) the backbiting that used to go on and if any starts now its stamped on pretty smartly. I don't know of anyone who has been hacked through the site.

I know of no other sites other than BFW where up to date information is available unless there is a facebook page specifically for wherever you fish but of course that is not hack proof.

 

[sam vimes]

As far as I'm aware, you don't actually have to pay £5 for BFW (though you can choose to make a charitable donation), nor are the credit card details stored on the forum. You can simply make a purchase from the associated shop. Credit card details would be dealt with by Sage Pay or Paypal. The site never gets your card details but it does get and confirm your name and address. If you have qualms about it, why not talk direct to the owner of BFW/the shop. I'm sure he could allay your fears. Hobby site it may be, but I believe he knows what he's about with regards to internet security.

 

[David L Johnson]

I'm sure you're right that BFW has improved and sympathize with the site owners as they had little option in the face of trolls. My issue is security though.

Individual users are unlikely to be hacked. What will eventually happen is you will one day log in to a site and find it down. The entire site will be hacked and all users details stolen. This happened with the Practical Fishkeeping site and the first I knew was an apologetic Email from the site to all users advising they urgently contact their banks and change their card details as they'd been hacked. Luckily I lost no money but it was very inconvenient.

I maybe overly paranoid because I sit next to a Trading Standards officer at work and hear regular conversations with victims of such hacks and then hear how the banks refuse to pay as they deem it the users fault to give their card details to a site insecure enough to be hacked - catch 22.

If there aren't any other sites then are there not safer ways of proving your ID without giving your card details?

---------- Post added at 19:34 ---------- Previous post was at 19:29 ----------

"If you have qualms about it, why not talk direct to the owner of BFW/the shop. I'm sure he could allay your fears. Hobby site it may be, but I believe he knows what he's about with regards to internet security."

I already did and there was no other option - I even offered to send the cash and he could even see my email/name/workplace.

I'm sure he knows what he's on about with regards to security. But there's always some 18 year old Russian kid who knows that little bit more...

Surely the only barbel river report on the net can't be locked behind a paywall?

 

[sam vimes]

I'm sure you're right that BFW has improved and sympathize with the site owners as they had little option in the face of trolls. My issue is security though.

Individual users are unlikely to be hacked. What will eventually happen is you will one day log in to a site and find it down. The entire site will be hacked and all users details stolen. This happened with the Practical Fishkeeping site and the first I knew was an apologetic Email from the site to all users advising they urgently contact their banks and change their card details as they'd been hacked. Luckily I lost no money but it was very inconvenient.

I maybe overly paranoid because I sit next to a Trading Standards officer at work and hear regular conversations with victims of such hacks and then hear how the banks refuse to pay as they deem it the users fault to give their card details to a site insecure enough to be hacked - catch 22.

If there aren't any other sites then are there not safer ways of proving your ID without giving your card details?

---------- Post added at 19:34 ---------- Previous post was at 19:29 ----------

"If you have qualms about it, why not talk direct to the owner of BFW/the shop. I'm sure he could allay your fears. Hobby site it may be, but I believe he knows what he's about with regards to internet security."

I already did and there was no other option - I even offered to send the cash and he could even see my email/name/workplace.

I'm sure he knows what he's on about with regards to security. But there's always some 18 year old Russian kid who knows that little bit more...

Surely the only barbel river report on the net can't be locked behind a paywall?

You are paying through Sage Pay or Paypal. BFW never gets your credit card details to store. A hacker that hacked the BFW site wouldn't get your credit card details. A hacker getting to paypal or sagepay is no more likely than your bank being hacked. It's far easier for a hacker to infiltrate your individual PC than the servers of Paypal, Sagepay or your bank.

Naturally, it's your choice what you do, but it's daft to worry about something that doesn't actually happen. There's certainly no forum with as much barbel information as BFW. However, I don't believe that anyone is quite as free and easy with information as they were several years back. For most people, it's a case of once bitten twice shy. The loosest angling lips I see on the internet tend to be on Facebook. There are loads of little Facebook groups to wade through. I dare say that there will be something on the Ribble or some of the bigger Ribble clubs.

 

[David L Johnson]

I paid through Pay Pal on Practical Fishkeeping and was similarly assured my bank details would not be stored. No idea how the hackers got them from the hack but once bitten twice shy.

I'm not after specific details of swims/baits or wanting to lurk until someone gives away something they shouldn't. Compared the the late 90s/early noughties when I fished the upper Great Ouse, most Ribble anglers I meet are far less secretive anyway and will happily help. More things like how is the river fishing this season and how the Ribble is changing.

For instance we've noticed the Ribble getting much harder each year for the last 5 years or so. Anglers we meet on the bank seem to agree, but it would be nice to see a much larger sample size and whether this is confined to our club stretches.