I think when one tries to draw an imaginary line in the sand as to what is and isn't "bike touring" they are immediately faced with the many ways they and others step over said lines. Or the argument of "I do it this way, why don't they" is presented. Both of these create contention for what ought to seem, obvious reasons.
If the argument is that bike touring demands self effort you have to look at what that means. Do you wash your own sheets in the hotel, steer the bus, sail the ferry? One can say those are silly counters but it's just as silly to think everyone defines what is a tour by how much effort one puts into pedaling. Some do love the feeling of biking (I do) but others have a more expansive motivation for touring (I do as well). For some it's being with friends or family, being close to nature, traveling through the landscape, photography, poking into small out of the way places, economics... and not manually putting 100% effort into each pedal stroke is not a deal breaker when other factors are considered. Some people see the double standards involved in drawing arbitrary lines, that not everyone agrees are valid anyway, and so contention occurs. It seems at least one mod said the discussion was allowed so perhaps that line is not so accepted as some would suggest.
The underlying notion of the "I do it this way, why don't they" argument is so blatantly flawed it is a wonder why anyone has to rebut it. If it wasn't repeated again and again perhaps it wouldn't need to be and less contention would result. BF is an international forum and intends to capture a wide variety of bike riders (including e bikes as they have a separate forum) so that they might tour on one is, I think, accepted as well. Just as some tour on road bikes, MTB's and folding bikes, all of which also have a separate sub forum.
The contention comes when some can't simply accept things that exist and aren't going away, like cell phones, which may or may not impact them. I think Neil's is a case of possible impact because he operates a site and has to consider overall what he might do and how others feel about it but others have no impact at all on their lives, other than it seems they define what they do by comparing and contrasting it to others.
Last edited by Happy Feet; 07-25-16 at 08:58 AM.