Unfortunately a lot of cool spots get destroyed by the influx of people who dosen't respect nature and just want a picture.
It's big in Colorado. Lakes especially get heavily impacted by attention demons trying to take the same photo.
My favorite river spot had to be shut down for 2 years because of tik tok influencers. And Im the first to pull down 'locals only' signs. I dont know what happens to people but when things get crowded they get very aggressive and selfish making a damn mess.
If you assume good faith this could also be an attempt to prevent places from going viral and beinc swarmed with more visitors than the place can sustain.
This is literally what it is. During the wildflower bloom we're also asked to not use specific geotags for this same reason.
I know what you mean, and putting up a sign may be a bit much, but wanting to keep 'influencers' or Instagram people out of places is understandable.
Maybe I'm neurotic and old about it but it just bothers me to see people in places of spectacular beauty and all that they care about is getting a good picture of themselves to post online and then not appreciating at all where they are. Add a dozen of them or more and it quickly kills the experience for people there looking to be in the moment whereever they may be, and considering that this area appears to be in the San Francisco Bay Area I could especially believe that they would suffer from that there if a trend broke out.
Also, disabling geolocation tagging is just good praxis anyway. Everyone should do it.
This is why I hate going on vacation with certain people lol. They start seething when I just want to look at something without posing for a photo and they start going on and on about how this is the only time we’re gonna be here or whatever.
Yeah, that sounds rough. Luckily I haven't traveled with someone like that. Haha
I mean, when I travel somewhere I may want to take a picture of it or have my own picture there but it's not the focus of the moment and I'm not posting it anywhere either. And sometimes I don't think about or want to take a picture/video, I just want to be there. That's what I mean. I'm not anti-pictures and I don't think anyone else is. It's more the influencer culture that wants a picture not because they want to remember that moment but because they want to look good for their followers. Not saying you're saying any of this, just clarifying.
I love candid photography and the disposable film camera (as wasteful as they are) because it reflects the moments more accurately imo. You have one shot, and it may be imperfect. It may be blurry. You might be making a weird face or blinking. But that’s what makes it special to me. I also hate weddings because of how sterile everything is. I get it, we need perfect choreographed photography for certain things. Fine. But rarely do I see any photos of people just having fun and being themselves and goofing around at these sort of events. At best, it’s captured on video by the photographer, but that’s not the same as some candid, intimate photo of the couple with an interesting composition.
I remember when I went on my first date, my family kept asking me if I had pictures. Like… no? I see why people take them, but to me it’s just weird lol.
Yeah, I completely agree. It better captures the transitoriness of life and each moment. That's a really good point about disposable cameras.
As a kid I hated how much my mom and family would take pictures but now that I'm older I'm so glad to see pictures of how things were back then, to see people who are no longer here. I also really like when I'm with a partner who initiates and wants to take pictures (within reason), otherwise then there are no photos of our life together because I rarely initiate. Probably something I should work on more.
That's not gatekeeping, it's just a sign asking people to help preserve a relatively undisturbed location. Anyone can still go there and you can still post on social media, it's not like there's gonna be someone there to stop you. It just means you're a huge douche if you do.
Gatekeeping is trying to keep specific people out of a particular group or experience based on arbitrary, unimportant rules that the gatekeeper made up in their own mind. Like saying girls can't play with trucks because no penis or saying "if you like (x) musical artist, you're not a real fan of (x) musical genre". If you want a more denotative definition, it's the person that opens and closes the gate, and I see neither gates nor people keeping them in this picture.
Gatekeeping would be fining you for disclosing the location. Broadly speaking, gatekeeping is restriction that’s enforced by rules/customs or self enforced by someone without any consequences for not doing so. Kicking you a store for not buying stuff is gatekeeping. Not telling someone where you got a shirt is gatekeeping.
If you’re the type of person to be tagging the location previously, then you’re likely going to just tell everyone the location whether or not you adhere to the sign. And I’m assuming people get this information from their friends, but if it’s some random account like OP, then they’ll probably tell you as well. I cannot imagine a scenario in which someone would say “sorry bud but I can’t tell you where I hiked” just because a sign got put up. If someone says that, they’re gonna gatekeep with or without a sign.
Basically you’ll get the location from anyone you follow so there’s no one gatekeeping anything except an unenforceable sign
In the firearms community, a lot of shooters keep their spots on public land a secret because other well known spots have been closed off or prohibited from being used for target shooting because idiots trash the place or use it unsafely.
In the urban exploration community, people keep the locations of their abandoned or secured buildings a secret because a lot of people would come and steal stuff or trash the place which attracts more security and potentially dangerous encounters.
It sucks but it’s understandable. “The tragedy of the commons” is often invoked for eugenicist reasons, but the concept is real, but only when your society is never instilled to care about their environment. Many communities and countries don’t have this problem - America does because, well 
But I don’t think your example is gatekeeping. Anyone who’s withholding the location from you is going to do so even without the sign.
We have a shitton of tunnels under the twin cities secretly mapped by urbex communities. Every so often there are some dumb kids who take silly risks and end up dying in places where there's no cell service and emergency services have trouble reaching, then the tunnel gets shut down. There are many good reasons they keep these secrets within their community
That’s another point I forgot. I’ve seen some videos of abandoned buildings and some of the structure is rusting or rotting and you can see pieces of the roof on the ground. Definitely not something you want a curious newbie to go to.
Nature spots in the bay are fucked. Muir Woods, for example. On weekends, you gotta park a 30 minute walk down the road from the visitor center/trailhead. Love to take a walk before a hike
This just means we need more protected areas. Depopulate suburbia, rewild, build transit to the trailheads.
I get it to a degree. These days every scenic spot is full of people taking corny challenge photos or sunning their buttholes. Low-impact hiking/adventuring needs be compulsive learning. It's completely possible to live in harmony with these places, but right now it ain't happening.
this smells like it could be a juicy struggle session if the right people hop in.
its got big rock stacker vibes
all we need is a troop to be involved and it'll go nuclear. The question is, which would inflame more shit, if the troop were involved in posting the sign, or if the troop were hashtagging Shell Ridge Open Space Preserve on the 'gram
This here is one of those internal contradictions of capitalism.
Contributing factors include:
Condensing people into atomized suburban areas thus taking up surrounding nature space from cities.
Car dominant infrastructure means no public transit to travel to outdoor recreation areas that exist outside the city, and typically outside of the suburban areas as well. This causes a high entry cost barrier to lots of people.
The ones that do exist are few and far between, leading to overuse and overcrowding. This is exacerbated by very little gov funding going to conservation efforts, and very little effort educating the public on outdoor conservation practices. Smokey the bear type PSA’s, outdoor groups like Scouts (though these have their own problems), etc
Social Media is a scourge upon humanity, driving people that aren’t there to enjoy nature but instead get internet points. This group does not maintain the trails and is in direct opposition with nature enjoyers, hence the sign gatekeeping that particular group.
This absolutely is gatekeeping, and it’s a direct effect of capitalism
Are "people" park rangers who are trying to manage visitor numbers or randos with access to a sign maker?
If it's the former then I don't see a problem. The alternative is to actually restrict visitors via booking or tickets, which is literal gatekeeping.
The real problem is that there are vanishingly few public spaces so people get territorial about the prime ones.
I found a YouTube link in your comment. Here are links to the same video on alternative frontends that protect your privacy: