I have been around long enough to witness rockclimbing.com go through many changes. Poo and trophies, the monkey, change in ownership, the vaginal logo, and long-time members dropping like flies. I have seen my own indifference towards the site cause me to spend less and less time here. Maybe I've outgrown it, but more likely it is that the site just isn't that interesting anymore. There are a precious few that try to invoke discussion and it seems that they are less and less every time I visit.

2. rc.com has failed to keep up with internet technologies and many of us have migrated to more rich/dynamic social media platforms.

3. Speaking for myself, the politics of the 'social scene' on this site are a bit complex for my simple mind.

Every day i lead in the gym ill pitch off, by design if needed ... Over and over again

As will my partners

A good belayer needs to practice catching falls over and over again

You know, it's funny that you say that. My husband and I were talking about it the other night, and I think that a few things have happened:

1. Climbing isnt fraught with complexity that can be discussed and explored from countless angles.

1A. There are only so many 'basic' concepts that can be discussed and explored in an online forum such as this. There arent thousands of variations on critical knots, for example, and it only costs a few bucks to purchase a book.

1B. A topic worthy of ongoing discussion would be routes, but the routes DB here isnt well-designed. The forums are the main attraction here at rc.com. Super Taco and MP have MUCH better route info.

1C. For a variety of reasons (clarity and safety among the top of the list), folks are more likely to seek out climbing technique type information in the offline world.


This relegates rc.com to a primarily social platform.

2. rc.com has failed to keep up with internet technologies and many of us have migrated to more rich/dynamic social media platforms.

3. Speaking for myself, the politics of the 'social scene' on this site are a bit complex for my simple mind.

Regarding the topic of discussion, I have no opinions on the merits of belaying a sport climber versus a trad climber.

Sport belayers certainly catch more often but I don't know if that means they are better.

Bingo. The pure sport climber is undoubtably far superior is giving sport type catches (the almighty soft catch) in a pure sport climbing context. But will he:

run backwards to shorten the fall when required?
funcion well when he is on a hanging belay?
Keep the rope neatly stacked over his tie in?
Cope when the leader is out of sight?
Cope when the leader is out of earshot?
Cope when the leaeder ir out of sight, out of ear shot and just run out of rope and is pulling hard?
Cope in a"don't fall now or we'll both go" situation?
Cope in the dark, cold rain while all the above are happening?
Move in coils?
Escape the belay and rescue an inconscious leader?
Be a ceryitied WFA?
Belay with a munter?
Hip belay?
Contruct a 3:1?
etc.

When I want some one to belay me while shouting "allez - you got it bro" on some overbolted overgraded 50 foot shoss pile by all means I will look s for an experienced sport belayer.

When I want someone to go CLIMBING with I'll look for someone with trad experience.

This could be a separate thread, but if you think those are the reasons, then you haven't been paying attention. I am not talking 30 years ago, I'm talking 5-7. There were a lot more members who were not just more experienced, but actually took the time to create thoughtful and original posts. Creating a thread in itself is an art form, and there just doesn't seem to be any artists left.

Creating a thread in itself is an art form, and there just doesn't seem to be any artists left.

Bingo. The pure sport climber is undoubtably far superior is giving sport type catches (the almighty soft catch) in a pure sport climbing context. But will he:

run backwards to shorten the fall when required?
funcion well when he is on a hanging belay?
Keep the rope neatly stacked over his tie in?
Cope when the leader is out of sight?
Cope when the leader is out of earshot?
Cope when the leaeder ir out of sight, out of ear shot and just run out of rope and is pulling hard?
Cope in a"don't fall now or we'll both go" situation?
Cope in the dark, cold rain while all the above are happening?
Move in coils?
Escape the belay and rescue an inconscious leader?
Be a ceryitied WFA?
Belay with a munter?
Hip belay?
Contruct a 3:1?
etc.

When I want some one to belay me while shouting "allez - you got it bro" on some overbolted overgraded 50 foot shoss pile by all means I will look s for an experienced sport belayer.

When I want someone to go CLIMBING with I'll look for someone with trad experience.

[

But, when looking for a partner to go climbing, out of your most trusted belayers, does experience with sport climbing and catching falls factor in? I say that it's up there with the rest of the things you mentioned.

Josh

I'm pretty much in agreement with Eric on all points.

You know, it's funny that you say that. My husband and I were talking about it the other night, and I think that a few things have happened:

1. Climbing isnt fraught with complexity that can be discussed and explored from countless angles.

1A. There are only so many 'basic' concepts that can be discussed and explored in an online forum such as this. There arent thousands of variations on critical knots, for example, and it only costs a few bucks to purchase a book.

1B. A topic worthy of ongoing discussion would be routes, but the routes DB here isnt well-designed. The forums are the main attraction here at rc.com. Super Taco and MP have MUCH better route info.

1C. For a variety of reasons (clarity and safety among the top of the list), folks are more likely to seek out climbing technique type information in the offline world.

2. rc.com has failed to keep up with internet technologies and many of us have migrated to more rich/dynamic social media platforms.

3. Speaking for myself, the politics of the 'social scene' on this site are a bit complex for my simple mind.

This is more the true cause. They might seem like little things, but a integration into other social media, decent search function, ability to embed videos, auto-linking features (rather than this stupid cc code), and even more informed and reasonable moderation all make internet discussion smoother and easier. This place has little to none of that.

For that reason, there is no social scene here any more, especially to folks like climbr_chk, blue eyed climber, and myself who remember "back in the day."

But, when looking for a partner to go climbing, out of your most trusted belayers, does experience with sport climbing and catching falls factor in?

Count me in that list, too.

And there you have the reason why I've taken up a seat in a dark corner of the <censored> thread. Some of the patrons are a little unsavory, but it's the only saloon left in town.

GO