SuperTopo is not a Place for Political Discussions

This thread is 10 years too late at least.

As we state on the sidebar every time you post, "Our goal with the climbing forum is to provide a resource for climbers of all skill levels and experience to get information about climbing and climbing destinations."

Our mission for the SuperTopo Forum has never included hosting political discussion or debates. And, these political discussions often get heated and tend to bring out the worst behavior on the Forum.

If I want specific standard beta on a certain climb, I will go to mountain project after using the supertopo topo if it exists. If I want expert climber opinion and stories about a certain climb, I would come to supertopo. But, with the new rules, the real gold of supertopo (the people who can share the stories) are at risk of being driven away by rules that bore the heck out of experienced climbers who don’t want to talk about climbing all the time.

I’ve got no problem blocking copyrighted content. But what exactly is it that keeps eyeballs returning to this site? It’s not people coming to check for the latest beta on Royal Arches. It’s people returning to rub shoulders with climbing legends and heroes, to connect with old friends, to make new friends and to realize that a few years of wasting time in silly non-climbing conversations has led to making new online friends that become real life friends and climbing partners.

There needs to be an exchange of value and satisfaction to keep this site alive. I don’t think it can compete for raw climbing beta compared to mountain project. The heroes and legends and experienced folks who answer questions that make supertopo special, well they (we?) need a reason to come here day after day. Waiting for a n00b to ask an interesting question is not enough. No fair exchange of value, not sustainable.

Of course, this is only my opinion, probably shared by many, but certainly not all. Should be interesting to see how it works out but I wouldn’t bet my business on the outcome.

Gawd Madbolter would you make up your mind and either post what I agree with or post what I can’t even stomach?

So if the ST sale rumors are legit, it appears that CMac doesn't really give a sh!t about the community he's created here but cares only about the value of his commodity.

So if the ST sale rumors are legit, it appears that CMac doesn't really give a sh!t about the community he's created here but cares only about the value of his commodity.

Its been a wonderful run and I've no regrets nor criticisms. Thank you for the opportunity to post to and read your wonderful forum. Its time for me to move on. Cheers and see you at the crags.

"On behalf of all of us, I'd like to thank Dingus..." -rj

Whoa. That was a great post. Thank you, Mr. Webmaster.

disastrously muddy guideline

Forrest’s decision rested on two blockbuster tech industry lawsuits. One was the 2007 case Perfect 10 vs. Amazon, where a court ruled that Google search could show full-sized copyrighted images, as long as it was simply hotlinking them from other sites. This established something called the “server test,” which protects sites that display copyrighted content stored on someone else’s server. The EFF calls the server test “a foundation of the modern internet.” It provides clear guidelines for liability and means sites can’t be punished for content that’s beyond their control — if, for example, a host changes an embedded link to display a different image.

it pained me to see a thread censored which was started by John Gill, as he is always gracious, courteous, respectful, kind and supportive

if someone slipped on your sidewalk and sued you personally

Has anyone ever thought about actually thanking ChrisMac for hosting this forum?

Fritz, that loss is heart breaking.

So the implication above that SuperTopo, because it isn't "profitable" is a purely selfless community service on the part of CM.... could be questioned.

ST lost tens of thousands of readers when they started banning people who were long in the REAL climbing community. They went from having a rating on the websites that count clicks (like Alexa) to something not even counted any longer. Meaning they lost all their market value many years ago.

The few people left (fewer every year) felt wonderfully self-righteous as each and every climbing member that posted came under inspection and almost every one was found lacking in something, and was ruthlessly heckled until they either left, asking for their lifelong postings be destroyed, or they were ruthlessly banned and their posting deleted.

This went on without shame for the last 10 years. Christ Mac is getting exactly what he has earned. He aint done nothing with the website in many years except try and sell ads thru his equipment "rating" website... the one that never finds a truely bad product. His website is dying as much as a vanity site can ever die. Look at rec climbing; completely dead for many years, yet you can still post there... sorta... I left a prediction (there) that ST would fail the climbing community as a repository of climbing history, in just the way it has. That post got a lot of response out of a truely dead site, I was castigated for leaving a complaint about one site on another... which is funny as Recclimb may outlive ST in the end.

ST is a sellout to the people that created this sport, maintain the sport and will be the future of the sport.

Good riddance to the only claim to cultural relevance that Supertopo ever had, the historical database of intentional first person stories about the beginnings of Yosemite Climbing.

They dont/didnt HAVE to do ANY of this, They Choose Too. They make MONEY off of climbing, they dont want actual climbers now, any more than they have ever have. They want our money and to assume our presumed mantle of institutional power. To pretend to represent Climbers means to assume the power we presumably represent in the outdoor community. Even when what they want is nothing good for climbers, just themselves ...

They are also banning "political" postings. And another Great Purge of posters is going on, mostly without notice or recourse... Hahahahaha... BTDT!

Goodbye to the Remnants of the Facade; the newly irrelevant.

...I Told you So....

Rokjox Bitrakn Teleski

My name is ST-"ozymandias, King of Kings;
Look on my Works, ye Mighty, and despair!
Nothing beside remains. Round the decay
Of that colossal Wreck, boundless and bare
The lone and level sands stretch far away.”

How many nuts should I bring?

One of the penalties for refusing to participate in politics is that you end up being governed by your inferiors. Plato

Just because you do not take an interest in politics doesn't mean politics won't take an interest in you. Pericles

Of all the varieties of virtues, liberalism is the most beloved. Aristotle

Trump is a moron. Hillary sucks. But the dems won't see the light, and the conservatives will let the planet go to sh#t calling every bad decision they ever make "god's divine will".

Avatars have made the internet landscape unpleasant.

I understand the principle, but I'm at a loss as to how it could have worked here in these ST political threads. No matter how respectful the dialogue might have been amongst some, there was always a few (or a lot) that just poured on the shitsauce with no restraint, whatsoever. I really can't blame Chris for seeing only one way to deal with that negativity: axe it all, every bit of it.

Eliminate the avatars. I have seen this work on site after site, where the offensiveness had gotten out of hand. People usually dramatically change what they say, when their actual name is associated with the words. There are crazies, but they are few, and easily spotted.

SuperTopo is not a Place for Political Discussions

The thing about political discussions is that no one is going to change anyone's perspective. An exercise in futility.

I even liked the chief.

...Likewise: I was 'stalked' by someone with a similar notorious reputation here at ST- he posted personal information here from other web sources...

Likewise: I was 'stalked' by someone with a similar notorious reputation here at ST- he posted personal information here from other web sources, and had threatened violence in earlier posts.

Sh#t like that is going to happen if somebody gets a bug up their arse to go after you- using your name here only makes it easier for them.