As for whether the discussions here and on other sites are "relevant" to the "real world" of climbing, I would say first that folks are going discuss what interests them, and incessantly droning on about the fact that those discussions don't matter isn't going to make one iota of difference. But beyond that, I would note that the history of science, and particularly of mathematics, has shown over and over again that the most "irrelevant" topics have turned out to have critical "real-world" uses, and that there is absolutely no way to judge "relevance" at the time of a discussion, nor is there any way to predict what kinds of ideas will arise as a result of a discussion. What we've learned about human progress is that you have to let people investigate and discuss what interests them, and out of this soup comes the world's most important advances. It is true that the price paid is the propagation of much that is unimportant, but no one has found a way to extract the nuggets without sifting through the sand.

It would be absurd to suggest that scientific breakthroughs will result from a discussion about the utility of rappel backups, but I believe that the same basic principle, which is to say that progress is most likely to result from unfettered discussion, applies. So in addition to the fact that no one is going to pay the slightest attention to someone who thinks they can dictate what can or cannot be discussed, I think that such discussions, in total if not individually, are intrinsically valuable.

bearbreeder,
why is it so important to you?

bearbreeder,
why is it so important to you?

bearbreeder,
why is it so important to you?

He needs affirmation that his daisy is a good thing

...The mods here suck. They let topics go wild and turn into back-and-forth battles that really turn people off from having intelligent discussions. Other rock climbing sites, you see this a lot less. And again, I think it's because their names aren't as obvious as "rockclimbing.com" so there are less uneducated climbers. In fact, I see on other sites people using their real names and regularly selling gear, which would provide personal info...

I have to say, out of all the internet forums I follow (not limited to rock climbing) this site has the rudest, nastiest, and most ridiculous members and posts/discussions that rarely have any interesting content. Probably why I hardly come on here anymore. I chalk it up to this site's obvious name. And given such an obvious name, it attracts a lot of newbies and beginners. And for every newbie's "dumb" question there's 1000 replies that forget the question and just argue over the answers and opinions. Makes me think of this...

"We are blessed to be living in an age when we have a global communications network in which idiots, assholes, and total and complete wastes of fucking human life alike can come together to give instant feedback in an unfettered and unmonitored online environment. What better way to take advantage of this incredible technology than to log onto the Internet and insult a complete stranger?"

The mods here suck. They let topics go wild and turn into back-and-forth battles that really turn people off from having intelligent discussions. Other rock climbing sites, you see this a lot less. And again, I think it's because their names aren't as obvious as "rockclimbing.com" so there are less uneducated climbers. In fact, I see on other sites people using their real names and regularly selling gear, which would provide personal info.

And a quick shout out to bearbreeder since he's following this thread. You actually have some decent thoughts and input. But it's too bad more often than not, you have to throw in all sorts of childish language (interwebz, yer gonna die, I'm gonna die, , RC.com experts, etc.) and argue your points to death to the point where I can no longer take you seriously.

Anyway, my 2 cents on rudeness and the decline of RC.com.

The mods here suck. They let topics go wild and turn into back-and-forth battles that really turn people off from having intelligent discussions. Other rock climbing sites, you see this a lot less. And again, I think it's because their names aren't as obvious as "rockclimbing.com" so there are less uneducated climbers. In fact, I see on other sites people using their real names and regularly selling gear, which would provide personal info.

Are you claiming that your real name is njrox? Oh well, nobody uses their real name here.

Curt

What would you like the moderators to do?

I dunno, how about removing the aforementioned 'pissing' contests from threads?

Maybe not standing for the childish name calling?

How about this, would you let someone act / talk like they do here in person? If not don't stand for it here.

I dunno, how about removing the aforementioned 'pissing' contests from threads?

Maybe not standing for the childish name calling?

How about this, would you let someone act / talk like they do here in person? If not don't stand for it here.

Did you fix your cheesetit then?

I think that would remove at least 50% of the posts. Seriously.

And would make the place pretty much dead.

I dunno, how about removing the aforementioned 'pissing' contests from threads?

Maybe not standing for the childish name calling?

How about this, would you let someone act / talk like they do here in person? If not don't stand for it here.

I did, thank you.

But see, we are now derailing this thread by completely unneeded back-and-forth bantering.

Wow.

So the management and the mods would rather have quantity over quality? I suppose that makes the management more money with advertising.


Your statement Lenna makes it seem as if the mods and management are incredible shallow and take no pride in the site.

That's too bad.

So? Is it rude or offensive? Does it involve childish name calling? How about an obvious troll?

See I have nothing against thread drift, that's how conversations work.