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sickle
Apr 3, 2006, 5:11 PM
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Just wanted to let a few friends know that www.bouldering.com has re-launched with free video downloads and Pro Blogs. Also some great climbing gear.
Mal, we'll call you soon.
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phaedrus
Apr 3, 2006, 5:28 PM
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phaedrus moved this thread from General to View this Website.
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grinspoon
Apr 3, 2006, 5:46 PM
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*Sigh* Maybe some day that domain name will goto good use..
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sidepull
Apr 3, 2006, 5:55 PM
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sorry, but I liked the old bouldering.com better - it had more information, topos, articles, etc. The new version is just a sales site and there isn't anything that really differentiates it from other such sites. The pro blogs could be cool - too early to tell. And the vid was sweet - but drtopo, modump, norope, etc., provide more vids, more content, ultimately more cool.
all in all it just makes me long for the smackmag/climbxmedia glory days. is there a crying smiley?
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pocketaces
Apr 3, 2006, 6:09 PM
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the old bouldering.com wasn't updated in like 3 years . tom did a bunch of stuff in the late 1990's when bishop was just becoming a hot spot . give the new site some time . norope has not released a video in a year and is now just a message board place. modump has not put any big stuff out . drtopo gets videos everyonce in a while . climbingfilms.com used to be an ok site, but that site has been down for weeks . was told by a guy here it was maintenance and upgrades but that sounds like a :troll: . urbanclimber.tv has the best site out now . check that out .
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billabang
Apr 3, 2006, 6:12 PM
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hmm, nice site! much more slick than some others knocking around.. however call me cynical but why is a bouldering site selling ropes? hmm, and cams. i have nothing against other types of climbing, hell its all climbing! but on BOULDERING.com?
o well, apart from that all good! pro blogs look to be good...
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grinspoon
Apr 3, 2006, 6:25 PM
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0o0o00! Pro Blogs! YES! I wonder what Lauren Lee did last weekend?!
WTF...die..all of you
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sidepull
Apr 3, 2006, 8:43 PM
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Overall, the defensive tone of this post hints that you're somehow tied to the site? At any rate, here's some things you missed in your myopic review:
In reply to: the old bouldering.com wasn't updated in like 3 years . tom did a bunch of stuff in the late 1990's when bishop was just becoming a hot spot .
You're right, it hadn't been updated in years, but the content - maps, articles, pic's, etc., was still better than what is there now.
In reply to: norope has not released a video in a year and is now just a message board place.
True - and if you scan my other posts you'll see I've been fairly critical of norope but it still regularly hosts new guest videos, has new pics, and has an active board. It provides a pretty holistic site - bouldering.com as it sits now doesn't even begin to compare in scope. It just looks like a cheap dotcom trying to make money.
In reply to: modump has not put any big stuff out .
Right again - modumps quality and production have been down as of late. But again, they offer pretty regular vids and pics and they have a distinct voice. In comparison, bouldering.com feels like a used car salesman site - buy our gear so we can put on more vids.
In reply to: drtopo gets videos everyonce in a while .
You totally miss this one. Drtopo is an awesome resource. If I'm planning a roadtrip I almost always hit them first. Also, their vids are pretty professionally done (way better than norope or modump) and feature sick climbing in unique settings. I don't like their current urban climber series but the topos and good vids keep me coming back.
In reply to: climbingfilms.com used to be an ok site, but that site has been down for weeks . was told by a guy here it was maintenance and upgrades but that sounds like a :troll: .
Never liked this one - seemed hackish.
In reply to: urbanclimber.tv has the best site out now . check that out .
We'll see if it continues or dies - hopefully it becomes the reincarnation of earlier sites but probably not - they don't have the reach.
In reply to: give the new site some time .
I never said I wouldn't. If anything, you need to criticize the OP for this. Don't promote sites that are half baked, especially when you're toting blogs that mostly read: first blog post coming soon.
Overall, bouldering.com lacks any sense of identity or differentiation. Why buy there rather than pagan or mgear or somewhere else? Bouldering.com doesn't offer enough cool material (vids/blogs) to justify buying generic gear. Sorry. If it gets better then cool. I'll wait.
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bouldering_com
Apr 3, 2006, 10:03 PM
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As one of the owners of Bouldering.com I would like to clarify a few things. First off constructive criticism is good. In response to the post by sidepull, the user pocketaces is in no way related to Bouldering.com.
We have been in this industry for many years and know better than to badmouth others or other websites. We know Jason at norope.com very well and would never say anything negative about his site. Same goes for Lee at modump.com. Heck we just advertised on that site for the last month. We have known Alex at drtopo.com for many many years also. His site is a great resource.
Our goal is to provide high quality media through regular video updates, Pro Blogs, and some other content rich sections that are yet to be released. To do so though requires money. Mike and Marc did a great job at ClimbxMedia although they were not able to get enough money raised through advertisements to pay for the videos and the bandwidth. That is the reason the site shut down. Fortunately bandwidth isn't as expensive as it was back then (although still hundreds of dollars) but the videos still cost a lot of money. Our hope is to be able to offset these expenses by selling some great gear rather than banner ads. The number of videos we can provide is directly related to the amount of gear we sell. The Google ads on this site (RC.com) do the same thing for it. Offset expenses.
Yes there are other e-commerce sites out there and we are trying to make ours a bit different by adding the media element and appealing to a bit of a younger demographic. Plus we offer free shipping on orders over $50+ even on crash pads. Most other sites have a sur charge for crash pads.
Why do we sell trad and sport gear on Bouldering.com? One because we personally like those types of climbing as well as bouldering and two because we would have to sell a ton of pads, chalk, chalk bags, and shoes (a limited amount of gear is needed for bouldering) to be able to pay for the videos that you get to watch for free.
The videos that appear on Monday Mojo are not produced by the general public. We pay several hundred dollars per video and are trying to focus on quality. Many of the videographers that we use are the same ones that provided content for ClimbxMedia. So don't expect to see 50 new videos in our archive by next week. We will release a new one every other Monday and hope to be able to increase it to every Monday.
As for the Pro Blogs, please give them time. Many of the contributors were out climbing when we launched over the weekend. Daniel is still in Bishop. Everyone else other than Matt has now posted so the "Blog coming soon" text is gone.
Best Regards,
Bouldering.com
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sidepull
Apr 4, 2006, 12:05 AM
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glad pocketaces isn't associated with you (it looked suspicious given that you all have recently become members with relatively low post counts).
Also, props for being well integrated and knowledgeable of the online community at large. Don't get me wrong, I'd love it if your site was a huge success, I was just providing my first impression and reaction to pocketaces (who I'm sure is a good soul although I guess we disagree on a few points only worth bickering over in a forum like this).
Good luck!
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pocketaces
Apr 4, 2006, 1:53 AM
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Registered: Feb 12, 2006
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darn it sidepull...you figured out I'm everyone on this board but you :lol:
i'm just a climber that loves free climbing sites.
and let's bicker over something important. Florida or UCLA? or how about favorite beer (guiness has been my pick the last few weeks).
i agree with you on your ratings for the whole content. but when you mentioned climbxmedia, which was 99% video, i based the sites off video only.
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sidepull
Apr 4, 2006, 4:05 PM
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Registered: Sep 11, 2001
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pocket - you're right the florida ucla bit would have been a better discussion - I guess I was a bit moody yesterday. sorry.
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pocketaces
Apr 5, 2006, 12:57 AM
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Registered: Feb 12, 2006
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haha . i think we both were . cheers 8^)
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jamaica
Apr 5, 2006, 2:04 AM
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Registered: Jul 22, 2004
Posts: 188
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[quote="billabang"]however call me cynical but why is a bouldering site selling ropes? hmm, and cams. i have nothing against other types of climbing, hell its all climbing! but on BOULDERING.com?In reply to: you beat me to it, I was wondering the same darn thing Jamaica 8^)
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