5 years of membership

5 years of membership

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This is the personal point of view of a member joined 5 years ago ...

December 2003, weather is bad and I can't go out to climb or hike, I'm bored ! So, dreaming about mountains, I enter in internet looking for some fine mountain photos that can give me new ideas ...

Google leads me to this "strange" American site : SummitPost ... never heard about it, let's give a look !
Among the Members I can see the name of Ivano Ghirardini : wow, this must be a serious site !
for the ones who don't know Ivano Ghirardini (an Italian climber moved to Chamonix to act as a mountain guide) was a milestone of modern mountaneering with his exploits, unbelievable at those times

Starting to look at the pages I can see that my beloved Alps (I've been climbing there for more than 40 years) are too little "performed" so I join the site.

First page : the Dolomites, a page with a lot of info but absolutely lacking of the useful ones : my first vote was a 0. The owner got mad about it, a short exchange of messages to explain each other and the first cooperation starts.
Second page : Brenta Dolomites (I've climbed some 30 amusing rock routes there) : it could be any worse !
I ask what can I do to improve it and a "certain" Fred Spicker (I didn't know him and how he made) gives me the ownership of the page : OK, so here there are kind and committed people, that's fine !
Two more Americans, Morgan Brown and David Kiene show me their kindness making me sure that this site is worth to spend a part of my time trying to tell to the whole world "my" mountains just the way I looked and lived in !

But to well describe the Alps one must remember that the number of "isolated" summits is very low, especially in Dolomites there are ranges where you can find a lot of different summits that can be climbed alternatively in case of good or bad weather, skill, fit, difficulties : herefrom the need to speak about "groups".
A topic and an exchange of messages with Gangolf, Vid, Mathias and Stefan Weber (the late Kletterwebbi) starts a coordinated work on Dolomites that leaved us pleased.
It was an amusing time when we could also laugh about Gangolf's flower photos that "should" be posted on FlowerPost.com

The ups and downs, rifts and discussions were not missing, indicating that we believed in what we were doing

Meanwhile a lot of new people joined SP, many photos that were all but about mountain start to be posted : it was the time of "family albums" but, luckily, there was the "off topic" voting that allowed to make those photos disappear : Webshot was their right site !

The number of people thinking of SP as a photo site and/or a photo contest site grows up more and more and, instead of new mountain pages or photos about "new" mountains, we can see hundreds of ripetitive photos about the most famous mountains : give a look to Cervino (Matterhorn) page and you'll see how many people are saying : I've been there (without efforts but giving a lot of money to Zermatt tourist structure).

Then came SP2 : no more about mountains and mountaneering but, generically, about "outdoor activities"
and now we can see all about all
But, to put it bluntly, this site is no more the one that enticed me ...

italian

questa è la visione di SP da parte di un iscritto da 5 anni ...

dicembre 2003, annoiato dal tempo che non permette di fare gite e escursioni, sognando le montagne mi metto a cercare in internet qualche bella foto che mi possa suggerire qualcosa ...


arrivo a questo strano sito americano : SummitPost ... mai sentito, vediamo !
Dò un'occhiata a chi c'è dentro e ci scopro un certo Ivano Ghirardini : urca, allora è roba seria !
per chi non lo conoscesse Ivano Ghirardini (un alpinista Italiano trapiantato a Chamonix e diventato guida) è stato una pietra miliare nel moderno alpinismo con i suoi exploits, increbili per l'epoca


Incomincio a guardare le pagine e vedo che le mie amate Alpi (ci ho fatto 40 anni di attività) sono un po' poco rappresentate e decido di associarmi.

Guardo la pagina delle Dolomiti : un'accozzaglia di informazioni messe lì in qualche modo : parte immediatamente un voto 0.
Reazione infuriata del proprietario della pagina seguita da un successivo chiarimento e relativa collaborazione.
Guardo la pagina delle Dolomiti di Brenta (dove ho fatto una 30na di arrampicate divertentissime) : peggio che andar di notte !
Chiedo come fare a migliorarla e un certo Fred Spicker me la passa da gestire.
Ohibò, allora c'è gente gentile e ben motivata !
Altri due americani, Morgan Brown e David Kiene, con la loro gentilezza mi fanno capire che qui val la pena di passarci un po' di tempo cercando di far conoscere al mondo intero le "mie" montagne descritte con gli occhi di chi ci è stato !


Ma, per descrivere bene le Alpi bisogna ricordare che solo in alcune zone ci sono montagne isolate e specialmente nelle dolomiti in un piccolo spazio si possono trovare tante cime separate che possono essere prestarsi a scelte alternative valide in caso di migliore o peggior tempo, preparazione eccetera : nasce quindi la necessità di parlare di gruppi montuosi.
Una corrispondenza con Gangolf, Vid, Mathias e Stefan Weber (il compianto Kletterwebbi) ci fa partire in un lavoro coordinato sulle Dolomiti che ci lascia soddisfatti.
E' un periodo divertente in cui si riesce anche a ridere a proposito delle foto di fiori messe da Gangolf e che secondo me dovrebbero andare su FlowerPost.com ...


Alti e bassi, screzi e discussioni non mancano, ma ciò significa solo che crediamo in quello che stiamo facendo !

Incomincia ad arrivare tanta gente nuova, cominciano ad apparire fotografie che niente hanno a che fare con la montagna : siamo al periodo dei "family albums" ma, per fortuna, è ancora possibile dare il voto "off topic" e fare in modo che quelle foto vengano eliminate dicendo che per quelle esiste Webshot.

Poi .. poi la massa di persone che scambia SP per un sito fotografico aumenta a dismisura e, invece di arrivare pagine di montagne arrivano centinaia di foto ripetitive sui soggetti più famosi : basta guardare la pagina del Cervino (Matterhorn) per capire che tutti vogliono mettere le loro foto per far sapere : ci sono stato anche io (in basso, spendendo un mucchio di Franchi Svizzeri a Zermatt)
Poi .. poi parte l'idea che SP sia un concorso fotografico

Poi .. poi parte SP2 che come argomento non ha più strettamente la montagna ma, genericamente, le "attività all'aperto", e arriva di tutto !
Ma, francamente, non è più quello che mi ha attirato ...


Comments

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as

as - Feb 26, 2009 6:17 am - Voted 10/10

I agree...

...with you and with most of the comments, SP is too wide and too generic it covers everything, from flowers to climbing, there are lots of useless pages, lots of good ones, and some outstanding. But, if you leave it get worse, just forget the silly stuff.

About SP: there are better sites about climbing with more routes and detailed route descriptions, but they cover limited regions, and lack good photos, SP is the only one with worldwide coverage and lots of photos where you have a chance of actually seeing the mountain or face you are interested in. The focus on the pictures, on the other hand, has the negative effect you have described, the photo contest, vote bagging and all that, the structure of SP calls for that ! Again, just forget it and stay where you are.

visentin

visentin - Mar 5, 2009 2:59 am - Hasn't voted

Interesting article but..

I will not vote... There are pleinty of interesting observations and topics, but everyone is aware that with an increasing popularity it is harder and harder to control what is posted... price of the fame.
While reading, it also gives a slight frustrating feeling that SP should remain the way the "anciens" like you liked it, that every page should be made the way you did so far, and should get rid of unuseful things like flowers or architecture...
And the conclusion of your article leaves me a bit on my hunger, with a simple "it's not anymore what it used to be", instead of concrete proposals to improve it.
Don't take it badly, it reflects only my own opinion after reading, and I hope you will not keep a grudge about it.
Saluti dalle montagne ! Erico

Gabriele Roth

Gabriele Roth - Mar 5, 2009 5:33 am - Hasn't voted

Re: Interesting article but..

what I was saying is easy to understand, I think :

SP once was an unique site where climbers used to share their direct knowledge of mountains, routes and other related - and I liked it

SP now looks like a branch of flickr or webshot where all can post (for free) thousands of photos often ripetitive, very often absolutely useless and off topic and I don't like it anymore

Just to make a comparison :
you join a chess club and 3 years later, it becomes a cross-stitch club
:)


PS - all proposals were stopped (perhaps) by the need to have more hits to have more google ads .. etc etc

as for votes ... I don't care about it, don't worry :)

visentin

visentin - Mar 5, 2009 6:02 am - Hasn't voted

Re: Interesting article but..

What you say is proably true around the Dolomites and such areas, but to be honest I never read these pages.
The real richness of SP is in my opinion things like mountains of Albania, Montenegro, Caucasus, etc, etc
There are some really outstanding and uncommon stuff to find and that's why I enjoy reading SP.

Gabriele Roth

Gabriele Roth - Mar 5, 2009 6:37 am - Hasn't voted

Re: Interesting article but..

OK, I suggest you a simple exercise :
give a look to your photos and try to find the % of the ones that are relevant only for you :)

visentin

visentin - Mar 5, 2009 7:01 am - Hasn't voted

Re: Interesting article but..

I don't understand your reaction.. did I write something offending ?
As for pictures, what do you call "relevant" ? Percentage of votes ?
Sometimes I find photos of others which apparently interest no one but turn out to be interesting for me.
Sorry if most of my photos don't interest you, but don't make your point of view a generality...

Gabriele Roth

Gabriele Roth - Mar 5, 2009 7:14 am - Hasn't voted

Re: Interesting article but..

nothing offending :)
I'm only trying to explain what was SP when I joyned and what is now : the meaning of the photo was to give useful info and, of course, the caption was important
... I'm not creating (or trying to restore) a rule : I'm telling why this is no more the SP I liked
... and, of course, to understand if there are any possibility to come a little back (toward the mountains)

visentin

visentin - Mar 5, 2009 7:38 am - Hasn't voted

Re: Interesting article but..

This is in my opinion the natural evolution of such site.. the most we are, the widest is the content.. and the popular places get get a mathematical tendency to be over-represented...
What can you do against it, apart "locking" summitpost only for you and the other oldest members ?

Gabriele Roth

Gabriele Roth - Mar 5, 2009 8:42 am - Hasn't voted

Re: Interesting article but..

this is exactly the way used by virus to attach and destroy everything : join-grow-change-destroy and a good structure becomes a corpse, fantastic !!

yatsek

yatsek - Mar 7, 2009 11:05 am - Voted 10/10

Re: Flora and fauna

Finally (see my comment at the beginning of this dispute), I have come to think SP needs just one little H in between to make (nearly) everybody Happy: H that stands for Hiking (not necessarily in the highlands which some of SP'ers, beyond doubt, might be finding harder to get to at this or that point in their lives). The truth about Summitpost is that it is actually SHP, and it's OK:-)
I think it might be an idea to state this clearly somewhere at the top of the front page, perhaps in brackets.
As to the grading scale, which doesn't work any more, it does need to be simplified, at least to 0-1, or 0(off with it!)-1(I like it: for any reason!)-2(only a mermaid's missing). Here I'm referring to the currently being advertised nanuls's page (examples must be linked to the description)

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