...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.
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
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 :)
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.
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...
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)
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 ?
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)
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 - 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 - 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 - 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 - 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 - 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 - 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 - 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 - 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 - Mar 7, 2009 11:05 am - Voted 10/10
Re: Flora and faunaFinally (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)