[squeek]

Just saw the post by "Malcom Smith" on planetfear that Steve Dunning has done dreamtime, and thought it was 8b+ -ish.  Did I miss this piece of news or is this the first time someones heard about it?

[Bubba]

Well Steve said he was off to try it over xmas so it's probably true - did you get any video of it Steve??

[dave]

nice effort - particularly if he's the first on with the guts to downgrade it. Reeeeeet bo!

[squeek]

Oh no, 8a is now accusing me of spreading rumours!  

Think I'm going to have to write a disclaimer as my sig?    :wink:

[ian h]

well has or hasnt he

http://www.planetfear.com/climbing/forum/t.html?t=2418

[Pantontino]

It amazes me the authority with which these dismissive statements are made (see planetfear). Steve did it on 27th December. He compared it in difficulty to his Caley traverse, Ullola (a mere V13!). he also said that the Stamina band - PUTP link (that John Gaskins did back in the summer) felt a bit harder (although he hasn't actually completed this).

I'm tellin' ya, Brit grades are nails!

[ian h]

the bit about the putp link is quite interesting

[unclesomebody]

Well, according to pantontino i am incorrect.  I was just repeating what someone had told me, and this person was in the know about Steve's trip.  But, if you have heard it straight from the horses mouth (which seems to be the only way to verify things these days!) then good effort and congratulations!

[squeek]

Not trying to stir it or anything, but this seems like a pretty interesting opinion.

"He compared it in difficulty to his Caley traverse, Ullola (a mere V13!)."

Didn't he give High Fidelity (I think), the highball problem on great flake at Caley, V13+, a little harder maybe...  ?   :wink:

[squeek]

Oh and a "Good effort!" to Steve  

[lifer]

big up steve - all that stamina training paid off? :D

[chris]

saw steve on sunday at the remergance block, he has done dreamtime, he didnt really mention what grade he thought it was, dont think he cares too much, talked about hubble more!

[Pantontino]

Those threads on Planet fear are way out of hand.

The site moderators must be really proud of what they've created.

And Gareth Parry should know better than to get involved in shabby playground taunting - even if it is through insinuation and subtle innuendo. Is he really doubting John Gaskins as well?

It makes you really proud to be part of the British climbing scene - we're just one big happy family, nobody gets jealous, there's no back stabbing or malicious rumours started and we all treat each other with respect.

Both the people who started these rumours and those who have helped to propagate them should be deeply ashamed of themselves.

I guess every dog has its day, and the loud mouths will end up deeply regretting their part in this sorry affair once the dust has settled.

Steve isn't the only one who is getting back stabbed by vicious rumour - I know of several other recent examples (and I'm not talking about the Si O'Connor debacle).
The British climbing scene is in a sorry state - too many precious egos in close proximity and too many sycophants and band wagon jumpers hanging on the every word of their rock star hero, instead of thinking for themselves.

Right now, I'm just about as disillusioned as you can get.

[Doylo]

It is getting pretty ridiculous over there. The backstabbing amongst the elite is pretty sad to see.  The anonymous accusations are pretty scathing and should be removed.

[Pantontino]

I don't believe you should run a forum like that. You need formal registration and active moderators, or else it just descends in to ugly playground taunts.

I've e-mailed Adrian Berry today telling him I think it's time that he did something about the state of their forum.

I'm not against free speech, but I am against gutless, anonymous slaggings based on hearsay and bullshit rumour.

[ian h]

oh dear all a bit sad

[Bubba]

I don't believe you should run a forum like that. You need formal registration and active moderators, or else it just descends in to ugly playground taunts.

I've e-mailed Adrian Berry today telling him I think it's time that he did something about the state of their forum.

I'm not against free speech, but I am against gutless, anonymous slaggings based on hearsay and bullshit rumour.

The quality of discussion in forums that allow anonymous posters is generally terrible. This is the main problem with the Rocktalk and Planetfear forums. Anybody can post under the name of whomever they want to pretend to be which just leads to mistrust and trolling on a huge scale. They don't even require a valid email address.
Even a forum that requires registration such as this one can still be abused, but it's much easier to block/ban troublemakers by username/email/IP/etc to keep things in hand.

[dave]

the planetfear forum is a joke - it needs removing for everyone's good.

[squeek]

you're not wrong.  I generally only read the first post on most of them anyway.

[dave]

judging by some of the replies on there, thats a damn sight more than most posters do.

[a dense loner]

it doesn't need removin. where would they go then???  

[a dense loner]

i don't look at planet fear, i choose to read wot i want n take on board wot looks like valid interestin points/news. so why is this damagin the british climbin scene? wot climbin scene? if we're referiin to the retractors/doubters, this has always bin so n will continue. now thy've got a bit of a stage, where they never had b4, for many reasons ie.magazine editin. some of them may actually have good grounds for a rant, has anyone thought of this b4 we go gettin on our high horses, it's a long way down!  :shock:  

[Pantontino]

If they've got good grounds for making accusations, then they should have the guts to drop the cowardly anonymous posting and state their sources/evidence etc.

I think if you were on the recieving end of this type of thing (like Steve is) you might think differently.


The only reticence that I have about laying into the Planet Fear goons is that they are probably enjoying all the fuss they've created. Perhaps it would be better to deprive them the oxygen of publicity.

I hear bitchy, backstabbing comments from climbers all the time, but it doesn't mean I think to regurgitate this rubbish on a public forum.

People are so full of shit and the vast majority of negative comments you hear are based on nothing more than jealousy.

Climbing culture is based on trust and respect - as soon as that dissolves, we have regressed.

[dave]

the sad fact of forums run by commercial websites is that idle gossip/bitching/slander equals more traffic for the site, and that equals more revenue for the providers of that site, be it diretectly through purchases or from advert banners etc. So at the end of the day neither rockfax or planetfear are going to close off the unregistered users cos they will lose money. That is wny i think these kind of conporate sponsered forums have their limits, adn this is why independant forums like this one are so important.

[Pantontino]

I got a reply back from Adrian Berry this morning. He says that they are just about to revamp the entire site, including the forum.

The offending thread has also been removed (along with one criticising the quality of the forum and a particularly childish - albeit vaguely amusing - slanging match).

I take Dave's point about controversy=increased traffic. It's just like selling tabloid papers, however there comes a point when the advertisers will start to worry about having their reputation tarnished by association with something (such as the PF forum) that is widely regarded as a messy joke.

So I guess some controversy is good (thus Mick Ryan is tolerated by Alan James) but if gets too cheap and trashy (like Crag X did) then it'll soon go under.