UKC

Wouldn't it be cool if UKC allowed you to comment on your friends ascents and give them "kudos" for their successes? I'd also love to be able to "follow" strong climbers that aren't "my partners" and have a feed of their ascents, where I can see what they're up to and get inspired.

I know this sounds a lot like Strava, but there doesn't seem to be anything close to it for climbing, and UKC already has the baseline of users and functionalities to develop such a social feature.

Maybe you could also opt-out if you're not interested in it, and just keep the basic logging functionality.

Is this crazy? Am I the only one?

There is an app called "Vertical Life" that attempts to do exactly this. My local wall has all it's indoor routes and boulder problems in it, but most outdoor routes are subscription only which limits its appeal.

I've had a think about Strava like features before. Having and being constantly bombarded by Strava to give my mates and even non-mates Kudos though, I was kinda put off by it all.

I'm not sure it's a healthy level of engagement.

The idea about having a separate list of users to Follow that aren't climbing partners sounds interesting though, I'll have a think about that, it could just be another tab here: https://www.ukclimbing.com/logbook/latest_ascents.php

I have Strava, and follow people and give kudos. But I turned off the notifications so I wasn't bombarded, easy enough to do.

Sounds like a potentially interesting idea for UKC.

But you could just say well done to your friends when you see them?

You don't have to take that very far out of context for it to sound rather like stalking.

You are probably too young to have memories of photos of a naked Jerry Moffatt tied up by crazed Irish fanboy in a derelict building near Stoney, and being threatened with an iron bar if Jerry didn't go and belay Grimer (sorry - crazed Irish fanboy) on his "proj"... although I don't think anyone called them projs back then. 

Its still here:

https://www.ukclimbing.com/articles/features/king_of_the_crag-4032

Or just climb because you enjoy it, and not worry about grades, stars, likes, dislikes, kudos..  the only success is walking off from the base of the crag content with your day and nobody else needs to know about it. 

Strava has a climbing category, doesn't it ? not that I've used it.

Will there be a 'mockery' button as well? My climbing partners would need that to comment on my abilities.

Surely, UKC doesn't need to follow the Stava model exactly?

I agree with the OP that it would be nice to give a thumbs up and a comment on partners logs of their big ticks. It look pretty split if the OP's likes/dislikes are anything to go by.

Presumably we could tick a box to opt in or out of receiving feedback on or logs so i can't see a problem for those that aren't intrested.

True, but the app seems to have terrible reviews and it's completely disconnected from UKC

LakesWinter:

I do that already, of course! But not for people that I don't really know well in person...

In reply to summo:

I already do
But climbing is also something social, and I love the social aspect of climbing.

In reply to GrahamD:

It does, but no climber uses it and it feels almost useless, since it only tracks the time :/

Along with an "Excuses" category. My pockets are filled with them and they need emptying ;p

I agree, I do enough of that nonsense for my own amusement when I'm cycling or running, climbing is my escape from all that jazz. Going full activity tracker sucks the soul out of it in my opinion, but lots of people might enjoy it, each to their own and all that.

Also would provide a platform to further plug those climax bracelet thingys ;p

Nah, it’s a logbook.. not a sharing platform. 

I don't have any.

I thought this was a joke thread, but it then occurred to me that you might actually be serious?

Definitely not something I'd be interested in. I use Strava, but it's never occurred to me to "follow" someone who wasn't a friend of mine. Is this actually a thing?

Sounds like utter bollocks. 

I thought it had become consensus that this aspect of social media just makes people want to kill themselves?

Sorry to be harsh, but I just thought we were at the point in history where everyone realised what we'd got wrong up to now. Maybe not.

Is this crazy? yes

I find a simple "Well done (you bastard)" suffices usually.

I'm not sure strava falls into the same category as Facebook, Snapchat and Instagram type apps. 

The general vibe with strava is more encouraging, giving someone a pat on the back when they've achieved something Impressive. 

Personally I log things on Strava privately as I dislike the idea of people tracking me no matter how well meaning they are. But I like being able to track my fitness.

"Stop analysing Strava, and cut your hedge" Nigel Blackwell

I agree, I find it encouraging, especially if you're type of person that is their own worst critic. Eg feel like crap on a ride for whatever reason but get home and realise you've set a new PB on xyz segments. 

Not sure how this would translate to climbing and it still be fun but each to their own and all that.

Maybe it's like when you find a route really difficult for the grade and then when you log iron UKC you find loads of people complaining that it's a total sandbag and loads of people couldn't even get off the floor.

All falls under the banner of creating an online profile in order to seek approval from others, then quantitatively comparing yourself to others, specifically in your popularity, and attention-worthiness. 

I guess it is slightly less shit when the metric you're putting out on your profile is your climbing ability, rather than the visual appeal of your haircut, child, dinner, etc (whatever you've got to offer in return for attention) - but it can still f*ck right off, from me. 

I don't know what Sataravar is, sounds like some exotic type of coffee or possibly a Norwegian deity. But based on your description, that sounds like like a awful idea. I mean, isn't Inster Gram already like that? You can subscribe pro climbers and they all put up photos of their latest sends and everyone comments and views and likes the bell icon and emogies and so on?

However as I'm almost certainly now just a grumpy old git who mainly only armchair climbs anymore, my opinion might not be valid.

Oh, for sure this is a thing, there are whole plaforms on the internet now where you can just watch people doing what they normally do with their daily lives. It's called rivering I think, kind of like reality TV only without a budget (though I guess there are probably super popular ones with their own 24/7 film team - sort of like The Truman Show).

I think psychologists might talk about internal vs external locus of evaluation...

Do you think the log books in their current format fall into this category? They’re already basically strava in that they allow you to keep a record and (if you want) make that record public.  The addition of a function to allow people to comment on or “like” that record is hardly controversial is it? People already comment on other people’s ascents on the route comments.

I use strava and find it pretty motivational when I’m fit but I stay off it when injured as it can be a bit demoralising.  Same with the log books I suppose.

There was something on here a while ago about the negative effects of the logbooks/top ascents lists and I know people have stopped using strava for the same reason. 
 
I’d probably use the function if it was available and I start climbing a bit more again.  It seems a marginally more appropriate thing to use climbing website for than a great big dick swinging contest about who can get the most thumbs up for their opinion about brexit.

I would expect if I used it, I would finish work after a load of dementia patients and find I've got a stack of notifications on my phone saying "ooh look, so and so has just onsighted an E6 in Pembroke...and so-and-so has done a sport route you don't care about in Kalymnos, and so-and-so has done a boulder problem you'll never be good enough to even pull on to...you want to tell them how great they are, don't you, so they'll notice you and like you?". Which sounds shit. Then if I was to put on whatever climbing I'd done at the weekend, I could be made to feel good or shit depending on how impressed other people were, and how many of them, and whether I considered them high-status and was flattered by their attention... What a load of old shit.

Well, if you're posting to try to get thumbs up on this website then yes, that's a total waste of time. Those buttons are bullshit. But political discussion is political discussion, I think it's very worthwhile, especially with the incredibly shit state of this country, and online is a really good format (time to think before posting, include links to evidence, talk with people you'd never go to the pub with, etc.). If the Rocktalk forum was flooded with politics, that would be inappropriate. Political discussion in the Politics forum? Sounds appropriate to me.

reading that made me think of Mountain Spirit!

Nah... I've climbed with Sav.

No, it would not be cool.