UKC

Peter Beal thinks I was way too harsh on James Pearson, insinuating he inflated the grade to get headlines:"This is a good example of when someone ought to back away a bit and let the dust settle instead of insinuating that another climber is a liar with not enough experience or judgment. I would...

Read more at http://www.ukclimbing.com/news/item.php?id=55001

Some of these replies were posted on Björn's old blog website, and so won't be from registered UKC users

I agree that you were too harsh on James.

I think your tone would be more appropriate for someone who had lied about doing a route. He may be guilty of exaggerating the difficulty of his ascent, but that's not a terrible offense.

Thank YOU Peter. No need to apologize.

Bjorn, I'll agree with your statement about my going a bit too far and apologize. I tried to be careful in my choice of words but it's difficult to get the meanings right sometimes. Thanks for the debate on this topic.

i want to thank james pearson for creating a topic for such apologetic debate.

but seriously: there really isn't any ethical dilemma bound up in grade suggestion. it's like a restaurant review sans the impact on clientele. it's just not substantive. in other words: "no rocks were harmed in the utterance of this exaggeration"

but i do enjoy the speculation on why someone might inflate their grading guesswork.

thanks.