In reply to mop449:
Generally not proper redpoint ethics. The logic of the redpoint ethic is based on what it's like to free solo a route. The rope and quickdraws are only there in case of a fall. So preclipping bolts is essentially a form of aid. On a hard route clipping a bolt can be really hard so if you use a stick to clip then you've skipped some of the difficulty of the climb. That's the idea from French and German climbing at least where redpointing came from.
In Britain things evolved differently. When bolts were first placed on routes, because they were considered unethical, routes were often done with the minimum bolts required. One way of minimizing the bolts was to place the first bolt as high as you could. So here we've got a legacy of climbs with really high first bolts. Since most climbers don't generally want to take big risks when they go climbing the stick clip has become an acceptable way around the problem.
Additionally some routes with hard, usually steep starts, it's become acceptable to deliberately place the first bolt high so one can climb the hard bit without having to clip a bolt every few feet. Sometimes though it can be hard to keep the rope of the way of the climber so a directional lower first bolt is placed for that purpose. In such cases the second bolt is designed to be pre-clipped.
Another point is that where are some routes where a fall while clipping the second bolt could land you on the deck. So if a route is like that many climbers, not wanting to risk a ground fall, will pre clip the second.
If you're pre-clipping the bolts though simply to save yourself the effort then you're effectively making the route less strenuous which is a form of cheating. A technique often used to get round strenuous second or even third clips to climb up and clip the rope into the bolts then down climb back to the ground. If you do that its usually considered fine to leave rope clipped that way for the rest of the day or all subsequent tries on the route. The logic is back to free climbing. You haven't weighted the rope, or in other words used it as a form of aid.
So the somewhat organic evolution of climbing has made the ethics somewhat complicated. But if you understand the rational you'll be well placed to make your own decisions for each route.
