contributor "competition" is killing this site.

... I rarely find myself here on MP anymore, and the main reason is that the quality of contributions has gone steadily Downhill.... and the reason for this, in my opinion, is the competition for points given to contributors... all I see now is crappy route postings with a few words and no photos.... I personally believe this "competition" should be stopped, it does more harm than good.... does anyone really care who's submitted the most... that is besides the ten people who are at the top of the list battling for that imaginary coveted top spot? Meanwhile Mountain project is becoming irrelevant as people trying to slam more routes and dumb pointless photos on here... "problem A, problem B, problem C" I mean, really? That is the best you can do?

The area I like to visit, the Bar near Sacramento, has been inundated by crappy listings, someone decided to come in and just copy the guidebook, but without any creativity or photos... pretty obvious they didnt do all these problems...

there's this: mountainproject.com/v/mixol…

then there's this: mountainproject.com/v/gasto…

I just dont get it, but I understand my opinion matters little, the quality of content obviously inst that important here. sorry for commenting. //DJS

Hey, sorry to hear you're frustrated about some of the content.

This is actually an issue that we (the site developers and admins) are making a big effort to sort out at the moment. In the last month or so, a major new feature was introduced, where you can suggest improvements to any area/route. Just go to the page that you think needs improvements and up there near the top (just under the weather forecast) is a big blue "Improve this page" button. Try it out!

It doesn't implement your suggestions immediately: it goes to the original contributor and area admin to filter out spam/vandalism.

im glad to hear you guys are addressing this... I will try this new thing you speak of... sounds like a step in the right direction. MP has so much potential to be the go-to source for world wide climbing Beta, its sad to see it reduced to a race to post the most >>> without any fore-thought as to the quality of the content... Its that age old conundrum, "quality vs quantity" ... I personally prefer quality, but thats just me.

While I agree there are some people that are probably just trying to get as many points as possible. I do not think it is as bad of a problem as you think. I have always assumed a lot of the vague area descriptions and lack of photos were due to locals trying to keep those crags somewhat void of tourists/non locals.

I think the points do have a reasoning and help provide an idea of how active each member is. If they are putting up shitty routes/areas with no photos or pictures then I wouldn't really trust them as much as the guy who develops whole crags then pus stellar beta and photos on MP.

Really? I doubt anybody gives a shit about that points system.

I like people that don’t post loads of information about routes and sometimes even pictures. If you know everything about the route, anchors, and gear. It kind of takes some of the adventure out of the climb. I know many people that only post a little about the route to preserve the essence of the first ascent and keep the adventure in the climb.

As an admin, I've removed a few routes after asking the submitter to add a minimum of required info.
MP is not RC or SP, if I see a windmill, butterflies, flowers and dogs on route pics, I'll be moving those pics out of there.

i know about the "contributions" tab when you visit someone's profile but i honestly didn't know that "points' were given. anytime i post a route it's mainly a. for me to "tick" it and b. to tell everyone else how fun it was. if i can't get a good route picture i try my best to adequately describe the location and link screenshots to the page of google maps as far zoomed in as possible and the a little more zoomed out with approach beta. i agree with the OP though that it is pretty frustrating going to a route on mp.com and only seeing a few words for the info like "approach from the west and climb the arete..."

In my opinion, here's how to do it:

mountainproject.com/v/gift-…

There was a rash of really awful contributions to the NRG section. There were dozens of routes with 6 word descriptions and no useful information whatsoever, not even where to find them! Thankfully it looks like most have been deleted. It should be made extremely clear that if you haven't climbed a route, you have no business putting it on MP.

It is true that detailed descriptions might remove the adventure aspect of a climb, but I personally don't go to MP if I'm looking to onsight something.

Sulli, I understand your perspective, but this point system has been in place since when these were individual climbingxxx.com sites. IMHO, this is an individual-specific issue. We've seen it come and go over the years. You might consider PM'ing the individual(s) you see doing this and politely request them to improve the quality of their submissions. In my experience, this has helped somewhat. Also, as John Marsella writes, you can submit improvements or suggestions to an admin. We've been incorporating some of these for years.

Finally, lead by example and post quality submissions.

Thanks.