MtnProject bought by REI

I've posted an official announcement in a new thread. I wanted to tell the admins first (which I did yesterday) and give them a day before making it public. I encourage you to read my post; hopefully it will answer some of the questions and assumptions above.

mountainproject.com/v/mp-an…

So, has contributed content been miss-used to date? Do you really think REI would want to do that and piss off the community? It makes no sense. Keep the paranoia in check folks.

Austin Baird wrote:Y'all can probably put away your sackcloth and ashes and quit with the doomsaying. There's not going to be a mass exodus of content and it's beyond laughable to think that REI will enact a "paywall" (seriously. that's ludicrous). A coupla guys put a lot of time and money into a project and now it paid off for them. (I somehow doubt they were living large off the ads and "deals" tab.) Congrats Andy and Nick!

Well said.

I don't see REI doing anything stupid and if you read Nick's announcement things look to be in good hands.

J Albers. Serious question. What do you propose? Should Andy and Nick reject the offer? Reject the chance to improve the site? Keep running it out of their garage? Seriously. Would you prefer that they didn't make any money at all? If you're ok with them making money, how do you propose that they do it?

Austin Baird wrote:J Albers. Serious question. What do you propose? Should Andy and Nick reject the offer? Reject the chance to improve the site? Keep running it out of their garage? Seriously. Would you prefer that they didn't make any money at all? If you're ok with them making money, how do you propose that they do it?

That's not what I said Austin. I am fine with them making some money. And I would certainly be fine if someone builds up a business and then sells it off. This kind of thing happens all the time in the business world, its how small startup owners get rich. But the difference here is that MP was NOT just built by Andy and Nick. Sure, they put a lot of time and effort into it, but they would not exist without all of us adding the content. They would just have a shell of a website. Empty. Nodda. Nothing. Thus they don't own a standard startup. They own content that was "given" to them under the implicit agreement between us and them that this was a community based website. And selling it -- and along with it all of OUR hard work and effort -- to a big corporate conglomerate seems to violate the spirit of the our community based "agreement".

I don't have a good solution, but I don't think its a stretch for you to understand why some of us are feeling nervous about this.

Congratulations to Nick and Andy. Smart dudes working on the American Dream, I hope you got lots of money for your 10 year project.

This site WILL change for sure, nothing stays the same.

I wounder if Super Topo was considered by REI. If it was, that might explain why a lot of the more colorful posters were recently booted.

J. Albers wrote: The difference here is that MP was NOT just built by Andy and Nick. Sure, they put a lot of time and effort into it, but they would not exist without all of us adding the content. They would just have a shell of a website. Empty. Nodda. Nothing.

Reminds me of that Zuckerberg guy and his stupid "facebook". He didn't do anything but create a shell.

Congratulations Nick and Andy! Love to see hard work rewarded and after your move to expand with the other sites (I'm a regular contributor in hiking project.com) I saw the writing on the wall - you laid down a bold strategy and obviously REI saw the potential! Love smart people being rewarded.

Albers ... Another perspective - So I gather then that Twitter and Facebook should never have sold and/or gone public since they are not content creators but content facilitator? That is what I see MP is...and I would suggest that we participants get as much, if not more, out of this than we contribute.

Not worried at all in my perspective.REI is about the only company that I would have the least concerns about partnering with. Responsible company with a great culture of giving back and being part of the community! Awesome partnership in my opinion.

Cornelius Jefferson wrote:So do they now own the rights to all the content on the site? The pics and route descriptions and what not? Cause that is definitely not what I signed up for.

This is my primary concern/question...does REI own my pictures and the content I contributed?

Dr. Long Arm wrote: Reminds me of that Zuckerberg guy and his stupid "facebook". He didn't do anything but create a shell.

There is a big difference. Everyone who posts to Facebook knows full well that when the upload content it will be mined like a mountainside in Peru. In contrast, we all uploaded and donated content under no such auspices. Big, big difference.

Dylan B wrote:Lots of businesses--especially internet buisnesses--only have one valuable asset: your information. That's how Google and Facebook work. I don't see anything different about MP.

Yeah, you are right. But I also find it creepy and annoying. But one crucial difference is that I don't give two poops about what Google does with my searches and I get the choice each time I search to use a different browser, say DuckDuckGo or whatever. That's not the case here. We all added content and then it was sold without a choice.

bender

According to Mr Cornelius Jefferson's page he has contributed a total of 0 routes and 0 areas... What are you afraid REI is going to steal from you CJ? Your asshole posts? I can guarantee they aren't interested in those. Complaining the loudest... Contributing the least...

Congrats to Nick and Sam on their success and for everyone else that has helped made it the community it is today. MP is a corner stone to climbing community.

J Albiers has a right to his opinion and there is no reason to be upset at it. Austin Baird...not everyone has defend their position every time they express an opinion or thought. Bruh just leave it be.

Oh for Pete's sake, people are silly.

REI is not a corporation, for one thing. Take a deep bleeping breath, Chicken Littles.

J. Albers wrote: There is a big difference. Everyone who posts to Facebook knows full well that when the upload content it will be mined like a mountainside in Peru. In contrast, we all uploaded and donated content under no such auspices. Big, big difference. Yeah, you are right. But I also find it creepy and annoying. But one crucial difference is that I don't give two poops about what Google does with my searches and I get the choice each time I search to use a different browser, say DuckDuckGo or whatever. That's not the case here. We all added content and then it was sold without a choice.

In the beginning, Facebook was also a tight community with similar expectations. It got valuable and it became prudent to capitalize. Same thing

Oh and to the person who said they should have told us, they probably signed a bilateral non-disclosure agreement which covers even the fact that a transaction might happen. No way REI's lawyers allowed them to start negotiating without one.

teece303 wrote:REI is not a corporation, for one thing.

You think the distinction between a corporation and a co-op is really relevant here? Especially for those that aren't REI members?

more importantly, will I be able to earn dividends with my posts?... : )

I'm all for the guys making money. But it does seem weird and much different than selling something like Facebook.

This is a large database that was built by a community of people who I think viewed mountainproject essentially as a .org not a .com.

I really don't know how I feel about the whole matter. I think it raises some really interesting questions in this day and age of information and technology.

I'm disappointed to say the least... I hate everything REI consumerism stand for.