What Is Wrong With OLC?

I'm not sure why I'm being included in this conversation again and again. You boys are never going to convince me that OLC is meaningful or cool. It's not. But knock yourselves out trying. Keep focusing on uploading free distance flights. Keep morphin US contest tasking (global laughing stock) into the same boring non-sport. Clearly, many here are highly sensitive and even personally offended by my criticisms of OLC. Not my intention not my problem. I simply think OLC is bad for soaring. It's creating bad pilots who complain unless they are free to only follow the best clouds all afternoon.

OLC has, IMO, has created some very poor attitudes about what soaring is as a sport

This thread is aptly titled "What's wrong with OLC." Yes, I know this was in regards to account issues. Perhaps a better title could be "What's the value of a soaring website that pretends to score completely unrelatable free distance cross country glider flights worldwide and why do people actually care about this?"

How OLC became one of the most popular websites in soaring is curious to me.. I find its content (scoring) to be very low quality (random follow best clouds flying). It feels
like the lowest common denominator. We should be challenging ourselves more. Not just flying OLC. For me, and many others, OLC is so boring. It feels like a wasted opportunity to do something useful and challenging with a soaring day. It borders on being completely useless. This remains my opinion.

Sorry if this upsets you, but I feel we should try and get more out of cross country flying at least some significant portion of our flights. OLC lowers the common denominator.

Here is a little comedy relief. OLC is like shopping at the gap for all your clothes. Remember the movie "Crazy, Stupid Love?" Take a deep breath and watch this clip: https://youtu.be/-KsoPAXS0ME

Be better than than OLC. BE BETTER THAN THE GAP! There is so much more to soaring Than following the easiest possible path.

Sean

On Wednesday, 1 February 2017 07:09:21 UTC+2, Sean Fidler wrote:
I'm not sure why I'm being included in this conversation again and again.
Sean

Possibly because you wrote to this thread?

On Tuesday, January 31, 2017 at 9:09:21 PM UTC-8, Sean Fidler wrote:
I'm not sure why I'm being included in this conversation again and again. You boys are never going to convince me that OLC is meaningful or cool. It's not. But knock yourselves out trying. Keep focusing on uploading free distance flights. Keep morphin US contest tasking (global laughing stock) into the same boring non-sport. Clearly, many here are highly sensitive and even personally offended by my criticisms of OLC. Not my intention not my problem. I simply think OLC is bad for soaring. It's creating bad pilots who complain unless they are free to only follow the best clouds all afternoon.

OLC has, IMO, has created some very poor attitudes about what soaring is as a sport

This thread is aptly titled "What's wrong with OLC." Yes, I know this was in regards to account issues. Perhaps a better title could be "What's the value of a soaring website that pretends to score completely unrelatable free distance cross country glider flights worldwide and why do people actually care about this?"

How OLC became one of the most popular websites in soaring is curious to me. I find its content (scoring) to be very low quality (random follow best clouds flying). It feels
like the lowest common denominator. We should be challenging ourselves more. Not just flying OLC. For me, and many others, OLC is so boring. It feels like a wasted opportunity to do something useful and challenging with a soaring day. It borders on being completely useless. This remains my opinion.

Sorry if this upsets you, but I feel we should try and get more out of cross country flying at least some significant portion of our flights. OLC lowers the common denominator.

Here is a little comedy relief. OLC is like shopping at the gap for all your clothes. Remember the movie "Crazy, Stupid Love?" Take a deep breath and watch this clip: https://youtu.be/-KsoPAXS0ME

Be better than than OLC. BE BETTER THAN THE GAP! There is so much more to soaring Than following the easiest possible path.

Sean

"why do people actually care about this?" I for one don't. But you are taking one narrow aspect of soaring and raising it above all others. I don't much care about the results in the WGC either. What you are saying is kind of like saying, "if you don't play football with an oblong ball, it's not football." When to most of the world it is. If popularity is the gage, OLC is the answer, not Grand Prix, not WGC. They are very different, sure, but is one a better way to spend your afternoon than the other? I say we do this for fun, not money, so whatever turns your prop. One could as easily criticize WGC tasking as reality TV - made up artificial tasks with no purpose. Do what you want. Don't criticize others for doing what they want. If you have the magic formula that will attract tens of thousands of participants, by all means, organize it. Whining does not accomplish that.

Sometimes the arrogance shown on RAS is absolutely astounding. Over 14,000 pilots worldwide disagree with our self-appointed arbiter of "what is and is not soaring."

I fly gliders to experience the thrill of using the atmosphere and its energy in my lifelong quest to avoid yardwork. I don't like competition, but admire those that do compete. It would be nice if Sean at least recognized that others might not share his competitive desire.

And I am sure that he was dropped on this earth with a full-blown set of competition skills, and never took a flight that did not involve a "task."

On Wednesday, February 1, 2017 at 5:58:01 AM UTC-8, wrote:
Sometimes the arrogance shown on RAS is absolutely astounding. Over 14,000 pilots worldwide disagree with our self-appointed arbiter of "what is and is not soaring."

Agreed! It is shocking how so many of us these days in all sorts of media conflate our opinions and preferences into some absolute that is best and right for all. And equally shocking how opinions expressed by others have absolutely no affect on others perspectives. Rather, it's the opposite, the more opinions expressed the further people dig in. Considering a different perspective doesn't mean you have to change yours, jesus, go crazy give it a whirl... I once declared loudly to all in band class that Rush was the best band ever. I was 13. At some point since then I've realized that might not be true, and not that wise...

So, nothing that happens on OLC or in any race anywhere in the world has much if any affect on soaring for me so I'm not sure how either could wreck, or make great, soaring. I do like to use OLC, think there is some value to it for me (strangely the same pilots routinely log the longest and fastest flights out of the area they fly, how do they do it?), and I like following contests real time and otherwise.

OTOH, get ready to hold two thoughts in your head at once (hint, "OLC flying" (proof itself that you don't get it) and contest flying is good). I'd rather be shot in the gut than fly a contest on a great soaring day. But I totally get it and if I had all summer to fly would love to add contest flying to it all. I might even find that I like it more than "flying OLC contests", I don't f%#*^ing know. However, I get maybe 4 good soaring days in the glider each year, days that really interest me. I want to see how far I can go, in a single direction, a new area I haven't been before, a declared task for a state record, or following my buddies around. Or I might get "distracted by a great cloud or something" like Gleb.

On Tuesday, January 31, 2017 at 9:09:21 PM UTC-8, Sean Fidler wrote:
I'm not sure why I'm being included in this conversation again and again. You boys are never going to convince me that OLC is meaningful or cool. It's not. But knock yourselves out trying. Keep focusing on uploading free distance flights. Keep morphin US contest tasking (global laughing stock) into the same boring non-sport. Clearly, many here are highly sensitive and even personally offended by my criticisms of OLC. Not my intention not my problem. I simply think OLC is bad for soaring. It's creating bad pilots who complain unless they are free to only follow the best clouds all afternoon.

OLC has, IMO, has created some very poor attitudes about what soaring is as a sport

This thread is aptly titled "What's wrong with OLC." Yes, I know this was in regards to account issues. Perhaps a better title could be "What's the value of a soaring website that pretends to score completely unrelatable free distance cross country glider flights worldwide and why do people actually care about this?"

How OLC became one of the most popular websites in soaring is curious to me. I find its content (scoring) to be very low quality (random follow best clouds flying). It feels
like the lowest common denominator. We should be challenging ourselves more. Not just flying OLC. For me, and many others, OLC is so boring. It feels like a wasted opportunity to do something useful and challenging with a soaring day. It borders on being completely useless. This remains my opinion.

Sorry if this upsets you, but I feel we should try and get more out of cross country flying at least some significant portion of our flights. OLC lowers the common denominator.

Here is a little comedy relief. OLC is like shopping at the gap for all your clothes. Remember the movie "Crazy, Stupid Love?" Take a deep breath and watch this clip: https://youtu.be/-KsoPAXS0ME

Be better than than OLC. BE BETTER THAN THE GAP! There is so much more to soaring Than following the easiest possible path.

Sean

To prove my points, just flip it around and it's easy to realize the meaninglessness and ridiculousness of the both sides of it. And, I think it's funny.

"You boys are never going to convince me that contest flying is meaningful or cool. It's not. But knock yourselves out trying. Keep focusing on directly comparing each other based on obscure rules that ignore most of the soaring day. Keep morphin US contest flying (global laughing stock) into the same boring non-sport. Clearly, many here are highly sensitive and even personally offended by my criticisms of contest flying. Not my intention not my problem. I simply think contest flying is bad for soaring. It's creating bad pilots who complain unless they are free to only follow the rules all afternoon.

Contest flying has, IMO, has created some very poor attitudes about what soaring is as a sport

This thread is aptly titled "What's wrong with contest flying." Yes, I know this was in regards to account issues. Perhaps a better title could be "What's the value of a soaring contest that pretends to score completely unrelatable tasked glider flights contest wide and why do people actually care about this?"

How the contest results page became one of the most popular websites in soaring is curious to me. I find its content (scoring) to be very low quality (random following of obscure contest rules). It feels
like the lowest common denominator. We should be challenging ourselves more. Not just flying contests. For me, and many others, contest flying is so boring. It feels like a wasted opportunity to do something useful and challenging with a soaring day. It borders on being completely useless. This remains my opinion.

Sorry if this upsets you, but I feel we should try and get more out of contest flying at least some significant portion of our flights. Contest flying lowers the common denominator."

snip

I say we do this for fun, not money, so whatever turns your prop. One
could as easily criticize WGC tasking as reality TV - made up artificial
tasks with no purpose. Do what you want. Don't criticize others for
doing what they want. If you have the magic formula that will attract
tens of thousands of participants, by all means, organize it. Whining
does not accomplish that.

What???

I do this for the money and the chicks. I'm sure they're out there and
looking for me thanks to my stellar OLC record. Maybe I should try a
contest...

And yes, this thread was about an account issue which has (finally) been
addressed.

--
Dan, 5J

On 2/1/2017 9:58 AM, Dan Marotta wrote:
snip

I say we do this for fun, not money, so whatever turns your prop. One
could as easily criticize WGC tasking as reality TV - made up artificial
tasks with no purpose. Do what you want. Don't criticize others for doing
what they want. If you have the magic formula that will attract tens of
thousands of participants, by all means, organize it. Whining does not
accomplish that.

What???

I do this for the money and the chicks. I'm sure they're out there and
looking for me thanks to my stellar OLC record. Maybe I should try a
contest...

And yes, this thread was about [my] account issue which has (finally) been
addressed.


Ah. So it's all *your* fault then. Bwaa ha ha ha-a-a!

Bob W.

P.S. For a moment there, I started having flashbacks to vaguely remembered
grade school arguments. Every male probably remembers 'em: my favored
"whatever" is better than your favored "whatever!"...the "whatevers"
representing matters of purely personal choice. I thought they were
pointless/dumb/silly back then, too.

Dan,
Sell me your Stemme at a big discount and give me all your OLC points or I'm going to forward your last text to your wife!
Mike

I came clean and told her so I get to keep the Stemme! Just had to warm
up her coffee cup for her.

On 2/1/2017 6:10 PM, Duster wrote:
Dan,
Sell me your Stemme at a big discount and give me all your OLC points or I'm going to forward your last text to your wife!
Mike

--
Dan, 5J