What Is Wrong With OLC?

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."