I didn't make an ad hominem attack and posting a comment on the internet isn't a game that one can lose.
Your comment demonstrates a lack of knowledge about rock climbing. Free soloing, which is climbing without protection, is far from the mainstream. You saw a video of it because it is an amazing display of mental toughness and physical fitness. Please don't use this as a stick by which to measure all other climbing endeavors.
This is just another way of saying you will probably never climb anything yourself, as well as that you prefer publicity stunts to authenticity.
Free soloing is not a publicity stunt, but 99.9% of the time, free soloing with a camera crew is.
I'm not a big fan of people who do that, since it encourages people to stupidly emulate what ought to be a deeply personal (spiritual, even) choice made by someone with the experience to choose wisely. "Coolness" only enters the picture if you're an idiot.
well, the footage was from 25 years ago, and it didn't get any publicity so I don't think it was a stunt. I seem to recall the footage as have being shot from very far away, so I don't think the guy brought a camera crew.
You may be right, that I am an "idiot" because I think free soloing is "cool" and admire people like John Bachar. I don't judge the right way to climb or not, you are probably in a better position to judge other people and the correct way to climb, who has the right to emulate what, who is wise and who is stupid. I guess we disagree about my right to think of free soloing as being cool, but I prefer not to call you or anyone else names, and would like to sincerely apologize to anyone who was offended by my opinions.
Also, please. You may have read in the past that hackers have a sharp, cold, swift tone, and that it's okay in that culture to be rude when you're voicing your opinion in brief, but please read what you say and lose the edge to your talking. Every sentence I've read from you in this thread has been drenched in a generally aggressive and rude tone, as many other people have pointed out. It's not just one or two people that see your responses as such, it's a lot of people. I use the down-voting of your comments as evidence, and if that's not enough, the up-voting of the comments of those who have responded to you.
Even look at your most recent response. Mentally, I can see you saying with this greater-than-thou smug look on your face, "Request Denied."
I encourage you to, before you respond to someone, read what you wrote to them as though it were being said to you. Do you seem heartless, rude, a jerk? Write it again without the insulting tone. You don't get points for being mean. In fact, in the real world, you lose them; and you're not Dijkstra. You're not allowed to be rude and continue to earn favor anyway, yet.
>And what you lose from ad hominem attacks is credibility.
If calling someone out for being rude is an ad hominem attack (it isn't), then calling somebody out for using ad hominem attacks is a 'argument from fallacy' fallacy (it isn't, for similar reasons).
(both are not applicable here because nobody basing their arguments on them)
Furthermore, don't deal it if you can't take it...
As far as the "dealing it out and not taking it," I only expressed my personal opinion about a subject, I wasn't attacking anyone personally, as others, in my opinion, did to me.
Having said that, I never thought I was "dealing it out" to anyone personally to begin with, so I wanted to apologize to anyone who was offended by anything I said.
No one said you can't use it as your "coolness test". If you expressed the opinion that free soloing is cooler than what this guy did, you wouldn't be getting down-voted. It's the fact that [seemingly] couldn't understand why anyone would want to do any sort of climbing that is in-between riding an escalator and free soloing mountains AND the fact that you did so in a subjectively rude manner.
Actually someone did do that and called me an "idiot" for thinking free soloing is cool.
But you are right, the fact that I don't see the appeal of the middle ground, and that I expressed my opinion in a "subjectively rude manner" was a mistake. Of course, I was disappointed that rather than just ignore a honest personal opinion or explain the joy of the middle ground, people attacked me personally. But that is fine, and I would like to apologize to anyone who was offended by my personal opinion and attempts to defend myself. Life is too short and I don't want anyone feeling bad about what I said. I apologize if I offended anyone.
Your comment demonstrates a lack of knowledge about rock climbing. Free soloing, which is climbing without protection, is far from the mainstream. You saw a video of it because it is an amazing display of mental toughness and physical fitness. Please don't use this as a stick by which to measure all other climbing endeavors.