Chuck hadn't even posted before our first 'dialogue' here and I get strong sense of distaste for any type of discussion re: UL, not to mention plenty of subtle ribbing in totally unrelated posts. I do realize that there's history, and certain past/current members (myself incl.) may at times be overzealous/indelicate with their thoughts, but from an outsider's POV, the resulting beatings/dog-piles appear to be way out of proportion, and with collateral damage that stifles new ideas and good conversation.

Even a little trolling/combativeness can lead to health debate and ideas - I personally was interested in getting a sense of where a bike started to lose its mechanical advantage on a steep grade (as mentioned, I had the same thoughts on certain climbs), and even your sarcastic 'alpine climbing' comment is important to me because I physically carry all my gear with reasonable frequency (eg, ~quarter mile 2x day when stealth camping) across un-ride/push-able terrain.

As far as trolling is concerned, isn't the best medicine to simply ignore it? Some feed on attention... so starve the worst of the troll posts and focus on the interesting tangents (at least to some of us).

Peace.