Vincent BattsJust learned about https://openbeta.io/
Neat climbing community and map where folks can describe the routes.
Even has a fediverse instance https://community.openbeta.io/
There is a lot of neat stuff about this #OpenBeta platform, but already I'm sad to see that they are scraping other platforms and appear to be relicensing the content to CC0.
Their discord is full of discussion where they debate whether that's even legal.
😑🤦
So, I'll be avoiding OpenBeta for now.
Even if there are paid features, it seems https://www.mountainproject.com is the active community.
devnull@[email protected] perhaps before you judge too harshly, you should read the EFF piece on the matter
The debate on the Discord centred around the moral and ethical implications, which are far more nuanced.
Free as in Climbing: Rock Climber’s Open Data Project Threatened by Bogus Copyright Claims
Rock climbers have a tradition of sharing “beta”—helpful information about a route—with other climbers. Giving beta is both useful and a form of community-building within this popular sport. Given that strong tradition of sharing, we were disappointed to learn that the owners of an important...
@devnull yeah, it's messy. And I'm mixed feelings on the whole matter. I don't think the scraping is completely unencumbered, but onX is gross to be asserting such claims on the user contributed content.
Someone shared with me https://12ft.io/https://www.climbing.com/news/mountain-project-openbeta-and-the-fight-over-climbing-data-access/ as well for background.
bean@[email protected] I can't disagree that it's messy, and I do understand the ethical concern. I personally believe in OpenBeta's mission, and I like to think that climbers' intentions are generally to contribute open and free information to the broader climbing community. I believe hosting that data on OpenBeta supports that end, and I believe OpenBeta does a good job of spreading information (for free) to the climbing community. As such, I do not believe it is unethical or "stealing." It might be stealing if that information were no longer accessible or if it gave OpenBeta some monetary or competitive advantage. But it doesn't. They're non-profit, they're not competing.
You're obviously allowed to form your own opinions, but as an advocate and supporter for OpenBeta, I want to reiterate that OpenBeta's main mission is to provide open, free access to information for all. The more information is accessible, the better things are for everyone.
@bean I totally get that spirit and intentionality.
Which is only made more poignant by onX is acting.
Even if it was the spirit of every contributor, a re-licensing requires their consent.
Even among already free and open source software, it is unacceptable for a new party to unilaterally relicense others' contributions.
Which is only made more poignant by onX is acting.
Even if it was the spirit of every contributor, a re-licensing requires their consent.
Even among already free and open source software, it is unacceptable for a new party to unilaterally relicense others' contributions.