We got a message from a French climber: "I send you this message to tell you about an act of "terrorism" that happened at the well known french crag of Seynes. I have bolted two routes there, "Le monocle" and "Monocle d'Amรฉrique" in 2001 and 2004 respectively. These routes were both graded 8a+ and were not repetead too often, especially "Monocle d'Amรฉrique" which was made of two boulder problems (including a obligatory dyno). Recently many climbers sent the two routes and I was told that they must have been chipped by an unknown climber. I went there to check, and that was obvious: there were five new chipped holds in "Monocle d'Amรฉrique" and two in "Le monocle", downgrading the routes to 7c or 7c+. There was no boulder problem anymore and many people were happy with that! So I managed to block up all of the new holds, trying to bring back the routes to their original shapes... That kind of vandalism is not new (and happened mostly in the boulder world), but it is really shocking that it could happened in such a bu! sy crag as Seynes, and that many climbers who did the routes since then didn't tell a word while they knew they had climb something so easier than 8a+. This event points out the fact that people are ready to do anything to improve their score on your website or to add some redpoints on their personal list (including an 8a+ which is in fact a 7c!). We should think about it..." We certainly should!
I think it is more a culture thing. You take the grade in the topo and this is the Bible. In the long run, all climbers in the community will work together to more quickly correct the grades. And infact, the 8a database and scorecard will make this happen faster. It is the same thing in the fairy tale - The Emperor's new clothes ;)
Jens, you are a fool. It`s official.
The 8a.nu scorecard is a way of proudly presenting your ascents with hardly anybody being able to check if you`ve really done something. Create a ranking and people will cheat in order to get a good ranking. That`s the culture thing about it. The 8a database is probably one of the major reasons for grade deflation all over. In forums like climbing.de people comment on routes like that "soft 7b, sent second try, could be 7a+" but register them 7b+ in order to get the points. You`ve let the djinn out of the bottle and can`t put it back. Be honest about it at least.
There is no way that 8a is a major cause of grade inflation. It's just a freaking website, it doesn't control the climbing world. The vast majority of climbers not not give a fuck about their 8a ranking.
Although 8a.nu is not the problem itself (I agree with Jens that this is a cultural thing), it definitely emphasizes the bad sides of the culture. At least there's no "reward" for honesty in the scorecard system. The higher the grade you register, the "better" you are...
You could instead say that in some cases 8a have stoped the inflated grades like in Magic Wood for example. Most routes and their grades existed before 8a, so do not blame 8a for soft routes. They were already there and we try our best to stop them.
When it comes to Kalymnos, I have worked together with Aris, making some dow grades!
Nobody blames 8a.nu for soft grades proposed by the FA. 8a.nu on the one hand helps establish soft grades (via scorecard points) and on the other hand fights them (via faster communication).
Retro chipping at Seynes