Goodbye to my vertical device web site....

gdstorrick

gdstorrick

Location
Illinois Corn Desert
I plan to remove the vertical device portion of my web site this weekend.

As many of you know, I moved to Illinois in 2010, and with all the effort to pack, sell my old house, move, start a new job, buy a new house, and get it organized, I have not been able to do any significant updates since 2009. I am not happy about this at all, and feel that having a poor site up is worse than nothing at all. By the end of last year, I had about 250 devices that I had not been able to test and describe. Then there is the user feedback. Someone pointed out that the photo quality was poor, and I had to agree. The site has become an embarrassment to me.

Fixing all the problems would require creating new photographs of everything, about 5000 photographs. It would require adding about 250 new device descriptions. It would require updating about 1200 existing descriptions. It would require reorganizing the site structure in many areas. The result would probably increase the size of the site by a factor of ten. I hope you can imagine the work this would require.

Considering my dissatisfaction with everything, I decided to remove the vertical portion of my site in the near future, probably this weekend. I maintained the site for a decade, once change at a time, but continuing is no longer feasible. Say your farewells. It may take me a couple hours to upload the new version with all the changes that I mentioned.
 
I never knew about your site. I like it although maybe dated as you say. Any way I could download the whole thing for future reading while I wait for the new one? Or if you have it on disk how much would a contribution be toward the new site as help?
 
Thanks for all of the love and work you put into your site. It's understandable how keeping it current is just to much to handle.
 
Gary, Thanks for running the site for so long, I very much enjoyed it, and it was and is a valuable resource. You may remember the very early OAR device you purchased from me to add to your collection, which was an encouragement to me. I have another brand new OAR in the works which tends slack by pulling up on the tail rope, and when tending slack is only 2 1/2" tall. If you like, once I have it more refined I could send you a picture : )

Gordon Svedberg
 
That's a real loss Gary but I can absolutely appreciate your reasons. I don't know of any resource that compares to yours, even if you feel it is a bit outdated.
 
NOOOOOOOOOO!!!

Even with a few faults (perception), it's still one of my alltime favorite and most helpful websites.

If you feel it's an aged giant like a dinosaur, then please don't remove it so that we future generations may still glean the knowledge of those who have come before us.

Perhaps if there were a better option...(doubt)
 
As a reference to the tools and descriptions your site has no equal, Gary. I've relied on it a lot over the years. Look forward to seeing the update when it happens. Truly a labor of love.

all the best.
 
Read what I wrote carefully - especially the last sentence - and then wait a few more days.

I think you will like what you find.

I just couldn't resist having fun with my announcement <grin>.
 
[ QUOTE ]
Read what I wrote carefully - especially the last sentence - and then wait a few more days.

I think you will like what you find.

I just couldn't resist having fun with my announcement <grin>.

[/ QUOTE ]

Gary ...

I think you just made it clear, that people who go to your site to see what you have to say, should really note what you have to say.

One of my particular web pages brings in regular emails. About 2/3 of the emails show that the paragraphs were skimmed over.

cool.gif
 
Friends,

I made the promised updates to my web site (http://www.storrick.cnc.net/VerticalDevicesPage/VerticalHome.shtml), adding or changing 6202 files in only three hours (I'm good!). If you are interested enough to look, you will find 250 new devices, many hundreds of new descriptions, and over 5000 new photographs. The site is now larger: the vertical portion alone used to have 2919 files totaling 85 MBytes, now it has 6351 files taking 737 MBytes.

I believe that the site is now somewhat usable for my own needs. Unfortunately, I had to reorganize the site a bit, so I expect that most web links from other sites to specific pages will now be broken.

Of course, with this many changes, there will be errors; if you identify any, please send me a kind email and I will try to correct the problem.

I did not have time to revise everything. I still want to update the semimechanical ascender and the ascender knots pages. I still owe a description of the MSA Aptura, but no caver or climber would be using that device. I still need to update the photographs on a few of the larger, messier items (like the brake belays).

This would not be possible without all the help that people have given over the years. The best way to help is to locate additional devices for the collection. Remember, a device does no one any good if it is sitting in a closet or an attic: in my collection, the whole world gets to see it.

It has been a good year for the collection so far. Enjoy!

----> Gary
 
HELLO to my NEW vertical device web site! :)

Since I have the authority to use the EDIT feature on TreeBuzz I changed the name of the thread. This reflects the new webpage.

If Gary would have made his post on Monday I would have been really suspicious. When I read the first post I was disappointed and denied the possibility that one of THE MOST IMPORTANT webpages to rope workers was going to disappear. My grieving process kicked in. Then I had to reread the post just to make sure...and I caught a mysterious message. Between then and Gary's less than cryptic post later on I stopped grieving.

Now, what joy!!!

My first stop, no one should be surprised, was to see what was included about the Unicender.
grin.gif
I know that in time there will be a page for the Rope Wrench too!

Then I went to 'My collection at a glance' to look at the pegboard pagers. Once that page was open I fell into the rabbit hole...but I was able to jam my heels in and back out. There is still daylight to be used working on the ToyBox. When the sun goes down I'll be glued to my Mac exploring the new website.

Gary, thank you soooo much for all of the work that you have put into your Magnum Opus

In the words of Captain Jack Aubrey...

A glass of wine...or beer... with you, Sir!
 
Re: HELLO to my NEW vertical device web site! :)

Thanks Gary! I will read more carefully in the future. I am with Tom on this as I will be looking for hours to come.
 
Re: HELLO to my NEW vertical device web site! :)

I hope that y'all appreciate how much this means to me.

I am a caver, and sometimes a climber, but I am not an arborist, and yet the arborist community has been exceptionally supportive. You are all wonderful people, and I thank you!

Gary
 
Re: HELLO to my NEW vertical device web site! :)

Wow, you rock. What an amazing resource. I will send you one of the original wooden wrenches so it can be the only wooden vertical tool in your collection. I feel like ithe wrench could be a good tool for explorations of caves especially if there is a lot of 3D movement. Not good for long descents or ascents. Although that is me purely speaking from my imagination. Not so much use in rock climbing. I think it might be good for plant/specimen/archeology collectors on the sides of steep hills and cliffs. It HAS worked for me well roofing although I never see roofers that ever tie into anything ever.


Well, back looking through your collection.
 
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