Many who are on GCA.com today found the site by Googling a famous course and finding Ran's profile. The profiles are to me the soulf of GCA.com while the discussion group is the pumping heart!
Couldn't agree more with this sentiment. I know several people who fell into this site this exact way--googling a golf course and having Ran's profile show up as one of the top results. There are quite a few clubs where Ran's profile and pictures are the best (if not the only) way to see and learn anything about the place.
To the other point being discussed in this thread-- negative criticism-- I think it is healthy and absolutely vital that GCA'ers continue to speak their minds and not put a spit-shine on anything and everything they want to say here. If it becomes all positive feedback, you don't really know who is speaking the truth and who is just putting a sugar-coating on their comments. The whole discussion becomes a little less valuable.
But, in my opinion, each negative comment has to come with two caveats:
1. The negativity has to be grounded in first-hand experience. If you don't like a course's routing or the way all the par 3's seem to play the exact same way and you've actually been there and played it, go right ahead and say that. I find that info to be valuable.
But if you're bashing an architect based off pictures, I'm not sure that's fair.
In the same fashion, if you want to bash a superintendent or a maintenance meld for being wet when it hasn't rained in two weeks, that's totally fair. If you're catching plugged lies in the middle of a drought, that information is negative but completely valid.
But if you're speaking on the walkability of a course you've never walked or even attempted to walk then your opinion has become invalid.
2. (I find this second point to be even more imperative to the integrity of this forum) If you're posting a bunch of opinions under a pseudonym, then this forum has more in common with a youtube comment section than a place where frank and honest discussion happens. I know this site had a problem with this years ago and forced everyone to post with their first and last names, and I'm sad to see it going back the other way.
If you want to post a negative comment, it's real easy. Make sure it's true and based on real-world experience. And, more importantly, put your name on it.