New Feature: "Partner NOW"

We're considering a new feature, called something like "Live Partners", "Partner ASAP" or "Partner NOW", which would let you enter your name, location, and climbing desires (gym, which crag, how hard, etc).

The difference with this partner feature (compared to our others) is it's about finding a parnter right now. Posts will automatically disappear after ~4 hours. We might make a rolling window of all posts on the home page to highlight them. We could filter them so you only see ones in your area.

The big deal will come when we support this on our new iPhone/Android app (version 1 is ~1 month away, but this would be version 2, a while later). You could be driving to a gym, make a post, and have a partner a minute later. Or having lunch, notice the nice weather, and realize you need to bail on work for the afternoon - and this feature would get you a partner ASAP. And phones geolocate you, so that makes it kind cool.

So we're looking for ideas and feedback. What would make this cool? Useful? Fun?

Nick, I think that'd be way too COOL!!!

Great idea. 4hrs seems like the perfect amount of time for the situations you describe.

What about the "its Friday night and I have no partner for tomorrow" situation? Maybe a post that disappears on midnight for a "tomorrow" specific partner request. Or it disappears early that next morning? Might be stretching the NOW thought a little, though.

Excellent idea!

I agree four hours is about right; it would cover both the immediate day and the night before.

Yes Yes Yes! This is exactly the feature I need for the spontaneous climbing days I want every day but don't have a partner for... this app sounds like it's gonna be worth a costly download... keep it coming MP!

I like the idea! It'd be really nice for places with a lot of climbers/MP users.

Great. Please keep the ideas coming.

Hadn't thought of the overnight problem. Maybe if you make a post after 7pm, it stays up until 11am the next morning?

And there will be a "Remove" options for when you find a partner.

BTW, we think we're being clever with the app storage requirements: the app download is very small and then you manage which areas you want to store offline. For example, I want Boulder, Yosemite, and Joshua Tree (every area directly UNDER a state can be downloaded as a single "package"). I will download just those areas, and I can update the data, delete, and add more at any time. Those are some of the largest areas within Mountain Project, and they would still only consume 1 or 2% of a modern phone's total space (250MB out of 16 or 32GB).

This sounds good! Kind of like climbfind.com but on top of all the other cool stuff already on the site. This would make mp.com seem a lot more like a "community" instead of just info and forums.

Sounds like an amazing idea, maybe make a maximum post life of 12-16 hours, and let the user pick the time limit. That way if they need a partner in the next 3 hours or they can't go, then they set it to disappear in 3 hours.

Custom twitter/rss feeds of what posts they receive (eg define locations & difficulty).

Even though I am not in the habit of praising the whole "climbing on my cellphone" thing, I spend enough time on the internet reading and talking about climbing that it would be stupid of me not to acknowledge the power of technology. I think it's a great idea that will help the site and the community... BUT:

I don't have (and probably never will have) a phone that supports apps, and I don't even really know what those are, so I'll just not comment on that stuff.

But I think wherever this stuff shows up on the website, it should be corralled into a space that doesn't clutter up the front page, or any of the other forums. I personally would never use the function, and while I know that a ton of people will, I also think a lot of people will not.

Some of my best partners have been found on the internet, but I don't think I'm ever in the situation where I need or want a last second partner. That's just not how I do things and at least a small percentage of people are probably the same.

This sounds like a great Idea. Just a couple of ideas I had that may be nice.

-I think it would be nice if you could post up to 48 hours in advance (ie friday for partner on sunday).

-Posts could then expire automatically based on the date/time your looking for a partner.

-Ability to sort posts by time and location when viewing the partners.

I think 4 hours is pretty short notice. It's a great idea, but for people who don't have phones that support apps, this requires they be online 4 hours before a climb. I think 48 hours is a good time limit. This would allow the app user to find a person within 4 hours, and also provide for the user who uses the internet sparingly and is looking for a partner for tomorrow or the weekend.

I would also agree that I have found partners on the internet, but I would find it hard to meet up with a random last second partner and trust them with my life. 24-48 hours would allow enough time for people like me to get to know what they are getting themselves into. Sure, I would probably go to a gym with a random person I just met, but if I want to do some multipitch trad...maybe not.

As to reduce clutter, the posts would automatically expire based on the time you are wanting to climb. Sorting ability is a must.

Ryan Williams also has a point about this feed NOT appearing on the front page...definitely something to consider. This is a great idea for MP if done right.

What about the ability to enter a general timeframe, including now? For example, I am looking for a partner for 20-25 May would automatically expire on 25 May. That would also allow one to search on a particular timeframe/location in advance instead of scanning through the posts or contacting people to check on their availability.

I should reiterate that this is an additional feature, specifically for those looking for a last minute partner. The existing partner finder and regional partner forums will remain for those looking for long term, future, or trip-based partners.

24 hours is pretty last minute for most people...

I think this would be a great additional feature and I have definitely wished for it in the past.

The ability to post up 24 or 48 hours already exists in the partners forum and I have found many partners this way. There is no need to change this feature.

I think what Nick is talking about is when you find out at 10 am that you are getting off work early, the sun is shining and your regular partners are busy. You want to go climbing that day, but it can be hard to find a partner on such short notice. So you post up on mountain project but there is not enough time for the right people that are also free to notice your post. But if there were some special feature that was devoted to finding last minute partners that would be great!

I think a rolling window on the homepage would be great, if I'm looking for a partner last minute being online 4 hrs before a climb is not unrealistic at all.

Perhaps a discrete time window: Morning/Noon/After work/All-Day + the day.

The two search modes I'm thinking of are "it's nice out, I want to ditch the office and go climbing", or "I want to go climbing tomorrow, who's free?"

Sounds like a great idea Nick. One feature that could be useful is to have 'push' notifications for those looking partners 'now', sms, email etc.

Nothing to add that hasn't been said. Just wanted to throw my support out for this idea. I'd love to see this get done soon. I'm pretty stoked about it, especially since I'm moving to a new area this summer and wont know anyone.

Great idea. Hope to see it implemented.