Swinging On A Rope... Trust, Climbing and... - Johnny

I do declare that this will be my last post on the subject. After reading Paul's post about trust, http://friendfeed.com/paul... re-examined my reaction to the news of the whole Facebook thing. I have come to the conclusion that throughout this whole thing, I still trusted the FriendFeed team, I was just swinging on a rope. Back at university, I loved indoor rock climbing. I use to do it at every opportunity I could. We were lucky enough to have one on campus and that's where me and my friends hung out. In rock climbing, there are three things you trust: Your spotter, your ropes and the wall. For me, FriendFeed is the wall. All my friends and I climb up and down it, sharing the experience and having a good time. The FF team are the ropes, the things we trust and the most and will help us from falling. The 'FriendFeed Company' itself was also the spotter. Watching us, encourgaing and guiding us up the wall, looking after the wall, managing the ropes and pulling on the ropes to stop us crashing. So, half way up the wall, I awoke to find that suddenly, with little warning, my spotter had changed. I have to trust the spotter fully as we have to work together in sync. I would not climb one foot hold without knwoing who had my back. Worse still, we could not get any word if or when the wall we were actually climbing would actually exisit soon. So, there we were. Half way up a wall with a new person holding you safety and a uncertin wall. 2 of the 3 things you trust in rock climbing were shaken. That is why I reacted the way I did (and to some extent still are). I still have the rope, and that's what I am clinging to. Now, there may be a great new wall coming, epic beyond belief, and this new spotter may make me climb that rock in ways I never thought possible, but, until I know where my next hand hold is, I'm just swinging on a rope... - Johnny from email