I find myself on the opposing side of this debate. I am fine with hiding local gems from the frothing online masses. I don't want to one day go on a favored hike of mine, which has always been deserted and hard to get to, only to find it swamped with gumbies because someone posted it online. I would especially resent it if I were to find that the newcomers were all tourists or out-of-towners.
Locals put time, money, and effort into outdoor locals and communities, often in the form of trail or crag restoration/cleanup days. It is completely understandable that they don't want to see, for example, their favorite "hidden" trails ruined from the impact of a 10x increase in traffic and the associated littering, defecating, urinating, drones, off-leash dogs, loud children, etc. Locals deserve to reap the rewards of their efforts. Give to Caesar what is Caesar's.
I, personally, have found some boulders that I cleaned and developed for bouldering. Never in my life will I put their location on mountainproject or a similar crowd-sourcing site. The risk for idiots blasting music or littering is too great.
Is it elitist? Yes. I think this is an issue where elitism is fine.
"Elitism is bad unless it is my brand of elitism". Isn't this your own version of NIMBYism.
Is it safe to assume from your comments that you have never traveled to exprience the great outdoors in your life?
I never denied that it was NIMBY-ish or elitist. I get it. It's elitist and its exclusive. But shit, I've put in effort and my own time,sweat,gas money, etc. to improve and maintain trails and crags. I don't like it all getting wrecked by inconsiderate jerks who litter. Furthermore, elitism regarding hiding local trails from crowd-sourcing sites is vastly different than, oh idk, elitism about college applicant acceptance or some such.
As for traveling to experience the outdoors, you are so far off the mark that it's not even funny. I've been to and hiked/backpacked/camped in, uhh hold on while I count... 16 different national parks and monuments, 7 state parks, 2 national preserves, and 8 national forests across 6 states, and that's just in the past 3 years.
I've climbed in Bishop, Josh, Yos, Red rocks, Tahoe, Squish, "the Creek", NRG, and the Gunks, among many other smaller crags. Why would you even make the assumption I've never traveled?
Locals put time, money, and effort into outdoor locals and communities, often in the form of trail or crag restoration/cleanup days. It is completely understandable that they don't want to see, for example, their favorite "hidden" trails ruined from the impact of a 10x increase in traffic and the associated littering, defecating, urinating, drones, off-leash dogs, loud children, etc. Locals deserve to reap the rewards of their efforts. Give to Caesar what is Caesar's.
I, personally, have found some boulders that I cleaned and developed for bouldering. Never in my life will I put their location on mountainproject or a similar crowd-sourcing site. The risk for idiots blasting music or littering is too great.
Is it elitist? Yes. I think this is an issue where elitism is fine.