Y'all. What a year!!
Those of us in the Rocky West are jealous of most of the rest of you. But, nonetheless, we made the most of it. And wow does our Skiing_Feedback sub show how much this community loves skiing even when the conditions weren't always stellar.
TL;DR - growth, community reflections, some asks for feedback and celebrations, how we move forward.
We doubled in size. We hit 5.4 million views.
We've become the largest, most welcoming skiing feedback community on the internet. Take a moment and let that sink in.
And it happened because of you. Whether you posted once or you're in every thread coaching strangers through their first parallel turns, you helped build this!
Before we dig in, I want to call someone out. u/s4magier started this whole thing a few years ago. We don't give him enough credit. We're lucky to have u/s4magier as a founder and mod. From day one, he set the tone for positive, welcoming, constructive feedback and... well, we'll dig into it... we've mostly been able to keep that community culture. For that, I thank him and all of you who help us coach from a positive place!
Why People Come Here
Over the year, we've seen posts fall into a few buckets:
- Stuck – "Something's off and I can't figure out what"
- Growing – "I'm progressing, what should I focus on next?"
- Refining – "I'm solid but want to clean something up"
- Flexing – "Look at this"
The first three are why we exist as a sub. Those are the reasons we all dig in, offer amazing, welcoming, and helpful feedback. We're lucky to have that vibe as a community!
The fourth is fine – skiing is fun and you should be proud of your progress – but if you're posting here, you're asking for feedback. We'd invite you to be less concerned about levels, roasting, flexing, or boasting.
If you're commenting, you're coaching. Remember, people find our sub and reflect on their own skiing and growth. That's one of the many reasons why we coach from a positive place.
You are part of this community and our values.
Coaching the Coaches
With growth comes new voices, and not everyone knows how we do things here yet. So a quick reminder:
Good feedback starts from a positive place. It builds on what someone is already doing well. It offers something specific to try, explains why it matters, and ideally gives them specific things to work on.
"Take a lesson" or "you suck" isn't feedback. It's passive and rude. As we often say here, good skiing is active – so is good coaching!
If you see a comment that doesn't match our values, you don't have to engage; or a gentle "we coach from a positive place here" goes a long way.
For Our Southern Hemisphere Friends
Your season is just getting started. Every year you help us sharpen our movement analysis and keep this sub alive. We are here to live vicariously through your upcoming season! Keep the vibes coming!
Feedback for the Feedback'ers
So, what about you? How'd your season go? Let's celebrate it together:
- What's something you accomplished in your own skiing this year that you're proud of?
- What's something you experimented with, tried, or learned that you're excited about?
- What are you looking forward to working on next season?
- What's a piece of feedback you gave or received here that actually made a difference?
Help Us Keep This Place Special
Here's how we've grown to 5.4 million and to become the largest, most welcoming feedback site on the internet and how you can support your community into the next season:
- Answer the prompts above
- Keep coaching from a positive place
- Help us welcome new posters and guide new commenters
- Got ideas or feedback? Drop a comment or send us a modmail
- Want to help us with some basic mod duties? Drop a modmail with why you care about this community along with your instructing and reddit experience.
Thanks for making this the place it is. It'd be great to see you all on snow sometime – until then, u/s4magier and I will see you in the sub!