The regulars, and a partner for Saturday.

Why people come back

A week that brings people back, without a single trick

People return to a gym for the people in it and for something new on the wall. These are the four rhythms that bring them back, and the Pools that keep the names.

• No streaks, and no visit counts. We do not count how often you come, and nothing is lost if you miss a month.
• No leaderboards. Routes have grades. People have names. Nobody is sorted by what they climb or how fast they run.
• No “we miss you” emails. Keepers write to a Pool when there is news, like a change to Saturday. Some months nothing comes.
• No countdowns. The reset is a date on the calendar. The week comes round again.
• Nobody can pay to be shown first. There is nothing to unlock. Every Pool lists people in the order they said yes.
• Nothing says when you are here. No Pool records when anyone comes in or leaves, and we publish no check-in list anywhere.

Shifts 7, 8, 3 and 2

Why this needs an open protocol

1. Shift 7 · people, not a rankingA floor lead’s check, not a score.

   Pilar has watched climbers belay for years. When she checks someone, that is a curator’s vouch, and it counts in Belay Partners only §4.4. It is not a grade or a rating, and it never follows anyone to another Pool, another app or another gym. Routes have grades; people have names, in the order they said yes. What the check means, and what it does not.

2. Shift 8 · safety that travelsTwo block lists we did not write, honored at every door.

   Every one of our Pools subscribes to the Kindling public list and the Circular consortium’s list §7.3. Any compliant client that reads our Pools filters by them too, so someone blocked for spam or for listing people without asking cannot ask anyone here to climb, through any app. Our own floor calls stay ours: a check that does not pass is written down nowhere. See it checked.

3. Shift 3 · one room, many doorsThe same Pool, through any door.

   Our list, the card by the front desk, the asks in Bellows and the group in Familiar Faces all read one file, pools/drip-line-belay.json, or its neighbors. We do not mind which door you use, and no door can keep you in. The interface is anyone’s; the Pool is the protocol §1.2.

4. Shift 2 · a new app starts fullThe first time anyone opens Bellows, Saturday is already there.

   Bellows signs up nobody. It reads Belay Partners and The Saturday Run, which any client may do with a public Pool §3 §3.5, so every checked climber and every runner is there on day one, each still deciding who may write to them §5 §7. A new app for partners could start the same way tomorrow.

Which apps can read our Pools. Bellows, for asks and offers, reads Belay Partners and The Saturday Run. Familiar Faces, for friends and groups, reads Tuesday Regulars, The Saturday Run and New to Climbing. Face Up, Heartwood, Sundial and Card Catalog open all four, each card naming the Pool it came from: Face Up deals the three climbing Pools in its Climbing deck and The Saturday Run in a deck of its own, Heartwood shows the regulars, the new climbers and the run in its Friends room and opens Belay Partners under its own name, Sundial reads the three climbing Pools on its climbing dial and opens The Saturday Run under its own name, and Card Catalog files all four in its Climbing and running drawer. The Thursday night Pool is unlisted, and we give its address to no app; a member who wants it in an app adds it there themselves, and those four read it only for that member. Any other client may read a public Pool too §8.1, and every one of them honors the same two block lists §7.3.

The front desk

Questions people bring to Lark

I was checked at another gym. Does that count?

Not here, and that is on purpose. Every gym checks its own, and a curator’s vouch counts in one Pool only §4.4. Come on a Tuesday between 6 and 7 or a Saturday between 10 and 11; it takes a few minutes.

My check did not pass.

Then it is a “not yet”, said to you on the floor, and written down nowhere: not in any Pool, not on any list. Come back next week.

I do not climb. Can I run?

Yes. The Saturday Run is free, and open to anyone, member or not. Say yes to its Pool if you would like to find someone at your pace.

I do not have a page.

Any page you keep at an address will do: a short note on a site you already use, or a doc you share. The Pool points to it; we never host it, and we never copy your photos §2.5.

Can anyone see when I am at the gym?

No. No Pool says when anyone comes or goes, and we publish no list of who is here. A Pool lists people who said yes, and what they wrote on their own page.

How do I leave?

One action, from any message or from the Pool page. It takes effect within sixty seconds §5.3, and your page stays yours. The printed card is struck through by hand the same day.