Hold Improvement. Is chipping here to stay?

Recently I had the displeasure of visiting a crag I developed a few years ago. Normally I like going there. I put up one of the bravest lines and took a proper 10 feet deck out in the process, proving that quality foam in ya pad is much better than cheapo packaging foam, just so you know.
Many people jumped on this venue at the start, all gagging for FA's, expecting that the few of us that originally developed it, had missed something or lacked the skills to fully exploit -sorry!
There was also some talk of the area being too soft grade wise, sorry again, but I don't make holds unless they're plastic.
Imagine my surprise then, when I rock up one fine afternoon for a session only to find that a crucial crux hold - sloping pocket - has been chipped on one of the finest problems. (A cool rising traverse at 7a).

What is the problem?
Why do people think this kind of action is OK?
Lowering the difficulty of a climb to your own standard is a disgraceful thing to do.

When developing new venues, the "activists" are very careful, or should be, of damaging the rock and potentially improving holds. There is a fine line between testing a flake for weight bearing and leaning on it with a steel bar in an attempt to make it bigger!

OK, so rock is in a continuing state of development. Geology is happening, and will continue to happen. But when a problem has been climbed many times and the holds are well chalked up etc, there is very little reason to add undue stress to the holds, which means that most broken rock has come from over zealous and under skilled climber inspired "development", other wise known as chipping.

Is this resurgence, as I believe that's what it is, in chipping rock, coming from the indoor scene?
Are indoor centres responsible for more than their bottom line?

I think so.
Strong inside and weak outside is common and there are lots of fragile egos in bouldering that will find this reality hard to take. When these types expect to smash 6b and find it's too hard, they might be likely to start smashing the rock. There needs to be some kind of education in the form of transferring the ethics by the indoor climbers who are well aware of the rules and difficulties found outside to the new people coming through. Even a chair is hard to understand if you have never sat on anything.
Having the elitist "they're all punters" attitude won't work either as all this leads to is clueless individuals going out and not knowing that ethics play a huge part in real climbing.
Lets all do our part and keep bouldering clean and honest and the rock in perfect, unadulterated condition.

Peace.

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