After setting for several comps, over a period of about 7 years, I've come across many a type of setter. Some styles simply click together, whereas others couldn't be further apart. The styles that I have observed in my time play out like this:
The Showstopper: Every single line must be a 5 star, jaw-dropping, pants soiling event.
The Know-It-All: Even though I am able to only climb below 5.9 and v2, I am going to tell youhow to set this v6 crux.
The Gym Rat: I'm just setting for membership here, but I climbed one JUST like this one time, and it was awesome! Repetition, repetition, repetition is their game.
Outdoor Warrior: Grizzled veteran climber turn their repertoire of movement into usually awkward reachy moves with a plethora of feet that are unneeded and cluttering the t-nuts.
These are styles I can put several names and faces to from my time. I am well aware there are more, and that none of these may make sense to you. I am simply trying to paint a picture of conflicting styles in a collaborative effort.
The purpose of my post is this:
I would love to hear how you, as a setter, both collaborate and compromise on set problems and routes for competition level quality. It has been my experience that converging on a line can be difficult. Especially if you run into specific styles that either conflict with your own, or have a know-it-all setter that stonewalls you and will not budge on opinion. I am very curious what others do when they're put in similiar situations with similiar tools.
*I'll point out my passion in climbing is static boulder problems, with sustained, cruxless movement that reflects the desired grade. I know that that alone puts me into a category as well that makes me difficult to work with, however, I maintain an open mind to collaborate, and criticize constructively.