Dear newcomers (Read 2570 times)

The 1:30 half won't really change. We can include that to be all races other than full marathoners, which is essentially what it is now.

Regarding full marathons, I think we would see at most 3. We've already consolidated a bunch of threads from the old place to just 2 threads here (e.g. sub 2:45 now sit in the sub 3:00 thread) because we noted the concern some original folks have had.

I definitely get the worry going forward, but that's why I suggested just a small change in web appearance to alleviate other concerns you may have.

 

I'm enjoying the irony that the thread complaining about threads taking up space on recent topics list is itself taking up space on the recent topics list.

 

To answer your question, there is not enough interest to have that many threads.  Most of them would drop off the recent topics list due to lack of recent posting.

"No one goes to that place anymore, it's too crowded." - Yogi Berra

I am just a guy who has been using this log and these forums for more than a decade, I am pretty sure.  Here is what I have observed:

 

A sudden influx of a large number of new users (who are welcome, which has been expressed many times) have completely and dramatically changed the landscape of the forums.  Change is not necessarily a bad thing - but please recognize it has been changed.

 

The "Recent Topics" list is where most users seem to look to see if anything strikes their interest.  For weeks, the top of this list has been dominated by topics that interest only members of certain groups.  Hence the creation of user groups.  If people can't find them in Groups, maybe they aren't looking hard enough.  But it comes down to - shouldn't the "general"  list of recent topics not be dominated by groups, which already have their own section of the website?

 

Many, many longtime and valued members of the community have absolutely disappeared and no longer contribute to the forums.  I can't tell you this abrupt change in landscape is why, but I can tell you that when I open the Recent Topics, I am, if I am being honest, irritated that I see that same three threads every second of every day in the top three places.  Three threads that interest no one except members of the GROUP.

 

I don't have any say here more than anyone else.  But neither do the new people.  No one else has so smugly and defiantly said "We will do what we want" until this latest surge in users.

Just out of curiosity (being a n00b), who are the valued members that have disappeared?

And just out of interest...what User Groups do you post on?

There used to be Sub3/3:30/4 hour goal threads on the RACING forum and...wait for it....the OP participated on the Sub3 thread. Just saying.

My only issue with the three threads in contention is that they seem like false advertising to me.  Having stumbled upon them on the RW Forums a while ago, I wasn't quite sure what to make of them.  As someone who was trying to run sub-3:20 for the marathon, there were pages and pages of posts with very little information on how the runners planned to get there.  And, it seemed to me that some of the runners were solidly running under that goal and (apologies if I'm writing this undiplomatically) others didn't seem like they were realistically going to achieve it or even truly aiming for it.  Rather, it seemed like a group of people who liked emailing with one another everyday.  Which is fine - I was regular participant in the Marathoner Daily user group for years because I enjoyed interacting with that group of people.  (And, if I recall correctly, during the first RW invasion, I advocated for being more welcoming and not banishing the newcomers to the user groups.  But, I don't care enough about this issue to wade through that thread to confirm.)  I'm just saying if I click on a thread about a sub-xx race distance, I expect to gain some knowledge about that endeavor.  I think most of the threads in Recent Topics tend to be more on point.  I'm not "against" them and I'm certainly not trying to make anyone feel unwelcomed.  I just think if they're going to be in the Recent Topics, it would be nice if they were a bit more helpful/educational for runners with those goals.

Well stated.

The goal threads are open to everyone and have been popular at RW over the years.

 

People come and go and if no one can find the threads then they will eventually die....like the 100s of others in the User Groups.

 

I’m not that interested in the Boston/NYC threads which will always be in the top 15 Recent Topics. Am I bothered?  No.

Okay.  But, IMHO, if they remain the same as they were on RW, they're dailies threads.  Which haven't been in the RA Forums...  Again, I'm not trying to be antagonistic towards you.  I'm just trying to give you my perspective as nicely as possible.  And, the Boston/NYCM threads aren't dailies.  More like weeklies.

The goal threads are open to everyone and have been popular at RW over the years.

Oh, Mikkey, this isn't RW. Is this RW? This isn't RW, is it? I didn't think so.

JUST KIDDING -- I saw an opportunity to make a Caddy Shack reference and latched onto it.

As far as this whole debate goes -- I can ignore lots of threads, including the ones that have caused this long thread. My focus on here is to log my runs.  I participate in the groups/threads that add value over an above that.

Only comment I would make is that it is generally considered good form to try to fit in rather than force others to conform.  Of course that's just my opinion, I could be wrong.

 

I see what you say about people not going for that goal, but some of that is because it’s people who recently had that goal, don’t in the near future, but plan on having it again. For example, I’m not looking to run a marathon this spring, but I’m going to stay active in the sub 3 thread because a) I want to continue to stay engaged and b) it’s a good way for me to continue to learn based on others. It’s also inspirational to read about these guys running 100mpw.

 

I can only really speak for the sub 3 thread, but if you spend the time reading through it, you’re going to see a lot of discussion specifically what you are saying: how to get to sub 3. I can tell you that I certainly learned a lot about what it takes to get to sub 3 just by reading the old forums. I believe that will continue to be the case with these. We’ve had many discussions (some going back to the old place) on course strategy, mileage, easy run pace, long run pace, new training methods, which training plans are best, etc. In the sub 1:30 thread, we’ve spent the past couple of weeks giving advice to some people regarding tapering or struggling workouts. Sure, that’s not going to be every post that is helpful, but people are always talking about “how runners plan to get there” in bits and pieces. These threads are not meant to be a dossier on how to hit a certain race time, and honestly, I can’t see how a thread would even do such a thing. That’s almost a snake oil proposition: “just read this thread for the 10 tips of how to run under 3 hours in a marathon!”

 

To be honest, I find it quite ironic that people are posting things about not wanting people to feel unwelcome, but there is this entire thread is doing that exactly. I’ve tried to be fairly nice throughout this whole thing, but it’s getting a little tiresome having to explain how the three threads work and how honestly we could not be more welcoming. It’s also a little embarrassing for people to say “it’s your job to conform, not to force others to conform.” You realize that’s exactly what you’re doing with this entire thread right? Nobody is forcing RA to conform and we really slimmed things down based on comments from some of the old timers, and yet people are still complaining.

 

Do you think anybody who is thinking of joining up with RA would feel welcome by this thread at all if they read through it? Honestly, at this point, this thread is an embarrassment and the moderators (if they exist) should remove it.

I don't think this thread is an embarrassment at all.  If I remember correctly, it started from the first time RW made changes to the forums and users came here expecting to recreate that environment here.

I have made a conscious effort NOT to comment on anything other than racing related threads on RA in order to avoid conflict.  But, I broke that tradition because I felt some of the comments in this threads from RW transplants were dismissive of the concerns that long-time RA users were expressing.

To answer your final question...  Yes, they should feel welcomed because from how I've been reading it, the long-time users have just been trying to explain how things have been done around here and asking for some consideration.