She laughs at me......
Welcome! We are sorry to hear that RWOL has begun to suck, and hope you will find a comfortable new home here.
I'm just a random poster, and certainly don't speak with any authority here, but I would just like to mention a couple of things.
First, I've seen some comments like "it's not real active here, hopefully that will change". Actually it is quite active here. We have a lot of knowledgeable people who are very helpful. One reason I am here and not at RWOL is that it just seems like a monster madhouse over there, way too big. RA is very comfortable. Most of us like it quite well the way it is. As has been mentioned, a lot of the activity is in the user groups. There are a lot of them. Feel free to make more if you don't see what you want. Which brings me to...
Second, we don't really have a tradition here of "daily" threads in the main forum area, and I think most existing RAers would prefer to keep it that way. At least, that was my reaction, and it's what I'm also hearing in the swamp (my primary user group). Thing is, anything posted in the main forums shows up in the "Recent Topics" area, and pushes other recent threads out of view. Many groups (e.g. Masters Running) do have quite active daily threads.
So... all I'm saying is, please don't try to remake RA in RWOL's image. I'm sure nobody has that plan in mind specifically, but it is easy to get used to "the way things are supposed to be". Here, the organization is a bit different, and the culture is a bit different, and it pays to learn the local landscape. But the great thing is, with the user groups, there is plenty of room for all different kinds of subcultures.
Again, and most importantly, welcome!
There's no consensus on this. Some posters when we first arrived said there wasn't a history of DAILIES in the main forums but there was no reason there couldn't be.
If one of the issues is that the Dailies threads might knock down other active posts, I propose having one or two Dailies/Penguin thread on the main boards, and just adding to that single thread instead of creating a new dailies thread for each day.
My thought is that when you look at the recent topics, it's all RW because we are posting in 3 or 4 different forums. If we stick to one, say off the beaten path, for dailies and chat that leaves the running forums for running topics.
If we keep creating new threads we'll still fill up the recent topics box, even if they are all in one forum.
Besides, Off the Beaten path is the right place for chat but the wrong place for Dailies , if the dailies are running oriented
Squidward Bike Rider
IMHO, I think we should just keep the dailies in here for the time being...he does have a point that they don't have a history on the main forum, and we don't want to piss people off by trying to make this like RWOL right from the get-go. We can still get to know people in other topics. And if they wish to join our group and participate in the dailies, then let them come to us.
Feets don't fail me now
It totally doesn't matter to me either way but I'm definitely not a fan of stomping through somebody's house uninvited. Or to be invited into the living room and go snooping in the bathrooms. That was a nice and polite letter and it would be ideal for 'us' to be respectful and accommodating, especially since we just swarmed their forum.
Why not keep dailies on this group and put an open post under General Running that anybody (not just RWOL refugees) who wants to begin participating in dailies just join this group? It doesn't have to be just BF people.
While it's not that big it might be fun to just have one dailies thread.
None of what we are used to is on their main forum page.
It is a different setup here which was explained eloquently and non-abrasively.
They only have 8 forums, we had 35. All of our crap belongs here not out there.
As for the recent topics issue, I'm hazarding to guess that if they're not a member of this group, then they won't see our topics clogging up their home page. I know I usually see the most recent topic from each main forum, followed by topics from my user group forums.
ETA: Actually, I just see the most recent posts from the main forums, not any user groups, on my home page.
Refurbished Hip
I don't participate in the dailies (well, I do on the trail forum over at RWOL sometimes), but I have to say that was one thing I found annoying about the BF. So many dailies/penguins/etc/etc. That said, I know a lot of you like the dailies, so why can't we just keep the dailies in here and not bug anyone else with them?
Running is dumb.
I agree.
I agree with Liz and Rick. It was nicely stated to us what things were like here before "we all" swarmed through. I think being respectful is key. I think many of us can remember what it was like when there were new people creating new threads like crazy about things we felt were better suited somewhere else or were already discussed. How about for now we keep the dailies in the BF and Beyond group. We can always do like James did and add a link to it in our sig line if it means that much to us to get new people here as quickly as possible.
Steph
“I go to nature to be soothed and healed, and to have my senses put in order.” John Burroughs
an amazing likeness
Good afternoon,
First, like BHearn, I'm just another user on RA...my thoughts and opinions carry no more and no less weight than anyone else's. I wanted to post here in your group to share a few thoughts where you might see them...
First, is a sincere appreciation for your awareness and sentiment of trying to find the best way to fit your previous life into the new digs here at RA.
Second, is point out a subtle cultural difference about one of the 'special sauces' of RunningAhead. At it's core, RA is a running log which has the forum structure as an adjunct to the log. The forums orbit the log, rather than the log being a personal thing on the side, an adjunct to the conversations. The running log is the core of many of the running topics.
Thirdly, I'd ask that you consider how a breakneck stream of non-running, or even running-social topics tilts the main forums for a user comming to RA looking for running advice. Picture yourself as a semi-experienced runner wanted to move to the next level (whatever that may be); you come to RA and hit the forums, hop into General Running, and then hunt for the existing topic for anything that's close to your question. Most people skim the first page of topics, maybe two pages, then they start a new one. They get some general advice, then about the 4th or 5th reply, someone will post a link to the past discussion thread which has 6 pages of top-notch information. It's actually pretty quick and it gets folks connected with info to help their running.
The problem with dailies and other social threads in the main running topics is that they will displace the running topics and every new running post will standalone. We'll (all of us) loose the 6, 7 or more page topics which have incredible depth in them.
This is obvioius, but I'll remind that you can set browser favorites for varous sub-sections of RA, so you don't always need to start at the top-level fora and navigate from there.
Thanks for listening, and again, welcome.
PS Are you a half marathon focused runner? If so, hope you'll consider joining the Half Marathon Trainers group. We have monthly training discussions, weekly race and result discussions, an annual race and goal tracker, interesting folks from places other than the USA who post in confusing metric distances, speedsters, trail runners, and...well running stuff.
Acceptable at a dance, invaluable in a shipwreck.
*shrug* I think one or two dailies threads that were added to each day, rather than spawning new ones daily, would address all the stated concerns, but I don't care enough to go against consensus.
Oh, and the many many landing pages we've accumulate don't help either. Aabandoning all the welcome to RA threads would be a good thing, we just need to point BFers to this group specifically I guess
There are many groups here. I'm in 5 myself. If every one had 1 or 2 threads in the main forum this place would be useless.
If we have our own group, as in, the BF and Beyond, aren't all of our posts "only" in this group? As in, we're not clogging their main thread with posts, but all of our posts show up in this group? Right?
Take Charge. Train Harder. Suck Less. No Excuses.