The A/R Off Topic Thread

robinph

T runner wrote: »

Democracy is one person one vote. It seems more or less the same core group of 10 users or so use it all the time. With the vast amount of posts this means cliques and cliques are the death of objective topic related fora.

If you want an open objective forum welcome and respectful to ALL people with an interest in AR then have only one general off topic thread for off topic chit chat.

If you want the forum to turn into a permanent hangout for small groups of like minded pals, then have spat threads. And put a closed sign on the AR door for anyone who might love to discuss AR but does not fit or want to fit into any of these dominating cliques.

...or the specialised threads for ranting, raving and talking nonsense are useful as they keep that discussion away from the actual useful threads on the forum. No one would suggest that newbies should be jumping into one of those thread for their first AR forum post and "getting" what it's all about.

If someone wants to come onto the AR forum and ask about an upcoming race, or what shoes to get, or what GPS to get or how to run down hills in a trail race, or how to drink water in a road race or anything else you can think of then the forum is open for the posts to be made on whatever topic... and people will respond helpfully on those thread.

The rest of you who have been around here talking gibberish about running for donkeys years may need somewhere to complain about a short/ long course and lack of cakes at the end of a parkrun, or to rave about the awesome marshal and the great medal in the last race, or to talk about blah, blah blah. There is a place for a ranting thread, and a raving thread and an off topic thread.

There is also a whole world out there that is not boards which people could get out and enjoy.

Gavlor

T runner wrote: »

Democracy is one person one vote. It seems more or less the same core group of 10 users or so use it all the time. With the vast amount of posts this means cliques and cliques are the death of objective topic related fora.

If you want an open objective forum welcome and respectful to ALL people with an interest in AR then have only one general off topic thread for off topic chit chat.

If you want the forum to turn into a permanent hangout for small groups of like minded pals, then have spat threads. And put a closed sign on the AR door for anyone who might love to discuss AR but does not fit or want to fit into any of these dominating cliques.

In the interest of debate I went back one page on the old rant thread and counted 14 different users posting there. That's a rather large clique relative to the number of users here.

Anyway, I'm not interested in convincing you of the merits of the rant thread. It's a bit of fun in a world gone mad.

T runner

robinph wrote: »

...or the specialised threads for ranting, raving and talking nonsense are useful as they keep that discussion away from the actual useful threads on the forum. No one would suggest that newbies should be jumping into one of those thread for their first AR forum post and "getting" what it's all about.

If someone wants to come onto the AR forum and ask about an upcoming race, or what shoes to get, or what GPS to get or how to run down hills in a trail race, or how to drink water in a road race or anything else you can think of then the forum is open for the posts to be made on whatever topic... and people will respond helpfully on those thread.

The rest of you who have been around here talking gibberish about running for donkeys years may need somewhere to complain about a short/ long course and lack of cakes at the end of a parkrun, or to rave about the awesome marshal and the great medal in the last race, or to talk about blah, blah blah. There is a place for a ranting thread, and a raving thread and an off topic thread.

There is also a whole world out there that is not boards which people could get out and enjoy.

An off topic thread is useful on a thread with the topic for discussion as AR.
But why have several? Why not stick all non-related items in the one thread?
Dont you think ist ridiculous moving topics between non-running related threads for being "Off-Topic"? Havent ye enough moderation on these fora?
And whay stop at 3 off -topic threads? Why not have a let off steam thread? A spat thread? (oh yeah, oops) A flirting thread? Why not a lads lounge? A ladies lounge?

Unfortunatly new users just need to read the rant thread to "get" AR.
Some rants are fine..others are disguised attacks against people and groups of people which many AR users may find alienating and/or offensive.

Have everything off topic in the one thread. Anything off topic goes there, and any shenanigans there is easily monitored.

If you want to see the type of alienating "Rants" that get disguised (as "just a rant", "a bit of fun", "schoolboy playacting" etc. in the Rant thread but would be easily picked up in one off-Topic thread see below. (There are plenty more, inc homophobic tones, anti-traveler tones etc..)

(Please dont say they are Ok because they are funny.)

I hate the stupid women who stand in line a the check out...

Psychopathic women....

Women voicing opinions.... Have you not got some cleaning to do ffs

Women can always clean better than men. It's in their DNA

Women... Same wan as before has now hightailed it. **** right off for ****ing my head up when I didn't even want it

Women drivers The lack of top class female chefs.... I mean they are only here to fulfil 2 duties, you'd think they'd get one of them right. The bra. Unhoovered floors (see point 2 above) ....

women getting equal pay to men in the tennis despite doing much less work, WHATS ALL THAT ABOUT EH?

Ultras are like a long walk with naps, pizza, coke and a good natter. Sure no wonder women excel at them

Just to clarify, I don't hate women. In fact I'm quite fond of their cooking. I think I might convert to Islam. Mohammad had the right idea

Women with Nice behinds wearing leggings then covering them up with a jumper, then women who should cover theirs up not..

Morons who think women deserve special treatment

Old women drivers.

As far as I am concerned men can be cnuts, women can be cnuts, children can be cnuts animals can be cnuts, even machines can be cnuts. It's a catch all term. Offensive? yes. But this thread is supposed to be about being offensive and letting steam off.

Why should women...travellers..gay people etc...have to tolerate this just to keep a few old timers happy? They dont...they leave.

robinph

We will not have this thread descend into another one of your crusades. Take a couple of days off.

nerraw1111

Robin - You just spent four paragraphs debating the issue with him (as a boardie and not as a mod).

He replies to your points and rightly points out the flaws in your argument and then you ban him? Ridiculous stuff.

W.B. Yeats

Why should somebody be banned for disagreeing with a Mod especially when it wasn't in the Mod guise?
We are all allowed hold different opinions around here- that's the point of a discussion board.

Gavlor

It's happening again!!!!!

robinph

nerraw1111 wrote: »

Robin - You just spent four paragraphs debating the issue with him (as a boardie and not as a mod).

He replies to your points and rightly points out the flaws in your argument and then you ban him? Ridiculous stuff.

<mod>Just to be clear, I have not banned him for any flaws in my points about off topic posting.</mod>

The forum could be tidied up by having just one off topic thread. But, if that off topic thread includes any ranting I can't see how any happy thoughts from the rave thread would ever get posted. It just becomes one huge rant thread.

The rant and rave thread have appeared in response to Marathon Talk presumably, and they really don't take up any space on the forum from page. A very good reason for getting rid of them would be if the mods get too annoyed with dealing with them. But the forum is what you guys make it, and the users created the rant and rave threads, and all of the others. If they are not wanted then stop posting in them and they will fall off the page and die a death..

ThisRegard

I'm with T Runner on this. Don't read/post in the thread is no excuse. There's generally a feeling that this forum has become very cliquey, and I agree with that, and new posters to this forum have in the past said f this, I'm not coming back.

AdpRo

A regular poster last night posted a downright rude and disgusting post about an ex form member (which was very quickly removed) and is still posting today, no idea how they escaped a ban while 3 days was given for the above.

theboyblunder

I think/hope the ban might be a bit of a 'lifetime achievement award' for a lot of posts about this pet topic - a topic which ironically has nothing to do with AR - in different threads, usually posted in the manner of some kind of moral policeman.

Kurt Godel

theboyblunder wrote: »

I think/hope the ban might be a bit of a 'lifetime achievement award' for a lot of posts about this pet topic - a topic which ironically has nothing to do with AR - in different threads, usually posted in the manner of some kind of moral policeman.

That's police*person* please...

Off topic for the off topic thread, Trunner is one of the most interesting posters here when it comes to discussions balancing volume against intensity in training. In fact, a whole load of posters on the off topic/Rant/notRant/clique/notclique/literary threads are really interesting when they are posting about genuine A/R training and performance. It'd be really really nice and more helpful if the whole forum was arguing about that aspect rather than sideline stuff.

(Sorry for butting in like this but they've run out of nectar at the washed-up bar...)

tunguska

robinph wrote: »

We will not have this thread descend into another one of your crusades. Take a couple of days off.

Fair play robin it really needed to be said.....

Gavlor

Weetabix wrote: »

A regular poster last night posted a downright rude and disgusting post about an ex form member (which was very quickly removed) and is still posting today, no idea how they escaped a ban while 3 days was given for the above.

I stand over those comments. They weren't deleted by me, it was duly dealt with by the mods, as is their right.

AdpRo

Gavlor wrote: »

I stand over those comments. They weren't deleted by me, it was duly dealt with by the mods, as is their right.

Wasn't talking about you. The comments were about the late Dr. Q.

Gavlor

Weetabix wrote: »

Wasn't talking about you. The comments were about the late Dr. Q.

Ok, my bad. You're my favourite breakfast by the way.

RacoonQueen

Gavlor wrote: »

Ok, my bad. You're my favourite breakfast by the way.

Crap breakfast. Processed and sugary.

TRR_the_turd

RacoonQueen wrote: »

Crap breakfast. Processed and sugary.

Ah I don't think weetabix is that bad! I don't think there is too much added salt etc. I'm too lazy to look up ingredients etc but I was always of the opinion it wasn't a bad substitute for porridge if stuck

Gavlor

RacoonQueen wrote: »

Crap breakfast. Processed and sugary.

(Sssshhh, I was just trying to bring some niceness back to a/r)

tunguska

RacoonQueen wrote: »

Crap breakfast. Processed and sugary.

You're fierce agro lately. First youre telling me Im not THE most magnificent male poster around here and now youre slating Weetabix.........Did you fall off your bike again?

W.B. Yeats

One rule for some a different one for others. Pathetic.

pconn062

There are currently threads on the main page about marathon tapering, cross country training, interval reps and recovery, hill/trail running, the elite field at DCM etc. Maybe we could get a little more discussion going in those threads, it is the A/R forum after all and move away from some of the silliness.

barryoneill50

W.B. Yeats wrote: »

One rule for some a different one for others. Pathetic.

A card for this post shows the post itself was spot on!

Kurt Godel

barryoneill50 wrote: »

A card for this post shows the post itself was spot on!

If a mod is carding someone here they are doing it with a heavy heart- they signed up thinking they would be helping out or giving back to a running community. It's pretty sh1t when you see the crap that goes on behind the scenes as a mod with posters demanding fairness.

If you care about this being a viable athletics/running forum at all, cop yourself on and give up the drama crap about rules and start posting more about athletics/running. That goes for everyone that wants to come here and learn about athletic/running rather than be entertained. Otherwise put your name forward as a mod- but I guarantee you would not believe the garbage that will fill your day to dull something that has erstwhile been a hobby.

shotgunmcos

barryoneill50 wrote: »

A card for this post shows the post itself was spot on!

No, it shows the Mod was spot on!

RacoonQueen

Lads, I think we need a group hug...

Chivito550

nerraw1111 wrote: »

.

And we've lost another one!

Chivito550

dublin runner wrote: »

It's less than two weeks to go to the biggest athletics race of the year

Are you having a laugh here?

dublin runner

Chivito550 wrote: »

Are you having a laugh here?

Don't know where my comment is gone but yes. 14,000 people would be classified as the biggest.

Chivito550

dublin runner wrote: »

Don't know where my comment is gone but yes. 14,000 people would be classified as the biggest.

Biggest in numbers, but far from the biggest in terms of Athletics prestige.