Preserving the best of the forum

RoyMcC

Just a thought. There is routinely some good debate and advice on this forum. But sometimes there is a particular thread, or a piece of advice within a thread, that is exceptional.

In these cases it is a bit of a shame to see it disappear down the plughole once the thread has run out of legs.

For example some recent, well thought-out and informed posts by Tergat and Racing Flat spring to mind. Such valuable posts are unlikely to be repeated and are therefore lost for ever.

I lurk on another forum where, for this particular purpose the moderators occasionally transfer a thread to a Platinum Thread sub-forum. There it is not lost and it can be easily returned to and even added to.

Is anyone in agreement, and would our lovely mods be in favour?

osnola ibax

I've bookmarked that tergat thread, I guess this is the next step, good idea

hunnymonster

I've thought about doing something similar a couple of times, The only think is who decides what is platinum? I would certainly be in favour of such a thread if we can reach a concensus on what should be included.

Running Bing

I think its a great idea.


You could pm a mod if you come across a thread or post you feel warrants inclusion and then the mods could debate it between themselves.

I think with the mods there is a good mixture between long distance, shorter stuff and Tri so it could work quite well.

I think it would be an excellent resource to have at the top of the forum and the first thing Id nominate is a thread started by (I think, apologies if wrong) cfitz last November/December about improving 3000m time in which a lot of people (including Tergat) give some very good advice.

TheRoadRunner

Good idea. Great posts are usually complimented by multiple boardsies so it should be easy to decide if something is platinum IMO

roadrunner55

I think maybe if it appeared as advice and got x amount of thanks it could be considered as platinum.
Or maybe just some suggest that they think a post worthy of permanence and so many people can confirm.
Same principle.
Also you could set up a platinum thread like amadeus´s running quotes for example, where people can quote such nuggets.

geld

RoyMcC wrote: »

For example some recent, well thought-out and informed posts by Tergat and Racing Flat spring to mind. Such valuable posts are unlikely to be repeated and are therefore lost for ever.

I lurk on another forum where, for this particular purpose the moderators occasionally transfer a thread to a Platinum Thread sub-forum. There it is not lost and it can be easily returned to and even added to.

Is anyone in agreement, and would our lovely mods be in favour?

Excellent idea Roy. I too enjoyed that thread and bookmarked it. It was an excellent debate and good read. It would it would be a good idea to keep this and other good pieces of advice or whatever in a place that is easily accessible.

jlang

A case for use of the biki, perhaps?

--amadeus--

Ok, here is a totally off the wall idea...

Why don't we write a running encyclopaedia?

We could create a stickie that lists the sections that we think are needed and where people can suggest new sections. We can have a thread a week / a month on a given section and then the best of the posts gets pulled out and added to a Google Docs document. This is linked to in the thread and it gets colaborativly edited by us all into some sort of shape. Once we're all happy a pdf is created as teh final version. That can then be hosted and linked to from teh original thread.

Over time we get a comprehensive running book written that will basically contain the best knowledge of the "hive mind" and would be a totally blinding resource, not just for us but for anyone.

robinph

That type of thing does sound awfully like what you should use the biki for. I did find the cycling page although I was sure I'd seen it before with a lot more information on it. I think they may have since split their various topics out to seperate pages now and indexed them here.

kennyb3

this would be great. currently i save most of the good advice to word and have different folders for different topics etc. but this can be a right pain!!

robinph

Right then ... I had a bit of a dig around on the biki and found an empty page that used to be for when this forum was just called "athletics" and before anyone had ideas of going for a swim and cycle first. I've not done anything to it yet really, other than update the mods and the name of the forum, I think the url is best left as just "athletics" for now as adding in the R & T parts will make the path too long, can always be changed later though.

Anyway, this is where the page is so for now so the next step is to accumulate the shared knowledge there and see what we end up with I guess.

http://wiki.boards.ie/wiki/Board:Athletics

Editing wiki code is a bit different to the vbulletin code here or html etc, so be careful if editing yourself, or I can add stuff in for the moment.

What should we be putting there though?

ecoli

Hey Guys this seems like great idea. For the wiki definitely would say that the improving the 3000m times a good place to start that was a great thread with some great advice

RoyMcC

Yo Robin, that looks good. Would there be an easy link from the main A/R/T board?

I suggest that Threads Of Fame only be used sparingly, and that the mods decide which get featured. I wouldn't argue with ecoli's suggestion as to a first thread. I'm confused as to why the 1,000 mile thread is there though - this will clearly be prominent on the main board throughout 2009.

As to editing the biki generally my brain hurts and I'd let others more clued up than me sort that one out.

robinph

I only stuck the 1000mile one in as an example and it was on the front page when I was doing the editing so I grabbed the link. The threads of fame heading itself is just part of the default template so we can put stuff there or not.

That page is just a starting point for now.

buck65

Does anyone agree that since the forum changes to Athletics/Running / Triathlon there are just waaaay to many threads. Every second day there is a marathon /half mara advice thread etc. starting up.
Really marathon and road running need to be on their own. This forum is turning into a mess with all the samey threads being started.

Woddle

buck65 wrote: »

Does anyone agree that since the forum changes to Athletics/Running / Triathlon there are just waaaay to many threads. Every second day there is a marathon /half mara advice thread etc. starting up.
Really marathon and road running need to be on their own. This forum is turning into a mess with all the samey threads being started.

No I don't agree, I think the extra traffic is fantastic and the more people the ART forum attracts the better. If your checking the forum a couple of times a day it's fine but if your doing it less frequently, you will probably have alot of reading

Peckham

I've been away the past four weeks or so, and have noticed when I got back that the activity on this forum has increased substantially with a lot of usernames I don't recognise! Am now feeling like an outsider on this forum!!

I think there could be a seasonality effect going on - weather has got better, so more people getting into running and coming onto the forum, and those who were already here are getting into more focussed training for whatever they have lined up over summer/autumn.

As someone who only comes online twice or three times a day, am finding it a lot more difficult to keep on top of the threads here than was the case a few months back.

Symptom of the success of this forum I think....

robinph

You can never please some people, first they complain about there being two seperate forums and things being quiet, then the forums get merged and people complain about it getting too busy.

I'd say it's definately a seasonal thing here at the moment, there will only be a few crazies left here over the winter again that like running in the mud or are aiming for a spring marathon.

Edit:

Woddle wrote: »

... I think the extra traffic is fantastic and the more people the ART forum attracts the better.

What he said.

--amadeus--

I wasn't particularly pro the merge as I wanted to maintain an "endurance" ethos, as we had on teh old Marathon / Tri board. But since teh merge the traffic has increased exponentially and teh quality of teh advice and posters really is now second to none. I know that the same stuff comes up time and again but thats Internet forums for you - they are all the same (look at motors and how often it gets a "Pick me a car for €x" threads, for example. I wouldn't be in favour of a de-merger, even if it were technically possible.

On teh Biki, great job by Robin. I think it would be great to have a single stickie at teh top of teh forum that gives a brief overview of the forum and then linked to teh Biki. the Biki could then hold the Charter, BAC details, links to popular threads (1000 mile, race updates - the stuff thats stickied already and a few others like the Best of 09). We could then have a regular links section (replacing the links stickie) and a Hall of Fame links where we link out to the really good threads. It would do a great job of cleaning up the top of teh Forum. Might be room tehre for race reviews as well, in a better format than a thread allows.

I wouldn't leave teh Mods chosing teh best forum threads either - the users dictate the content, you guys are better picking teh good stuff IMO.

donothoponpop

--amadeus-- wrote: »

I think it would be great to have a single stickie at teh top of teh forum .... It would do a great job of cleaning up the top of teh Forum.

+1

RoyMcC

donothoponpop wrote: »

+1

+2

robinph

I've made another couple of edits now, mostly just figuring out how to link in pictures though and adding in the forum charter. I also added a heading for BAC and stuck in a random line there. Down to Woddle though to decide what he actually might want to say in that section though.

Ideas for what is needed greatfully recieved...

asimonov

i know i'm marathon oriented, but I thought that the racing flat / roadrunner thread on "running your best ever marathon" was pure gold.

jlang

--amadeus-- wrote: »

the Biki could then hold the Charter

Probably not the best idea , but +1.0 on the rest.