ARTist credentials?

Peckham

Have just read through the debate about LSRs and just wondering whether there is an appetite for a thread/sticky providing a profile of people who commonly post here. This would serve two objectives:

1) Providing a background to someone giving you advice (i.e. their racing/training/coaching experience and approach)

2) Provide a background on someone seeking advice in terms of where they are in terms of their running life, and what their objectives are (immediate and long term).

Objective would be that people edit the profile about themselves as their objectives and background changes.

I know that I personally find it difficult to keep on top of who's who around here!

Any thoughts?

RoyMcC

Interesting idea. I'm sure that some posters would be up for it. Not everyone would buy in though - part of the reason for the success of any online forum is that there is a degree of anonymity for those that require it. This would erode it.

And I'm not sure that I'd relish seeing posters listing their credentials and/or achievements and thereby seeming to be superior to others - whether intentionally or otherwise.

On the whole I find that most A/R/T posters contribute and advise within their areas of interest. And as such, those contributions are valid. If they are questionable then for sure they will be quickly questioned.

So I'm a 'no' but it's a good topic for discussion.

baza1976

RoyMcC wrote: »

Interesting idea. I'm sure that some posters would be up for it. Not everyone would buy in though - part of the reason for the success of any online forum is that there is a degree of anonymity for those that require it. This would erode it.

And I'm not sure that I'd relish seeing posters listing their credentials and/or achievements and thereby seeming to be superior to others - whether intentionally or otherwise.

On the whole I find that most A/R/T posters contribute and advise within their areas of interest. And as such, those contributions are valid. If they are questionable then for sure they will be quickly questioned.

So I'm a 'no' but it's a good topic for discussion.

+1

tunney

RoyMcC wrote: »

Interesting idea. I'm sure that some posters would be up for it. Not everyone would buy in though - part of the reason for the success of any online forum is that there is a degree of anonymity for those that require it. This would erode it.

If you need to hide behind a handle to say what you want to say then the odds are you shouldn't be saying it.

TheRoadRunner

tunney wrote: »

If you need to hide behind a handle to say what you want to say then the odds are you shouldn't be saying it.

Not necessarily true in all cases. I can think of plenty of reasons (especially work related) where someone may like to stay anonymous.

I think a list of peoples credentials would not necessarily work. It could end up being an exercise in dick measuring / ego. Also the inference that running fast times means you are better at dishing out advice is not always true. The best coach I've ever had was a very average runner. In a similar vein Arsne Wenger wasn't a great footballer but is a great coach.

--amadeus--

I think its a great idea in theory, it would make things more social and help people get to know each other and - as you say - would help you get to know other posters as well as judge the value of thier advice or gague what level to pitch your advice at.

But... I'm not sure how many people would actually fill in thier details. And it would end up as a "I'm so much better than you because I'm faster / have done more races / read more books" or whatever

I think in general the forum is pretty good at sniffing out BS. For example I have no idea who Tergat is - I don't know if hes ever run, what qualifications he has, anything. But his posts are just so obviously right that who he is doesn't actually matter. It's only when someone new comes on and starts coming out with controversial opinions that posters start asking who they are. Which is fair - if someone says you can (for example) run a marathon just using cross fit I don't see an issue with asking if they have done it themselves. Because if they have then they might have something worth listening to.

911sc

Posting your profile does not mean that full name/address/phone number have to be specified.

The profile is in the context of boards.ie, e.g. behind 911sc, is a 41years old guy who runs 2000kms per year, ran 6 marathons and still struggling to break 4h, likes swimming and cycling, started tri in 2009...and does all of that for fun, fitness and self discipline rather than to be competitive, so seconds don't matter to me.
That could be many people in Ireland.

I kind of agree with Tunney on this one. We are in a forum of Sport, not a forum about how to evade tax or build a business selling cocaine :rolleyes:
But i also respect people's needs for privacy..Unfortunately, now days, people in general hide too much behind mobile text, emails and ...internet forum. But that's an other debate for an other forum.


An anonymous poster. (seriously out of date web site though).