Mod for a day

RayCun

Stealing mcos' question from the spotlight thread -

If you were mod for a day in A/R/T, no veto from the other mods or posters, what would you change?

Changes to the charter? To the structure of the forum? More heavy-handed in some ways, lighter in others? More combining of some things, less of others?

Bear in mind that the restriction on offering medical advice is boards-wide, not something we can change just in this forum, so bringing that up is a waste of time. Also, I have thick skin, so I don't really care if you want to complain about me but that's not going to change anything in the forum either.

Suggestions may be implemented, or filed in the recycling bin...

brownian

TBH, I don't have any gripe with how this forum is modded. I think ART is a pretty easy crowd - there's not much flaming, cursing, insulting, bigotry, hatred...shame really As a result, I don't perceive (maybe I'm missing it) that there's a lot of overt modding activity, so what's to dislike.

If there was no mod on duty for a week, would we notice? I don't mean that to suggest that there isn't hard work put in by the mods, just that it's not "in your face"...which is good.

Keep up the good work.

Gringo78

I would have 2 new super threads - the HTFU thread and the Pink Fluffy Bunnys thread. You simply post your training session or race result in the thread of your choosing. In one thread you will get pats on the back, on the other thread you will be reminded a pregnant grandmother in India has run faster and get some honest tough love

sideswipe

I'd get some injury advise in relation to my dodgy knee and then find out if anybody has an entry for DCM that they could give me!

RacoonQueen

I'd ban anyone who gives crap advice and then I'd just troll all over the shop.

Edit: I'd also open up an adverts sub-forum, similar to what they have in cycling. Would be a great sub-forum for A/R/T

pgmcpq

I'd set up a read only sub forum where valuable/popular threads could be kept around. Training discussions etc/tips etc, the stuff that tends to get asked pretty regularly. Mods could take nominations to immortalize threads like this in such a sub forum.

I have some old threads bookmarked which I go back to from time to time.
As an example "Improving for the next time" http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2055723042, ecoli's sub3 coaching thread (don't have the link to hand), the recent thread on designing a marathon training program (which I've just realized I did not bookmark:().

There's a lot of valuable information around ... but you really need to search hard to find it. Newcomers to the forum would not know to look. It would be good to have a repository of old threads to provoke some new debate.

gerard65

Stop deleting threads, even if they are a p take, just lock them. I love reading the chancer threads, the replys of those who fall for them. Too often they are deleted before I get a chance to read them to the end.
P.S. I have never opened one of these threads.

BeepBeep67

RacoonQueen wrote: »

I'd ban anyone who gives crap advice and then I'd just troll all over the shop.

Edit: I'd also open up an adverts sub-forum, similar to what they have in cycling. Would be a great sub-forum for A/R/T

You trying to hock some shoes?

donothoponpop

I'd ban <mod snip>, he used to be interesting but now he's just a crank with Perma-PMS. Ditto <mod snip>, the only reason he posts here is to shill his races.
And while I'm at it, mod snip gets a ban, whatta jerk. Also <mod snip>, <mod snip>, and <mod snip>, I used to have respect for them, but no more, no sirree. Total asses.

And I'd allow a race pic thread showing headphone wearers getting hoisted by their own i-petard. Otherwise you mods are doing a great job, its a lot easier sitting this side of the fence.

[size=-5]last edited by Mod[/size]

rainbow kirby

Spend the whole day hoping that the whole thing didn't get reversed on me and some of you guys would be let mod The Ladies Lounge for a day :pac:

shels4ever

I'd give Tunney the green light to say what ever he wanted for 24 hours, not matter what.

Pisco Sour

I'd lift the ban on drug speculation. It's absolute nonsense. As if a female US Sprinter is actually going to sue boards.ie because some annonymous poster on an Irish chatforum thinks (for good reason) that she is on drugs.

The fact we are not allowed to discuss the women's 1500m, 3000m, and 10000m records, which are accepted as extremely dodgey the world over is a bit nuts. Is Ma Juran going to start sueing boards because somebody has said something that has been said about a million times before?

robinph

I'd ban tables.

Pisco Sour

I'd also set up a general "Just started running, can I run a Marathon in 3 months" thread. All advice would go here, and each time somebody starts one of these threads that person would be directed to this super duper thread and their thread would be locked.

Gringo78

robinph wrote: »

I'd ban tables.

The suggestions are coming thick and fast now, hard to follow them all. Could we have a table and then you could just quote the table to add a new suggestion?

robinph

I'd kill off the Garmin thread, it's too big to make any information other than the most recently asked question findable. Then just have questions about specific things people have issues with their Garmins in separate threads. The Garmin thread pre-dates the sub forum I seem to remember, so it did make sense back in the mists of time.

robinph

Gringo78 and RacoonQueen would be on my "to be banned" list for supporting tables. :mad:

Tables are great, but used wrongly and too much are not.

Gringo78

robinph wrote: »

I'd kill off the Garmin thread, it's too big to make any information other than the most recently asked question findable. Then just have questions about specific things people have issues with their Garmins in separate threads. The Garmin thread pre-dates the sub forum I seem to remember, so it did make sense back in the mists of time.

Maybe a table with all known problems would work better?

robinph

Gringo78 wrote: »

Maybe a table with all known problems would work better?

Actually that would make sense and be an appropriate use of a table...in one post, not repeated constantly in each post in an otherwise dead thread. When a thread becomes just a repetition of identical tables is when it gets silly.

thirtyfoot

I'd cart all the Fluffy Bunnies and their cheerleaders off to the Jogging forum. Then sit back in the peace and quiet of the new A/R/T forum that would resemble the wooden outdoor loo at the bottom of the garden and have a Hamlet.

RayCun

shels4ever wrote: »

I'd give Tunney the green light to say what ever he wanted for 24 hours, not matter what.

As if we could stop him :pac:

RayCun

04072511 wrote: »

I'd also set up a general "Just started running, can I run a Marathon in 3 months" thread. All advice would go here, and each time somebody starts one of these threads that person would be directed to this super duper thread and their thread would be locked.

cough cough

Pisco Sour

RayCun wrote: »

cough cough

Ha, well another thing I would do then if I was a mod would be to actually take a look at the what is in this forum!


Do all those "just started running" threads actually get locked though? While I think the mods in the Oz/NZ forum are on power trips at times, one thing they do very well is to simply lock repetitive threads and direct the OP to the super duper general threads. If you think we get some repetitive threads, then you haven't seen anything yet! I think a "how do I find work in Oz" thread is posted a solid 4 times a week it seems!!

I would simply lock all of these "just started running" threads immediately and just direct the poster to these 2 threads you've linked. These threads constantly push good topics off page 1 all too quickly!

RayCun

04072511 wrote: »

Do all those "just started running" threads actually get locked though?

The Dublin marathon ones, yes. Sometimes there's a bit of a grey area between 'general running question' and 'marathon-specific question', but I move all the marathon-specific ones straight away.

The 'just started running' threads... I don't know, have we had many recently? Maybe people are reading the sticky? :eek:
Or maybe it's just the wrong time of year, and the deluge will start in January...

Pisco Sour

RayCun wrote: »

The Dublin marathon ones, yes. Sometimes there's a bit of a grey area between 'general running question' and 'marathon-specific question', but I move all the marathon-specific ones straight away.

The 'just started running' threads... I don't know, have we had many recently? Maybe people are reading the sticky? :eek:
Or maybe it's just the wrong time of year, and the deluge will start in January...

Maybe a "Running your first Marathon? All posts here" thread might work. It's not easy as some runners may not be attempting their first marathon until they feel they are in the shape to run sub 3 hours, but I'd say 95% of people running their first marathon would be plodders (like I was) and so this thread could help.

Woddle

I'd start a new thread and call it The Dungeon and I'd send posters of posts I disagree with there where personal abuse (within reason is tolerated.
Example, Robinph for hating tables and knocking the garmin thread
The poster who was knocking Martin Fagan and everyone who thought it was OK to do a marathon where heat exhaustion was an issue while heavily pregnant.

menoscemo

Woddle wrote: »

I'd start a new thread and call it The Dungeon and I'd send posters of posts I disagree with there where personal abuse (within reason is tolerated.
Example, Robinph for hating tables and knocking the garmin thread
The poster who was knocking Martin Fagan and everyone who thought it was OK to do a marathon where heat exhaustion was an issue while heavily pregnant.

There's already a forum for this. The Thunderdome

rom

Get my troll on.

tunney

RayCun wrote: »

Stealing mcos' question from the spotlight thread -

If you were mod for a day in A/R/T, no veto from the other mods or posters, what would you change?

Changes to the charter? To the structure of the forum? More heavy-handed in some ways, lighter in others? More combining of some things, less of others?

Bear in mind that the restriction on offering medical advice is boards-wide, not something we can change just in this forum, so bringing that up is a waste of time. Also, I have thick skin, so I don't really care if you want to complain about me but that's not going to change anything in the forum either.

Suggestions may be implemented, or filed in the recycling bin...

I think the forum has much improved over the last 2 months or so.

The one change I would make would be to have some way for people to put anonymous reviews of races up.

gerard65

Ban any mention of Tim Noakes and the 'Lore of Running'.

RayCun

gerard65 wrote: »

Ban any mention of barefoot running and 'Born to Run'.

fyp

Brianderunner

I would force anyone stating their times goals before their race to accept bets on them hitting their times. Shows whether they really believe it or not. I'd gladly play bookie

Pisco Sour

Brianderunner wrote: »

I would force anyone stating their times goals before their race to accept bets on them hitting their times. Shows whether they really believe it or not. I'd gladly play bookie

Will you do accumulators?

Brianderunner

04072511 wrote: »

Will you do accumulators?

No that's where it gets messy. 10 or 20 euro bets max is what i've done so far, dont want things getting too serious.

robinph

gerard65 wrote: »

Ban any mention of Tim Noakes and the 'Lore of Running'.

What crime did Noakes and his dog Sheppy ever commit?

MrCreosote

You gave up the GAA.
You put on 30 kilos.
You decided to run.
You thought-a marathon!-In Dublin!-what a great thing to do!
You trained. In wet. In heat. In snow.
You slogged the long runs, the tempos, the fartleks, the recoveries.
You pumped it out all goddamn summer long.
You foam-rolled your ITBs until the motherf***ers cried for mercy.
You choked down rancid gels and power drinks.
You smacked out a 10k and a half marathon
You never felt so good.
You forgot to enter the DCM.
You join boards.ie.
Your first thread gets locked.
Your second thread gets locked.
You notice a support thread for injured runners.
You post there asking for a transfer.
Your post gets deleted.
You abuse a mod.
You get banned.

If I was mod for a day I'd allow transfers.

RayCun

tunney wrote: »

The one change I would make would be to have some way for people to put anonymous reviews of races up.

Anonymous reviews don't carry as much weight though. If I see a bunch of posters with no history praising a race to the heavens, I reach for Muppetcheck. Same with criticism from unfamiliar posters.

And muppets aside, if I can see that poster X isn't very experienced I'll discount their comments compared to someone who has done a lot of races and has reasonable expectations.

Pisco Sour

MrCreosote wrote: »

You gave up the GAA.
You put on 30 kilos.
You decided to run.
You thought-a marathon!-In Dublin!-what a great thing to do!
You trained. In wet. In heat. In snow.
You slogged the long runs, the tempos, the fartleks, the recoveries.
You pumped it out all goddamn summer long.
You foam-rolled your ITBs until the motherf***ers cried for mercy.
You choked down rancid gels and power drinks.
You smacked out a 10k and a half marathon
You never felt so good.
You forgot to enter the DCM.
You join boards.ie.
Your first thread gets locked.
Your second thread gets locked.
You notice a support thread for injured runners.
You post there asking for a transfer.
Your post gets deleted.
You abuse a mod.
You get banned.

If I was mod for a day I'd allow transfers.

Haha, no sympathy for muppets who forget to enter the DCM The thing is open for entries pretty much 11 months of the year.

Enjoyed the post though.

nerraw1111

Get rid of the ridiculous no injury advice rule. I can't understand the logic of this as boards.ie isn't going to get sued because of some muppet injuring himself. The same way, it doesn't happen in real life.

And ban any poster who moans about the 'hills' in the Phoenix Park. There are no hills in the park

robinph

MrCreosote wrote: »

If I was mod for a day I'd allow transfers.

ART does allow transfers. Triathlon transfers pop-up occasionally

DCM does not allow transfers. Running race don't tend to allow it.

ART does not facilitate people to run under other peoples numbers.



I do think that the snipping of those transfer posts should be a bit more harsh though:

Bally-go-backwards marathon
Hi, my name is BOB. I'm an idiot and didn't enter the race in time <mod_snip>

<Mod_note>No transfers allowed</mod_note>

The snipping of the messages isn't really getting rid of the message and it's still perfectly clear what the message is asking for, for what event, and the users can be contacted by PM.

RayCun

nerraw1111 wrote: »

Get rid of the ridiculous no injury advice rule. I can't understand the logic of this as boards.ie isn't going to get sued because of some muppet injuring himself. The same way, it doesn't happen in real life.

happened to read this old post by amadeus about the rule

There was a monster thread in the Mods forum about medical advice recently, started by the two doctors who mod teh medical forum on here. The general consensus from the various medics, all the mods and the site owners was that medical advice is pretty much a strict no-no as a site wide policy, no matter what the mods of the various forums think. The reason for this is that symptoms that might seem innocuous to us could be a danger signal to someone who knows what they are looking for. Likewise without knowing the full history and a physical exam there is no way that the advisors can give good advice. And wrong medical advice can be very angerous.

('recently' is a couple of years ago now)

I know, I know, the kind of injuries people ask for advice about on here aren't life-threatening, but thems the rules

Woddle

nerraw1111 wrote: »

Get rid of the ridiculous no injury advice rule. I can't understand the logic of this as boards.ie isn't going to get sued because of some muppet injuring himself. The same way, it doesn't happen in real life.

I agree and it should be as simple as...
I am in no way qualified to give medical advice but this is what worked for me....

RayCun

robinph wrote: »

The snipping of the messages isn't really getting rid of the message and it's still perfectly clear what the message is asking for, for what event, and the users can be contacted by PM.

I agree, better to delete the message entirely

robinph

nerraw1111 wrote: »

Get rid of the ridiculous no injury advice rule. I can't understand the logic of this as boards.ie isn't going to get sued because of some muppet injuring himself. The same way, it doesn't happen in real life.

And ban any poster who moans about the 'hills' in the Phoenix Park. They are no hills in the park

There is a very subtle line between what would be OK and what wouldn't.

How do I prevent such and such happening? - Go see a specialist shoe shop and get fitted properly, these shoes are what I got, blah, blah blah.
I've got thingimy, what do I do? - Go seek medical advice <thread locked>
I've got thingimy, who should I see? - Should probably see medical type 1 person they sorted something similar for me. No I went to see medical type person 2 and it was actually whatitsname that was wrong with me and was sorted with a bit of dodah. blah blah blah

Pisco Sour

I'd also ban that stupid No "advertising" rule. A few of us are involved in writing about the sport, myself included. I don't do it to get paid, I do it because I enjoy it and as a way of trying to raise the profile of the sport as best I can. The site is completely volunteer yet I can't post any of the articles or interviews on this forum (the place where the people who would want to read this stuff are located) as it is seen as "advertising". Just madness.

Boards.ie in general is too by the book with certain things. One rule fits all sort of thing.

BobMac104

RayCun wrote: »

ban any mention of barefoot running or "Born to run"

Maybe a sticky woulnt be any harm for not just barefoot running but also pose/chi running etc as they do get brought up often enough.

I know alot of people have no time for such but they have their place under the "ART" banner IMO and if people want to talk about it they should be able to without the usual ....."ah not this sh1t again"!!

robinph

04072511 wrote: »

I'd also ban that stupid No "advertising" rule. A few of us are involved in writing about the sport, myself included. I don't do it to get paid, I do it because I enjoy it and as a way of trying to raise the profile of the sport as best I can. The site is completely volunteer yet I can't post any of the articles or interviews on this forum (the place where the people who would want to read this stuff are located) as it is seen as "advertising". Just madness.

Boards.ie in general is too by the book with certain things. One rule fits all sort of thing.

They have to be by the book, or people will say "But it's allowed over there" and chaos will be the result. There are different rules and flexibility for different forums though, just not on things such as advertising or medical issues.

Dav at hello@boards.ie is the person to discuss it with though.

HardyEustace

robinph wrote: »

What crime did Noakes and his dog Sheppy ever commit?

Mr Slow

I'd like to be a Garda for a day....

--amadeus--

Mr Slow wrote: »

I'd like to be a Garda for a day....

I'd like to be Colin Farrell's fingertips for a week...

(recycled Woody Allen line)

I think the modding in here is actually really good at this stage and threads like this are a sign of it - once upon a time we had regular "how's our driving" type threads in this forum and I personally always thought it made sense to get input from the users rather than have Mods try and guess what was wanted.

Forums like ART tend to be one of two types - either straightforward information giving forums or communities of people who happen to have a common interest. We had moved very much towards a more factual forum in here and it had become a bit dull and dry so it's great to see it swinging back the other way now with a lot more banter and craic in the main forum rather than hidden in the logs.

One of the issues that was complained about a while ago was of "overmodding" and I think that the Mod team have pretty much resolved that now. There was a phase where the Mods were attempting to drive an agenda and encourage discussion of a certain type (much more high performance for example). While that did result in at least one excellent thread (KiwiRunners) I thought that it kind of alienated the vast majority of readers here - in the main we are mid pack 10k+ road runners. Occasional threads about high performance training are one thing but it felt forced. Leaving the community to it's own devices has led to some really good threads lately (the revival of the In the spotlight series and the Training your mind for example).

If I was going to make one suggestion it is that this relaxation went even further - rather than merging or locking all newbie threads (for example) I would let them alone. We all started out as novices and there is a community development cycle - you come on with dumb questions which friendly experienced runners help you out with. In time you learn a bit more and ask questions that the really good runners help out with. Then you learn a bit more and feel confident answering teh dumb questions other newbies ask... It can be hard for someone to come into a forum full of experienced runners / triathletes and ask a question. A friendly and knowledable answer makes it probable they will stick around and contribute to the forum. Shooing them off to a dusty sticky with a "read this noob, then maybe we will talk to you!" doesn't strike me as being very welcoming.

I'd also relax teh no-commercial rule. If something has an advantage to the community then what harm if somebody somewhere might make a profit? There is a clear difference between a one post wonder popping in with a "visit my site, we sell cheap trainers!" post and an established poster with a track record and established reputation in here mentioning a fundraising event or club race or whatever. I would never want ART to be a PR outlet for commercial race organisers but working *with* organisers rather than against them can be really beneficial - the entire Pacers thing came about because one of the Dublin marathon race organisers saw a conversation about unofficial pace groups on here and sent a PM to the Mod at the time suggesting a link up. I don't know how things currently stand but I know in the recent past it would never have gotten to the point where a RD approached a Mod because there was an instant clamp down on commercial race postings. Likewise we had a really successful set of gear review threads where compression gear, trainers and tech tops were distributed free to ARTists in return for reviews. Yes it's commercial but if regular posters are getting freebies is that automatically bad?

Overall though they are kind of minor quibbles, the lads are doing a great job and fair play to them.