Ghost Town

OWinter

Just an observation, this place seems a bit of a ghost town recently. I've no real history posting but as a long time lurker remember the days when it was a really active place.

My personal theory is boards.ie in general seems to be passing its sell by date

bleedinlegit

OWinter wrote: »

Just an observation, this place seems a bit of a ghost town recently. I've no real history posting but as a long time lurker remember the days when it was a really active place.

My personal theory is boards.ie in general seems to be passing its sell by date

Your text is greatly improved compared to your fb text,
"Just an observation" 😉

Too much fighting on de dance flo...

tang1

Certainly tumbleweed-esque around here for a while now, worst I've ever seen the place to be honest. Posters have moved on, closed accounts or just are fed up of the place. There was a great group of posters that kept the place going for a long time but they are the ones that have moved on or closed there accounts. Up to the newer people to breath a bit of life back into place.

glacial_pace71

I think there's an element of people occasionally uprooting the plant to see how its roots are growing: let some of the lurkers take time to start a few new threads.

They might often be reluctant to post in a thread with 1,000,001 entries. (Indeed, many people access Boards via their phones and so have limited ability to copy a link to an article or an athlete's social media feed etc when seeking to share information with others). Yet it's also the thread with 1,000,001 entries is the subject of greatest interest to all.

However, to some extent there's a trend that people not sitting with a laptop would perhaps tend towards reading/passive consumption than to posting replies, let alone creating new threads.

There are plenty of interesting training logs on the site. Perhaps the running threads are to an extent repetitive for those who've answered on a subject previously, so there will be a tendency for people to move on, or to keep it as an offline chat post-race (or over pints) with others.

Given the demographic profile it's likely that the majority of posters are 30-something/40-something, which is not the target for advertising-oriented sites, but it also provides an advantage of the site not being artificially hyper-animated by some paid advertising kid in a call centre somewhere, going on about great nutritional supplement x, runny-rocket-runners y, or macho-massage-muscle-therapy z. If people are posting then it's about something of real interest to them or to other runners rather than trying to convince men that they need to buy sports bras or whatever.

(On a related point there are no click-bait style threads either, e.g. no-one is posting about Freddie Starr eating their hamster etc. It's not You-Tube, so we don't need to drive traffic to screen for eyeball-numbers/cents-per-clickthrough rackets). Activity will unfold as events come and go, e.g. there's always a nice build up for the marathon threads in the preceding months. It's not a catastrophe for there to be occasional quiet periods.

hf4z6sqo7vjngi

I think it's more a macro trend and people are consuming information differently to a few years ago with a move to other social media platforms.

kit3

There was a concerted effort a number of weeks back by a long term poster to pull A/R out of the doldrums. The sad fact is that the poster in question has since gone and it would appear to have gone largely unnoticed, despite this being one of the most knowledgable and helpful posters here. This indicates, for me, where A/R is at now.

tang1

kit3 wrote: »

There was a concerted effort a number is weeks back by a long term poster to pull A/R out of the doldrums. The sad fact is that the poster in question has since gone and it would appear to have gone largely unnoticed, despite this being one of the most knowledgable an helpful posters here. This indicates, for me, where A/R is at now.

It was noticed by some.

kit3

tang1 wrote: »

It was noticed by some.

I'm sure it was Tang. A big loss.

average_runner

It's a social forum now. Think a new sub forum is needed. More for training, get together runs, advice for runners who run for a time, basically a more serious sub forum.

El Caballo

average_runner wrote: »

It's a social forum now. Think a new sub forum is needed. More for training, get together runs, advice for runners who run for a time, basically a more serious sub forum.

While I'd like that to work, I don't think it would as all of those things are already in place on the main forum, they just don't be used. I have to agree with jackyback about the way that information is consumed has changed. There is a huge wealth of information on running out there now. I know if I'm looking for answers on something, I'll generally look for articles on the topic as they contain a much larger volume of info than can ever be on an internet forum. Plus, I don't think the knowledge is out there on forums anymore to answer a lot more of the advanced coaching questions. Why? I don't know but this isn't a problem relevant to boards but pretty much every forum on running. Pretty much every great thread on training on Letsrun is pre-2010.

I have to say, one of my pet peeves on this forum is that mostly any questions on training will be answered by join a club. Not saying it isn't good advice but there's no real discussion on training beyond the basics of slow down. This is invaluable advice for beginners and something we all had to learn at some stage but it's not something that gets the more advanced runners or coaches intrigued. As the running boom kicked off, most forums switched from the being the haven for experienced runners to more beginner focused simply because beginners ask more questions. This probably had an effect on why a lot of the more knowledgeable posters moved on as well. The balance here probably was a little better than most other forums tbh but you will never keep everyone happy.

The anonymous reregs don't help either tbh. Constantly feel sketchy when I see a new poster on the forum and probably not alone on that one.

ThisRegard

rovers_runner wrote: »

The Operation Fattie jog a 5k as a bucket list item crowd have a lot to answer for.

Running has become a tool for them to advance their "journey" from fat ass to a slightly less fat ass.

Hence the sport has been dumbed down to an extent where there is no differentiation between an elite and a 40 minute life changing experience among the snowflakes.

I see Kathryn Thomas has ridden the arse off it now too charging gulible fatties a grand for a weeks exercise in some field in the west of Ireland.

And it's posts like this that make it an unwelcoming place to anyone new to the forum so you'll never get a fresh perspective.

Cabaal

rovers_runner wrote: »

The Operation Fattie jog a 5k as a bucket list item crowd have a lot to answer for.

Whatever people's views on OT I don't think there's a need to call people names like this, it's comments like this that make athletics and running in general a unwelcoming place for new people.

There is every difference between an elite and a 50 or 40min PB for 10km for a avg runner, only a fool thinks there isn't.

OWinter wrote: »

My personal theory is boards.ie in general seems to be passing its sell by date

Yeah, I've been hearing that since October 2001
:rolleyes:

hot buttered scones

It would be a shame if this forum dies out. I'm not exaggerating when I say I've learned almost everything I know about running from here. Although I often wondered if some of the "Random Running Questions" were posted as new threads would it breath a bit more life into the place?

Coffee Fulled Runner

I'd agree about the random running questions thread. It might be better getting locked and create more threads and dialogue. A lot of things that merit a thread of its own get lost there. I think there still is a place for forums but most are a lot quieter these days than 10 years ago before social media got a hold. I'm fairly new here. I posted a good bit here last year but when I was injured I found this place depressing but now that I'm making a return I'm brave enough to look again.

Working class heroes

Question : How do we make the A/R forum more popular?
Answer : Lock the most popular thread.

Good god it should be a sticky not locked.

28064212

kit3 wrote: »

There was a concerted effort a number of weeks back by a long term poster to pull A/R out of the doldrums. The sad fact is that the poster in question has since gone and it would appear to have gone largely unnoticed, despite this being one of the most knowledgable and helpful posters here. This indicates, for me, where A/R is at now.

The manner of their exit was even more damning. Once again, an obvious troll comes along, gets to spout their nonsense for a couple of days unhindered, and drives another important poster away.

johnruns

Boards doesnt allow anything to be discussed if ppl disagree on anything here yellow cards and bans are issued and pages upon pages of posts are deleted.

average_runner

johnruns wrote: »

Boards doesnt allow anything to be discussed if ppl disagree on anything here yellow cards and bans are issued and pages upon pages of posts are deleted.

In fairness only medical advice and unproven allegations are banned here

hot buttered scones

Coffee Fulled Runner wrote: »

I'd agree about the random running questions thread. It might be better getting locked and create more threads and dialogue. A lot of things that merit a thread of its own get lost there. I think there still is a place for forums but most are a lot quieter these days than 10 years ago before social media got a hold. I'm fairly new here. I posted a good bit here last year but when I was injured I found this place depressing but now that I'm making a return I'm brave enough to look again.

Working class heroes wrote: »

Question : How do we make the A/R forum more popular?
Answer : Lock the most popular thread.

Good god it should be a sticky not locked.

I'm not advocating locking the thread or getting rid of it. I'm just asking the question would some of the questions in that thread be better off in a thread of their own. Although if you do have a question or a point for discussion it'll probably get answered faster in the Random questions thread because so many people are subscribed to it. I'd be guilty of just checking updates of threads I follow rather than checking the main forum. Yeah - I have no answers. Maybe we could start some threads about running?

tang1

johnruns wrote: »

Boards doesnt allow anything to be discussed if ppl disagree on anything here yellow cards and bans are issued and pages upon pages of posts are deleted.

Disagree with you completely on all of that..........

johnruns

tang1 wrote: »

Disagree with completely on all of that..........

Disagree with completely on all of that..........

hot buttered scones

johnruns wrote: »

Boards doesnt allow anything to be discussed if ppl disagree on anything here yellow cards and bans are issued and pages upon pages of posts are deleted.

There's plenty of discussion on this forum (or there was anyway hence the topic). Maybe in other forums, but in my experience not in A/R.

tang1

johnruns wrote: »

Disagree with completely on all of that..........

I'm illiterate as well as thick!!!

johnruns

lol

Working class heroes

Red card for both of you. Week ban, out!

adrian522

OWinter wrote: »

Just an observation, this place seems a bit of a ghost town recently. I've no real history posting but as a long time lurker remember the days when it was a really active place.

My personal theory is boards.ie in general seems to be passing its sell by date

Is it not a bit hypocritical for someone who does not contribute to the forum to come on and complain that there are not enough people contributing to the forum?

There is nothing stopping you or anyone else from getting and keeping the conversation going.

You can't expect the same people to be driving it year after year. If you have something to say jump in on the conversation.

Chivito550

kit3 wrote: »

There was a concerted effort a number of weeks back by a long term poster to pull A/R out of the doldrums. The sad fact is that the poster in question has since gone and it would appear to have gone largely unnoticed, despite this being one of the most knowledgable and helpful posters here. This indicates, for me, where A/R is at now.

Yes, there was a huge effort made. Yet many of the threads that were started remained ghost threads, with either no replies, or him basically talking to himself. It just goes to show how little people are interested in discussing most areas within the sport. If it's not doping related, then the elite athletics stuff rarely gets much traction, unless it is marathon related. Why bother making so much effort really? So much investment for absolutely no return.

Efforts have been made to try broaden people's horizons, and try get the recreational running community interested in discussing track and field, cross country, elite athletics, and whatever else, in the hope of bringing the entire athletics and running community together. 400m being added to the Round Numbers, yet outside of the handful of sprinters or 800m runners who frequent this place, I only recall Krusty and ecoli ever having a go. There was a Track and Field Challenge set up about 5 years back by Kurt, and it was a monumental flop. It was basically me talking to myself publicly.

The reality is that the vast majority of people do not care, and will never care, and I have (finally) accepted that. Easier to discuss stuff one love's with like-minded people elsewhere, than to try convince strangers to enjoy something they don't give two hoots about. These efforts do not seem to work. Simple as that.

It's pretty sad in ways. There's nowhere online where the athletics community can discuss conventional athletics. This would seem like a natural place, but despite the fact that there are many people who run competitively in clubs, almost none post here. About 7-8 years ago some did, including elites, but not anymore.

The reality is that marathon performances, ultra runs through mountains, lap upon lap from dawn to dusk back to dawn again, newbies trying to run their first marathon etc, are all things that seem to garner more interest here than things like the World Cross Country Championships (which was on today by the way), the Irish National Track and Field Championships etc. Just the way it is, but it's not surprising that posters are either gone completely, or only posting occasionally now.

I started posting on this forum during the 2009 World Championships because it was an awesome place at the time to discuss the top guys in our sport. It no longer does this. I also started positing as I got great advice regarding marathon training etc. I'm sure this great advice is still there. Since becoming a sprinter, I don't tend to value much advice here, as I have a coach who can give far better advice.

The forum still serves a purpose, just not everyone's purpose.

There is still one very positive thing associated with this forum though. The Beer Mile.

kit3

28064212 wrote: »

The manner of their exit was even more damning. Once again, an obvious troll comes along, gets to spout their nonsense for a couple of days unhindered, and drives another important poster away.

Unfortunately this was the case and not the first time for this particular troll either.

Sacksian

Notwithstanding the points about re-regs and the more general decline of boards, which I both agree with, my two cents are:

I know the moderators have a thankless task but the best forums on Boards and elsewhere generally have moderators who are more engaged a) with the forum content, and b) in creating it.

I think most of the posters on the forum seem to be active members of clubs so there are a lot of people participating in and discussing competitions on the AI calendar throughout the year (xc, track and road), but the current moderators don’t seem to be as active in this regard as those in the past were. I’m particularly thinking of Ecoli and PConn who did a lot of the races on the calendar and posted about their training and racing when they were moderators - I think it helps with the atmosphere.

Ultimately, I think the forum’s future is as a social forum - I might discuss the Graded series or the calendar here or the future of Irish athletics because I’ll be racing against some of the people here or they’re involved in the sport. It might be the same for others posting on training logs and I think that’s a very valuable resource, but it’s not going to compete with running forums with 000,000s of posts and posters with in-depth knowledge and experience.n

Krusty_Clown

kit3 wrote: »

Unfortunately this was the case and not the first time for this particular troll either.

Who left?

28064212

Myles

TFBubendorfer

Sacksian wrote: »

I know the moderators have a thankless task but the best forums on Boards and elsewhere generally have moderators who are more engaged a) with the forum content, and b) in creating it.

Ok then, I'll make you an offer.

Actions instead of words.

Instead of shouting off your mouth how the mods on other forums are so much better, why don't you put your name down as a mod and show us how it's done.

You can have my spot. Seriously.

OWinter

I'll take your mod spot TFB. Seriously.

OWinter

To be clear I don't think the problem is specific to mods here. I actually think they do a good job. Go read what's going on in the Aviation forum and you'll see what a real modding car crash is.

The issue on boards in general in my opinion probably started around the time MDC threatened to sue over some threads bashing their events. Since then it's been a downward spiral of speech suppression and overmodding

Couple that with the skip fire that is their sponsored, paid for threads like the Virgin Night Run one and you have a declining site

I agree with Chivito though regards this forum. World XC on yesterday and no thread on it. Says it all

Sacksian

TFBnbendorfer wrote: »

Ok then, I'll make you an offer.

Actions instead of words.

Instead of shouting off your mouth how the mods on other forums are so much better, why don't you put your name down as a mod and show us how it's done.

You can have my spot. Seriously.

To be fair, my post was intended as a bit of general feedback - I’m not sure you could characterise it as "shouting off my mouth"!

I was just making that the point that I do think that it’s good for the atmosphere of the forum having a moderator who a) keeps a training log on the forum and b) is racing in the races that most posters participate in. I don’t think that’s particularly offensive or controversial. n

TFBubendorfer

Sacksian wrote: »

To be fair, my post was intended as a bit of general feedback - I’m not sure you could characterise it as "shouting off my mouth"!

I was just making that the point that I do think that it’s good for the atmosphere of the forum having a moderator who a) keeps a training log on the forum and b) is racing in the races that most posters participate in. I don’t think that’s particularly offensive or controversial. n

I didn't say your were controversial or offensive. You weren't. I offered you the chance to actively do something about it.

My training log isn't on boards because my blog precedes my boards membership by a few years and I'm not going to abandon it. As for races, I have participated in dozens of races that had half the boardsies in it, and will continue to do so, so I have no idea where you're coming from.

Sacksian

TFBubendorfer wrote: »

I have no idea where you're coming from.

Fair enough (meaning I'll leave it then).

robinph

There is a simple solution to there being no thread on a topic that you want to talk about, and the "New Thread" button at the top of the page will help with that.

It's it not boards.ie fault that people are not talking about a topic, but there is plenty of traffic over in the training logs forum for instance where there are two pages of threads which have had activity within the last 24 hours. People obviously want to talk about themselves more than they want to talk about a Kenyan running for Turkey (didn't watch the World XC as didn't know it was on, but I'd hazard a guess that would have been one of the talking points).

The events and gear forums also have plenty of threads with activity in the last couple of days, if you are not seeing the thread activity then you are just looking in the wrong place. There is loads of posts being made, it's just not in this main part of the forum any more as the training logs, gear and events discussions took up too much space so got moved to sub-forums.

Chivito550

robinph wrote: »

There is a simple solution to there being no thread on a topic that you want to talk about, and the "New Thread" button at the top of the page will help with that.

Total cop out. I've posted here for years. Started countless threads about elite athletics which barely got any traction. Same with Miles' efforts of late. If it is left to the same few posters to start these threads then it shows that most here do not care, and those few posters eventually give up.

OWinter

Just an FYI Robin - World XC had nothing to do with the vaguely xenophobic and possibly racist criticisms by white European countries levelled at people from the developing world getting paid to switch country to feed their children. Nationality is outdated anyway but that's another conversation

World XC had a great champion defend his title against a gutsy local Ugandan who went out to win but blew up spectacularly near the end and dropped 30 places

Also featured a relay involving mixed gender teams featuring greats like Kiprop and Dibaba. But I guess since the Brits didn't bother to enter and that fraud Mo was to scared to run against Kamworer over XC, it didn't matter

robinph

Chivito550 wrote: »

Total cop out. I've posted here for years. Started countless threads about elite athletics which barely got any traction. Same with Miles' efforts of late. If it is left to the same few posters to start these threads then it shows that most here do not care, and those few posters eventually give up.

It's not a cop out, it's just as you said that people are not interested... and they never were in some topics

The previous high traffic on the forum is still here, just it appears to be diluted because of the sub-forums. If anything there is more traffic now as everyone can have their own training log thread which is very active and that wouldn't have worked with a single forum that we had back in the day. That people are not interested in certain topics hasn't changed.

Yes some of the variety has gone because the lycra clad people with large credit card bills have their own forum now, but the posts about running are still here. Just people presumably post their queries about training in their own logs, and the events each have their own thread so discussions about meet ups will happen in those threads instead of the main forum.

robinph

OWinter wrote: »

World XC had a great champion defend his title against a gutsy local Ugandan who went out to win but blew up spectacularly near the end and dropped 30 places

Why did you not start a thread about it then?

Chivito550

robinph wrote: »

It's not a cop out, it's just as you said that people are not interested... and they never were in some topics

The previous high traffic on the forum is still here, just it appears to be diluted because of the sub-forums. If anything there is more traffic now as everyone can have their own training log thread which is very active and that wouldn't have worked with a single forum that we had back in the day. That people are not interested in certain topics hasn't changed.

Yes some of the variety has gone because the lycra clad people with large credit card bills have their own forum now, but the posts about running are still here. Just people presumably post their queries about training in their own logs, and the events each have their own thread so discussions about meet ups will happen in those threads instead of the main forum.

I don't believe you are correct. Delusional to think this forum is as busy as ever. An example. I don't post in my log much anymore. When I posted a lot, my log would quickly fall off the first page not long after posting an update. I went back to posting recently for a short period of time, and my log was on the main page for as much as 2 days after posting an update. This highlights that there is much less activity in the training log forum these days. There might be as many logs as before, but updates are probably a lot more sporadic now. Of course if you don't have a log you'd have no clue about this, which sort of touches on Sacksian's point a bit.

robinph

Chivito550 wrote: »

I don't believe you are correct. Delusional to think this forum is as busy as ever. An example. I don't post in my log much anymore. When I posted a lot, my log would quickly fall off the first page not long after posting an update. I went back to posting recently for a short period of time, and my log was on the main page for as much as 2 days after posting an update. This highlights that there is much less activity in the training log forum these days. There might be as many logs as before, but updates are probably a lot more sporadic now. Of course if you don't have a log you'd have no clue about this, which sort of touches on Sacksian's point a bit.

It shouldn't need someone with their name in bold font posting a training log to encourage other people to post in their training logs, it's just a facility that is there for people to use if they want. I've no interest in my own training log, other than adding up the numbers which Strava does very well for me, let alone anyone elses.

That the training logs are there though will take away from other threads being created as people ask and answer certain questions in the logs. That will result in others not seeing those queries if they don't read every/ any logs, so that is a loss to the main forum.

There are a lot less, if any, posts being made on the 1000 mile thread now, but people are still updating the table frequently. That has probably taken away a lot of passing traffic as people will previously have been updating the table, getting it wrong, someone else updates, they post in another thread about something else, they go back and try another update to the table and hope nobody else edits them out again this time. There was still no discussion going on in the thread though back in the day, at least not unless you were very quick with your posting and kept on going back two pages to see the last actual comment.
Is it an improvement for the table, and my sanity, with it being on Google Docs? 100% yes.
Is it an improvement for the forum traffic, not just in that thread but other threads also? Nope.
Should we make a backward step with that in order to try and get more passing traffic on the forum? Doubtful.

Should the gear and events forums merge back into the main forum in order to increase traffic? More topics being talked about in the main page then more people will start talking about stuff. Would that also be a backward step though?

You can't make people chat about things they are not interested in. Post about what you are interested in and don't get upset if you are ignored.

Chivito550

robinph wrote: »

It shouldn't need someone with their name in bold font posting a training log to encourage other people to post in their training logs, it's just a facility that is there for people to use if they want. I've no interest in my own training log, other than adding up the numbers which Strava does very well for me, let alone anyone elses.

That the training logs are there though will take away from other threads being created as people ask and answer certain questions in the logs. That will result in others not seeing those queries if they don't read every/ any logs, so that is a loss to the main forum.

There are a lot less, if any, posts being made on the 1000 mile thread now, but people are still updating the table frequently. That has probably taken away a lot of passing traffic as people will previously have been updating the table, getting it wrong, someone else updates, they post in another thread about something else, they go back and try another update to the table and hope nobody else edits them out again this time. There was still no discussion going on in the thread though back in the day, at least not unless you were very quick with your posting and kept on going back two pages to see the last actual comment.
Is it an improvement for the table, and my sanity, with it being on Google Docs? 100% yes.
Is it an improvement for the forum traffic, not just in that thread but other threads also? Nope.
Should we make a backward step with that in order to try and get more passing traffic on the forum? Doubtful.

Should the gear and events forums merge back into the main forum in order to increase traffic? More topics being talked about in the main page then more people will start talking about stuff. Would that also be a backward step though?

You can't make people chat about things they are not interested in. Post about what you are interested in and don't get upset if you are ignored.

To be honest, it doesn't matter what is done. The forum is beyond saving at this stage.

walshb

Compared to the good old days it's a ghost town. You can smell the tumbleweed!

OWinter

walshb wrote: »

Compared to the good old days it's a ghost town. You can smell the tumbleweed!

Is that a roundabout way for you to apologise for creating much of that tumbleweed. How you're still on here, not to mention boards, I'll honestly never know.

walshb

OWinter wrote: »

Is that a roundabout way for you to apologise for creating much of that tumbleweed. How you're still on here, not to mention boards, I'll honestly never know.

Not at all. I'm as straight as an arrow. An apology would be clear cut with me.

PaulieC

I love these semi-annual navel-gazing threads and the hand-wringing over the state of the A/R forum. I love too the acceptance that it's fine to mock triathletes (seemingly because they have money to buy bikes), but it's definitely not OK to mock slow/fat/bling bandit/virtual runners. If they could afford a bike they would be fair game.

ThisRegard

I never got the slagging of the triathletes and their money when the obvious problem is how they dress.