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The 'New' Boards

Murph_D

I wonder if there are any things we can do to make the new boards a little better...

To start with, could I ask the mods to revisit all these ancient 'Sticky' threads at the top of each sub-forum. The way things are at the moment, there is very little need for any sticky threads at all, I'd argue. Maybe any relevant FAQs and Posting Guidelines, but maybe that's about it .

And of course thanks to all the mods for the valuable work, it's always appreciated.

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OOnegative

I’ll be truthfully honest, I took a break from here in June/July this year. Mainly, and not trying to sing my own praises, but I was fed up of trying to keep the place going. It’s a dying forum, newbie’s don’t care about keeping the place going and the dinosaurs only nip in update there log and get the hell out of Dodge.

What we have is the new A/R, say your bit and leave.

ThePiedPiper

I think the last couple of years of little-no racing has made the Events sub forum quieter, there used to be great banter in there. DCM thread was always a great social thread, but that’s a dead duck lately. I don’t know, maybe the dinosaurs might rise to life again when normal races and life resumes.

There used to be so many trivial little discussion threads on random issues that were just for fun, I barely even know how to start a thread anymore

OOnegative

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118270355#Comment_118270355

Not to pick on you, but you’re a prime example of what I said, an experienced poster who updates the log weekly but contributes little else to the forum.

Murph_D

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118270384#Comment_118270384

Think you're being a bit harsh, Barry. That's OK, and there have always been plenty of people who did just that. Not everyone has to interact with everyone else.

To be fair, there was a good deal of action around the forum at the beginning of the year, with a lot of logs started, reactivated etc - despite the lack of racing. It tapered off, but whatever momentum there was was killed when the new hosting/software was deployed. As we all know, it's just more difficult to navigate, search and keep track of your areas of interest.

I mentioned the stickies because when you have a sticky that no one has posted in for ten years, it gives the impression that there is nothing AT ALL going on, which is not totally true (even if it is partly true!)

And while that's up to the mods, I don't think we even know who the mods are anymore. I can't see that info anywhere, although I'm sure it's there somewhere.

OOnegative

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118270434#Comment_118270434

You’re probably right and I didn’t mean anything personal towards TPP who’s a longer contributor to this forum than myself I think. But I feel the round about point I was trying to make, posters of TPP ilk don’t contribute to the forum as much as they could?

ThePiedPiper

You are absolutely right, and it’s not picking on me at all. Back in 2016, I’d a fairly horrendous experience in a race, and it rattled me enough that my entire attitude to running changed. I had so many false dawns from then til about last year that I felt I’d very little new, fresh or interesting comments. When I got my act together, I found that boards didn’t seem the same anymore. Personally, I’ve got my own mojo back, so I might make it my 2022 resolution to give boards another go.

Swashbuckler

A sure sign things have gone very bad on here is I'm trying to come up with nominees for the AR awards and I'm struggling badly on a bunch of them. Post of the Year? Newbie of the Year? Thread of the year? Not a clue...

Annie get your Run

I don't have anything to contribute from a running perspective but I still come in and read the handful of logs I continue to follow. Agree 100% the "upgrade" is a total disaster. It's really awful to look at both on mobile and desktop. Agree too about the sticky's. I don't think the mods have a lot to do these days 😄. It is a shame to see a place we all enjoyed spending time turning into a relative ghost town.

TFBubendorfer

The move to the new format has been a complete disaster, was badly handled, and made boards significantly worse. The place is almost deserted these days.

As far as I can tell, I cannot "unstick" any posts - happy to be told otherwise but so far I cannot figure out how to do it. And I definitelty don't want to delete them.

I'm open to any constructive suggestions.

Swashbuckler

To be fair the forum was struggling before the Boards revamp...Covid also hasn't helped , with the complete lack of racing. Also the lack of a DCM novices thread which usually brings in an influx of newbies who set up logs and contribute around the place.

ReeReeG

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118272952#Comment_118272952

I dunno, the year started off pretty well with logs coming back or being started, and the monthly challenge shotgun did so well to create. In fairness, that's probably where more of us should have jumped in to help out a lot more.

Murph_D

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118274296#Comment_118274296

I agree, it was a great start to the year, and the 'upgrade' killed any momentum that had been generated.

OOnegative

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118274409#Comment_118274409

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118270488#Comment_118270488

My comment wasn’t personally aimed at you, and I’m sorry if you think it was, as an avid reader of this forum for know the

OOnegative

The above comment was posted in complete error, because the new forum layout is muck.

OOnegative

I was having a go at my Missus for the record!!!!

ThePiedPiper

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118274909#Comment_118274909

even the ‘thanks’ function is rubbish. I’m glad you posted what you did, I’m trying to take the initiative and get a bit more involved. I appreciate straight talk.

Do you think a lot of the petty squabbles and arguments drove people a bit mad a couple of years ago. While some of it was so ridiculous as to be entertaining, there was a crazy amount of vitriolic abuse and trolling going on.

Swashbuckler

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118274991#Comment_118274991

Well to give context I arrived on the scene after all of that shenanigans ...looks like several really good posters left around that time...but after that, from 2017 to 2019 the forum was still pretty decent...then 2020 onwards its been much quiter.

RacoonQueen

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118272888#Comment_118272888

It would be nice if even the mods knew how to use the new forums. Tried to unstick threads a few weeks ago when I noticed the thread with 2017 in the title in the events forum (was that there in the old boards?). Alas, no idea how to unstick (I'm guessing we cannot, I also can't see how to sticky other thread).

RacoonQueen

I figured out how to unstick. I'm a legend. 😎

ThebitterLemon

I thought the lockdown TT’s were a good source of engagement

Since the Boards “revamp” I can’t be arsed, it’s a mess (especially as I almost always post from my phone) and is completely user non friendly.

The board now seems about as relevant as the Leitrim hurling team.

A great pity coz this place once used to be a brilliant mix of craic, information, running advice and exploits. Also got to know some great people from this board.

TbL

AuldManKing

I was talking to Sean Hehir recently and he was saying that he gets a lot of information on races, routes etc from Boards. So it is a useful, well known source.

Theres a good opportunity here if we can find a workable way of making it engaging - maybe we need more races and a huge Novice bunch.

I'm more of a training log guy and not one for the main A&R fourm - I hold my hands up there - must do better!!

Swashbuckler

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118283888#Comment_118283888

Hence the reason I have to text you every time there's a deal on runners.

I've always found the logs were the heartbeat of the forum. I think the DCM novices is a huge loss too.

Hopefully things pick up when there's more racing, meaning more specific training, usually meaning more engagement, questions, observations.

We can't forget too that people are busier nowadays with working from home, homeschooling for a period of time (which I imagine meant people fall out of the habit of logging in to Boards and once out of the habit then tend not to fall back into the habit), also social/general medial oversaturation the past two years meaning people likely stepping back a bit from it. Several mitigating factors to be considered. I genuinely think this is a Covid thing more than a "Boards revamp" thing, with some exceptions obviously.

ariana`

I think the lack of the DCM novice thread 2 years in a row has been a big loss, it brings a lot of energy and gives the new runners a chance to bed in the place and opportunity for us to get to know them. I struggle to invest too much in newbies elsewhere because a lot of the time I find we're offering the same old advice over and over and 95% of the time it's ignored, quite often get no thanks either and then they're gone again.... With regards my own training I did log for my marathon build up but that was only 10 weeks out of 52, the rest of the time what I'm doing is very much the same week in, week out. Races have been so sparse so just not a whole lot to write about. I keep an eye on logs and love reading updates from old reliable loggers (I won't name anyone because I'll probably leave someone out then!) but most of the time I don't really feel I have enough experience (or am fast enough) to offer much in the way of constructive feedback. I do like the shoe thread 😉

Murph_D

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118285173#Comment_118285173

There are about 25 active logs (updated at least once a month). More than two thirds of these are updated weekly at least. That's actually not as bad as I thought, having just gone in and counted. But a good few of the people writing those logs don't comment on other logs or contribute much elsewhere on the forum. That's their prerogative, of course, and there's nothing you can do to compel them. But just to say - and it ties in with @event not feeling like a 'real runner' - I don't think anyone should feel they can't post on someone's log just because the logger runs faster than they do. If I took that position I wouldn't be posting anywhere! 😀 The site is all about interaction and you don't have to be 'fast' (a hugely subjective measure) to be knowledgeable and have something to say, even if you're just encouraging or comiserating with someone.

rovers_runner

The race calendar has no momentum yet but if the outlook remains positive towards outdoor events it should be recovered by mid spring.

You need a long schedule of events be it a race series or spring marathons to get people on the same page in terms of training and racing cycles.

I always found the DCM series as a pivotal section of the year which carries you from spring short distance into late summer lsr.

For the last 20 months it has been a personal slog for people with no running community in a real sense.

robinph

Don't write things off just yet. Whilst the new forum is very different, and some things we've not figure out how to do yet, the interface is gradually getting tweaked.

The main thing we need is more races to come back, then people will come in asking more questions again. The other main influx of new posters is January when people decide to give themselves a kick into activities again.

Laineyfrecks

My opinion for what it's worth would be on the same wave lengths as @OOnegative & @Murph_D really. The more people that are logging the more interest there is around the place but it also comes down to interacting with each other. We all don't have the same style running or follow the same plans but sometimes as D said it's just about congratulating or commiserating with someone or even just acknowledging something in their training that resonates with you. Sometimes people write their logs & they are not even sure if they are of any interest at all to others (but most people do write to keep track of their training). I can only speak personally but I enjoy the bit of banter, the encouragement, the jaysus what were you thinking doing that in training!! The DCM novice thread is a huge loss that's obvious but how about giving a bit of life back to the loggers that do take the time to post stuff regularly? I think we can go around in circles blaming the new layout etc but it's not going back to the old way so we need to just accept it & try use it as best we can. As for what defines a real runner, who gets to decide that? I feel I am a real runner based on my love & consistency of my running, not based on my times at all, but really we are all doing this as a hobby as part of very busy family & work lives. I am not very knowledgeable at all when it comes to running or offering advice about it but when I do see something positive or maybe someone having a bit of a hard time I just naturally feel I should write on their log. The only people that can make this forum a bit more alive are the people that are part of it. I'll stop waffling now!

Murph_D

Speaking of the definition of a "real runner", this post is always worth looking at again...

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/94437535/#Comment_94437535

Murph_D

ReeReeG

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118287213#Comment_118287213

There's a line in that saying a real runner has pooped outdoors at least once... Happy to say I'm not a real runner so 😂