Should there be a Lance Armstrong sub-forum?

[Ninety5rpm]

Should there be a Lance Armstrong sub-forum?

All threads about Lance Armstrong would be moved there.

Yes, or no?

 

[Ninety5rpm]

LOL, can an admin please fix the Lane/Lance typo in the poll question?

 

[Anonymous]

Yes and no

while i believe it would clean the place up a bit i dont beleive that any rider is bigger than the sport and should have his own section..

So yes, but on principal, no..

 

[Ninety5rpm]

Yes and no

while i believe it would clean the place up a bit i dont beleive that any rider is bigger than the sport and should have his own section..

So yes, but on principal, no..

I don't get it.

Why would a rider having a sub-forum indicate he is "bigger than the sport"?

 

[PACONi]

I voted yes. I want it to be easier to avoid all the stupid threads that get started in his name. Its bad enough now, as we get closer to July, it'll be a nightmare. If I ever want to feel dumber, I'll have the option of visiting the sub forum.

 

[richwagmn]

Should there be a Lance Armstrong sub-forum?

All threads about Lance Armstrong would be moved there.

Yes, or no?

I think he should have his own website. Oh wait...

 

[Ninety5rpm]

I voted yes. I want it to be easier to avoid all the stupid threads that get started in his name. Its bad enough now, as we get closer to July, it'll be a nightmare. If I ever want to feel dumber, I'll have the option of visiting the sub forum.

This is pretty much why I voted yes.
Too many threads get buried too fast due to all the Lance threads.
Having one Lance sticky just creates a disorganized "garbage can" that is not very useful or interesting.
I think a sub-forum solves all the problems without creating any new ones.

 

[Anonymous]

It would take a lot of thought and effort to keep up. It would be nice if the new threads could filter so that the equivalent of spam marketing doesn't push those with more gravitas off the front page. But people will still jump into a thread about Contador and try to make it all about Radio Shack.

Near the end of my blogging days last February I happened across a youtube video of the Livestrong Army in action at the Tour of California. There was a small group of fans out along the course. A van pulled up, the doors all opened and a group of volunteers rushed out to hand out yellow chalk, yelling for people to write stuff for Lance. One woman along the side of the road replied, "what about George?" The volunteers quickly covered the road with markings, making it appear for those to follow that it had been done by the fans standing there. Then they rushed back to the van so they could repeat it again and again. We've all seen the road markings at the Tour de France where people who have camped out for three days have written encouragement for the favorites. But that video that some race fan had posted showed me that a lot of the "support" was smoke and mirrors. If my friends and I had staked out a bit of the route, and someone stopped for two minutes to make it look like we were fans of a particular rider, I'd be miffed. I wondered where the resources had come from. I thought about how many better uses there were for that kind of manpower and energy. I stopped blogging, for that and other reasons.

My point to that long-winded story is that no matter how we try to contain it, the people with the yellow chalk will keep popping in to unrelated threads and try to make it all about Lance and Radio Shack. After that Examiner article many of you saw, I'd be surprised if there aren't people assigned to promote Lance and Radio Shack in forums.

 

[Ninety5rpm]

It would take a lot of thought and effort to keep up. It would be nice if the new threads could filter so that the equivalent of spam marketing doesn't push those with more gravitas off the front page. But people will still jump into a thread about Contador and try to make it all about Radio Shack.

Near the end of my blogging days last February I happened across a youtube video of the Livestrong Army in action at the Tour of California. There was a small group of fans out along the course. A van pulled up, the doors all opened and a group of volunteers rushed out to hand out yellow chalk, yelling for people to write stuff for Lance. One woman along the side of the road replied, "what about George?" The volunteers quickly covered the road with markings, making it appear for those to follow that it had been done by the fans standing there. Then they rushed back to the van so they could repeat it again and again. We've all seen the road markings at the Tour de France where people who have camped out for three days have written encouragement for the favorites. But that video that some race fan had posted showed me that a lot of the "support" was smoke and mirrors. If my friends and I had staked out a bit of the route, and someone stopped for two minutes to make it look like we were fans of a particular rider, I'd be miffed. I wondered where the resources had come from. I thought about how many better uses there were for that kind of manpower and energy. I stopped blogging, for that and other reasons.

My point to that long-winded story is that no matter how we try to contain it, the people with the yellow chalk will keep popping in to unrelated threads and try to make it all about Lance and Radio Shack. After that Examiner article many of you saw, I'd be surprised if there aren't people assigned to promote Lance and Radio Shack in forums.

Every rider has some number of fans.

For each rider some percentage of his fans are truly hardcore, and willing to do things like take the time and make the effort to mark up an entire course for their favorite.

It is a basic fact of mathematics that even if the percentage of hardcore fans is the same for each rider, the number of hardcore fans is going to more for those riders with more fans than those riders with fewer fans. But the more popular personalities might even have a higher percentage of fans that are hardcore.

Consider Wikipedia page view statistics for December 2009:

Lance_Armstrong has been viewed 77636 times in 200912. This article ranked 5762 in traffic on en.wikipedia.org.

Alberto_Contador has been viewed 10802 times in 200912.

Greg_Lemond has been viewed 4857 times in 200912.

Cadel_Evans has been viewed 3264 times in 200912.

http://stats.grok.se/en/200912

Thread starts and view counts on this forum reflect the same thing.

In any case, because of beating cancer and winning the Tour seven times, Armstrong is outstanding even among the remarkable, period. These facts about him create huge numbers of fans, regardless of his character flaws. And among they myriads are large numbers of hardcore fans.

If anyone thinks Armstrong has to pay people to mark up a course with yellow chalk, or create threads on this forum, I suggest you just don't get it.

You may not like it. It may even make you sick, but Lance Armstrong is truly far more popular than any other cyclist. He is arguably more popular than all other current cyclists combined. Right or wrong, that's the way it is. You might consider simply accepting it and stop trying to fight it.

 

[Ferminal]

Of course not, it's one man, it's completely hypocritical to complain about all the media bs about him then want a sub-forum.

What happens if we want to discuss Alberto, and talk about his 2010 TdF rivals, and Lance inevitably comes into it, is that now a thread for the Lancestrong forum? You cannot avoid the man whether you make a sub-forum or not.

 

[taiwan]

I think I may have suggested this idea on another thread, though possibly others did too. I wasn't entirely serious. Sounds like it could be the creation of a monster, but the discussion of the person in question isn't limited as it is, and the sheeramount of stuff on Lance might genuinely merit that subforum.

Pro:
Easy to avoid.
May promote more 'sporting' discussion on existing subforum.
'Troll trap'- one stop shop for someone wanting to start an argument, prevents other threads degenerating.

Con.
Will be one F^%*&*ed up forum.
May draw people in from the web to talk about Lance Armstrong that would have done it elsewhere.
Doping discussion must be allowed, but that's like a statement in itself.

An easy half-measure: just some judicious merging of threads like: "Lance Armstrong breathed a quantity of air at 16:20 this afternoon" (But how much air did he breathe, what was the breath's mass/oxygen content?...You're just sore cos you'll never breathe as well as Lance does, loser!...This is typical of Armstrong's behaviour... That breath never took place, it was fabricated by the LA spin machine... That Lance breathes regular air proves he does not dope... etc... etc... etc...).

 

[Clemson Cycling]

mine as well throw Contador into that sub-forum as well

 

[Bike Boy]

Yes.
But I do have some concerns. How will it influence the natural flow of the non-Armstrong threads?
Even if you create a subforum, you can't deny the fact that in the "real" world, Armstrong and cycling in generel is connected.
The non-armstrong threads today reflects that, so unless restriction are enforced, I can't see how this will work.

But It is also true that many relevant threads die out too quick, and since I don't have any better suggestions, I voted yes. I'm excited to see how this project will develop.

 

[Clemson Cycling]

Look at 4 of the top ten threads on the main page right now

Lance's Oz Fee Press Blackout-Bad For Image

Lance Armstron broke away on Tour Down Under!

Breaking news: "Armstrong Brushes Aside Contador Taunt"

Versus armstrong coverage...

The sad thing is they all have more then 50 posts

 

[auscyclefan94]

No, people will still talk about him in other sub forum sections.

 

[craig1985]

I think I may have suggested this idea on another thread, though possibly others did too. I wasn't entirely serious. Sounds like it could be the creation of a monster, but the discussion of the person in question isn't limited as it is, and the sheeramount of stuff on Lance might genuinely merit that subforum.

Pro:
Easy to avoid.
May promote more 'sporting' discussion on existing subforum.
'Troll trap'- one stop shop for someone wanting to start an argument, prevents other threads degenerating.

Con.
Will be one F^%*&*ed up forum.
May draw people in from the web to talk about Lance Armstrong that would have done it elsewhere.
Doping discussion must be allowed, but that's like a statement in itself.

An easy half-measure: just some judicious merging of threads like: "Lance Armstrong breathed a quantity of air at 16:20 this afternoon" (But how much air did he breathe, what was the breath's mass/oxygen content?...You're just sore cos you'll never breathe as well as Lance does, loser!...This is typical of Armstrong's behaviour... That breath never took place, it was fabricated by the LA spin machine... That Lance breathes regular air proves he does not dope... etc... etc... etc...).

I voted yes. But failing that though, if there is a thread about LA, and somebody makes a similar thread, that second thread gets locked or merged in with the original thread. Another forum I visit (a different sport), if there is an official thread on it, anybody who makes a thread about it, then that threads get locked and then told to post in the official thread (the best way of putting this would be when in the Cancer Council Classic, and some n00b made a thread on LA getting in a break, then that would be locked or merged in the race thread).

I don't have a problem with LA threads per se, I tend to give them a wide berth, but if we do have a thread on Him, then we don't need several threads that a very similar to the original.

 

[lagartija]

sorry guys i dont think we should have any sub forums at all........no one will be able to read through the entire thread once its been up for even a few days..........it will become way to convoluted

 

[Clemson Cycling]

Can't we just move all the LA crap to the General Track forum? No one ever uses so no one will notice.

 

[powderpuff]

He already has a sub-forum, it's called CLINIC.

 

[JayZee]

It would take a lot of thought and effort to keep up. It would be nice if the new threads could filter so that the equivalent of spam marketing doesn't push those with more gravitas off the front page. But people will still jump into a thread about Contador and try to make it all about Radio Shack.

Near the end of my blogging days last February I happened across a youtube video of the Livestrong Army in action at the Tour of California. There was a small group of fans out along the course. A van pulled up, the doors all opened and a group of volunteers rushed out to hand out yellow chalk, yelling for people to write stuff for Lance. One woman along the side of the road replied, "what about George?" The volunteers quickly covered the road with markings, making it appear for those to follow that it had been done by the fans standing there. Then they rushed back to the van so they could repeat it again and again. We've all seen the road markings at the Tour de France where people who have camped out for three days have written encouragement for the favorites. But that video that some race fan had posted showed me that a lot of the "support" was smoke and mirrors. If my friends and I had staked out a bit of the route, and someone stopped for two minutes to make it look like we were fans of a particular rider, I'd be miffed. I wondered where the resources had come from. I thought about how many better uses there were for that kind of manpower and energy. I stopped blogging, for that and other reasons.

My point to that long-winded story is that no matter how we try to contain it, the people with the yellow chalk will keep popping in to unrelated threads and try to make it all about Lance and Radio Shack. After that Examiner article many of you saw, I'd be surprised if there aren't people assigned to promote Lance and Radio Shack in forums.

If I understand your "long-winded story" you suggest that it is the LA fans that always bring up LA and RS but my perception is that it is equal parts "haters" (for lack of a better word) and fans. They basically just feed off of each other. And yes, it will only get worse as we get closer to July.

 

[craig1985]

The irony is that we all complain, and yet we go and post in threads about him.

 

[Buffalo Soldier]

When will everybody stop living in the past, and learn that this man isn't more than every other top 100 rider for the moment. Should we make sub-forums for Contador? Cavendish? Schleck? Cancellara? Boonen?...

If eddy merckx would have a come-back, maybe that would be worth a sub-forum

edit: what they do in some football (some nitwits call it soccer)-forums: 1 subforum for the players, with every player his own thread. So maybe we could make this sub-forum about races, and make an other one about riders?

 

[Bike Boy]

The irony is that we all complain, and yet we go and post in threads about him.

Yeah you are absolutely right. It's an insane world we live in. You could take a look at this thread for instance: "Lance Armstrong broke away on Tour Down Under"

85 replies. What the heck

 

[Mellow Velo]

Shouldn't this thread be shut down, under the new regime?

 

[Clemson Cycling]

When will everybody stop living in the past, and learn that this man isn't more than every other top 100 rider for the moment. Should we make sub-forums for Contador? Cavendish? Schleck? Cancellara? Boonen?...

If eddy merckx would have a come-back, maybe that would be worth a sub-forum

edit: what they do in some football (some nitwits call it soccer)-forums: 1 subforum for the players, with every player his own thread. So maybe we could make this sub-forum about races, and make an other one about riders?

Because he is more then every other top 100 rider, just as Tiger Wood WAS more then every other top 100 golfer, and Roger Federer was more then every other top 100 tennis player, Michael Phelps is more then just every swimmer. The guy is the biggest thing our sport has by far. Just look at race attendance figures and TV viewing when Lance races and does not race. Sure the difference might not be hardcore cycling fans but sponsors and organizers don't seem to care. There is a reason he gets 6 and 7 figure behind the scenes entry prizes just to so up because he single handedly triples attendance figures at races. Look at the Tour of the Gila. Before last year I have never heard of it.