State of the forum 2024

[Ripper]

And yet, it is a lot easier to be dumbstruck and disgusted by immediate events, such as wattbombs, than longer term developments, such as riders transcending specialisation, which just kinda numbs you. The frog in a slowly boiling water kind of thing.

Take Vingo out of the TDF picture and Pog dominates virtually in all terrains. Would that be substantially less ridiculous? I don't know the answer.

In absolute performance level terms it probably would be less ridiculous, as Vingo went somewhere else with the TT. But in relative terms not so much.

Guess quite a bit of spectator attitudes are in fact driven by aesthetic and moral preferences, along with the more sport specific stuff. Nothing wrong with that, as long as these factors are at least somewhat transparent to ourselves.

In my case I recognise that the fantasy of a new merckx is the messenger RNA of cycling fandom, but find the mere thought most off-putting. When all is said, doping included, I am more comfortable with specialists gunning for it in their narrow domains.

Take away these two teams, or their newfound capacities, and we maybe have something worthwhile here.

Perhaps the arms race boils over and devours them, Jumbo first. There is some healthy backlash emerging already. But probably not.

Good post.

Note, the frog and boiling water thing has been debunked (which does not change the points you made)

 

[topcat]

Forget about Vingegaard vs. Pogacar.....this final (proper) stage is all about Netserk vs. Volderke!

As I think they used to say in the old Batman comics, "Pow! Vam!!"

Netserk has whiplash from looking over his shoulder all day at Volderke yesterday.
On an other note am I the only one who has noticed the similarities between Vinnie and Borat?

 

[topcat]

Vinnie wants to capitalise on pissing off the majority of the forum, so now he’s pissed off Roglic and Remco. I hope this won’t take away from the greatest thing in cycling: Remco vs Roglic.

 

[Ilmaestro99]

Vinnie wants to capitalise on pissing off the majority of the forum, so now he’s pissed off Roglic and Remco. I hope this won’t take away from the greatest thing in cycling: Remco vs Roglic.

And now that the mostly insignificant tour de france is over, we can get back to the real business, this great rivalry between remco Armstrong and primoz gerrans and their respective fanboy cults.

I am very excited for the next few weeks of wildly aggressive speculation and delusion between these two camps. The actual rivalry itself is not so interesting. We know that roglic will crash and remco will wipe the floor with enric mas and some spainish u23 riders.

But I can't wait to see who will push the boat the most, who is prepared to go the furthest in defending their sporting hero against slander from anonymous Internet weirdos. Who will time their bans perfectly to be fresh in the 3rd week? I bet we lose several remco fanboys for an extended period. I don't even going to watch the vuelta, I can just sit on a late summer weekend with an estrella and scroll the forum if I want entertainment

 

[Krzysztof_O]

And now that the mostly insignificant tour de france is over, we can get back to the real business, this great rivalry between remco Armstrong and primoz gerrans and their respective fanboy cults.

I am very excited for the next few weeks of wildly aggressive speculation and delusion between these two camps. The actual rivalry itself is not so interesting. We know that roglic will crash and remco will wipe the floor with enric mas and some spainish u23 riders.

But I can't wait to see who will push the boat the most, who is prepared to go the furthest in defending their sporting hero against slander from anonymous Internet weirdos. Who will time their bans perfectly to be fresh in the 3rd week? I bet we lose several remco fanboys for an extended period. I don't even going to watch the vuelta, I can just sit on a late summer weekend with an estrella and scroll the forum if I want entertainment

This time both fanbases will unify as there is a big, common enemy: the Skeletor from Vingehgore!

 

[Andy schleck]

This time both fanbases will unify as there is a big, common enemy: the Skeletor from Vingehgore!

I like that "from vingehgore"! Awesome. Both fanbases will unify against vingegaard's fanbase....basically just me 😂

 

[Krzysztof_O]

I like that "from vingehgore"! Awesome. Both fanbases will unify against vingegaard's fanbase....basically just me 😂

Oh man, you will need top-fuel to withstand that. Maybe your hero still has something left.

 

[Tim Cahill]

I like that "from vingehgore"! Awesome. Both fanbases will unify against vingegaard's fanbase....basically just me 😂

There are a lot of embittered, nihilistic ex-Michael Rasmussen fans also supporting him, they want revenge and to see the world burn, if anything Vingegaard wasn't going fast enough.

 

[topcat]

I like that "from vingehgore"! Awesome. Both fanbases will unify against vingegaard's fanbase....basically just me 😂

You are not alone. I will say you’re one of the more reasonable vingewhores.

 

[Mayomaniac]

There are a lot of embittered, nihilistic ex-Michael Rasmussen fans also supporting him, they want revenge and to see the world burn, if anything Vingegaard wasn't going fast enough.

Yeah, but at the same time his TT is waaay too good to get the full support from the Rasmussen fanbase (or at least me). Defending himself in the ITT or even putting up a decent effort would be one thing, but dominating it is a whole different thing.

 

[gregrowlerson]

Yeah, but at the same time his TT is waaay too good to get the full support from the Rasmussen fanbase (or at least me). Defending himself in the ITT or even putting up a decent effort would be one thing, but dominating it is a whole different thing.

And yet Andy Schleck likes him.

 

[Samu Cuenca]

Does anyone want to make an all-time and/or current power ranking of forum members?

I hope to be in the top 800.

 

[RedheadDane]

Does anyone want to make an all-time and/or current power ranking of forum members?

I hope to be in the top 800.

Why don't you give it a go?

 

[Samu Cuenca]

Why don't you give it a go?

I don't think I have the required knowledge.

 

[SHAD0W93]

Would bans/suspensions be a knock on a poster?

 

[RedheadDane]

I don't think I have the required knowledge.

I suppose there are several ways to go about it, based on the scoring system from posting and reactions.

First would be simply number of posts: Here you come in 20th place, which is in fact in the top-800. I'm 3rd. Red Rick is the top-scorer.
Second would the reaction score: Here you're 5th. I'm 2nd. And RR is once again the top-scorer.
You could also use the little roman numbers that simply count how long someone has been on the forum. However, that lists me as being "Ancient", so I'm obviously opposed to that.

 

[Samu Cuenca]

However, that lists me as being "Ancient", so I'm obviously opposed to that.

But reaction scores wasn't a thing back in the day, so clearly I've had an advantage there (other than simply being funnier than most people).

 

[RedheadDane]

But reaction scores wasn't a thing back in the day, so clearly I've had an advantage there (other than simply being funnier than most people).

It's not so much that you've had an advantage. It's more that you've had less of a disadvantage.

 

[SHAD0W93]

Too be fair, you rack up a lot of posts in the guessing game and there isn’t a lot of room for reactions.


How would you rate someone having a higher reaction score than posts? @Rackham and @Ilmaestro99 have way more reactions than posts and there’s others like @Devil's Elbow and @Lequack.

 

[RedheadDane]

How would you rate someone having a higher reaction score than posts? @Rackham and @Ilmaestro99 have way more reactions than posts.

It's two different rankings. They're placed higher in one than the other.

 

[Samu Cuenca]

It's not so much that you've had an advantage. It's more that you've had less of a disadvantage.

Still I don't think it's fair to only look at those rankings. I mean I've almost made as many posts as SafeBet, but has a higher reaction score despite him having been a member for 9 years more than me, so I think he should be ranked way higher. He's like LeMond while I'm Chiappucci.

Or maybe I'm Vingegaard: fueled by love-ly reactions.

 

[RedheadDane]

Still I don't think it's fair to only look at those rankings. I mean I've almost made as many posts as SafeBet, but has a higher reaction score despite him having been a member for 9 years more than me, so I think he should be ranked way higher. He's like LeMond while I'm Chiappucci.

Or maybe I'm Vingegaard: fueled by love-ly reactions.

Are you suggesting I should do some sort of math by combining things?

 

[Samu Cuenca]

Are you suggesting I should do some sort of math by combining things?

No, I'd very much prefer someone else to compile the ranking.

 

[Samu Cuenca]

If I made a current power ranking, then I would put CyclistAbi quite high up on the list. He peaked for the third week of the Giro, but by continuing to reference it, he's managed to make the third week last for over two months.

 

[Cookster15]

No, I'd very much prefer someone else to compile the ranking.

Reactions were only added to the forum a few years ago - the ratio of reactions to posts reflects this. Maybe it was just before you became a member?

If you want to rank members you can't use reactions as many members were here before reactions started.

There is also the points system which recognizes longevity - e.g. "Ancient"

A power ranking based upon recent history would work though.