This Forum Is Dying

[LaFlorecita]

I love you.

Echoes is a cycling hipster.

 

[hiero2]

It's a smart tactic after all H so props for that. singling out one posers name gets you in detention. Starting a reply "you people" doesn't. but same intention...genius really. wish I thought of it.

as for the OP OT. there is nothing like a little George Hincape LA love to fuel this forum again.

I've been trying to figure out a way to say that about Bro ever since I saw him labeled, by another poster of similar seniority, as #1 on the top ten of CN's trolls. It forced me to go back to usenet days, and do quite a bit of research, up until today, on what a troll is. It should suffice to say, imo, that Bro knows the envelope as well as anyone. Nor is he alone, not by any stretch of the imagination. So, why does singling Bro out not get me in detention (at least, not yet)? Perhaps because I am "condemning with faint praise"? Or "praising with faint condemnation"?

But, the point I used Bro for was to illustrate one of the "symptoms" of a declining forum - the rise of a troll as a regular poster. I'm not saying he is a troll - after all, I was being honest when I said I was in the position of having to defend him against that charge. But, if I'm wrong, and the forum is dying, perhaps the accusers were right. Any road, he knows the limits of the envelope, and he is far from the only one. We have a number of, ahem, very colorful "commentators" who are equally guilty of treading upon toes at the dance. I am at a loss as to how to encourage them to be more graceful.

Frankly, I don't think Bro will mind all this. Amof, if his intent were indeed malicious, he would even take some pride in receiving such comments. After all, he is still here to post about it. And I don't think he will mind that not everyone thinks well of him. We all have our detractors, after all. But I've never been sure that he realizes the depths that some people believe him to have sunk to. Nor do I think he realizes, when he says "the forum is dead or dying" - that some other people say he is one of the reasons it is.

On the other hand, I do not think Bro is deaf. I do think he has curtailed some of the snarkiness over the past couple of years. But, if that is truly progress made, what does that do to the "forum is dead, or dying" comments? See the counterpoint?

bro killed it................posting so much

Mark L

I like the new bandit icon - cute - and just so history will know - since I'm sure you'll change it again sometime this year for some bet. Froome standing with two aliens - aha - Froomy as Alien! Cute graphics.

Nah - the forem be not dead, yet, matey. The dread "posting statistics" stay flat, year after year. Since THIS flat line indicates a pulse, they be not dead.

Posting stats do not equate to communication value, though. But that is harder to measure. And, my other point, that the value of cynicism (applied to bicycle racing) between 1995 and 2010, was at some sort of record high. It remains for history to tell us whether continued cynicism is justified. My personal opinion is that it has, in some instances, become dogmatic and curmudgeonly.

 

[python]

perhaps this forum is not so much dying of natural causes , as it may have... suicidal tendencies ?

i mean, why would scores and scores of regular not suspended posters, not due to their own computer issues, have persistent problems to log in ?

in the last year or so, i personally had at least 4 incidents when i could not log in. many, who did not walk away entirely, posted the same concern...

at different times i have been a member of about 10 different forums and as many private sites requiring to log in...never i had a as many problems as i had logging on to the cn forums.. when a site was due to go 'off air' due to maintenance or any other issues, it would normally be posted in advance or a redirect message would make everything clear.

not the case with the cn. you just get cut off with some meaningless error message.

sometimes you get lucky to read a post by a good-doer about a work around. but almost never a considered response from the cn it. here i have to give credit to some cn staff for being responsive to emails and messages about the problem.

i am stunned by the cn attitude to this normally small problem

a suicidal negligence, to say the least.

 

[hiero2]

perhaps this forum is not so much dying of natural causes , as it may have... suicidal tendencies ?

i mean, why would scores and scores of regular not suspended posters, not due to their own computer issues, have persistent problems to log in ?

in the last year or so, i personally had at least 4 incidents when i could not log in. many, who did not walk away entirely, posted the same concern...

at different times i have been a member of about 10 different forums and as many private sites requiring to log in...never i had a as many problems as i had logging on to the cn forums.. when a site was due to go 'off air' due to maintenance or any other issues, it would normally be posted in advance or a redirect message would make everything clear.

not the case with the cn. you just get cut off with some meaningless error message.

sometimes you get lucky to read a post by a good-doer about a work around. but almost never a considered response from the cn it. here i have to give credit to some cn staff for being responsive to emails and messages about the problem.

i am stunned by the cn attitude to this normally small problem

a suicidal negligence, to say the least.

The CN login problem is, I think, related to the version of vBulletin being used. It seems to be an issue with properly detecting a login/logout on the news pages vs the forum pages. I suspect they are using different database files to store login info. And somehow those files are getting slightly hosed.

 

[the sceptic]

rip CN forums. Bro was right all along.

 

[Semper Fidelis]

We all know it is true. Time for the FID thread. This will be version 3 or 4, forget which.

Sceptic since you posted it. I decided to quote Bro for ya.

 

[thehog]

Re:

rip CN forums. Bro was right all along.

Its like someone is PM'ing people and telling them to leave!

 

[Digger]

Re: Re:

rip CN forums. Bro was right all along.

Its like someone is PM'ing people and telling them to leave!

And the next forum will see through it eventually also...time.

 

[thehog]

Re: Re:

rip CN forums. Bro was right all along.

Its like someone is PM'ing people and telling them to leave!

And the next forum will see through it eventually also...time.

There is only so long people can talk how amazing JV is

 

[Digger]

Re: Re:

rip CN forums. Bro was right all along.

Its like someone is PM'ing people and telling them to leave!

And the next forum will see through it eventually also...time.

There is only so long people can talk how amazing JV is

well jv is apparently top three in the list of those who brought down lance -

 

[thehog]

Re: Re:

rip CN forums. Bro was right all along.

Its like someone is PM'ing people and telling them to leave!

And the next forum will see through it eventually also...time.

There is only so long people can talk how amazing JV is

well jv is apparently top three in the list of those who brought down lance -

Walsh, Tygart and JV took down Lance.

JV was pivotal and being honest and direct for so many years, what a straight shooter!

 

[Semper Fidelis]

Re: Re:

rip CN forums. Bro was right all along.

Its like someone is PM'ing people and telling them to leave!

And the next forum will see through it eventually also...time.

Which forum would that be?

 

[wrinklyvet]

Re:

Meh. Fools.

Listen - and learn. The forums will not die. Why not? Because there is sufficient NEW influx to replace OLD die-off. So, usage stats will remain appox the same, year to year.

So, how does this fit with YOUR observation that some influential, insider, big-name, whatever posters have left? Well, if you are correct, it means the forums COULD be much bigger than they are.

DO NOT confuse the circumstances thus far described with what has happened historically. Because of the historical sequence of events - with so much stuff covered-up or attempted to be covered-up - the revelations of this forum had an unusual impact on RL events. But, the situation has shifted. Today, the speculations of The Clinic are exactly that: speculations. Not revelations, which is what they were. Revelations masquerading as speculation.

The logical and rational conclusion is not that the forum has decreased in influence, but that the information imparted has decreased in power. The information imparted can not be validated or verified - it is speculative. When, and IF, the data gains validation, the forum information will again become an influential source. But, failing said validation - well - fail.

On the other hand, have posters abandoned this forum? No question, yes. Does that reduce the activity? Eh, no. I think this is due to the connection of the forum to a major cycling news source. So, it is the neighborhood. You won't see any LESS traffic - just because the forum is in a traffic crossroads/intersection. What could happen is that the intersection COULD see much MORE traffic if it were managed appropriately.

I wonder, does this sage observation remain true?

 

[frenchfry]

I'm going to take a break. Too bad because I enjoy a lot of the other members discussions and other members here. I will probably be back, hopefully not for a while.

 

[Ferminal]

So the conversion of PRR to an index is finally complete it seems. At least The Clinic again proves its sanity by holding out for now, sort of (for how long?).

 

[BigMac]

Re:

So the conversion of PRR to an index is finally complete it seems. At least The Clinic again proves its sanity by holding out for now, sort of (for how long?).

Eh? You talkin' about the Rider Thread Directory?

 

[DamianoMachiavelli]

Re:

So the conversion of PRR to an index is finally complete it seems. At least The Clinic again proves its sanity by holding out for now, sort of (for how long?).

The decision to use subject based threads rather than current event based ones was absolutely asinine. Didn't anyone take a peek at other forums to see how things are done elsewhere? What is really amazing is that the owners are so incompetent that none has ever checked out the forum and had the thought, "WTF! This idiotic policy about threads is costing us money."

 

[LaFlorecita]

I really don't see the issue with subject based threads. It keeps all the news regarding 1 rider or team together and prevents cluttering. I really wouldn't want to see a new thread for everything a rider says or does.

 

[Ferminal]

Re: Re:

So the conversion of PRR to an index is finally complete it seems. At least The Clinic again proves its sanity by holding out for now, sort of (for how long?).

Eh? You talkin' about the Rider Thread Directory?

Not so much the thread itself as to what it reinforces (to be fair the war was lost long ago).

Currently on the first page I count four actual threads:

• Upper-body training for cyclists
  The Kingdom of Bahrain Cycling Team
  The worst of race profiles
  The Bell**** of Professional Cycling (locked)

(I pay the Bahrain one as it is emergent, however there are numerous conversations to be had regarding it)

Aside from a few race threads, the remainder of the front page is fixed fora for a single subject, generally a rider or team. Using a thread as a forum in itself is a horrible deviation from standard message board operation.

 

[hrotha]

I intensely dislike this rider-based approach, which encourages decontextualization and fanboyism, but what can you do, right. Most people seem to like it.

 

[Ferminal]

Re:

I really don't see the issue with subject based threads. It keeps all the news regarding 1 rider or team together and prevents cluttering. I really wouldn't want to see a new thread for everything a rider says or does.

I'd argue that you're looking at it from the wrong end.

It is far easier (notwithstanding the poor CN forum search engine, there are other ways) to find discussions identified by title in a forum or sub-forum than it is to find them in a fugue of posts in a single thread with no identifying markers. If someone is looking to discuss a matter a bit more specific than "Valverde" or "BMC Racing" they require a fair bit of patience to read through the associated dog's breakfasts to see if a thread within a thread exists, and then maintain the patience against rival discussions.

Maybe I'm a dinosaur but where did one topic per thread (stick to OP/title, liberally interpreted) and splitting discussions which drifted too far go wrong? Reddit seems to do OK...

 

[Zam_Olyas]

I think it's a bad idea..but hey i hardly read the PRR these days ...Basso is retired, you see.

 

[LaFlorecita]

I think it's a bad idea..but hey i hardly read the PRR these days ...Basso is retired, you see.

He might be creating a team with friend Alberto soon.. you will like that no?

 

[thehog]

Re: Re:

So the conversion of PRR to an index is finally complete it seems. At least The Clinic again proves its sanity by holding out for now, sort of (for how long?).

The decision to use subject based threads rather than current event based ones was absolutely asinine. Didn't anyone take a peek at other forums to see how things are done elsewhere? What is really amazing is that the owners are so incompetent that none has ever checked out the forum and had the thought, "WTF! This idiotic policy about threads is costing us money."

I agree with this. I like when there were interesting offbeat thread titles discussing a specific and new aspect about a rider, a team or similar. A little like the Froome test data thread. It wasn't about his racing but about the testing data and some really good discussion came from it to then have the thread locked and everything revert into the general froome thread (and get lost between the "there's no proof").

 

[Zam_Olyas]

I think it's a bad idea..but hey i hardly read the PRR these days ...Basso is retired, you see.

He might be creating a team with friend Alberto soon.. you will like that no?

Why do you always troll me with Contadors news?