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I've been lurking here since about 2006 and a member since 2011 but is it just me or did the forum start to die from its glory days with the move to this new format? A lot of knowledgeable long time contributors have gone - like The Hitch. I know people have lives but I miss them. New posters of similar quality have not replaced them. I also copped my first warning in the new format? Correlation does not equal causation but since the new format came along I think the forum has lost its sparkle. Covid-19 is not helping either obviously as there has been no racing to discuss.
It’s definitely more strict. I was gone for a while, came back and everything was different and a lot of discussions were gone. I can understand how for some that is a turn off.
I actually feel that the adoption of new format has somewhat reinvigorated the forum. At least when the PRR section is concerned - one in which I spend most of my time here. Some new and active posters have come on board and it has since felt a lot livelier place, even with an additional enforced off-season during the spring. There certainly was a feeling of decline before the software upgrade as the issues with logging in and staying logged in forced even long-time contributors to cut down their activity here or calling it a day altogether.
One section of the forum that certainly has suffered is the Clinic. But that started long before the upgrade of the forum and was largely to do with the rise of Sky. Some leading repeat offenders from both sides of the divide that rise caused were treated too softly by mods back then which ended in Clinic turning into a completely toxic place riddled with wild conspiracy theories and blatant trolling. Most of the more moderate posters who didn't immediately want to choose sides and tried to remain on the fence were driven out of the sub-forum and often decided to leave this forum altogether. In more recent times, fortunately, things taken turn for the better, although it'll probably never again achieve the relevance it had a decade ago as the place to go for anyone who wanted to get to know the critical view of Armstrong.
Obviously the blanket ban on political discussions took a lot of life out of non-cycling subforum, but those discussions - much like real politics itself - became so toxic, that the radical decisions taken were understandable. As I'm here mostly because of cycling-related discussions, it doesn't bother me that much. I don't mind the generally more strict nature of the current forum - the leniency of earlier years was far too often taken advantage of by too many posters. Just my two cents, other posters certainly have different point of view on the forum.
One section of the forum that certainly has suffered is the Clinic. But that started long before the upgrade of the forum and was largely to do with the rise of Sky. Some leading repeat offenders from both sides of the divide that rise caused were treated too softly by mods back then which ended in Clinic turning into a completely toxic place riddled with wild conspiracy theories and blatant trolling. Most of the more moderate posters who didn't immediately want to choose sides and tried to remain on the fence were driven out of the sub-forum and often decided to leave this forum altogether. In more recent times, fortunately, things taken turn for the better, although it'll probably never again achieve the relevance it had a decade ago as the place to go for anyone who wanted to get to know the critical view of Armstrong.
Obviously the blanket ban on political discussions took a lot of life out of non-cycling subforum, but those discussions - much like real politics itself - became so toxic, that the radical decisions taken were understandable. As I'm here mostly because of cycling-related discussions, it doesn't bother me that much. I don't mind the generally more strict nature of the current forum - the leniency of earlier years was far too often taken advantage of by too many posters. Just my two cents, other posters certainly have different point of view on the forum.
This part.
I honestly just feel like, well... some posters have left - or been kicked out - while others have joined. That's just how it is...
I think this is the case for the Clinic certainly, for various reasons - some people are banned, some have been warned many times, others have got fed up. Many of the ‘discussions’ have now reached a stalemate or have been resolved. To me it just seems like there isn’t much happening anymore, not just because of Covid this year.
There's just not been a lot of reliable information coming out for years. There hasn't been a proper tell-all since... Frei? God that was 10 years ago. Without that kind of info there's mostly just speculation, and that gets old and tends to spiral out of control.
and to be fair, it's not like forums in general are booming. which obviously makes it difficult to attract new users to begin with. Even sites like IMDB (which had the biggest, most knowledgable movie community at all) closed their forum last year. Taking that into account, it's going alright, I'd say.
Is it possible to get an invite to that Discord subgroup . . . Or is it just for CN forum’s old Dutch mafia?
Generally forums seem to be dying. I also lurk on places like Reddit, Autosport Forums etc. and what I get is that people my age prefer reddit or twitter instead of forums. ( I'm 19 )
What I dislike in reddit style is that a thread gets opened but the discussion gets closed in a few days and that a thread you like can't be brought back into life.
Also the ban of politics may be another negative. And I also do not like the new format, it does not look that great for long discussions to me for some reason.
What I dislike in reddit style is that a thread gets opened but the discussion gets closed in a few days and that a thread you like can't be brought back into life.
Also the ban of politics may be another negative. And I also do not like the new format, it does not look that great for long discussions to me for some reason.
At the moment I am reading quite a lot of the reddit barça and have to say I love their introducing lines of the open thread:
Keep it respectful please
Avoid death threats and inciting violence
Obviously this forum is lacking something.
Keep it respectful please
Avoid death threats and inciting violence
Obviously this forum is lacking something.
Saturday an historic TDF will start and because of a series of never before seen circumstances will introduce half a dozen riders that could win. So everybody's attention will hopefully be on the daily changes expected. No matter where you are from there is probably a rider that could possibly take a stage..French,American,Irish,German and for sure Colombians all see stars..I hope that CN has the best year ever
This place is thriving, change the thread title!
Anyway, I love it. It's my Mont du CHAT.
Anyway, I love it. It's my Mont du CHAT.
That's my main dislike of reddit as well. Also I can't seem to *** on a Tour route on /r/peloton without being identified as a CN poster.
I really think Reddit is one of the main reasons for the decline of forums. If you are already using Reddit regularly it's unlikely you really get into a forum when you can just join the subreddit for the same topic whicht additonally is probably also a lot more active than any forum.
Now I use Reddit myself but the reality is, Reddit can't provide the things a forum provides.
Reddit only really works in the way that you state an opinion and if it's popular you get upvotes and some responses agreeing with you, if it's not popular there is just no reaction at all. It's an echo chamber. There are no discussions, which seems ridiculous. There are over 66 000 people subscribed to r/peloton but you still can't find any people to talk with cause that's just not how reddit works. If a new thread is opened and you aren't among the first to post a comment your comment will just disappear in obscurity. If you respond to a comment that isn't coincidentally the top comment the only person who is ever gonna respond back is the writer of the original comment. Nobody else is gonna join the discussion.
I also don't like how anonymous reddit is. I think for people I've never actually met I know some people on this forum relatively well, or at least well enough to know what riders they like, what their sense of humor is like, that kind of stuff. On reddit there is just no emphasis on personality and if you respond to two comments from the same person on the same day you wouldn't even notice.
On another note though, I do feel like this forum is a bit more active now than it was a year ago or so. Maybe it's just the post lock down hype of cycling returning but in any case this forum is currently far from dead.
Edit: Oh and I wanted to ask, is "the CN forum is just a place for grumpy cycling fans" an actual thing on r/peloton? I didn't actually expect people there would even be aware of this forum's existence.
Yeah the sense of personality and getting to know bits and pieces of posters and especailly knowing which posters are knowledgable about what etc is really great. There just no lasting discussion on reddit, and this especially shows in very rapid changes in narrative where sometimes public opinion seems to sway completely based on recent news. Also downvotes don't help at all, it's very common to see rational points being downvoted into oblivion cause they go against circlejerk.
And in my experience it's not uncommon for reddit to look down on equivalent forums and vice versa. /r/peloton seems to think we're a bunch of Clinic nutjobs for example. They'll basically take some of the worst trolls of a forum and pretend that's everyone.
True. For example in r/formula1 if you criticize Vettel or Raikkönen there is a very high chance you are met with tons of downvotes. I generally like forums more as someone who lurks on reddit. Plus I think CN forum has a massive plus in route discussions, route designs etc., something I don't see at r/peloton.
@Red Rick edit: True, there are many who seem to think that Froome is clean.
@Red Rick edit: True, there are many who seem to think that Froome is clean.
Still makes me chuckle that as soon as the most recent doping scandal has passed for a few years the mainstream opinion suddenly becomes "people who believe in doping are just crazy conspiracy theorists"
Never used Reddit and have no desire to even look. Looking at my post count here I've already wasted too much of my life in CN.
I once had a Reddit feed made about me when I was found riding on a certain local busy road. I don’t like Reddit.
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