I’d say the lack of coverage of the CRC security issue has categorically answered that question.

And yet, not only have we responded to this thread and the others but CRC have also responded and put statements on the forum of every major cycling website on the net complete with telephone numbers and email contacts as well as a statement that they are investigating the problems. In terms of engaging with readers on a website how much more open do you want it to be? CRC are aware of these threads and they are happy for the issues to be discussed openly. Beyond ‘reprinting’ the accounts of individuals from these threads (which seems sort of pointless since they are here for us to read and more people read the forum than read the stories on the front page) I don’t see much point in doing anything more. It wouldn’t add anything other than a headline to the issue. There is nothing to report beyond what we all know. In short a story would not add anything to what you already know. When we have something beyond what we have on these threads we will report it. At the moment there is nothing new to add. As people experience issues that they feel are relevant to the issue they are reporting them here and on other forums.

CRC – An investigation into any link between reported fraudulant account activity and customers’ bank details is ongoing, according to CRC. Here’s what our readers have to say on the issue <link to the forum thread>.

I can put that on the front page if you like but it seems pointless. I’d prefer to wait until there’s something to actually report that you don’t already know about. And yes, we’ve spoken to CRC about this. And No they have not applied any pressure on us or any other media as far as we know.

What about the Isis bottom bracket scandal that has blighted our lives for more years than I can remember – I’ve gone senile waiting. When are you going to run a special Panorama-style Isis investigation? I for one and two or three other people would almost certainly think about buying such a one-off special.

The only proper journos in business today are the ones doing investigative work for newspapers/websites ( like ArsTechnica – they do some fantastic investigations and reporting ).

MTB mags (or any other sports/computer/car mag) is just a PR platform for their respective industry…. which is why I don’t buy them. Yes, they might have the odd interesting ‘article’, or report on an event – but 90% of the pages are filled with marketing (however subtle it might be).

I don’t think for one second that CRC is applying pressure to STW either. STW have to be neutral, and only ‘officially’ report facts, due to the sensitive nature of the crisis. Falsely accusing them could lead to legal trouble, which nobody wants.

Do 100% of Singletrack readers actively read every thread on the STW forum?
Do 100% of MBUK / WMB readers actively read every thread on the Bikeradar forum?

My guess is that they don’t, and that many, many times more people are subscribed to the RSS feed for the “news” items on the frontpage.

Is it unreasonable to expect a news item along the lines of “there are unsubstantiated claims of…. CRC have issued the following statement….. you can follow the discussion here…..”

While it is positive that CRC are commenting on the threads, I think it’s naive to view it as anything other than damage limitation on their part, as if they were really intent on communicating with their customer base, they have the mechanism both through the email details they hold, and through the MTB press.

Think Mark was involved in the NOTW phone tapping scandal….been behaving ever since 😉

Agree CRC could have mailed us all to check our accounts…not shy about bombarding us with mails about offers!…BUT if there proves to be no link then that would have just been a pointless PR disaster for their customers who maybe wouldn’t have got to hear about it via sites like STW

My guess is that they don’t, and that many, many times more people are subscribed to the RSS feed for the “news” items on the frontpage.”

Then you’d be quite wrong in your guess. 85% of ALL our site traffic goes through this forum. The rest is spread across all other pages, including the front page – and that includes all RSS feeds too.
Typically only around 4% of forum users (users = posters & readers) ever post anything. Yes.. 96% of forum activity is from Readers (lurkers) NOT the posters. The CRC thread has been sat consistently on the front page of the forum for well over a week now. It has had a lot more attention than our front page has had. A front page story typically has a shelf life of a few days before it drops off into the archive.

Want pro-bike pictures and specs – see bikeradar
Want race reports – see bikeradar/MBUK