Our Forum is a place where many minds meet. They don’t always see eye to eye, but if you want to know the answer to something obscure, there’s every chance that someone will know the answer. Has anyone got one of those left hand widgets for the 1983 edition of the thingamabob? Will this creature kill me or eat my house? Should I see a doctor for this?
There are threads that go on forever, others that drop out of sight immediately. There’s even a thread devoted to your thread dropping out of sight immediately. But what have been the most visited threads of this year? Remember, it might feel all cosy and familiar in there, but Forum threads appear in lots of Google searches, bringing the outsiders in. We even once had someone email us and ask us to delete their account because they hadn’t realised it was a bike forum. Singletrack: come for the plumbing, stay for the bikes? Here are the most read Forum threads of 2020.
1. Where’s the coronavirus we’re all going to die conspiracy thread?
Credit for starting this goes to Daz, who started this monster thread (now renamed The Coronavirus Discussion Thread) before anyone much was talking about the virus. What unfolds of the thousands of following posts could be printed off for posterity as a ‘Life in the Time of Covid’. From wondering if it’s all a loads of fuss over nothing, to serious worry, to getting it, and on to vaccines and treatments. There are even regular updates from a scientist that actually knows about this stuff.
2. HELP! Leaking Nespresso Machine – possible to repair?
This is fairly ‘peak Forum’ – coffee, fixing things, a mild sense of panic over something quite first world. Indeed, the user was directed to the First World Problems thread. But in true STW Forum style, someone emerged who actually designs Nespresso machines and had a load of actually helpful advice.
3. Laying paving slabs on soil/earth. What would you do?
Actually just a short thread, with a bunch of detailed, sometimes conflicting, and mostly boring advice. Unless you want to know how to lay patio, in which case it’s quite helpful.
4. Runners….. What’s a good average running pace?
This thread was started a whole eight years ago, so the final post on it now seems quite amusing: ‘Is anyone using Strava for their running?’.
5. Small worms on bathroom floor??
A three year old thread kept alive for people searching for things they’re afraid to ask their friends about? The responses are the usual Forum mix of comic silliness (funny unless they’re your worms on your bathroom floor) until things escalate to squirm inducing levels, and then there’s a cliffhanger of an ending. Has anyone heard from @sadexpunk since that thread?
6. Emoji Country Quiz
We suspect the popularity of this thread goes something like: Bored bored bored, do a quiz, get stuck and frustrated, google the answers.
7. Neighbours Smoking Weed – how to deal with it?
Another thread where we can see why the Google Gods keep it popular. This is one of those threads where differing views rather derailed the thread and it’s not clear that there was any particularly useful advice or a happy resolution.
8. Varnish, wax or oil. Whats the best on wood table?
There are a lot of talented makers, menders and fixers of the Singletrack Forum, so it is a good place to ask this sort of question. At only 13 posts long, this is a rare example of a question being asked and answered, without any arguments breaking out.
9. Discoloured (in date) Bacon: safe to cook and eat?
Holy moly, this is a ten year old thread about a total minor dilemma, yet apparently it’s an issue that is encountered frequently and googled often. The OP survived the culinary experiment and signed off with ‘Thanks for your replies, not that many of them were actually all that useful!’.
10. ITV App – how to get live tv?
If this many people are having to google the answer to this question, perhaps the app needs a bit of work? And who watches live tv these days anyway?
So, the top ten list of Forum threads by ‘most read’ reveals… zero bike related anythings. And a disappointing lack of plumbing too. There were a few first world problems, and some great non-answers though.
Do you have a favourite Forum thread of the year? Let us know in the comments, or join in the discussion here.
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The paving thread was 2010?
The Nespresso posted up 8 years ago?
I guess we know who only reads headlines and not the context of an article. These threads are the most read and ones Google searches produce.
Fair enough – didn’t understand the question sir.