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How does this work with certain forum users who seem to try and shoehorn some shameless self-promotion for their instagram/YouTube/podcast/website into loads of posts on here?
This whole thread is that, IMO.
This whole thread is that, IMO
So if that the case, how does all of Rocketdog’s self promotion go unnoticed?
Is it just because it’s in multiple threads rather than all in one place?
is it a different type of advertising when you’re advertising your own sites/pages?
A missed opportunity by STW here IMHO. Rather than do what they did they could have taken the story of Weeksy and made it a feature. It is more interesting to me as a paying customer than a lot of the stuff I read. Are the Mods actually part of STW as a business or are they just volunteers? If the latter, do they collaborate with the owners when making calls like this that could make the forum a less interesting place?
@johnjn2000 That was my initial point, I think that it was a missed opportunity and perhaps could have been utilised financially by having links to products that could earn STW money. A structured weekly (Weeksy’s Week!) diary would hold a lot of interest for me.
Another of my points was the training and impartiality of the (voluntary) moderators that can have an effect (real or perceived) on decisions made and, also importantly, how they are communicated.
Polls are very popular at the moment - perhaps listening to the mood would be more appropriate?
If the latter, do they collaborate with the owners when making calls like this that could make the forum a less interesting place?
Yes we do, we are also aware of the rules.
Well there's a LOT I want to say here and a lot i won't actually say. One important thing though is that in no world was his 'team' pic ever posted as an advertisement, i still can't actually see how it was seen as that. The 2nd pic of 'products' that was posted over on the motorbike forum was NEVER posted on here, so lets move on from that. It was posted purely as a proud parent of a young racer, that's it...
I'm not getting involved too much in forum politics, but yes there's plenty of double standards.
The most important thing i want to add though is Thank You to a lot here for the thoughts, messages and posts of support.. This thread along with say the Menopause thread has shown me that it's massively important (not in the grand scheme of things of course) to some/plenty on here... and of course it's important to me.
Where i REALLY struggle though is how this thread continues, because like it or not the sponsorship is intrinisically linked to this journey, it's a massive part of it, both in terms of products recieved but in terms of the boys place in the world. Now he's a qualified coach, that line becomes even more blurred on here as far as i can see.
Take for example last weekend, as said by @hoff the boy was out showing his lad lines, technique, skills and how to race. Now this wasn't part of his 'coaching' for the coach, it wasn't paid for in any way, we both paid for our own uplifts etc, however again, it's very much linked to his job as a coach. (indirectly of course), so how do we approach things like that on here ? I have no clue in truth. But for us both it was a massive case of 'giving back', at the start of all of this he was coached by Katy and she saw something in him that she liked and gave us the chance to get to where he is today, so we both wanted to pay that back and give the 2 lads their chance, their shot, their fun and whatever part we can play in that, well how could we refuse. We both had a brilliant day out, me riding with the dads and him riding with the boys. The next day we were over at Cwmcarn all day with Hattie and Katy and there were messages from both parents with updates and thank yous... Which was honestly BRILLIANT... It made my weekend that both lads got down and were happy with what the boy had given them in terms of knowledge. I have no doubt they'd have both got down without me and him, but hopefully we added a little to their weekend 🙂
So we get onto the complications here, as i say, the direct link between where we are and sponsors is impossible to ignore. In the next month or so we're getting a new frame for 2026 as you've seen, paid for by me, but it will be covered in parts from sponsors, so where do we end up with me posting pics of the build process? HEck i don't know. They boy is getting a new kit for 2026 which is semi-sponsored, but if i'm then posting pics of him and his bike, am i not therefore breaking these golden rules by default.. But it's also the fact that anyone reading this who's not old (like most of us) the sponsorship is a HUGE part of it, it's what the whole paddock at races aspire to, it's what they dream off these kids, the chance to get loads of parts, components, riding kit, spares etc, this is why they're doing it. Most of them know they're unlikely to reach WCDH levels, but the chance of a sponsor sending them something, well that's a WIN in itself.
Yeah there's been updates in the last week, the Session has been stripped, fettled and rebuilt, the boy has new forks on his trail bike, he's been off testing his fitness with his fittness coach (sponsored lol) and we've been riding lots. There's been 8 sets of pads bought by me and a new dropper post fitted on his Fuel ex8.
Where does all this leave us... I honestly don't know. I was perfectly happy to not post here again and i'm sure there'll be some 'I told you so' thoughts going on.. but people are enjoying this thread it seems, so it's unfair all round to skip it.
I'll leave this as the last little bit which is the now heat-treated components for his frame. (Which if the cycle2work post here is proven correct, is now going to cost me £5000 hahahahahaa)
@weeksy Good to see you back, hopefully some sort of middle ground can be reached and perhaps you can be paid for your contributions!
Much as I love this forum and have gained a lot from interactions (plus winning the Megasack, a lot of which I gave away), I have taken my subscription off “auto-renew”, I’m observing which way this goes.
In the interest of balance, after sticking up for weeksy and this thread, I'm going to have call out that buying £5,000 of frame for your kid to go racing on via Cycle2Work is 100% a Dick Move IMHO.
In the interest of balance, after sticking up for weeksy and this thread, I'm going to have call out that buying £5,000 of frame for your kid to go racing on via Cycle2Work is 100% a Dick Move IMHO.
is it better or worse than doing it to Eeb in Surrey Hills?
But if it’s correct, I won’t be doing it anyway it seems
Your lad will actually be cycling at work Weeksy so if the cycle to work scheme fails the bike could be a tax deductible expense!
Advertising tax dodging is probably not wise. 😉
is it better or worse than doing it to Eeb in Surrey Hills?
No different. It's always been 'abused' by people who have no intention of riding the bike to work.
But is it an issue in the grand scheme of tax avoidance? Not IMO.
Everyone will justify their own rule / law breaking whilst criticising others for doing so.
Advertising tax dodging is probably not wise. 😉
fortunately this isn’t Minority Report and you’re not Tom Cruise so thinking about something isn’t actually illegal. But it’s always nice to know where we all stand in the world on here.
once again you’ve exceeded my expectations, congratulations
There are those who are funny, and those who think they are funny…
@wheelsonfire - my impression of your questions was they were asking if the owners/writers/testers were whiter than white and adhered to what you consider acceptable, and near perfect levels of behaviour before they decide how contributors to THEIR forum ? No , I didn't see the relevance to the situation.
There are those who are funny, and those who think they are funny…
And regardless there are those who couldn’t see it wasn’t serious.
@Drac, and as we are all very aware, rules are flexible. Especially when nobody is getting hurt and nobody is benefitting. If you genuinely believe that what the author of this thread is doing has any kind of impact on a brands bottom line, then you need to ban or delete every 'NBD' or 'What Bike/Component do you recommend' topic as they all contain people promoting a brand.If the latter, do they collaborate with the owners when making calls like this that could make the forum a less interesting place?
Yes we do, we are also aware of the rules.
I am not going to buy an Atherton bike because of this forum topic content, or a DMR component. But i might support a local rider now i know the 'trials and tribulations' associated with the sport. And I am also rethinking my auto-renew subscription that has been in place for years due to this moderator intervention.
then you need to ban or delete every 'NBD' or 'What Bike/Component do you recommend' topic as they all contain people promoting a brand.
Those brands aren’t paying those people to promote the brands they’ve bought.
eg I imagine the sports car you or I would recommend would be different to the one Lewis Hamilton or Lando Norris, or their dads, would recommend.
Like I said we know the rules.
Those brands aren’t paying those people to promote the brands they’ve bought.
what he’s a professional athlete?
I’ve followed this thread for a long time and love how it shows progression and hard work from father and son to get somewhere in the sport that in theory this forum is about
I really can’t see the logic of wanting to close a thread like this, but then STW do appear keen to kill the forum off
It’s incredibly tough to take it to the top of any sport and I find it crackers that an organisation that should understand that is acting as it is.
im assuming STW has an affiliation with a company in competition with something Weeksy has mentioned and they have had a strop?
Anyhow hopefully one day Weeksy can post a pic of James getting a pro contract , covered in sponsorship sipping a can of RedBull
im assuming STW has an affiliation with a company in competition with something Weeksy has mentioned and they have had a strop?
or the companies in question have declined to advertise with STW
or STW have just made some bad choices
My Question number one is perhaps the most pertinent to the problems with this thread?
The rules, and that one post from you have lost STW a subscription for next year. Well done, slow hand clap. Good job STW is in a strong position and can afford to lose subscriptions.
Me too.
All seems a bit heavy handed as pointed out above, is not NBD etc just as bad (or good)? Any forum is not a one way street. No contributors = No views = No replies = No income.
One of the best threads on here BTW.
what he’s a professional athlete?
They give him free stuff, so he/his dad will promote the brand. Be that in results, via social media, or just telling his mates what legends they are, either way, it’s advertising.
Maybe his sponsors would chuck a few quid STWs way to give weeksy a platform to promote their clobber, but on the other hand, look at the backlash Pinkbike get when specialized win (another) ‘best (category) bike award
I’ve loved this thread and I’m sad it’s come to this. It’s being closed at the request of Weeksy. In fact he asked for it to be deleted but I see no reason to do that. A lot of us would miss it.
As for the conspiracy theories. I’m going to disappoint some by saying they are just that. There’s no financial pressure put on our volunteer mods from me or anyone on the payroll here at Singletrack. I do know that weeksy has had a lot of communication with the mods over the years this thread has been sailing close to the wind around the self promotion rule. At times there’s been leeway given and at others he’s been pulled up. It’s been a rather unfortunate ‘battle’ considering the popularity of the thread. He’s been given latitude and when he’s gone too far he’s been pulled up. As with most sad thread endings the final choice and often where I have to step in, is a result of a culmination of factors. That’s the case here. I’m sad. Weeksy is sad (I assume) and the mods are sad.