a couple of the very people everyone is pissed off with joined the thread
I doubt its “everyone” or the forum would die, but any thread I see their names join, i stop reading. Wouldn’t go as far as being pissed off, just can’t be arsed.
I don't know, maybe people would like me more if I balanced out started all my criticisms with some levity
Just a thought? No passivity and definitely no aggression intended! 😉
I've been here since 2005ish, certainly pre-hack. I post occasionally but read several times a day. There are certainly fewer fun, long chatty threads than before but there's still a wealth of expertise.
I think part of the issue is that people are becoming more conditioned to either being more aggressive in online interactions, or perceiving responses in that way. Comments can be read with a positive or negative mindset and a lot of the time people seem to do the latter by default. I've been guilty of it, I've had responses to posts from people more well informed than me that I've taken personally. I have some specialist knowledge on some topics but it's rare that I'll be the most expert on anything.
Overall though - look at the quality of posts in this thread. Reasoned debate. Whole sentences. Paragraphs. Full words typed out and spelt correctly.
Now go and look at the comments on a local Facebook post...
To those still having trouble with speed/glitches I suggest trying different browsers on both Android phone and PC (I know nothing about Mac or apple). This morning I've tried four on PC - Brave, Firefox, DuckDuckgo and Edge. Brave being the best experience and Firefox doesn't work at all, it defaults to https and the forum pages are blank. I haven't tried anything other than Brave for browsing STW on the phone since I installed it. I hope this post doesn't break any forum rules, my post is aimed at helping regulars who are frustrated.
Magazines are also a disappearing market
They're not though - that was one of the things said about the internet in the early days. No-one will read newspapers / magazines any more, everything will be online...
But actually a well-crafted magazine is still very much appreciated. I think what it did do was kill off a lot of the dross and the mass-market magazines but STW, Cyclist, Rouleur etc came through and survived because not everyone wants to look at a screen with pop ups and banners and ads and AI-generated shite - people actually appreciate a good magazine with proper photos and drawings, writing from actual knowledgeable enthusiasts rather than ChatGPT.
I don't know, maybe people would like me more if I balanced out started all my criticisms with some levity
Just a thought? No passivity and definitely no aggression intended! 😉
I actually like almost everyone here. If I didn't I wouldn't come here.
However, positivity doesn't really come naturally to me so can everyone just assume that when I'm complaining about something you've just said then it is coming from someone who thinks you're alright?
Unless I just flat out call someone a ****. That's normally a pretty good sign I don't like them. Thankfully that's a very rare occurrence.
Maybe we should be given badges...
Some interesting views in here, some not so interesting, but it's all thought-provoking.
There is a thing in Internet culture called the 90-9-1 rule. Simplistically, 90% of users only consume, what we used to call "lurkers." 9% contribute. 1% contributes regularly.
My thinking is that the thing which kills a forum is a lack of contribution, not the usernames being the wrong shade of blue
This is an intriguing point, obviously very important. I'll often find myself typing out half a reply, and then thinking "nah, it's not really adding much, these lads have it all under control". So I tend more to lurking than contributing, just through the process of checking myself.
What I wonder is whether the forum's more diverse than it was. What's described above is quite cliquey - everyone knew certain names, there was banter, camaraderie etc from a relatively close knit group. Open that up, bring more people in who don't know picolax from pook, and the close knitness doesn't scale. So while the forum's got good traffic, and is a good source of insight, it doesn't feel as good as it did.
Then if maybe more of the new traffic is consumers rather than contributors, and there's a more diluted forum feel.
I wouldn't mind the pointless political arguing if the forum was faster.
In the olden days you could quickly open a thread. If it was interesting you could get involved, and if it was rarefied political debate, move on to something else.
But now it just feels like too much of a time commitment to open each thread in turn as it takes so long to load, and also the layout means it is often harder to read anyway.
Just easier to do something else really.
I always just go down the main page and open each thread in a separate tab. They've usually loaded by the time I come to look at them. On the odd occasions I've tried to use the site on a phone or tablet it's just not worth the bother.
don't post anymore because they never wanted to start an argument when expressing an opinion, but it's what they felt like it turned in to - SanctimonyTrackWorld, as my riding mates call it.
Heh. I often call it that too. I was recently accused of 'taking misanthropy to a whole new level of miserablism' for daring to suggest that a particular film was decent but not that director's best work!
Tbh I am one of the people who sees STW primarily as a forum, and am sad to see it quieten down lately. There are some people i certainly don't miss, but you generally knew which threads to avoid, and there were plenty of others!
When i became a subscriber, it was because I valued the forum and wanted to support it. I have never read (nor even seen a copy of) the magazine, but had found the forum to be a good and supportive place. So i guess that chimes with what tj said above...
I think that the "some people on here" tendency is because some users are perceived, rightly or wrongly, as having more clout than others. What that boils down to, I have no idea. Mateyness with the actual owners is not one I've heard before on other forums, but willingness to dob people in is one I see being raised on other forums as well as mods, anonymous or declared, who are also participants. The last obvious one is official tiers of membership (free or paying).
I guess it is just human nature to look for a deeper reason for perceived (or real) injustices. My own theory in life is that it can be something as mundane as someone getting out of the wrong side of bed. This is why juries, courts, appeals, review boards etc exist in the real world for serious stuff. Forums that are often modded by people for free when the owners have bigger fish to fry - not so much.
I think that the "some people on here" tendency is because some users are perceived, rightly or wrongly, as having more clout than others.
Or bigger gobs.
Mateyness with the actual owners is not one I've heard before on other forums
It’s certainly not a thing on here. People only get modded for breaking the rules, the owners don’t do mod duties.
AFAIK it IS working again, so get yer hand in yer pocket 😉
top right icon, profile, forums, replies created. works for me anyway 🤷♂️
So it looks like they have got rid of the " number of replies" bug that muddied the waters on whether it is "Replies Created" or "Topics I've posted on" .
All they need to do now is completely ditch the "Replies Created " page and replace it with something that isn't so completely and utterly pointless...
Please, please give us a page which just lists the topics we've replied to so we can actually find things of interest and continue those conversation.
Or bigger gobs.
The two are easy to conflate.
It’s certainly not a thing on here. People only get modded for breaking the rules, the owners don’t do mod duties.
Good - but that doesn't necessarily mean it won't be used as a stick to beat people with. As I said above, some people cannot accept that their own actions lead to a sanction being handed down - preferring to see bias/conspiracy etc. This is a community of sorts and it will have its own allocation of bigots, know-it-alls, snitches, grumps, wind-up merchants etc. But also its allocation of genuinely nice people, experts in certain fields, mediators etc. If we extend the logic that people who ride bikes are, on average, a bit nicer than society at large (I think so), then this will be a happy place more often than not.
🤷♂️
Just came to the site, opened this thread and now my MacBook sounds like a jet fighter at takeoff. WOn't bother to read the posts above or look at others on forum.
Mine does that with Safari, if I use Chrome it works fine.
Tried that, not well-received IMO.
Possibly, but at least it's less cowardly than cryptic comments about a secret cabal of evil-doers.
Even as a full member it's too slow to realistically be usable. 5-15 seconds to load a page, and you're never sure if a comment has actually been posted. So I don't really visit more than once every couple of days and might only post once during that time.
It’s certainly not a thing on here. People only get modded for breaking the rules, the owners don’t do mod duties.
The owners may not do the modding but I'm certain the mods are just as aware of which users are 'friends of the mag' as the rest of us, probably more so. It may not even be a conscious bias but there is no doubt in my mind binners and dazh are given a lot more leeway here to be argumentative and insulting than the rest of us.
And I'm not even against what they are dishing out. I just reckon that the rest of us should be allowed to give as good as we are getting without having our posts deleted.
There's other users who are friends of the mag who are generally very constructive and seem to go out of their way to stay positive and not slag people off at all, nevermind every other post.
Anyway, since I've started prefacing every criticism of dazh and binners with 'I know you're mates of the owners but...' I've not been getting warnings and deletions. I'm quite happy to not bring it up anymore but I think it's worth paying extra attention to how friends of the mag who seem to spend a lot of their time slagging of other users are modded because in the past it's not felt at all even handed.
In general I think the way this place is modded gets the balance about as spot on as it can be.
We are talking about this dazh, right? https://singletrackworld.com/author/dazh
And the same binners who on the previous page says he likes to go out riding with his friends who just happen to write for STW?
I don't think my posting style is particularly different towards you compared to binners and dazh. And you and me have definitely had some arguments over the years. I've never had any of my replies to you deleted or gotten warnings for them though.
Like i said earlier, apart dazh and binners any other times I've had posts deleted and gotten warnings it's been deserved. Although in my defense my posts were accurate but I accept they were against the rules. Not had that for at least a couple of years though and I don't think anyone who could really get under my skin is still here, either through giving up or getting banned. Either that or my skin has thickened up a bit.
Like I said earlier, I like almost all the regular posters on here and that includes you, dazh, and binners. It's just that we aren't in the pub and there is someone who can delete what you say to people. Sometimes it has felt that power has been applied unevenly.
I could be completely wrong, of course, but that's how it has felt at times.
It's never even occurred to me that dazh and binners (and others) might be mates with the owner when they are pissing me off fighting the same old battles with the same old lines, or displaying a lack of self awareness when they are criticising those who do the same. And for when I'm pissing you all of,f I'm not mates with any of the owners and the only time I met Chipps he blanked me (he may have been hungover).
What I would say is that the BruceWee who is posting recently sounds a lot more angry and "lashing out" than I remember them in the past. When I start to appear like that, I like to take a couple of days or weeks away from posting to get my head and priorities straight again. This isn't meant to sound "R U OK hun?" but a genuine "something is making your posts come across differently" and I do hope that you - and a few others on here - can maybe chill a little or resist the urge to post in haste. Maybe just have a Snickers, I don't know.
This last couple of pages sort of illustrates why I spend more time on the ‘Bike’ rather than ‘Chat’ forum these days.
I don’t think I’m one of “the six” but I’ve shared my thoughts and views from time to time on the various political threads and variously been accused of being a wet lefty and a closet fascist. While I like that politics and social issues aren’t off the menu on STW it does run the risk at times of becoming a bit “Facebook-ish” with a few personal axes being ground and some ‘strongly held’ views being aired…
I don’t think that’s killing the forum, or the mag, but I wouldn’t be shocked if the discourse in the attached forums maybe puts some people off of ST from time to time, rather than growing it.
Can we get "the six" in a big brother type house, maybe a Halfords warehouse, for a week?
Justice for The Singletrack Six.
Periodic Navel Gazing.
this thread - not the first ever of it's kind after all, and also I've decided, will be the name of my first album.
Can we get "the six" in a big brother type house, maybe a Halfords warehouse, for a week?
This Halfords warehouse? Does it (or could it) have no internet access?
Ironically this thread has a tonne of posts, clearly engagement is dying off because the usual topics being created aren’t interesting enough as this one demonstrates there are plenty people reading the forum as Mark pointed out, they just aren’t often replying to threads.
I was just thinking of posting the same point airvent
Do we all need to step up with more topics?
Do we all need to step up with more topics?
Yes. There should be a minimal requirement of two new topics per week per user. I'll kick off my first one for the week with:
Is there anything better than a good fart?
Wednesday or Thursday I'll fulfill my quota with:
BOILING MEAT: 10 TOP TIPS THAT THE "EXPERTS" DON'T WANT YOU TO KNOW!!!
Teaser: Always maintain some liquid in the cooking vessel.
This place just needs more silliness and piss-taking in general, it's a forum, it's supposed to be a bit undignified and anarchic. There is nostalgia for 10+ year-old 'classic' threads but not a lot of sign of the right conditions for next one showing up or enough energy to sustain one if it does.
Also, if I was getting frequent bans, I'd probably look to my own behaviour rather than come up with conspiracy theories about other posters - friends of the owners or no...Just saying.
If I was going to post a reply to another user I would actually read and understand what had been written before throwing my contribution in the ring...Just saying.
Do we all need to step up with more topics?
Well, that was part of my reason for starting the thread. I was genuinely curious as to what topics folk thought weren't being started/replied to compared with the "golden era".
This place just needs more silliness and piss-taking in general, it's a forum, it's supposed to be a bit undignified and anarchic
Yeah, I already alluded to that in one of my posts up-thread somewhere too.
This place just needs more silliness and piss-taking in general, it's a forum, it's supposed to be a bit undignified and anarchic
To be fair, the most recent thread I started was about horse jizz planning permission but the links were so screwed up I don't think anyone even got to appreciate the full batshit craziness of the Daily Mail article.
Good bad puns though.
I was genuinely curious as to what topics folk thought weren't being started/replied to compared with the "golden era".
During the golden era there was more diversity, and I don't just mean more Tory supporters, also more class diversity and a wider range of beliefs, eg a Baptist church minister and a practicing Muslim who would both contribute to discussions, several STWers living in the United States (I mean Americans not Brits living in the US) and a lot more women, at least it seemed that way.
the most recent thread I started was about horse jizz planning permission but the links were so screwed up I don't think anyone even got to appreciate the full batshit craziness of the Daily Mail article.
In the old days, all the potential would be milked dry from such a thread.
Brucewee you’re absolutely delusional as to what you believing what mods do and don’t do. There is no conspiracy to who is modded and who isn’t, you break the rules and it’s spotted you get modded. If you’ve been happened to you regularly then maybe it’s your behaviour.
Brucewee you’re absolutely delusional as to what you believing what mods do and don’t do. There is no conspiracy to who is modded and who isn’t, you break the rules and it’s spotted you get modded. If you’ve been happened to you regularly then maybe it’s your behaviour.
I was quite happy to let this go (especially after getting the mod message) but since you apparently don't want to, OK.
I've had a few warnings over the years and like I said it's always been fairly obvious what it was for. I've had two warnings each when arguing with dazh and binners as far as I remember and none of these times has it been clear what they were for. Every time my responses have been deleted while theirs is allowed to sit primly where it is. When questioned I got a 'You know what you did' answer. Which I didn't.
If it was just a case that the argument was getting too robust for the mods liking then deleting all the posts seems reasonable but that's not what was happening.
I then found if I started my responses with 'I know you're mates with the owners but...' I didn't get any warnings and my posts went undeleted.
This is what I've experienced and if that's not representative of modding as a whole or if it's just a freak coincidence then fair enough, I'm quite happy to never speak of it again.
However, I've been ready to move on for half a page now and yet you and nickc wanted to bring it up. I have many faults and one of them is an inability to resist getting baited.
Like I said, overall I think this place is modded really well and you guys do a thankless job admirably. My experience in this one matter wasn't so good but I admit it may have been a series of coincidences and not a pattern.
