fredgarvin7

I am so tired of reading these boring posts from clueless individuals who want to endlessly discuss 300 pro and 500 cons of 27 different bikes. These kinds of posts are endlessly repititious, generic, and of interest only to those individuals who want to buy a bike, and the inveterate advice givers.


These posts deal with buying a new bike. Most of the forums have these kinds of threads. Why not stick 'em all in the same place?


Trek Belleville anyone?
Help! Can't find a bike that fits and is available.
Utility vs. Road Bike Daily
<sigh>...so I want to buy a Pashley
Bikes to use as commuters
Poll: yes or no ReBuilding this bike
help with build list
"Time to upgrade to something suited for commuting?"




All these are on the front page of today's commuting forum.
6 Spaces on the front page of this forum are already tied up with stickies. If a seperate forum was created for advice on what to buy, there would be more concentration on topics just for commuters. All the forums would thus be tightened up as the posts from buyers, sellers, tirekickers and dreamers ended up in the same place.


Sorry, 'puter glich posted this topic incompletely, at 1st.

irclean

Then stop reading them.

xtrajack

Exactly

fredgarvin7

Clutters up every forum. If they are alll lumped together from ALL the different forums it's a logical place for these discussions. Why should a quarter of the posts on each forum be cluttered with posts from people who want to talk BUYING not COMMUTING. Believe me, I don't read 'em!

bhop

People join forums like this to find information and ask questions before they spend their big money... then they get hooked and stick around. The people that want info on commuter bikes, would obviously want to ask about it in the commuter section.. duh.. Most web forums I've been a member of have all been like this, nothing new.

fredgarvin7

There will be plenty of commuter folks who want to give advice THERE. Why do you think these kinds of posts get 20-30 replies each?

Just because "most" web forums are constructed this way means nothing. 150 years ago doctors thought disease was caused by "miasmic vapors", drafts, and apparently by having too much blood. "Duh" indeed.

bhop

*shrug

no1mad 

Going out on a limb here, but if you did as the OP suggests, it still wouldn't work.

One of the stickies in the commuting forum is advice for people new to commuting. Invariably, people either fail to use it or even notice it. And people attitudes change over time. Advice that I would have given a year ago has changed somewhat, depending on the subject. Not to mention the BF search function has been historically problematic for whole lot of people as well.

no1mad 

And one more thing- these 'buying guide' threads also introduces people to products that they otherwise might not have known about. Kinda hard to Google something when you don't even know what you're looking for.

waynesworld

I like those threads. Sort of like buying a bike vicariously.

travelmama

It would be nice if there were a sticky pertaining to which type of bike to purchase so that all of the information is in one thread rather than all over the place.

fredgarvin7

That works even BETTER for me! Good Idea.

no1mad 

Would be nice, but it ain't happening. Too many variables at play to be able to point to the perfect bike for given parameters for everyone. If there was- then it would vary by subforum as commuting would probably pronounce Surly as king, where as the hybrid crowd would state the Trek FX line (though there are some of us in the Kona camp that would argue that).

irclean

Me too!

I've been guilty of starting more than one "which bike should I buy" thread. Fortunately for me, all of the responses have led to me buying the bike of my dreams (at least for now - I'm already dreaming of the next bike!)

no1mad 

Aye, if there was truly one 'do it all for all people' then n+1 would not exist.

Kimmitt 

I enjoy some of the noob threads and skip the ones I don't like. I don't feel that they spam the forums too strongly.

My 2c.

iforgotmename

So...I am looking for a commuter bike that will handle road, off road, maybe some light touring and grocery getting what do you think Fred??? Lighten up.

devianb

I think there are too many different types of bicycles and seemingly hundreds of thousands of bicycle manufacturers independent to corporate to really narrow it down to one thread. Unless it is a big name I have no clue about some of these bicycles people recommend.

canyoneagle

If someone can't com to a commuting discussion forum to ask for some guidance or input, where else would be more appropriate?

I'm all for stickies to keep things organized, but as it has been said, this might be a challenge due to the diversity of needs and experience. Perhaps a categorized master list with major catogories covering the bulk of needs, with discussion threads to elaborate. Bring it on! That way, those who aren't inclined to participate in the "what kind of equipment" threads can easily skip past the sticky. However, it is pretty easy to do this by reading the titles of the posts. The OP seems familiar with the content of these types of threads, so if they are such a waste of time, why did you open them in the first place?

I tend to enjoy reading these threads because in most cases I'm made aware of bicycles/accessories that I may not have been aware of before. Since commuting is by its nature a functional endeavor, these new "things" are generally functional and useful for the purpose of using bicycles as transportation.

I'm guilty of responding with my $.02 to many of these threads, too, because I am passionate about the cycling lifestyle and am not put out by spending a little time to add to the diversity of opinions the person seeking advice is receiving.

Bottom line, it's a bicycle commuting forum. I think it's fine that folks ask about commuting bikes here.

markmn

I'm one of those noobs. The reason I'm here at all is because there is a lot of information about many different bikes in many threads from many people. Trying to lump everything into a couple of stickies would make it way too cumbersome to discuss/search for information. It'd also be way too much work for the moderator to maintain given that people tend to like creating these kinds of threads (based on what happens here and on any other popular forum on the internet).

AdamDZ

I don't see anything wrong with those posts. Sticky threads are not always useful as they tend to grow outdated or become too large for a person to go through. Really, just skip them, if you don't like them, it can't be that hard.

Plus people feel better and become more involved in the forums if they get more personalized advice. It seems like lots of members here don't mind answering these questions over and overr. Every time they have some different aspect too.

If people wanted static information they'd read bike reviews.

Adam

DataJunkie

Personally, I would like to get rid of every thread with complaining in it. Oh wait...BF would cease to exist.

canyoneagle

:rofl:

irclean

:Yup, that's a good one!

Exocet 98

+1, I feel they have value. I have increased my knowledge from reading these kind of posts.