I'm still trying to figure out what's going on.

Tom Stormcrowe indicated we have been too rough with some new posters and need more adult supervision. Another moderator said off topic posts should be moved to other forums where they'd get more readership and promptly moved the "Wheat and fat" thread to Foo where the only additional attention it got was about it's being moved.

Was it something I said?

I'm quite open about my enjoyment in certain off topic discussions. I suppose that I'm guilty of making the occasional quip about other posters but I filter most of that stuff out before hitting the submit button.

Honestly, if I have any question about bicycling or equipment or nutrition or health or just life in general, I'm going to ask it here. I'm not really interested in what some 20 or 30 something racer, however capable, has to say about what or how I should ride. Their experience isn't relevant to me. I really like the pub-like atmosphere in which a core group of posters can be relied on to provide input on most topics. Whenever I consider the answers I get to a question, I also consider the answerer. Certain posters haven established themselves to me over the years and I value their answers much more highly than many others. To me that's a valuable service and there aren't any short cuts to obtaining it. Knowing the poster is as important as whatever information they provide.

I'm thinking that there is an appropriate forum for pretty much any conceivable bicycling topic. Yet, many posters continue to come here. It's not too hard to find posters who are under 50 who ask permission to join the group. Why do you suppose that is? What makes 50+ unique? Until you can come up with an answer to that question I think you are making a serious error by moving somebody's question to another forum. There's a reason why they choose to ask it here rather than in one of the other forums and I think that you should honor that.

"If it ain't broke, don't fix it." I suspect that almost everybody over 50 has had the experience of tweaking something that wasn't broken and, in the process, either made it worse or actually destroyed it. I hope that isn't happening here.

Beats me. I don't visit for a weekend and all hell breaks loose.

+1 That's what I was thinking . . . didn't know there was a problem.

Rick / OCRR

We should have to show proof of age before posting here. Then we can post about anything that we want, as long as we preface our post by writing thusly "As a 50+ rider I would like to know about (fill in the blanks)... ."

That should insulate the post from the attention of most mods.

About that poor welcome to newcomers---- We haven't had many and as far as I can see any "Poor" responses have been few in number

If the newcomers feel that we are not taking them seriously- then perhaps we ought to treat them gently when they arrive and send them a bunch of flowers or a Pint of beer

I know that My sense of humour is not always understood by all and some of my responses may be taken wrongly but I try to use smilies whenever it could be taken two ways to show it is in jest.

Only thing I have noticed is that a minority of recent members are very set in their ways when they come to 50+ and perhaps they are not in tune with the ideals of this forum. They ask for advice and they get it. However some of that advice is given by similar members who are also set in their ways.

We do have a different aspect on cycling to other forums and it is in the main aimed at the older rider. We have different problems to other forums and as such they should be posted and replied to. I can just imagine how my post on Vitamin "D" deficiency and possible Diabetes would have been greeted in other forums but it is a problem that is going to hit the older riders more than a 20 year old. As it is I got some good replies and "Medical" links that are helping me through my problem.

I don't think of this forum as particularly cliquey. Like any social environment in life, maybe it takes a while for a newbie to be recognized and a little longer to accepted but I hardly find this to be an exclusive club. I also don't find people to be rude in any capacity.

You guys recognize me don't you??

I too am mystified. Most new posters are beginning or returning to cycling and I see this subforum as being uniformly encouraging to them. When I post in the 41, I am a little more aggressive, because, well, that's the 41. Maybe the debates here get a little dogmatic when we move to issues like nutrition (low carb diets, for example) or topics such as "will a more expensive bike make me faster?" I dunno. Even those threads strike me as pretty polite.

I really wasn't aware that there is a problem.

I have been back a couple weeks after a 2 year hiatus and everyone has been nice to me. I have read nearly all the posts made here in the last two weeks and only saw one that may have been a bit testy.

Similar situation here...

I'm also a moderator / admin on a large vB-based discussion board (non-cycling related - https://www.progressiveears.org ) - and based only on those experiences, I may have some insight:

Contrary to what most people think, mods do not have time to read even 10% of the posts on 10% of the threads. All they're able to do is react to problems reported by members (they can report issues by clicking on that little triangular icon below the poster's information on each post.)

So I'm guessing that:
- One or two members got a bit pissy with something and hit "Report Post" a few times
- The mods saw (just) the offending posts, and assumed it was a pattern of behavior.
- Hence Tom's reaction.

Perhaps one of this group's elder-statesmen could contact Tom via a one-on-one PM and ask for more information, and let him know that in 99.9% of our posts we're FAR less combative than (for example) the 41 or any other forums on BF, invite him to review our threads more closely, and point out that we're old enough and ugly enough to self-moderate.

I for one hang here because everyone's a grown up and behaves like one, and precisely because I do not see the kinds of posts Tom referred to - and it's a pleasant relief from 'the 41' where I also spend time.

I guess I'm about as much a new member as it gets here. I've not really observed any of the described behavior, but don't read all of the threads.

It got a little spicy for me over on the Bike Mechanics forum, but I'm sixty years old....I've encountered knowledgeable, cranky folk throughout my life; I'm not crying to Mom 'cause somebody dissed me. I took their knowledge offering and ran.

10 Wheels and qcpmsame made it a point to welcome me to the Forum initially. Thanks! I can't say the 50+ section has been anything but interesting. For a while there, I thought I was the last geezer left on earth...glad I found my way here! I don't have any input on the described problems; I'm thankful it's here, and will abide by any regulation, though haven't seen the need for change

I doubt it was personal Retro. I agree with you that when you post in 50+ it is to address this crowd rather than others. In general I would argue that pretty much any health or nutrition topic is relevant to us aging riders and thus appropriate. But to make sure, you should probably explicitly draw such a connection in the originating post. When I saw the wheat thread moved I immediately guessed that mods saw some of the posts heading off toward diet religion land and figured let's just move it before it blows up. Since no one mentioned any connection to riding I can see where worried mods figured better safe than sorry.

I have always been impressed by the lack of drama and/or contentious behavior here. I find it really tame so I'm always surprised when a mod halts or moves a conversation.

I'm going to attempt to respond to this thread as well as the one Curtis started "Something wrong in the 50s forum", and Tom's sticky "The Tone in Here...", in as thoughtful a manner as I can muster.

After lurking for almost a year and visiting other segments of BikeForums, I first started posting here in March of 2006. In this period of time I've seen the 50+ forum go through various cycles of ups and downs, new members, loss of old members, disagreements with moderators, disagreements about what should or shouldn't be allowed, varying thoughts about the cliquishness or lack thereof in this forum, and very, very rare admonishments from moderators. Yet, despite all of these elements within the ebb and flow of an online forum, this remains one of my favorite online places to be. There is more civility here than in most online places I've visited. I think there is a level of maturity in the reasoned approach most of us tend to take on this forum that is often absent in other places. Yet, even with this level of maturity, there are times that I find myself annoyed with the posting of another. In some way, his or her post has negatively affected my sensibilities of the way things should be.

This, however, is my experience of life in general. Whether at a party with friends, at a professional conference, even waiting on the train platform to catch a train home, I'm sure to find someone at sometime that just isn't my cup of tea. Typically, when in such a situation, I try to ignore or move away from that which offends me. If, however, I feel the need to say something, I always attempt to do this one-on-one and as privately as possible. In the years I've been posting, I've only felt the need to send private message to two or three individuals who were part of the 50+ forum, and have only blocked the post of three. That leads me to believe that I'm a remarkably tolerant person (not especially likely) or that, for the most part, this is a group of good people that have good days and bad days, of which the good days seem to out weight the bad.

We've had people on this forum share with us as they struggled to keep their very lives when fighting disease; we've had people share the loss of those they've loved; we've also had people share their victories and joys. I wouldn't trade any of this for any other forum on BikeForums. Are we always, "bike" related? No. Do we always agree? No. Do we sometimes forget our manners? Yes, Do we sometimes feel the need to thump our chests? Yes. Do we sometimes make attempts at humor that are misunderstood and/or backfire? Yes. But in all of that, there is an underlying attempt to stay balanced with what it means to be a human participating in the lives (I'll admit it's a virtual life of sorts and somewhat limited) of others who share length of years and a love of cycling with us. I wouldn't want it any other way. Sometimes I think wisdom means learning to take a deep breath and pause before doing what one might want to do instinctively.

Good post!

Pretty much agree with NOS88 with this addition.....if one has the perspective that the comments of others are theirs to own it is easier to avoid taking them personally. Since we are human this is sometimes difficult but we can get better at it. I like an Arab proverb I once heard..."Men are the masters of words until they speak them...then words are the masters of men."

I am all in favor of blaming anything we can on Retro Grouch. But it looks to me that the big mistake was letting a road cycling mod into 50+ to try and clean us up. Bad idea.

I was worried there for a minute, but after checking my PMs, none were from NOS88.

+1 to his entire post.

No Christmas gift for you. And that mod from the road cycling forum, they're off my list too.

He never responds to my posts. I must be one of the three..

Being an A&S regular, were you guys even arguing?

Shoot, I've got no PMs from him either! I'll keep trying though. And agree... very nice post NOS88.

Dunno what all the fuss is about. This is the only forum I regularly visit on bikeforums.

One person's political statement is another person's credo.

A decision to delete a political statement is a political act in itself.

If you get to 50 and can't take a bit of repartee then perhaps you shouldn't frequent this forum.

I like it here ... even the blowhards ;-)

Cliquey? I can't say. Despite being well over 50, I find that I have little in common with most of what goes on in this forum, so I don't expect much from it. Not having children, the prospect of retirement, a house, doing recreational rides (I'm car-free and a utility rider mostly), purchasing a nice bicycle, there just isn't much to lure me in, except general curiosity and the odd chance that I might find something of value.

As far as I have noticed, this seem to be one of the more comfortable areas on the forum. I think we need to realize at our age, we have all seen a lot of life and have formed our own opinions. Members here seem to accept the opinion of others as well if not better than than on most forums. My feeling is that if you think you can go thru life with out being "offended" which seems to be a popular thing these days, you might need a little help.

So my plea is lets just keep things the way they are, it is just fine. Besides things flow on to other points of the day and are soon forgotten.

Somebody around here has been eating wheat.

Just sayin'.