Tom Stormcrowe

Anyone that wants to discuss today is welcome to either PM or Email me or we can have a discussion in this thread, calmly. Consider this a safe zone, where you can express what you need to. All I ask is do it in a way that we are discussing and not yelling at each other.

I'll start: I'm going to ask all of you a question. We've had a disproportionate increase in complaints about hostility and such here in Road. I know you folk are very competitive, and like to push the edge. So, here we go....how can we accommodate this AND keep the forum friendly enough that you also get new posters in here and not have them go elsewhere because they got flamed, or ignored?

bdcheung

My creative-but-not-feasible idea: Have people agree to a Terms of Use agreement like you do for P&R. That's a band-aid until we can get attitudes in check here. If someone wants to have gentle discussion about road cycling without the brashness of pcad or botto, they can visit the General Cycling forum right?

My more feasible idea: Integrate some sort of "introduction" thread that gets pruned every 7 days so that it doesn't grow to 300 pages long and everyone stops paying attention to it. Make it a sticky, and make sure the thread specifically states that there are abrasive personalities on this forum that do not appeal to everyone. That thread should also state that these people generally know what they're talking about and, if you can filter out the bull****, you might just find a diamond of information.

skinny

What exactly is this hostility? Can you give a real example?

bdcheung

We can be *******s.

Tom Stormcrowe

Interesting idea....and doable. Let me think about it.

By the way, to others, let's keep the discussion in this thread. I really do want to arrive at a solution that everyone can work with.

patentcad

Tom, you guys are being too transparent and reasonable. If this were the Pcad Forum I'd ban everybody, shut down the site and go for a 900 mile training ride.

mrbubbles

Hostility and friendliness are incompatible. You can't make it one or the other. You can try to integrate them cooperatively, but ultimately a friendly atmosphere will give way to hostility and the same cycle reappears later on. My suggestion for new members who get flamed is to grow a thicker skin, unfortunately that's too much to ask.

I prefer moderators to leave the complaints alone and let people deal with it (with exception to dire situations), this is just an extension of real life nuisance such as receiving a 911 phone call over a trivial matter or going to the emergency room so the nurse can band-aid you over a small paper cut. Frightening trend really.

With the amount of traffic in Road, too much work for the mods. Plus, it will scare off new members, the more obstacle you establish for people just to come here and post, the more likely they'll run elsewhere.

DataJunkie

Continue down this path and you will be providing extra traffic for competing websites. This is bordering on becoming completely ridiculous.

My 2 cents. Nothing to help just an observation.

Vertr

There are individuals who often post in threads with answers that consist entirely of "no." People who are cynical and sarcastic to all types of questions, whether they are obvious or not. They are trolls who have been allowed to stay here and I'm not talking about PCAD. I think there should be a minimum post length, and people who have bad attitudes should be asked to leave. I'm not naming names however.

es

skinny

I agree with this.

DataJunkie

I disagree.

<3 2 Ride 

How about a reminder that it is generally good practice to sit back and get a feel for the tone of the community you are entering before you begin posting and getting upset about responses. There is a certain amount of BS that flies in the RC that makes it an enjoyable place to visit. There are a lot of jewels hidden in here among the BS. I have learned a ton from the people that post here and had a good time doing it.

Sixty Fiver

I hope your car gets good mileage.

mrbubbles

Cynics and sarcastic people are plentiful in real life, the first mistake is to take them seriously and personal. Even more idiotic is to take them seriously and personal over the internet.

bdcheung

Another idea: Encourage people to use the "Ignore" function.

Siu Blue Wind

This makes a LOT of sense! Thank you for mentioning this. Each sub forum has it's own flavor and personality.

BUT~~

When there are several complaints on the same things that rings a bell to the mods telling us something needs attention.

Lizzylou

It is also very upsetting to see somebody ask a question and receive an answer of HTFU. Not only is that answer completely unhelpful, but it is rude as well. On the plus side, when I see extremely demeaning responses to questions, I almost always see a follow up from another poster telling the rude individual to cool it.

DataJunkie

How about numerous complaints regarding moderators? Does the bell ring then and who hears it?

bdcheung

I think there are a couple issues here that need to be addressed independently:

1) New users who don't feel welcomed.

2) Moderators who are unfamiliar to the Road Cycling forum suddenly showing up and enforcing previously unenforced forum guidelines without any announcement. This stems from multiple instances of #1.

3) Users who are unhappy with #2 and oblivious about #1 who want to express their discontent about the rapid rate at which things are changing but cannot because their threads get axed by moderators who are unfamiliar to the Road Cycling user base.

skinny

ask not for whom the bell tolls...

Alasdair

I am a more infrequent browser/poster than I have been in the past. When I first joined, I lurked a lot. I am a roadie so I hung around that forum. I learned who the helpful people were and who the funny people were. I even learned who the asinine bungholes were. In some cases, there were overlaps in the lists.

You know, that is a pretty accurate representation of the real world of road cycling. There are those that I have ridden with that are arrogant and rude, others that are helpful. Some that are abrasive, yet chock full of information. Yet I still ride. And I still visit BF-Road Cycling. BF is not a Shang-ri-la and neither is cycling. My opinion is that if you don't like a post/poster, take your heart off your sleeve and go on to the next post.

bdcheung

@Alasdair: And I'm sure you were rational enough to realize who to ignore so that you could filter out the crap, right?

DataJunkie

A very wise post. WTH are you doing here?

bdcheung

who are you talking to?

DataJunkie

not you. I was editing while you posted.