Why Is Everyone So Hostile Here?

Yeah, I definitely notice the political climate on this board (seems like at least half the posts are arguing over politics), and I agree the whole country is currently full of vitriol and fear-rhetoric. It comes from politicians playing to all of our fears and anger (and let’s be honest—most anger comes from fear), but we do have the ability to not give into this, so it’s not all of the politicians’ fault. The responsibility ultimately rests with each of us to not give into our baser desires and fears.

mjk63 wrote:

Speed Inequality wrote:

And god forbid a beginner runner come on here and ask how to break 8 in the mile, or even an intermediate runner wanting to break 7 or even 6 in the mile. Training tips? Forget about it, you’ll just get bullied off the website and linked to runnerworld. If you don’t run sub 5 minute miles 10 days after coming out of the womb then you must be a troll not to be taken seriously.

I don't know. I've only posted here twice. I'm old and slow as hell, and made it clear in my posts. I asked for training advice twice and twice received thoughtful and helpful answers. An exception?

That’s good to hear. I think part of it might be that you’re older. Or I’m just being overly cynical and you might be completely right.

Runner-9999 wrote:

We all recognize what this has become and the reputation these boards have. So let’s do something to fix it. I don’t know what that is. However these boards could be so much better. Many runners (outside of the trolls on here) are as a whole a very nice group of people. With the amount of passion for the sport and the wealth of knowledge that these boards have it’s really too bad there is so much negativity.

MAKE LETSRUN GREAT AGAIN*

(*not ment as a political statement, just being silly)

That’s a good attitude! I try to call out all the hate and BS when I see it on these boards, but it’s a tough process. We all should!

Thanks for your post.

If you really want to know, I go to RealGM for basketball (it seems pretty popular), I feel like I used to go to the Guitar World message boards (it could’ve been other boards, as this was over a decade ago), Bluelight, and I forget a lot of the others, but maybe I’ll remember them some day. Oh, Rotten Tomatoes used to have a good movie board!

YMMV wrote:

OP has obviously never read youtube comments.

I have, and don’t get me started on those.

To whoever said we shouldn’t attack the trolls, I also agree with that. When I said I “call them out,” I don’t attack them. Communication and empathy are great tools in life.

I can’t say I disagree. There’s a reason these message boards have an awful reputation in the industry and among most serious fans of the sport, despite the insights that often do turn up if you sift through the hate.

I hope things change. That’s all I can say. I’m not staying around if they don’t. But I want to stay.

People say sh!t that they would never tell other people in real life

It's because the site admins and mods are idiots. OK, OK, I know that sounds (and is) inflammatory, but it is the reason. They allow all manner of buffoon and blockhead to post anything they like. This is a running site. Why is there a Trump thread with 8.3 million posts? I don't know. But it's why I hate this site.

Why are people so nasty here? Because the admins and mods are fools. I know, I'm giving the same answer again. But it's why. The underlying reason of why so many people with poor mental health visit the site...yes, it is, uh, interesting. Also, depressing. Also, pretty much we're not gonna figure that out.

There is no hope for this site. E.g., I start a thread about training, something about pacing, and within15 minutes someone is insulting me personally for why I would even consider running at X pace. Rojo, Dojo, Mojo, Hojo....do the right thing---end this site.

GoldenMiles wrote:

I’ve been to many message boards through the years (basketball, video games, guitar, law schools, even drugs when I was into them), but I’ve never come across one that is as hostile, aggressive, and cynical as this one.

Shut UP, you lowlife WORM! Your MOMMA! I pick my nose at you!

Oh, sorry, I was just groovin' on my LRC personality flaws.

Have a nice day. Now, where's that smiley face emoji when I need it?

WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU?!?

Humans in general are awful.

I think there's something to the notion that running is a highly competitive, yet nerd sport. So what you get is the chauvinism and reactionary politics of the sports crowd, and the social ineptitude and self-loathing of 4chan-style internet subculture rolled into one.

I'm 100% with the OP in his/her conclusion of there being excess hostility, but I do not think it is something unique to or more prevalent on this site. I think the moderators rightly err on the side of greater expression, so we see a more realistic depiction of people's anonymous, online behaviors. Something about anonymity and being online, when coupled with the natural human instinct to perceive threats (fight-or-flight), enhances expression of rage and its subtler forms, such as condescension, shaming, or belittlement. The moderators are correct not to limit expression too much, as this allows for a greater potential exchange of ideas, and we can thus pinpoint and correct outright venomous, bigoted discourse. This is not something to hide under the covers. Also, many times people say ridiculous things online that they don't truly believe just to say them. The better angle here is to educate the individuals, rather than respond with further hostility. I strongly believe this is how we will tamp down on the divisions in our society, not by suppressing written or verbal output. This will be an ongoing issue until we address it head-on.

I would say poor site design.

- slow loading times

- ads popping up within and around posts as the load

- very little structure to thread organization

- crappy search function

I just joined this site last week. I was hoping to get a little advice (which I did, so thank you), and possibly learn if sticking around is worth it.

I have a time limit on my phone to keep me from wasting too much time, and the 15 minute warning popped up so early it was like I’d gone through a time warp.

Unless looking for something very specific and I have a lot of free time coming up, I’d say this site isn’t worth it. I hired a coach and stick to the local real-life community for my running advice.

This place is more distracting than helpful. Good luck figuring out how to usher it into the current century.

THANK YOU!!! I’ve always wondered this. This is one of the most hostile communities I’ve ever seen online. You have to scroll through a bunch of rude, aggressive replies just to get to anything meaningful or helpful.

And you can’t blame it on runners’ personalities. Other running communities are perfectly civil and welcoming, you can actually have a conversation...like on Reddit or Facebook running groups, for example.

There’s a lot of anger and elitism here.

It’s negative people in general and the internet is just an easy platform for them to express their negativity. Go on foxnews or profootballtalk for example and you’ll encounter the same negativity. The internet lets people spout what they think and that a lot of times is very scary.

The anonymity of this site certainly doesn’t help but if you take that away you’ll likely lose volume of posters. Personally I would like to use a register only site but find no one posts enough.

For now it’s about weeding through the junk to find a little treasure.

It's the dying groans of the WSCP having an existential crisis.

The sub-3:00 marathon training thread is quite positive and constructive.

Ban the idiots who do nothing but complain about this site. I guarantee it would literally be 100x better instantly.