Writing a paper about letsrun message board community

"The beauty of letsrun is that in spite of the preponderance of idiocy and hatred, and the foul-tempered exchange of hastily conceived opinions, it is a place where I could post this introductory sentence and have my term paper crowd-sourced by published poets and Pulitzer prize-winners looking to pass some time before breakfast . . ."

Write a paper on how relaxed webb looked

I think there is truth and honesty on this board. It often consists of the underbelly of raw emotions and biases and thoughts unfettered by social expectancies. Things people want to say but couldn't in a real social settings.

I also think that many people may reinvent themselves and create a persona reflective of either an ego-ideal or a negative alter ego. (Not me of course but others)

"subtle and nuanced discussions of race relations."

AHHHAHAHHAAAAHAHAAAAAAAAAHA

idiot.

You should do an in-depth character analysis of "A Duck".

There is an aspect here that i can't name or define in one word. But it goes like this: Say the name Alan Webb, or Lance Armstrong, or Usain Bolt or.... and it's like a supercharged litmus test by an informed and highly opinionated community. People either defend or attack, w/ intensity.

So maybe, due to the highly-informed-on-some-subject (running, in this case) nature of this place, you get an intensifying of opinion, compared to the real world.

But then it morphs into something (and maybe this is the meme thing) where people exaggerate just to keep the dialogue moving. Like it's an ongoing script that must be contributed to. Never seen it like it is here, esp w/ the words, 'Alan' and 'Webb' when used together in a sentence.

Sound credible?

The bigotry and hatred towards individuals that people have never met can be quite amazing.

The lack of women in this place, but I think men dominate internet message boards in general while the ladies hang out on Pinterest, fashion blogs or whatever they do on the internet.

Periwinkle wrote:

Periwinkle wrote:

AND

3) those of you with what I presume would be the more petite size, possibly hairless balls who post using both anonymous and/or registered handles while simultaneously railing at people choosing to post anonymously.

I am very sorry for insulting the great Bad Wigins. I wish I had half his nads. I am a dog's blood booger stuck to another dog's butt-hair.

Please include this exchange in your paper as it will show how the shameful cowardice of unregistered posters is born of weakness. I will say anything anyone wants because I don't own my own name. I am but a passing whisper stolen by the wind and borne far away to a putrid fate.

I agree with Periwinkle.

I approve this.

Don't forget about how smooth Centro looks when he runs.

vivalarepublica wrote:

The bigotry and hatred towards individuals that people have never met can be quite amazing.

The lack of women in this place, but I think men dominate internet message boards in general while the ladies hang out on Pinterest, fashion blogs or whatever they do on the internet.

Facebook. They Facebook.

Bad Wigins wrote:

You should mention that there are two kinds of anonymous people.

1) those of us with the big, hairy balls to use registered names

2) the cringing, shit-eating vermin who use unregistered names

So, what's your real name?

- Todd Rosenberg

Use the term "affinity space" and cite James Paul Gee. You'll get an A and also learn where all those Ted Talk charlatans steal their ideas from.

I enjoy the camaraderie that letsrun posters display toward fitness enthusiasts of other sports. Particularly the warm and embracing attitudes and sharing of ideas with good friends in the triathlon, bicycling, and crossfit communities.

Writing a Paper wrote:

So our class has to write a paper about the "virtual community", and basically how it is a different social experience than that of the general surface level interactions in person. So you can choose between violent video games on xbox live, sports blogs/forums, or a general female blog about fashion and news. I decided I would take the sports route and write about Letsrun. I need to come up with 3 major social aspects that exist in the lets run message boards. Obviously one would be the manner in which people talk to each other beneath the shield of an anonymous username. But what are some other aspects to the message boards that I can write about?

Something people fail to realize about this board is that there are some great posts on running related injuries and illnesses if you wade through the bs.

In general, healthcare professionals don't have a ton of knowledge about running injuries and how some diseases and illnesses effect runners. This is because runners are 1) Rare and 2) tend not to be sick so they don't go to doctors very often so docs aren't exposed to runners and their issues.

This message board allows people to share their experiences of what works and what doesn't with an injury. I know doctors and PTs have posted on here that would no way in hell post advice if they couldn't do it anonymously.

..my argument against having to register to post.

Is this a class on clinical psychology?

Adolescent behavior by adults?

A statistics class on % of single males over the age of 30 that still live with their parents?

A class study, trying to answer the age old question, why so many young men are alone, with no companion?

A class on the gen x and y of this country, and what many of them are actually doing to contribute to society, and you are using this group as a comparison?

Writing a Paper wrote:

So our class has to write a paper about the "virtual community", and basically how it is a different social experience than that of the general surface level interactions in person. So you can choose between violent video games on xbox live, sports blogs/forums, or a general female blog about fashion and news. I decided I would take the sports route and write about Letsrun. I need to come up with 3 major social aspects that exist in the lets run message boards. Obviously one would be the manner in which people talk to each other beneath the shield of an anonymous username. But what are some other aspects to the message boards that I can write about?

Interesting project. My input will probably mirror things that have already been suggested but here are few aspects that I find striking.

The honesty vs negativity. I am a long time poster, been here almost from the beginning of LRC. The general tone here is very negative, and it revealed a darker underside of running that I did not realize. Compare this with RunnersWorld and their bloggers. I think the brojos formula for anonymity leading to "honesty" does work to an extent, but indeed this place is incredibly rancid. We used to have dozens of elite runners posting as themselves and most posters were semi-open about who they were. But over time the majority of posters from all walks (runs) have gone underground.

The contribution to this place to the media/culture. It is really weird, but WSJ, SI, NYT often cites the Letsrun message board. I don't know if that's because of the brojos obvious connections (dad in the White House for many years, Ivy Leaguers yadda yadda), or the brutal honesty (and abject negativity here) but Letsrun is part of the pulse of the running planet. Heck, they even helped solve the Boston Marathon bombing case with those pictures. I am utterly slack jawed at times because even though I spend a fair amount of time here, more often than not I think of Letsrun as stupid.

Related to the above comments about culture, are the occassional drop ins from famous people like Malcolm Gladwell (I still think that was him last spring who posted for a day or so), but then the thread was deleted) to Renato Canova, Jack Daniels (no longe posting but he did for a number of years) and others. Not to mention its power to influence athletes and coaches--who can forget Salazar's "Message Board Rats!"

And the darkest and strangest. Rampant racism and the rather arbitrary/capricious moderating that goes on here.

*******************************************************

You have a lot of material to work with. Good luck with your paper and you should post it when you are done.

There is a lot of camaraderie on the boards when people discuss training. This is where the real community stuff happens.

We all know about the rude & crude stuff...

following up on two things:

the story of kip litton is crucial - you can use that as a keystone. posters united for that, made secondary websites, posted like mad, and did hours and hours of drudgework looking through race pictures, etc. And they got the national media interested - the new yorker! "when confronted with a fabulist..." just makes me laugh.

and great point made above on diagnosing injury - that is true crowd sourcing. check out the long threads on lack of coordination in leg and 'anyone ever had a sports hernia'.

no question docs and med pros feel freer to post anonymously.