Why do people get on letsrun?

I have a masochistic streak, the extreme right wing politics often makes me avoid it until the bad taste goes away I will admit.

For the attention.

Plenty of elite runners and coaches have posted here over the years. I'm sure at least 90%+ lurk even if they don't post. Just last year when LRC had its Best US Runner Ever contest, the winners, Deena Kastor and Jim Ryun, both answered questions from posters.

If you can navigate through the stupidity and borderline radicalized politics you can find some really high quality and/or informative posts

I've got nowhere else to go.

But also, I've gotten jobs, friends, and a husband through this site, so it's not all bad.

As far as current pros, they avoid it, but I'm sure their friends, agents, and coaches fill them in. Past pros definitely lurk.

CopperRunner wrote:

If you can navigate through the stupidity and borderline radicalized politics you can find some really high quality and/or informative posts

I agree. There are solid posts here about running training.

And there are solid trolls here too.

It's an interesting cross section of interests and intellects.

Steve Cramberry used to be a big troll.

Sorry I mean he used to read the boards and answer serious questions.

I’m semi-pro. Sub 3:40 1500, and train in a group that has a few runners with realistic Olympic ambitions (non-US).

Almost all of them read lrc. In terms of race results, pro commentary, interesting takes, it’s the best place around. None of them admit to posting, but I’m sure I’m not the only one of us that secretly does under a lot of different names.

CopperRunner wrote:

If you can navigate through the stupidity and borderline radicalized politics you can find some really high quality and/or informative posts

I certainly agree that there are plenty of quality posts. But a recent question about an injury reminded me of limitations of it, especially depending on the consumer. The OP received a bunch of replies from people who had experienced that injury. I replied, and stated that while I was NOT the biggest fan of physical therapists (PT) in the world (suspecting that many of them are not terribly well-trained, experienced, and/or rigorous enough in their analysis), I did recommend that he/she see one if they could afford it. I'm a life-long who's seemed to have success with using PT in the past).

No reply or agreement from the OP, or anyone else. But a continuing stream of various quite specific recommendations for rehabilitative exercises, followed by appreciative approval from the OP.

I guess that I risk simply looking butt hurt that the OP didn't like my recommendation. But in any event, the gist - and I think a relatively common one - seemed to be: "I'd RATHER get random advice from folks about who's expertise I know NOTHING, than seek the view of a professional.

Not surprising, of course, but still a little disappointing.

He probably didn't see your reply.

In the early years a fair number of elites and former elites participated. However, trolls really upped their game by about 2005+/- and many went underground. I think it's a place that a lot of people across a wide spectrum participate but don't really want to admit it.

This place has an odd mixture. You can get news here before it's even a rumor, for example Quigley leaving BTC or Droddy no longer sponsored by Saucony. We heard those things weeks ahead of any announcement. At times the rumors are just that so you need to filter the noise from what might be true.

Training-wise, you have to take a lot with a grain of salt because there is a lot of bloviating--I did such and such and therefore I'm great, look at me!-- but there is often good stuff. You just have to be discerning.

It's a good place to keep up with news--as in current race results. Once again, need a big filter because there is a lot of garbage.

At the down end, speaking of garbage, is the incessant trolling some of it quite nasty and more fit for 4-chan or some alt right platform. They have nearly free rein here.

It's a mosh, often a train wreck, but it draws you in because you are curious to see what crazy stuff some very off-balance people are going to say about any number of topics.

Nostalgia. Like Runners World, Letsrun used to be about running.

Anonymity. I never was a true competitive runner. Picked up long distance running in my 20s and got hooked on it. I could win my age group in good races so I did compete at those lesser kinds of levels. I've always enjoyed the training talk here.

Runners tend to be high achievers in others area of life so I also enjoy the nonrunning threads here. It's not unusual to read some perceptive insights into other things, but you also have to filter out some crap.

I also like the anonymity here. It's nice to discuss subjects that can be controversial and if I misspeak, I don't get permanently labeled and canceled. Don't get me wrong, I don't troll with reckless comments, but many times I'm trying to work through a debated issue to understand it and I prefer to do that anonymously.

Entertainment. Occasionally information and inspiration. I enjoy the non running topics because, at the hobby jogger level, running is pretty straight forward. On a topic like "college loan forgiveness" you'll get a wide variety of opinions.

I've been reading this forum for over 10 years and I enjoy being a part of the community.

Been here for several years. At first to help keep current with insider info on college and pro level because I've been blessed with having a great, life changing experience as a young athlete, successful coach, mentor to former athletes/ coaches at many levels etc... Its mostly for conversational material. However, its evolved somewhat since there are so many non running topics. Sometimes its a way to vent or challenge someone with a different world view. I think what I'm most enjoying are the old timers that have memories of historical events that I also experienced and can help fill holes with details.