txRUNNERgirl wrote:
LetsRun is known for its [in]famous message board because the option for anonymity allows for (almost) anything to go. Some of the negativity is uncalled for, like attacking an athlete for the way they look.
Thank you runner girl for this post.
Unfortunately, due to the anonymity this board allows - the ultimate result is THERE IS NO GOOD PLACE FOR RUNNING AND TRACK AND FIELD CHAT ON THE WEB. Track and Field News.com's chat may be the other side of the spectrum - too controlled.
The owners of this website could decide to class it up and clean it up -- but a read through the archives sees many posters giving the opinion that they are part of the attacks and snark problem. There are clearly a handful of individuals - that take a sincere post like yours and get anonymous jerk-joy by pot-shotting what you have posted.
These kind of environment was once the norm on the web. As the web evolved, all the reputable sites put in systems that require registation or have active moderators.
What would be nice here would be to have the option - a registration required profanity etc., filtered chat board, and a board that did not require registration and allowed for the owners desired anonymous "content" to continue.
The biggest failure of this chat board, is that it brings down the sport - where it could lift up the sport.
Who wants to contribute substantial content on a regular basis to a board where at times a world class coach or athlete will dialogue with the running community; and then once they get burned by a pathetic "troll," they stop coming here.
As you state, I know for a fact that many top US athletes have decided on their own, and have been advised by their coaches and others to AVOID THIS SITE and it is because of the kind of behavior that the anonymity allows.
In the USA, track and field has gone from a sport that once had a good profile, to being a minor feature once every 4 years.
Every true track fan ought to have the motive to help rebuild this sport.
How can this site, this chat board be a good player in that effort -- when high school and younger athletes come here for advice, and while they often get good advice, they are just as often immediately slammed by some "troll" for asking a basic newbie question(then called "stupid"), or being called "gay" it is a sad travesty that the sport of running and track and field is associated with a chat board that allows this behavior.
Example number one, you post a genuine concern and question, and within a few comments you get dinged with "take yourself seriously much?"
It is good to see that there are people like you out there that care. And it is sad to see that there are "trolls" that just cannot say "no" to their own lower instincts in being rude or worse to others here.
One of the things I have always loved about running and track and field is that while there may be a team involved, you don't require a team to determine you own success. You need some natural talent, some excellent coaching, and alot of hard work, and guts...and you can be the best runner that you can be.
It is one of the oldest and purest sports / athletics around, and wouldn't it be nice to see those that come to a site with the topic of running, act like "Behavioral Olypians" instead of abused children acting out their family issues?
So Thank You, RunnerGirl, for posting this topic.
To answer you directly, here is what I know from the inside of the top of the track and field world...
99% of the athletes are class acts. This sport takes too much work and personal self sacrifice not to have some character and a sense of comrade-ship with others in it.
Rarely do I think the athletes themselves should be criticized, I think, as you allude to, their choices (dodging head to head competition, race strategies) can be criticized and discussed.
You know Britney Spears, or Lindsey Lohan may have behaved in the past to draw the kind of ire that honest, hard working athletes often receive on this site...
But I think by and large the personal attacks, personal attacks, are always out of bounds when launched at athletes who are just efforting to better themselves and succeed in what is in the USA a very small, and very insecure sport.
Sadly the anonymity of this chat board brings out the worst in a small and sickly (note proper use of term) consistent contingent of posters here.
My call out to these individuals is to challenge yourself to post contributive (as opposed to detractive and negative) commentary for 1 month.
Challenge yourself to be and act like a Class Act here for 1 month, and see if it does not make you feel better about yourself outside this insular internet environment, see if you don't walk a little taller, shoulders a little more square, see if you are not called to kindness.
Think about it, "trolls" (you know who you are) you'd never treat a stranger in line at the supermarket as you treat others here... So why not challenge yourself to the "golden rule," you just might find yourself seeing other changes in your life for the positive.