If I were an elite American runner I would never talk to anyone associated with this site.
There are so many negative posts on hear it is disgusting.
Congrats to all who hit there standards and good luck at the worlds.
If I were an elite American runner I would never talk to anyone associated with this site.
There are so many negative posts on hear it is disgusting.
Congrats to all who hit there standards and good luck at the worlds.
Completely agree, but just realize that spell check only goes so far.
Yeah why are there so many negative bitter a--holes on here? They ruin the message boards. It's a shame
This is LetsRun, what do you expect? People will always complain and shit all over the accomplishments of others.
Why does it have to be that way though? Why can't people be more positive and respectful?
Fp wrote:
Why does it have to be that way though? Why can't people be more positive and respectful?
Because it wouldn't be Letsrun.com, it would be Letsbemormon.com.
Fp wrote:
Yeah why are there so many negative bitter a--holes on here? They ruin the message boards. It's a shame
People should be more respiteful.
Actually I thought it was pretty tame for this board.
Just wait until the 5000M on Sunday when Rupp and Solinsky race. Then you will see some real negativity, no matter what happens.
The blame is partially on Wejo and Rojo for allowing it. They have made the decision that money is more important than a sane board.
Solinsky is not entered in the Birmingham 5000. So I guess you will only see half real negativity.
coach d wrote:
Solinsky is not entered in the Birmingham 5000. So I guess you will only see half real negativity.
Well, luckily Farah is! LRC can always find something to blast that drug cheat about, huh?!
Uranus Here wrote:
The blame is partially on Wejo and Rojo for allowing it. They have made the decision that money is more important than a sane board.
I haven't seen too many complaints.
What are we supposed to do have a Committee that screens every post and makes sure they are positive enough of the Americans before they are posted?
What about when Wheating gets 4th at the US Champs are people only allowed to say positive things then?
What about someone like Nick Willis or Asbel Kiprop? Now they're not American but did better than all but one of the Americans in Paris. However, I could see people wanting to discuss their race tactics. Should we allow that as well? I'm not sure if the critical ban applies to US runners only?
If it does then we'll need each poster to identify what country they are posting from so we'll know which runners they can only say positive things about.
wejo,
You know very well that there are many tactics you could use--other than censorship or filtering--to prevent these message boards from being as big of a cesspool as they are. You're always complaining about the state of American distance running, and you have an opportunity to contribute by stopping anonymous posts, in particular. There's no way to completely remove anonymity, but you could do a lot more than you are doing. As the previous poster implied, doing so would reduce the number of hits, so the impression we get is that you don't seem interested.
My point exactly. Wejo's defensive post seems self-serving. On the other hand, he is no different than the norm in this society, selling out our higher ideals for a few extra bucks. That noted, LR will continue to be the playground of juveniles and the disgruntled, at the expense of our sport. Don't you find it a bit dishonest for Wejo to moan about the state of the sport, when he has the tools to do a little something to make it better?
Forgot. Its the Monaco 5000 that both Rupp and CS is entered in. But its mainly Rupp that I was referring to. If he "only" runs 13 flat and breaks his PB by 8 seconds, it will be a dismal failure to certain people on this board.
coach d wrote:
Solinsky is not entered in the Birmingham 5000. So I guess you will only see half real negativity.
Uranus Here wrote:
The blame is partially on Wejo and Rojo for allowing it. They have made the decision that money is more important than a sane board.
They more than allow it, they've seeded and baited it with their dbag headlines and commentary for some time.
They must think it is snarky, or edgy, or some other moronic or greedy justification.
The thing is, when you talk to any elites about this board...they just roll their eyes.
Amazingly, this site, for any of the elites or true track fans...only succeeds in lowering their opinion of the dregs of the internet.
Respectfully, imagine you are a coach who wants to inspire by focusing on the positive. Keep the positive news on the front page. That's the stuff our athletes need to fulfill their goals. Positive attitudes belong in the team meeting, negativity does not. Be a strong coach. When someone wants to comment (begin a thread) in the meeting, they should raise their hand, and wait to be acknowleged by the coach. The strong coach and his/her team captains do not allow negative attitudes in the team meeting. Guide the team. Guide the dream. They will admire you for it.
I don't think it's so much anonymity that's the problem: it's what people do with it. Some use it to hurt others, knowing they can hide. But not every anonymous post is hurtful. Sometimes it's just people posting under comical names and having some harmless fun. Sometimes people use it to share information about themselves that they aren't ready to have everyone know, for perfectly legit reasons--or if it's someone well known, maybe they just want privacy.
It's up to us as individuals to treat one another with respect regardless of whether anonymous posts are allowed. Can't we as humans exercise that kind of self-monitoring, not because of rules or censorship or lack thereof but because we know what's right? I know, I know... very idealistic.... "next year in Jerusalem," etc. Just something to think about....
All 1500 of them?!?!?! Jeez!
JK. Guys, the site isn't negative because it's about running; it's negative because it's the internet. People are
are just negative when they're anonymous. There's even some good research on the subject - for instance, people with more extreme views are more likely to express them loudly and often(http://io9.com/5387029/stanford-study-explains-internet-trolls) and here's an essay collection on the downsides of the internet-
http://www.hup.harvard.edu/catalog.php?isbn=9780674050891
. On the relationship between anonymity and meanness, see Kiesler, 1985: "Social psychological aspects of computer-mediated communication," which, unfortunately, is gated, but her experiments show that we're more extreme while anonymous and less sympathetic to anonymous than named posts.
Anyway, who is to say what is acceptable? In the Flanagan board, the post "what the hell is she doing in Oklahoma?" got banned, but I thought that was hilarious, and not offensive. If I were moderating this board, I would ban only that which clearly qualified, in a legal sense, as hate speech- threats to kill, racial slurs, etc.
Yes the internet can be a lively, disordered place, and it takes a lot of time to sift through. People who want a specific kind of discourse with specific people usually join a "gated" community, which bars access to people. Perhaps the message boards could be segmented into anonymous and pseudonymous portions. Then, you'd know where to look for more thoughtful commentary.
My only comment relating to the 1500 runners- fans' expectations are too high. Medal opportunities are so rare, so arbitrary, that it's almost always a good bet to assume a given runner won't win one (unless they are Bekele, Bolt or El Geurooj). Just look at Kiprop in 2009. The best in the world can muck it up.
I also want to take a swipe at Rojo. In the recent week in reviews he's said that this or that is bad for track, like not know whose in a race, because it turns off casual fans.
At different times, people on the boards have claimed that fan negativity is why this sport is unpopular. No no no! It's unpopular because it's BORING! no "casual" fan is going to watch anything besides the sprints or care about Americans in any distance event!
Also, Centro was invited to the European meet because of his "potential," both for times and to draw viewers. He has name recognition among the people to whom the commercials are catered. So duh he'd be in it.
So we can only say good things and not call out Wheating for running like an idiot at the US Champs? Ok censor me than Hitler, Stalin, Kim Jong-Il