RE: Has LetsRun jumped the shark?

OHHH!!! BURRRNN!!!! How does that feel anti-troll? Need some ointment for that?

LR is great, but stop and picture this for a minute:

Do not attempt to adjust your radio, there is nothing wrong.

We have taken control as to bring you this special show.

We will return it to you as soon as you are grooving.

Coming to you directly from the Mothership

Top of the Chocolate Milky Way, 500,000 kilowatts of P.Funk-power.

So kick back, dig, while we do it to you in your eardrums.

And me? I'm known as Lollipop Man, alias the Long-Haired Sucker.

My motto is:

Make my funk the P.Funk

I want my funk uncut (make mine the P)

Now that's what I call a good running website! V2

rojo wrote:

Google analytics shows LetsRun.com is growing by leaps and bounds. I think our uniques are up like 30-40% this year.

If you want to read athlete/company press releases, there are plenty of other sites out there. Don't let the door hit you on the way out.

You stay classy, now.

The more hits, the more high.

the anti-troll wrote:

A lot of time spent separating the wheat from the chaff. Used to be tons of great training stuff, now mostly rants or put downs of Webb, Hall, Rupp, etc. Sometimes some funny s@#$, but I find myself turning more and more to Flotrack for the videos and race junkies. Maybe Letsrun has peaked and its time to move on????

As a longtime user of both Flotrack and Letsrun, I have to say I prefer Letsrun for discussion about training, racing, and fitness in general. Flotrack does have better access to videos.

And while it is controversial to criticize big name runners like Webb, Hall, and Rupp, I think it's 100% necessary. Can you think of a single sport where the top athletes aren't put down on a regular basis? I'm fairly sure the media hasn't been patting Eli on the back for that 7 pt bouquet toss the other night. Tiger Woods - no explanation needed. The better the athlete the more fans as well as haters they will have. I don't think this defines Letsrun as a forum, it's just a part of athletics. Hall might be the brunt of a lot of jokes on here but he's yet to be slammed in a rap song for his illegal pit but fighting and I haven't seen him come out with a Calendar of PGA Tour Tramps yet so I think you should stop worrying for the time being.

rojo wrote: Don't let the door hit you on the way out.

I would have said...Don't let the door hit you on "YOUR ASS" on the way out. Don't get soft on me now....

On the serious side--if anyone is jealous of this board--well...then they are NOT hard core runners...right? (Isn't that the Puma logo?..wink)

Carry on fools.

rojo wrote:

the anti-troll wrote:

A lot of time spent separating the wheat from the chaff. Used to be tons of great training stuff, now mostly rants or put downs of Webb, Hall, Rupp, etc. Sometimes some funny s@#$, but I find myself turning more and more to Flotrack for the videos and race junkies. Maybe Letsrun has peaked and its time to move on????

Google analytics shows LetsRun.com is growing by leaps and bounds. I think our uniques are up like 30-40% this year.

If you want to read athlete/company press releases, there are plenty of other sites out there. Don't let the door hit you on the way out.

I must admit I was disappointed by your response. I do know you personally and although we have argued at one time over a track issue, you did show some class in the end.

I do think this site has deteriorated and become much more sophomoric over the last few years with more swears being permitted as well as more sexual innuendos.

I think those types of posts take away from the site and some of the very good things LetsRun does provide. Along with the language I also feel too many personal attacks, on coaches and athletes are also allowed and not discouraged,especially rumors that are not true.

Finally, there are racial and religious postings beyond good taste that just have no place here.

For these reasons, I think you may find that, perhaps more visitors are coming to your site, but similar to flies that come looking for a free lunch and are not picky about what lies about, you might just be attracting a crowd that has little to offer to the more serious running crowd.

One of the first time's we jumped the shark after the Athens Olympics.

http://www.letsrun.com/forum/flat_read.php?thread=753912

Then 2 million posts later we jumped it again just after Beijing:

http://www.letsrun.com/forum/flat_read.php?thread=2719554

Then we jumped it again just prior to Boston in 09:

http://www.letsrun.com/forum/flat_read.php?thread=2965239

And then again in May of this year:

http://www.letsrun.com/forum/flat_read.php?thread=4063573

Of course this was not as impressive as Meb jumping the shark in the marathon in 07, two years before he won NYC.

http://www.letsrun.com/forum/flat_read.php?thread=2212196

But I've seen Rojo post on two threads before I did today. It scares me. Maybe I've personally jumped the shark.

the anti-troll wrote:

A lot of time spent separating the wheat from the chaff. Used to be tons of great training stuff, now mostly rants or put downs of Webb, Hall, Rupp, etc. Sometimes some funny s@#$, but I find myself turning more and more to Flotrack for the videos and race junkies. Maybe Letsrun has peaked and its time to move on????

You have the ability to start the threads that you desire to see. If you make it, they will post.

I'm disappointed you guys didn't have someone on-site at the USATF Convention.

https://www.google.com/search?q=jumped+the+shark&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&aq=t&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&client=firefox-a

google is your friend

So you have 4 paragraphs picking apart the message boards, which are the best and worst of LRC. How about the content on the front page?

rojo wrote:

the anti-troll wrote:

A lot of time spent separating the wheat from the chaff. Used to be tons of great training stuff, now mostly rants or put downs of Webb, Hall, Rupp, etc. Sometimes some funny s@#$, but I find myself turning more and more to Flotrack for the videos and race junkies. Maybe Letsrun has peaked and its time to move on????

Google analytics shows LetsRun.com is growing by leaps and bounds. I think our uniques are up like 30-40% this year.

If you want to read athlete/company press releases, there are plenty of other sites out there. Don't let the door hit you on the way out.

I completely agree! Although the site may be growing the stats you are giving are just website views. What the poster was trying to say is that the Letsrun forums have little to no credibility because most of the time a thread is bashing somebody for something they do. I agree that the Letsrun forums should go back to the ways of training and up to date news in the track and field world, and not some guy paying for his kids college or what to get their wife for Christmas. That's my two cents.

Probably not the place to post this, but LetsRun hasn't updated their message board software in forever.

The biggest issue I have with it, is how to find the threads I liked and posted to. Every other message board under the sun has the ability to subscribe to threads.

Often I see threads disappear that I was enjoying, I don't know if it was moderated out of existence, or I just can't find it anymore. Kind of reduces my interest.

Democracy and free speech are by their nature messy. It sounds like "the more serious running crowd" needs to get out more. Really, who needs a bunch of super ego has-beens or never-will-be's whining about the cursed rabble getting in the way of their lofty purity.

Other posters are right - you can get results and press releases anywhere. Where else can you read about the party habits of DI XC teams? I mean, really.

hurtin wrote:

Probably not the place to post this, but LetsRun hasn't updated their message board software in forever.

The biggest issue I have with it, is how to find the threads I liked and posted to. Every other message board under the sun has the ability to subscribe to threads.

Often I see threads disappear that I was enjoying, I don't know if it was moderated out of existence, or I just can't find it anymore. Kind of reduces my interest.

Agree

rojo wrote:

Google analytics shows LetsRun.com is growing by leaps and bounds. I think our uniques are up like 30-40% this year.

If you want to read athlete/company press releases, there are plenty of other sites out there. Don't let the door hit you on the way out.

Are you really the coach at Cornell? You seem like a 14-year-old. You have self-esteem and maturity issues. When someone gets you down, LET IT GO

Flotrack and Letsrun offer different things. Flotrack has great interviews and the Run Junkie series is taking running media in new places. However, Letsrun is still the best in terms of written coverage.

And let's not forget about the message board. No site has matched the Letsrun message board. As long as people get pissed and need to vent, just want to talk smack (and who the hell doesn't), or want to indulge in the hilarity that is the human experience, Letsrun will be around for a long time.