Do you ever show the LRC message board to your non-running friends?

This is a running website?????

Sometimes when someone tells me that racism and mysogyny aren't real phenomena in America, I link them to choice threads that somehow never got deleted.

The vile and ignorant statements, made in a forum of anonymous and ostensibly somewhat educated visitors, are like an anthropological treasure trove. It also makes me sad to know what I'm silently surrounded by being non-white.

Even among my running friends (and I have many), only one reads this site. And he prefaces his alignment with LR with "I don't like a lot of it, but it's good for a few things..." Most people simply don't respond to an old message board style web site with dated branding and unprofessional administration. I have zero interest in Runners World and Flotrack (beyond their videos), so LR is the one running site I check out.

I show some of the more entertaining threads to my wife, who is sometimes amused and sometimes disgusted. I, however, am always amused, which I why I keep coming back.

mypredictor wrote:

Even among my running friends (and I have many), only one reads this site. And he prefaces his alignment with LR with "I don't like a lot of it, but it's good for a few things..." Most people simply don't respond to an old message board style web site with dated branding and unprofessional administration. I have zero interest in Runners World and Flotrack (beyond their videos), so LR is the one running site I check out.

Your post is not reflected by the facst. The site is enjoying a record year. Think about this for a moment. We are about to hit our 8 millionth post. That will happen early in 2017. So we are at 7.9 million . 5 years ago , we were only at 4.4 million.

The forum software is in think 13 years old. But in the last 5 years, we've produced 3.5/7.9 million posts. That's 57% of the posts have come in just the last 5 years.

I've been around since the beginning. I know the site 'seemed' bigger in the early days as the Internet was new but there was hardly anyone on here. Now it's WAY bigger.

I've got a buddy who has a few friends who come to the site who aren't even runners. He says they claim it's the only place they can be honest about politics and where they'll get both sides of the issue.

better than Joshua wrote:

Sometimes when someone tells me that racism and mysogyny aren't real phenomena in America, I link them to choice threads that somehow never got deleted.

The vile and ignorant statements, made in a forum of anonymous and ostensibly somewhat educated visitors, are like an anthropological treasure trove. It also makes me sad to know what I'm silently surrounded by being non-white.

Yea, if you want examples of racist, sexist, insecure behavior, this place is a treasure trove.

3.5 of 7.9 is not 57%. Heck, even if you made a mistake and mixed up 4.4 with 3.5, it's still not 57% (it's about 55.6%). So I don't know where you got that number. It's ironic because in a post in which you state someone else is not paying attention to the facts, you post an inaccurate statistic.

That is vintage Rojo. I think he needs to think about his math for a moment.

So you've gone from an average of about 600,000 posts/year 2007-2011 to an average of 700,000/year in the last five years? Haven't you posted about 100,000 times/year yourself since leaving coaching? Add to that the influx of high schoolers after dyestat and the activity of race cheat vigilantes, and it's a wonder there's any space left for the average Letsrunner to reflect on how unfair life is to the white man.

Yes.

A ton of threads turn into racist banter and I show people to let them know that racism is alive and well.

vivalarepublica... not sure if you will see this but are you single by any chance?

this x 10,000 wrote:

I don't even let running friends know I read or post here.

Nailed it

rojo wrote:

Your post is not reflected by the facst. The site is enjoying a record year. Think about this for a moment. We are about to hit our 8 millionth post. That will happen early in 2017. So we are at 7.9 million . 5 years ago , we were only at 4.4 million.

The forum software is in think 13 years old. But in the last 5 years, we've produced 3.5/7.9 million posts. That's 57% of the posts have come in just the last 5 years.

I've been around since the beginning. I know the site 'seemed' bigger in the early days as the Internet was new but there was hardly anyone on here. Now it's WAY bigger.

I've got a buddy who has a few friends who come to the site who aren't even runners. He says they claim it's the only place they can be honest about politics and where they'll get both sides of the issue.

All well and good Rojo. You averaged 400,000 posts per year the first 11 years, and 700,000 for the last 5 years. That's great, positive growth! Big numbers! I know you love stats, but they are meaningless without context.

Drawing an arbitrary line 5 years ago doesn't tell us much about your growth curve. Have you compared that curve with increases in internet usage, mobile usage, xc participation, recreational running participation? How big is your market? The influx of new HSers every year far outweighs the market you lose to old age. Etc. Etc. There's a lot to account for in your statistic.

Your target market is growing, are you attracting a larger percentage of that market?

You insinuate that content matters and presentation does not. Or, does both matter, and your content just makes up for lack of presentation? If you think the latter, why are you bragging about leaving money on the table by ignoring a component of success?

I'd be interested in a comparison of your mobile vs desktop usage to the internet in general and to other forums. Are you leaving a market untapped there? Can you make use of 3rd party apps like tapatalk to increase mobile usage? (But that might take a *gasp* software upgrade.)

rojo wrote:

But in the last 5 years, we've produced 3.5/7.9 million posts. That's 57% of the posts have come in just the last 5 years.

10/10

Awesome trolling, rojo!

You added 10+ posts to the site out of nowhere there.

track chick 13 wrote:

vivalarepublica... not sure if you will see this but are you single by any chance?

Interesting question. Considering that I am a Letsrun poster, the answer to that question should be obvious. In the spirit of Letsrun: pics or I don't believe it.

To answer the original question in this thread and reduce my snide remarks, I do show some of the relationship threads to friends for the pure entertainment value. Most other threads are too running related or off topic nonsense that seem to be dominated by teenage boys bickering back forth. The prevalence of hateful language, accusations, and falsehoods is a little much for most people to be attracted to this place. It's a bit of a wild west corner of the Internet, which has pros and cons.

rojo - greatest troll ever wrote:

rojo wrote:

But in the last 5 years, we've produced 3.5/7.9 million posts. That's 57% of the posts have come in just the last 5 years.

10/10

Awesome trolling, rojo!

You added 10+ posts to the site out of nowhere there.

Brilliant.

I'm sure they count the thousands of spam threads started every week in there too.

spamrundotcom wrote:

rojo - greatest troll ever wrote:

10/10

Awesome trolling, rojo!

You added 10+ posts to the site out of nowhere there.

Brilliant.

I'm sure they count the thousands of spam threads started every week in there too.

There are great stories at the LRC forum.

Here is one of my favorite stories today from wejo:

Stupidest thing I ever did was on a bike. In 2001 or 2002 after pacing at the Chicago marathon, I set off to ride a mountain bike. I never road a bike. I hated doing out and backs so the plan was to do a loop. I got stuck up on this plateau behind Walnut Canyon near Lake Mary Road (paved road with traffic). Lake Mary Road was like 300 meters parallel from the first path I was on, but the problem was I was up on a plateau and there was a big dropoff in between. So I just kept going (getting farther from where I started) because I figured at some point I'd be able to swing the right to Lake Mary road. Problem was it got dark. Now I had gone a long way and didn't want to try and retrace my steps. If I could just get to the right 300m I'd be fine. I never took a cell phone with me but I did this time as a watch and looked at the phone and couldn't believe I had coverage. I called Robert in Ithaca and was asking him what the hell to do. Finally I decided I was just going to bush whack and for some reason concluded it wasn't a steep drop anymore from the plateau to the road. I told him I was going to slide the bike in front of me down the ravine If the bike dropped suddenly I'd know there was a cliff (this was before a smart phone existed and could be a flashlight). I made it out there. I assume I could have made it through the night (and Robert could have called for help if I got stuck) if I got stuck but 2 days later if was 35 and raining at night.

The moral of the story is the fit people are the ones who often die because they can be the most careless. Please don't let it be you.

Read more:

That was a really fun story.

The situation at Letsrun.com is hopeless.

I am sorry about that.

Good answer ;) (well, "the answer to that question should be obvious" part. Actually though... I have seen your posts around on here and am intrigued. Which part of the country do you live in? Do you have an email or something I can contact you by? Or I can leave my email here too...

track chick 13 wrote:

Good answer ;) (well, "the answer to that question should be obvious" part. Actually though... I have seen your posts around on here and am intrigued. Which part of the country do you live in? Do you have an email or something I can contact you by? Or I can leave my email here too...

Hmm, I appreciate the interest. I'm skeptical, because this is letsrun after all, but I left my email there if ya want to send a message. I enjoy a goot chat with those that might be interested. And if you search the forum with enough vigor, you probably can figure out where I live, as I have mentioned it a few times around here.