We've been working behind the scenes this winter to improve the forum. This morning we're doing a soft launch of the improvements to 25% of the LetsRun.com readership. As we test the changes, we'll increase that number to 100%. There may be some issues throughout this transition.
We've tried our best to preserve the identity and spirit of the message board while making it feel more modern. For now, our goal is that you won't notice much except that things are cleaner, faster, more useful, and that we have improvements on the backend in moderation. Here's what new:
* The forum has been re-written using modern technologies. Things should feel similar, but look cleaner.
* You’ll have an integrated experience when you switch from your computer to a phone. If you’re logged in, it will remember what page you were on in a thread.
* The back-end has been upgraded with a modern caching system, so the new features should be faster.
* We've touched up how advertisements are presented to prevent them from getting in your way of reading the site.
Writing Posts
* You can now reply to a thread without leaving the page. Just click reply and type. Accidentally crash your browser? Don't worry -- all post drafts are saved until you submit them. (The same is true for starting new threads.)
* When writing a reply, you can go in full page mode, which can be helpful on smaller devices.
* While we believe the ability to post anonymously allows for a more honest discussion, we've implemented some new protections to prevent people from pretending to be multiple people in the same thread.
Message Board Index
* Thread links now have page number links so you can jump to a certain page right away.
* Last post dates are now human readable (want the full date/time? Just hover over the human-readable date.)
* You can now see the most popular threads by clicking the link above or below the forum thread listing. There's also a link in the header.
Message Board Threads
* If you log in, we now are able to remember the last page you read on each thread across devices. Start reading a thread on your work computer and want to continue reading on your phone later? Just click the thread and you'll be brought to the last page you visited. Don't worry, if you're not logged in, we'll still forward you to the last page on the device you're using.
* Post dates have been improved: a human readable date is now presented, as well as the exact date (with timezone).
You can now report a post/thread directly from the page without leaving the thread. Just click the Report Post link on each thread.
* Extraneous information has been removed. The thread title is no longer repeated with every post.
Search
* You can now search from the thread index. Just click the Search link above or below the forum thread listing.
* The search algorithm has been improved.
* You can now sort results by relevance or date.
Somethings you can't see, but you'll benefit from. We've introduced a number of features to help our moderators remove posts that violate our community standards. In the future, we'll be using the foundation we've laid to add new features, such as:
* Email notifications when someone replies to your post (if you want them)
* A dashboard showing the latest threads you've visited, created, who has replied to your posts, etc.
We've also laid the groundwork to make the LetsRun.com homepage, article pages, forum, and shoe site form a more cohesive whole.
Have an idea for a new feature or feedback on our changes? Let us know at