LetsRun.com Message Board Community Guidelines

LetsRun.com Message Board Community Guidelines

TLDR:

We explain our community guidelines and moderation philosophies below, but if you're short on time:

You:
  1. Be civil.
  2. Stay on topic.
  3. Use the "Report Objectionable Post" link to notify us of posts you want reviewed. Every reported post is reviewed by a human.
  4. Call us/text us at 1-844-LETSRUN (1-844-538-7786) or email us remove@letsrun.com.
  5. Email wejo@letsrun.com if you are interested in moderating.
  6. Accept that a drawback to an open forum is you will see some posts you find objectionable.
We:
  1. Review every reported post.
  2. Believe in free expression and therefore do not remove every reported post.
  3. Believe anonymity leads to freer discussion.

Moderation Philosophy

We love forums.

The Internet lets people from all over the world and different viewpoints digitally congregate to share ideas, debate contentious topics, and be passionate about whatever they care about. We started the LetsRun.com Message Board over 20 years ago with the goal of providing such a forum for running fans.

Today, runners train smarter, run faster, and are more knowledgeable than ever before. However, time has also proved that operating a public forum requires establishing rules and guidelines to thrive.

Moderation is hard – really hard. We are constantly trying to improve how we do it. We created this page to share our message board philosophy with you and to provide transparency in how we moderate.

Our goal is to provide an open, collegial forum where runners or fans of running can talk about running and other topics.

We believe in free expression. We believe in civility. We also believe anonymity can result in more honest and open debate.

Transparency

Moderating a high-traffic forum requires us to respond to a large number of posts that some of our readers find objectionable. If you don't ever want to read anything objectionable, please leave, as it is an inherent drawback to an open forum.

This page exists to provide transparency into our moderation policies and our moderation performance. To increase transparency into this process, we are making public statistics about the volume and speed at which we respond to post reports. This data is automatically generated from our database and is updated in real time.

Three Golden Rules

We believe the message board is at its best when people follow three simple rules:

  1. Don't insult others posters.
  2. Don't post things you would not be willing to publicly defend.
  3. Stay on topic.

Post Removal Process

We do not pre-screen or read every piece of content on the LetsRun.com Message Board.

Our moderation team includes both staff members and volunteer moderators. Moderators can remove posts and ban posters who break the forum rules. (If you are interested in moderating, email wejo@letsrun.com.)

Visitors can report any post to our team to review by clicking the Report Objectionable Post button beneath every post.

Every post reported to us is reviewed by a human moderator. If something is urgent, please call or text us at 1-844-LETSRUN (1-844-538-7786). You can also email us at remove@letsrun.com. Unlike Facebook or Twitter, you can always reach a real human at LetRun.com

We use tools behind the scenes to remove posts automatically without review so we encourage you to use the "Report Objectionable Post" button. In general, the most egregious posts get taken down quickly without human intervention, but sometimes this takes longer than we would prefer. Starting with this February 2022 update, some moderators will receive text alerts if any post is not reviewed within 30 minutes of being reported.

Post Removal Guidelines

LetsRun.com may remove content at its sole discretion for any reason whatsoever, but we have a set of guidelines for moderators to follow when deleting posts. Moderators now select one of the reasons below when deleting a post.

If your post (but not thread) is deleted, you will see the reason selected by the moderator when visiting the thread in which you posted.

  1. Personal attacks of another person/forum poster.
  2. Spam
  3. Off-topic or thread-derailing post.
  4. Post is discriminatory or bigoted.
  5. Low or no-content post.
  6. Profane or vulgar post.
  7. Duplicate content.
  8. Factually Incorrect
  9. Impersonation of another person/forum poster.
  10. Encourages violence, abuse, or harassment of another person/forum poster.
  11. Unauthorized sharing of private information of another person/forum poster.
  12. Pornographic content.
  13. Copyright/trademark violation.
  14. Other.

Prominent Figures

The more prominent someone is, the more we allow there to be critical discussion and speculation about them. To use an analogy from another sport, Tom Brady is going to get more scrutiny than a high school quarterback.

Doping Discussions

We let people discuss doping as we believe doping discussion leads to a cleaner sport, even if a drawback to this policy is that some people may speculate a clean athlete is dirty. The more prominent the athlete the more likely we are to allow the speculation.

Specificity

The more specific the allegation the more proof we expect a poster to provide. Saying "To go from 4:10 to 3:55 in one year is not normal and makes me suspicious" is very different from saying "I saw runner X do steroids". With the latter, we would expect the poster to offer some proof, be willing to post it under their name, or contact our editorial team for anonymity.

Unverified Claims as Facts

People often state unverified claims or opinions as fact. Instead of saying, "I think Runner X is using performance enhancing drugs because they progressed from 4:XX to 3:xXX in one year," they say, "Runner X is a doper." Try not to do this.

Thread Deletion

Every thread started appears in the main forum index. To manage this limited real estate, entire threads may be deleted due to moderator discretion or because the thread has spiraled out of control. Please use the "Report Objectionable Post" on the first post for threads you would like to see removed. Placeholders do not show up for deleted threads on the main index, so you will not be able to see why your thread was deleted if you were the thread starter.

We have more technical terms of service below.

Terms of Service/Message Board Rules

Please note the following terms of service which govern the LetsRun.com message board(s).

  1. You must be over the age of 13 to participate.
  2. You understand that the poster of the content is entirely responsible for all content posted. LetsRun.com is not responsible for any of the content on the message board(s). This means that the poster, and not LetsRun.com, is entirely responsible for all content that he or she posts. As a result, LetsRun.com does not guarantee the accuracy, integrity or quality of the content on its message board(s). You understand that by using the message board(s), you may be exposed to content that is offensive, indecent or objectionable. Under no circumstances will LetsRun.com be liable in any way for any content, including, but not limited to, for any errors or omissions in any content, or for any loss or damage of any kind incurred as a result of the use of any content posted, emailed, transmitted or otherwise made available.
  3. You understand that because you are responsible for the content you post, you can be held responsible for any laws that you break when posting. This includes but is not limited to violating another party's copyright by posting another party's article in its entirety on the message board(s). Please link to articles instead of posting them or you may be sued by the other party for copyright infringement.
  4. You understand that LetsRun.com does not pre-screen content but it may remove content at its sole discretion for any reason whatsoever. If you would like to suggest that something be removed, please use the "Report Objectionable Post" function or call/text us at 1-844-LETSRUN (1-844-538-7786) or email LetsRun.com at remove@letsrun.com but LetsRun.com does not have to remove any content and may or may not agree to your request. Every post that is reported by the "report a post" function is reviewed be a moderator. There is no guarantee other posts are read by a human moderator.
  5. Types of posts that may be removed:
    • Violent/Pornographic posts:

      Posts that encourage violence, abuse or harrassment. Posts with graphic violence or adult content.

    • Hateful conduct:

      Posts that threaten, or harass other people on the basis of race, ethnicity, national origin, sexual orientation, gender, gender identity, religious affiliation, age, or disability.

    • Private personal information:

      Posts that expose other people's private information (such as home phone number and address) without their express authorization and permission. However, you acknowledge that your identity is not a secret whether or not you reveal your name in your posts. Your IP address is tracked. As a result others, including LetsRun.com, may be able to figure out who you are and thus your identity may be revealed to others.

    • Spam/Advertisements:

      The message board forum(s) are not designed to serve as a place where one makes posts that are nothing more than glorified advertisements (i.e. anything promoting another website, product, etc.). If you would like to advertise contact us at advertise@letsrun.com.

    • Copyright/trademark violations:

      Do not steal other's work. We support the concept of fair use and parody, but not IP theft.

  6. You may not impersonate another person's identity on the message board(s).
  7. You acknowledge that material that you post becomes the copyrighted property of LetsRun.com and LetsRun.com can reproduce it in any form that it sees fit without providing you compensation

Moderation Statistics

Post Reports Awaiting A Decision
6
Oldest Unmoderated Post Reported
1 hour ago

Moderation Activity This Week

Moderation Response Time
Fastest
0.0 minutes
Median
62.7 minutes
Mean
130.0 minutes
Slowest
1,599.4 minutes

Slow response times can result from posts requiring extra deliberation or from posts reported off hours.

Post Reports Submitted
737
Unique Posts Reported
578
Posts Reported And Then Deleted
453
Posts Deleted
733

Lifetime Moderation Statistics

Post Reports Submitted
326,580
Unique Posts Reported
268,300
Posts Deleted
1,369,687