What's happened to this forum?

elbowloh

ugo.santalucia said:

A few points

1) in general fora are less popular... they tend to be hostile places for disgruntled middle aged folks and the newer generations are not keen on online bullying, of which we do get a lot.

2) The forum upgrade a couple of years back made is less user friendly, as said earlier

3) A few knowledgeable individuals have left... you always have to balance the time you spend on here Vs the time spent doing something else and when you realise you could spend the same time doing something better, then you leave.

4) On the plus side, a few obnoxious individuals have been kicked out, which has recently made the place a bit more bearable, but obviously decreased traffic further

I'd be very much surprised if there was less bullying on FB, Instagram and the like. Online bullying of young people, by other young people is a massive problem and it's not happening in forums.

womack

It's not been the same since we lost Frank Wilson.

Stevo_666

womack said:

It's not been the same since we lost Frank Wilson.

But the hedgehogs are a lot happier.

elbowloh

MattFalle said:

elbowloh said:

seanoconn said:

elbowloh said:

MattFalle said:

I personally treat it as a pub.

Pop in. Chat to people you like. Finish your drink, head off.

This is what I said to the wife. It's Covid, we can't go to the pub and chat shoite, so I'm doing it here.

You have two kids under the age of 2. You’ll still be here when the pubs open 😂

Tis true.

the in-laws did offer to baby-sit just this morning...

Got my brother's wedding coming up in July too.

can you talk him out of it?

This is marriage number 2 also. Nah they're good.

pinno

shortfall said:

It's a bit like the Oscars. The people who are still taking part think it's wonderful but they haven't noticed that everyone else has switched off.

...and you are still here

shortfall

pinno said:

shortfall said:

It's a bit like the Oscars. The people who are still taking part think it's wonderful but they haven't noticed that everyone else has switched off.

...and you are still here

Yeah clinging on. Old habits die hard.

Stevo_666

brian.paneurope7I7wolqz said:

IThat it was more politically incorrect and generally more interesting. What's happened ? Or have I got the wrong impression??

There's very probably a connection between the increase in political correctness and the decrease how interesting the place is.

DeVlaeminck

Any ideas for recruiting more posters, join some cycling Facebook groups and mention how friendly Bike Radar is? bring a friend day ???

Anyone else used to post on Veloriders? Think that gets about one post every year now. I'm assuming they pull the plug before this place got like that.

Maybe it's just me but I don't find this place too unfriendly - everyone gets into arguments sometimes best thing is just stop looking at the thread - you never know if the person is just having a bad day. Compared to football Facebook groups I'm on this place is very civilised - and these are groups where everyone follows the same team.

lettingthedaysgoby

The main problem is the terrible software. There are various really good, modern forum platforms out there (Xenforo being the best), but for whatever reason the Bikeradar team went with this pile of rubbish. It's utterly awful.

Stevo_666

DeVlaeminck said:

Any ideas for recruiting more posters, join some cycling Facebook groups and mention how friendly Bike Radar is? bring a friend day ???

Anyone else used to post on Veloriders? Think that gets about one post every year now. I'm assuming they pull the plug before this place got like that.

Maybe it's just me but I don't find this place too unfriendly - everyone gets into arguments sometimes best thing is just stop looking at the thread - you never know if the person is just having a bad day. Compared to football Facebook groups I'm on this place is very civilised - and these are groups where everyone follows the same team.

Given what I said above about why this place is getting less interesting, the there is one possible solution.

ugo.santalucia

Some of the competitors are able to attract "celebrities", I have spotted famous time triallists on Cycling UK forum, Weight Weenies and of course on the CTT forum. Here we seem to lack our niche, in other words, what is this forum good for? It is a very generic place where you can discuss Covid-19 vaccines, Ardennes classics or the latest Trek offering, but it does lack recognisable expertise and even the non recognisable expertise is moving elsewhere (Monty Dog? Cycleclinic?).

veronese68

ugo.santalucia said:

...but it does lack recognisable expertise and even the non recognisable expertise is moving elsewhere (Monty Dog? Cycleclinic?).

David37 that was posting until fairly recently was very good on bike repairs, unfortunately as a person he was rather more lacking and got himself banned.

Onegear

Online bullying among the youth is rampant, they just dont need too many words to get their points across. Its actually quite ugly and worse than when I was a kid growing up by 10x. Nothing is sacred anymore.

As for bringing more people in... This is a very UK-centric forum, so unless you want to expand that reach and demographic there are saturation limits. For example in all my years of riding across the pond, bikeradar only popped up a few times in my searches. Likewise over here, the google yt algos seem to exclude NA based stuff and steer me here and cyclingweekly.

ugo.santalucia

veronese68 said:

ugo.santalucia said:

...but it does lack recognisable expertise and even the non recognisable expertise is moving elsewhere (Monty Dog? Cycleclinic?).

David37 that was posting until fairly recently was very good on bike repairs, unfortunately as a person he was rather more lacking and got himself banned.

Well, axxeholes are ubiquitous on the web, the point is whether there is a specific expertise and maybe at some point here there was some, but right now there isn't. In my many lives on YACF I disagreed with pretty much everyone on there, but I accept it is the place to go if you want info on Audax or long distance riding in general... you go on Weight Weenies if you want very technical knowledge on the latest equipment... but what's the USP of this place?

pblakeney

ugo.santalucia said:

... but what's the USP of this place?

As said above. It is like going to the pub for the chat. Sometimes interesting, sometimes funny, sometimes boring, sometimes annoying. But we keep coming back.

MattFalle

The only USP is that its a casual hangout. People just need to realise that and the fact that lthpugh they belong to Chelmsford Wheelers they ain't MvdP.

ugo.santalucia

The casual pub chat is fine, but you are unlikely to attract new punters... normally they come looking for cycling advice and if that sucks, then they go elsewhere

shortfall

ugo.santalucia said:

Some of the competitors are able to attract "celebrities", I have spotted famous time triallists on Cycling UK forum, Weight Weenies and of course on the CTT forum. Here we seem to lack our niche, in other words, what is this forum good for? It is a very generic place where you can discuss Covid-19 vaccines, Ardennes classics or the latest Trek offering, but it does lack recognisable expertise and even the non recognisable expertise is moving elsewhere (Monty Dog? Cycleclinic?).

I think Cycle Clinic left because he got fed up with few smartarses telling him he was wrong about bike repairs and wheel building when he literally does it for a living and is a Campagnolo approved repair shop no less. That and some saddos picking him up on his spelling. Very sad as he was a valuable contributer and we're worse off without him. I was sad to see David37 go too. Seems like he was banned for saying something in Cakestop that lots of people in the real world would agree with. Hopefully he'll be back. I think that's part of the problem here. People are entitled to find David or Coopster objectionable but if they are excluded from debate we end up with a bland mush of liberal, centre left groupthink where a bunch of white middle class blokes with good jobs, pensions and second homes abroad all largely agree with each other and look down their noses at those who don't share their view of the world (yes I know you don't have second homes abroad but the point stands).

kingstongraham

Don't lump Coopster in with David.

surrey_commuter

shortfall said:

ugo.santalucia said:

Some of the competitors are able to attract "celebrities", I have spotted famous time triallists on Cycling UK forum, Weight Weenies and of course on the CTT forum. Here we seem to lack our niche, in other words, what is this forum good for? It is a very generic place where you can discuss Covid-19 vaccines, Ardennes classics or the latest Trek offering, but it does lack recognisable expertise and even the non recognisable expertise is moving elsewhere (Monty Dog? Cycleclinic?).

I think Cycle Clinic left because he got fed up with few smartarses telling him he was wrong about bike repairs and wheel building when he literally does it for a living and is a Campagnolo approved repair shop no less. That and some saddos picking him up on his spelling. Very sad as he was a valuable contributer and we're worse off without him. I was sad to see David37 go too. Seems like he was banned for saying something in Cakestop that lots of people in the real world would agree with. Hopefully he'll be back. I think that's part of the problem here. People are entitled to find David or Coopster objectionable but if they are excluded from debate we end up with a bland mush of liberal, centre left groupthink where a bunch of white middle class blokes with good jobs, pensions and second homes abroad all largely agree with each other and look down their noses at those who don't share their view of the world (yes I know you don't have second homes abroad but the point stands).

I have no idea why they were banned but assume it was for their objectionable behaviour rather than their viewpoints.

elbowloh

shortfall said:

ugo.santalucia said:

Some of the competitors are able to attract "celebrities", I have spotted famous time triallists on Cycling UK forum, Weight Weenies and of course on the CTT forum. Here we seem to lack our niche, in other words, what is this forum good for? It is a very generic place where you can discuss Covid-19 vaccines, Ardennes classics or the latest Trek offering, but it does lack recognisable expertise and even the non recognisable expertise is moving elsewhere (Monty Dog? Cycleclinic?).

I think Cycle Clinic left because he got fed up with few smartarses telling him he was wrong about bike repairs and wheel building when he literally does it for a living and is a Campagnolo approved repair shop no less. That and some saddos picking him up on his spelling. Very sad as he was a valuable contributer and we're worse off without him. I was sad to see David37 go too. Seems like he was banned for saying something in Cakestop that lots of people in the real world would agree with. Hopefully he'll be back. I think that's part of the problem here. People are entitled to find David or Coopster objectionable but if they are excluded from debate we end up with a bland mush of liberal, centre left groupthink where a bunch of white middle class blokes with good jobs, pensions and second homes abroad all largely agree with each other and look down their noses at those who don't share their view of the world (yes I know you don't have second homes abroad but the point stands).

Not technically all white either.

elbowloh

surrey_commuter said:

shortfall said:

ugo.santalucia said:

Some of the competitors are able to attract "celebrities", I have spotted famous time triallists on Cycling UK forum, Weight Weenies and of course on the CTT forum. Here we seem to lack our niche, in other words, what is this forum good for? It is a very generic place where you can discuss Covid-19 vaccines, Ardennes classics or the latest Trek offering, but it does lack recognisable expertise and even the non recognisable expertise is moving elsewhere (Monty Dog? Cycleclinic?).

I think Cycle Clinic left because he got fed up with few smartarses telling him he was wrong about bike repairs and wheel building when he literally does it for a living and is a Campagnolo approved repair shop no less. That and some saddos picking him up on his spelling. Very sad as he was a valuable contributer and we're worse off without him. I was sad to see David37 go too. Seems like he was banned for saying something in Cakestop that lots of people in the real world would agree with. Hopefully he'll be back. I think that's part of the problem here. People are entitled to find David or Coopster objectionable but if they are excluded from debate we end up with a bland mush of liberal, centre left groupthink where a bunch of white middle class blokes with good jobs, pensions and second homes abroad all largely agree with each other and look down their noses at those who don't share their view of the world (yes I know you don't have second homes abroad but the point stands).

I have no idea why they were banned but assume it was for their objectionable behaviour rather than their viewpoints.

I think bans have more been for personal attacks/name calling right?

MattFalle

ugo.santalucia said:

The casual pub chat is fine, but you are unlikely to attract new punters... normally they come looking for cycling advice and if that sucks, then they go elsewhere

depends who you are after.

if you want clubbie nerds, head elsewhere. if you want very experienced cyclists who take it all with a pinch of salt and don't live with their heads up their back sides them crack on....

pro race people are pretty straight, so maybe thats the area for the people you are after?

pblakeney

ugo.santalucia said:

The casual pub chat is fine, but you are unlikely to attract new punters... normally they come looking for cycling advice and if that sucks, then they go elsewhere

It's a pretty good analogy really. Have you been in a traditional pub recently? They appear to be dying off too unless they are in a tourist hotspot. Local pub for local people. 😉

tailwindhome

kingstongraham said:

Don't lump Coopster in with David.

They weren't the same person?

kingstongraham

tailwindhome said:

kingstongraham said:

Don't lump Coopster in with David.

They weren't the same person?

I see a difference between someone who sometimes went over the top and a pure troll. Once you realise the sole aim is to wind you up, it stops winding you up. But it doesn't make for interesting posting.

womack

Been a member (reading only) of this board for nearly six years. Posted first time recently when needing some advice. Advice given fitted the bill so thankful for that.

However was always hesitant to post in the general threads as my reading of the board was that if you weren't one of the established many thousands of posts members your opinions and input were not entertained.

I think / guess this would put a lot of new members off, they may try and engage a couple of times only to find themselves in the middle of a "private conversation" amongst the aforementioned so not bother to try and join in again and just disappear until perhaps they need a bit of technical help.

The other problem I see, on here and other boards to be fair, is that there appears to be one "view" and anybody who disagrees with it is not listened to and branded with some ism.


Edit. Yes I do have a holiday home but never had a company pension, hard work paid for it.

veronese68

tailwindhome said:

kingstongraham said:

Don't lump Coopster in with David.

They weren't the same person?

I don't think so, David had useful technical contributions. I doubt either of them would be quite so lippy in person.

rjsterry

tailwindhome said:

kingstongraham said:

Don't lump Coopster in with David.

They weren't the same person?

I think Coopster really believed in what he was posting whereas David seemed to be trying really hard to be 'edgy'.

ugo.santalucia

I met Coopster in real life many years ago and before he became obnoxious on this forum. We went for a ride in Berkshire, together with the guy who renovated the water tower in Amersham on Grand Design. He did seem a rather normal guy... who would have thought there was a maniac inside...
I can confirm he definitively wasn't a guy who knew much about mechanical stuff, so not the same guy as David37 for sure...