Has Runners World Forum died?

Yeah yeah yeah, I've been here too long. I ought to get off my padded chair and get some training done. But since the change in formatting there appears to have been a mass migration away from the site. I'm guessing that Facebook and Fetch have gained.

It's a shame, because I've met a lot of inspirational characters here, and even some long lost relatives! Nowadays it seems like I might as well take up on-line chess. Or as the last dolphin said "so long, and thanks for all the fish" (Douglas Adams).

Forums still going strong as far as I can see- at least the one i check in with every day?

The forums have lost something.  Not really sure why.  Some people accuse it of not being as amusing as it used to be, but personally I think that they are looking at the wrong threads.  What I think has really happened is Groupthink.  A small group lost interest in it and have encouraged others to leave with them.  That's fine with me as its a free world, but if all they ever do is complain about how boring the forum has become then it is going to be boring, isn't it?

The draw of any forum (for me) is diversity of posters. This forum shed a lot of posters a few years back* and the remainder settled into long running threads which didn't encourage new blood.

*growth of other social media like Twitter/Facebook and Fetch. Fetch offered much more of a community. 

I'm new here, been reading a few months, so it can't be that bad. I like it actually, lots of useful info, but it can take some digging to find it.

I've used a lot of forums over the years, though reasonably new to running, hence new to the running forums.

I think this...

"and the remainder settled into long running threads which didn't encourage new blood."

...is a key observation. I've not seen a forum with quite that approach before, it's damn near impossible to get up to speed on anything, because you might have 20,000 posts over several years to read through in a single thread to understand what is going on. No small task.

I don't know if it was a deliberate effort to make the forum less cluttered or what, but its kind of intimidating for a newb. It's a "you're ten years late for the party" feeling. Especially as it seems quite a close community here, from what I can gather. Lots of you seem to know each other on the outside.

Just my two pence.

I've been around here since 2003, people come and people go.  I've tried Fetch but don't find it any more or less friendly than here.  Still lots of longstanding threads that I can't feel I can just jump into.

Wild Goose, I know what you mean about the long running threads, but most of them (in Clubhouse at least) are just people talking rubbish so you only need to read back a couple of pages to get the feel for the thread.  Most of them welcome newcomers, so jump in, introduce yourself and within a couple of days you will fit right in.

The Mundane thread is a good one to start on.  We basically talk about food, particularly cheese, and bins.  New blood in the established threads is essential otherwise they become boring.

And lots of us do know each other on the outside, but only because we have become friends on the threads and then made an effort to meet up at various events.  I don't think there is a single person who posts regularly that I knew before I joined RW.

I only know people outside of RW because of RW. As a Newbie 3 years ago I found a lot of info for someone who had just started and, for the most part, people were happy to offeer help, encouragement and after a few posts I ' Belonged ' for want of a better phrase. I flick in & out of various threads posting randomly.

I did take pretty much the whole winter off, but that's because my body did but not out of choice and I found it was more likely I would push myself too hard if I regularly saw other people posting about their running.

When I came back I thought there didn't seem the variety of threads there had been before, but I'm not sure how accurate that is. I'm still here, and here is where I think I fit better than the FE threads (Though I do occasionally post over there too)

Wild Goose wrote (see)

...Especially as it seems quite a close community here, from what I can gather. Lots of you seem to know each other on the outside.

Just my two pence.

SuperCaz wrote (see)

And lots of us do know each other on the outside, but only because we have become friends on the threads and then made an effort to meet up at various events.  I don't think there is a single person who posts regularly that I knew before I joined RW.

What Caz said - the forumites who I know in person were all met via the forum, at events and socials, etc.

We were all new to the forum once, and just made our way in, and joined in.

I think it's Clubhouse Blisters is referring to, and surely it's normal for people to move on. People always seem to blame the long standing members and 'small groups.'  It's not their site or their responsibility to encourage interaction and activity.

What have RW done to encourage new blood or indeed keep the old? Very little IMO.

LOL Dreamtwister! That's the sort of spirit we want! Let me introduce you to Kittenkat.

Anyway, most runners think that they are fat, even those who whould make a Kenyan look anorexic. And before I get accused (for the very first time ever) of being politically correct, I'd like to point out that the vast majority of runners are middle class (it's a disposable income/available time thing), and that 50% of the population are actually female. Apart from which, I like cake.

I think I fit the fat, middle class women talking about cakes stereotype completely.  And you are right that I no longer run.  But that is because for the next 13 months swimming is going to be my passion and I bet I could whip your arse on a 5k swim Dreamtwister

Dreamtwister wrote (see)

The problem with Runners World forum is it has Runners in the title!....

If you can't prove you've trained, raced, officiated, recovering from injury or at least have some knowledge or experience of running, you should be banned from the forum!

Too many fat middle class women talking about cakes are killing this forum. What's hilarious is they actually think they're important members of a 'community'. Get a life, or a husband that can remember where his bollocks are!

Thank God someone's come up with a solution to the place being boring, let's limit it to discussions along the lines of  "I've run x blah blah blah".  Thrilling stuff, eh?

Dreamtwister has a point that the running side of the forum is still busy - it's the social side (Clubhouse) which has died. 

I joined because of running advice and then drifted through tri and settled in Clubhouse because there reaches a point when you know it all    (oh ok... have no major need for the advice that drew you in)

Long running threads welcome newcomers as far as I can see. 

I agree OW.  I feel that I have as much running advice and knowledge as I want at the moment, but know where I can go to get more if I ever need to.  I used to offer advice too, but after a while you get fed up with answering the same old questions.

I use another forum far more to discuss current affairs. But it has a huge number of posters. Here you get a thread dominated by one poster with one opinion repeated oodles of times. I just switch off. It doesn't stimulate me

Dreamtwister wrote (see)

The problem with Runners World forum is it has Runners in the title!....

If you can't prove you've trained, raced, officiated, recovering from injury or at least have some knowledge or experience of running, you should be banned from the forum!

Too many fat middle class women talking about cakes are killing this forum. What's hilarious is they actually think they're important members of a 'community'. Get a life, or a husband that can remember where his bollocks are!

A large part of the reason I don't post anywhere as much as i used to is members like Dreamtwister. I'm sick and tired of people being bitchy for the sake of it or because they think it makes them look cool.......when actually they just look like a tw*t

So where's these goddam cakes then?

My speciality is a sticky chocolate one with ground almonds....but I'm also a lover of lemon drizzle but find getting an even consistency tricky.

Banana bread is a dead cert i can do in my sleep. Flapjack is for school children. I've not mastered muffins