Kiss of life?

[JohnK]

John i think just about all your points are very good in the post above.

However when i joined the forum, i was impressed by the layout... i think it's fairly simple and navigable... not sure how much more you can simplify General/Races/Training/Equipment/Other Races/Off Topic/etc.... there's even a sub-heading for Beginners. That all seemed very helpful to me at the time.

Travs I think that possibly one of the biggest problems is that so many of todays threads go off topic and often the newer posts have little relevance to the thread title.

Interesting thoughts about "no politics, no religion ". Those items have bruised us and turned people off the forum. And yet I have greatly valued being able to have debates about non fell running topics with like minded folk. I would never post thoughts about such subjects on an open platform like Facebook. But being able to chat and test positions within a closed group has been of value to me. However, the great repository of experience and advice about fell running is perhaps to valuable to risk on the face of the acrimony that such debates can engender. Thoughtful moderation would be key to managing this. Buts it's a thankless task. Who would want to do it? I salute those who do, and have stood on this barricade.

Wheeze I feel keeping a Forum true to it`s cause is key to it`s long term survival, for my part if I want to debate an alternative subject with like minded folk then I seek them out where you would expect to find them e.g. Religion then a church or religious forum/website is where I would head for.

You are right the grass roots of this forum are too valuable to be put at risk.

[anthonykay]

On the anonymity issue, I always get a great buzz of satisfaction when I manage to work out the identity of some forumite who doesn't use their real name. [Marco and Mossdog can rest assured that I haven't (yet) worked out their identities.]

More seriously, anonymity shouldn't be a problem if there is a moderator who can remove someone who is being abusive, regardless of whether they are using their own name. But as Wheeze says, moderating is a thankless task; I certainly wouldn't feel able to do it.

[Fellbeast]

…But as Wheeze says, moderating is a thankless task; I certainly wouldn't feel able to do it.

Believe it or not I’m a moderator on this forum (imposed on me really - for sure I didn’t and don’t want to do it). I moderated one post (and one post only) because I thought it would stir up trouble only to have my moderation unmoderated by another moderator on the forum . Haha moderator wars

[Graham Breeze]

I moderated one post (and one post only) because I thought it would stir up trouble only to have my moderation unmoderated by another moderator on the forum . Haha moderator wars

Well, that's an intriguing post to start the day well

[Wheeze]

Stolly poacher turned fellbeast gamekeeper! Smart move. Tell us, has the experience enlightened you in any way? Does becoming a moderator result in you becoming more moderate?

[Fellbeast]

Stolly poacher turned fellbeast gamekeeper! Smart move. Tell us, has the experience enlightened you in any way? Does becoming a moderator result in you becoming more moderate?

If I’ve had a problem it’s maybe that I’ve always been ‘moderate’ in the face of less than moderate views, unlike perhaps many here in the past. And I’d argue that a good few of my past thoughts on some of the forum’s most contentious issues have funnily enough turned out to be pretty darn spot on in fact. I won’t list them so as not to open old wounds

[Charmian]

I don't have recent data on the average age of FRA members but, off the top of my head, the % female members is as high as it has ever been (20%?), the % of females on the Executive Committee is similarly at a peak (when I joined in 2002 it was zero) and of the 16 FRA Chairs, two of the last three have been women.

The total FRA membership is at an all time high with almost 8500 members of which 23% are female. The percentage of females increases as you move down the age groups which is understandable given that in the early days, the sport was dominated my men. So the percentage of females is:

Up to age 40 32%
Up to age 30 37%
Up to age 20 44%
Up to age 18 46%

I would say that the future of fell running is very healthy and inclusive and we should also celebrate the participation of minority groups rather than hiding behind anonymity. The article about Adnan Khan in the Fellrunner was excellent and he was a recognisable contributor to the FRA Forum.

[Marco]

As has been said the whole forum requires a shake up and made more welcoming with a much less busy opening menu, so that novice users can feel their way around without trawling through threads they find confusing or intimidating.

A few days ago someone mentioned EOD on one of the Races threads, and it jogged my memory to 12.5 years ago.

When I started I gleaned all my knowledge of the sport from this forum. Along the way I found something that took me to somewhere with forthcoming races.

I was able to work out AS and AM etc from the race distance and ascent, and even cracked LK somehow. With EOD, however, it took me two months to crack the code. This was critical to me, as back then I worked a lot of weekends but sometimes only got told this on the Friday before - ie less than 24 hours notice.

I do understand why people abbreviate, and miss words out, to save time in the knowledge that the majority know the term. If we want to make this friendlier and more useful to newcomers, however, we should be careful to make sure we are not using terms, or abbreviations, that are not in every day parlance.

What we could do, probably in the Beginners section, is make a single post thread called something like 'Glossary of terms' to explain abbreviations such as this. If the thread was then locked and made into a sticky thread then it would always be visible to novices.

In the General Fellrunning Issues section there is a thread called 'Reference Guide' created by 'TheGrump' in 2010. It's a great idea, and very useful, but some of the links no longer work correctly so it needs updating

[JohnK]

What we could do, probably in the Beginners section, is make a single post thread called something like 'Glossary of terms' to explain abbreviations such as this. If the thread was then locked and made into a sticky thread then it would always be visible to novices.

In the General Fellrunning Issues section there is a thread called 'Reference Guide' created by 'TheGrump' in 2010. It's a great idea, and very useful, but some of the links no longer work correctly so it needs updating

Or an up to date WIKI where all the knowledge for the frequently asked questions, such as WHAT SHOE etc can be found, and hopefully any one new to the sport will look there first before posting the question on another new what shoe or whatever thread.

It would also give old hands a reference point to send newcomers for information

[Graham Breeze]

You'll be easily traced Marco, whether anonymous or not.

We just need to look for a bloke, hanging around HS2 building sites, on his bike!

Excellent overhead photo of the HS2 route in South Cubbington Wood (Warwickshire) in the Business section of the DT today. Lots of buildings and diggers on display.

But no awestruck cyclist is visible.