Quote Originally Posted by Stolly View Post
Haha, sometimes I walk right into stuff like this. And maybe I deserve it, I don’t know. That said, in my ‘boring’ little world, running in the hills has been (and still is) a life maker for me and, in many many ways, a complete life changer too. The FRA forum, which I joined 7 years ago has played no small part in that too, particularly, and most importantly, as it led to me meeting Hester.
I didn't say you lived in a 'boring' little world. You don't - because it interests you and others close to you. You're obviously happy doing what you do, which is great (English people can't say great without sounding sarcastic but I don't mean to be!).

I'm just saying that there are threads on here that I'm not interested in and ones that I am; things that you might find fascinating or completely boring and vice versa. It's just that if I find a thread boring, I'll not post on that thread whilst you always seem to pop up proclaiming how boring it is to you.

The thing that is completely brilliant about fell running to me I guess is the fell running ‘community’ and our shared loved of the hills, wilderness and wildlife - at its best, this forum has been a fabulous microcosm of that community. The thing that gets my goat is that sometimes heated debates on contentious subjects just get divisive and, if only in a little way, chip away at the things that I like about the forum. (And yeah I said ‘the things I like about the forum’ and fully appreciate that others might well like other things..... such as arguing the toss about politics ).

For sure the forum has lost some great members over the years, some I know put off by the divisive stuff (and/or the occasional visits by people/alter egos intent on just being completely obnoxious), and I get the urge from time to time, especially if I’m bored at work, to wave the flag for the happy clappy, tree huggy side of the forum, thats all.
I've been on this forum longer than you (11 years now!) and I don't think that there has been a massive change in that time. Yes, people come and go, but you'd expect that over that time. We've lost decent members but also gained many decent ones as well - things evolve and the world changes - who had heard of UKIP back in 2003?

There's a number of different and strong personalities on this forum which makes for good debate in the main. There can't be many forums that have been going this long which is a testament to the way in which Brett moderates this one.