Re: Running and Fasting

Friends,

I've deleted the 'running and fasting' thread and am about to drop a line to Gone Away to suggest they change their tone or find a new forum.

I'm sorry it happened over the last couple of days when no one was available to moderate the forum. We really value the positive, supportive tone of the forums here and we want to keep them that way.

We'll be watching this space.

Happy posting

Sean Fishpool
Runner's World
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Comments

  • Nice one Sean! Just a quick query though. Would it be possible to "fix" the forum so that people can't change their password? At least we'll then know who to ignore. Mind you, if you do, give us a bit of notice. Not sure I want to go to my grave as "A Chimp Writes"
  • BarklesBarkles ✭✭✭
    Well done Sean. There's no place for that here. We're too nice.
  • MuttleyMuttley ✭✭✭
    Much appreciated.
  • NessieNessie ✭✭✭
    What did I miss??????? Oh, I knew I should have logged on yesterday!
  • It was horrible Nessie. Be glad you missed it.
  • Thanks Sean

    It does raise the issue of RW´s monitoring of the forum at weekends. Not sure who or how, but in the light of what we saw at the weekend, perhaps this should be addressed?
  • I agree Lizzy. Am I the only one, for example, who thinks it is strange that you can post messages and keep your identity secret? Why would anyone want to do that? I'm not talking about making addresses or phone numbers available or even the part of the country they live in. All you need is a persons name and subscription number. In that way, anonymous rubbish such as we saw this week-end would not be possible. Also, what is to stop gone away turning up in another guise (my earlier message refers)?
  • Glad I was off the forum due to an IT meltdown at the weekend if it meant I was removed from the temptation to get wound up about an irresponsible post.

    I was impressed with the forum moderation last week. A dodgy header appeared, I reported it, and it was pulled within minutes. I received a welcome acknowledgement from Sean Fishpool too. It's never going to be possible to keep rogue posters away, but I think these forums do pretty well.
  • Thanks Sean, to echo the others is there any way to stop regular offenders from using another name and logging in again?
  • I have to say I disagree with Chimp on this point. Anonymity on these kind of boards is important. More to the point, anything else in unenforceable - how do you make people enter their real names? And requiring a subscriber number would bar probably the majority of people (especially new people joining - I'd been posting here for several months before I got around to taking out a subscription). Likewise, 24 x 7 monitoring of the board just isn't realistic.

    Ultimately, I think the system works. Some idiot posts, he gets reported to RW, they remove the post. The worst case scenario is that this happens on Friday night, so the messages are there for two and a bit days. As V-rap says, you can never completely eliminate the idiots, and this board has probably the lowest "idiot factor" of any forum type site I've seen.

    Gone Away's offensive comments showed up the worst in the way that people can treat each other. The rest of this board generally shows the best. Sadly maintaining the openness of this site means that people like him are free to post those kinds of comments - I think we just have to accept, and manage it by the community showing its disapproval (as certainly happened in this case), and RW doing some judicious editing. But I wouldn't like to see any general changes made to restrict the anonymity of people on this board (and I speak as someone whose home address and mobile number is known to several here).

    venom
  • Venom,. I pretty much agree on most of your points. This is, by and large, a friendly forum and the vast majority behave. But as this week-ends events have shown, we cant be too complacent and if there are ways to prevent a repition we ought to, at least consider them. Where we do differ is your assertion that anonymity in these forums is important. Why? Its a runner's forum for petes sake. I take your point about enforceability though. I hadnt realised this forum wasn't subscription only.
  • Obviously, killing people with bombs is far worse than throwing inappropriate and insulting generalisations at an internet message board. Both stem from a similar root though - a lack of respect and tolerance for people.

    It's been said before of course, but blaming "Muslims" for these terrorist events is as nonsensical as blaming "Christians" or IRA bombings or indeed "all people with a letter E in their name" for starting wars in Europe.

    But why air these views here? There are (sadly) plenty of other places on the internet where you'll be able to post these messages, and get lots of support. Or is it more fun to wind people up?

    Anyway, I'm stopping here as I've tried to keep out of this conversation. It only brings out my venomous side...
  • Damn, missed it! Can anyone give a clue as to the general subject matter?
  • Here we go again!!! Be honest Venom, gone away isnt your best argument for anonymity is he?? :-)
  • I'm starting to agree with you mate :-(
  • Yes I have changed my nickname a few times, generally on a whim. The question is, how do YOU know gone away??
  • To be fair, Chimp, clicking on your name shows one previous nickname. Not that I'm implying that's a problem - there's no reason for that to be wrong (apart from the fact it can get a bit confusing for everyone!)

    On the subject of anonymity, there's a lot of people out there who are very wary about putting personal details about themselves into a public forum, and I fully understand that wariness. I fear that making any attempt to remove anonymity will in the first instance reduce the number of people who feel comfortable posting here. That doesn't benefit any of us.

    Of course, any freedom (however minor) can be exploited. As a friend of mine used to say "and therein lies the problem"
  • For those of you who dont know, this all started because a Muslim had the temerity to how she could fit her training around Ramadan. His message on this thread is quite considered compared to some on the original thread (trust me it is). One thing I do agree with gone away on though. Its a pity the original thread isnt still there. You could have all made your mind then.
  • Cheers Venom. Thought I was being stalked -lol!
  • Gee , good gief Gone Away -- Can't you do as your name suggests ? Lighten up buddy, this is a place to unwind. Do you actually run ? If so you could do with a good 20 miler to unwind.
    You get extremists in every single religion my friend not just in Islam. Christian extremists have a lot to answer for aswell and I count myself as a christian.
    In every group of people you are going to have the good, bad and plain mad. WISE UP DUDE !

    I do not want to waste my time on correcting your obvous ignorance !
  • I would politely point out to "gone away" to note the name of this site, i.e. "Runners World". Perhaps this isn't the best forum to indulge in racist tirades against one particular group of people, in this case Muslims. People of all backgrounds visit this site for the purpose of conversing with other like minded people on the subject of running, not politics. Might I suggest that we try to steer ourselves back into that direction and leave the politics for a more appropriate forum. I'm sure that will make for a less stressful time for us all.
  • Well put guys. Please do us all a favour "Gone Away" and keep your non-running opinions to yourself!
  • I think that, like most bigots, Gone Away's arguments are so illogical that you can't frame any logical argument in response. No point debating with you, so yeah, why don't you go away.

  • Oh, I thought you'd Gone Away. But your back. What a shame.
  • I can't help being suspicious about this. Is this "Gone Away" character a wind up?
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