General Discussion Triathlon Talk » Consolidate Iron Distance Training Talk into Tri Talk forum? Rss Feed  
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Consolidate Iron Distance Training Talk into Tri Talk forum?
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Merge Iron Distance Training with Tri Talk, preserving existing threads.26 Votes - [89.66%]
Keep Iron Distance Training as a separate forum.3 Votes - [10.34%]

2015-11-05 7:59 PM

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Master
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Columbus, Ohio
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Subject: Consolidate Iron Distance Training Talk into Tri Talk forum?
Hi all!
It's been awhile since I've done an iron distance race and have been active in this forum, but I'm doing work for BT again and helping with content and community building.

We responded to some suggestions from BTers to combine some of the smaller forums into Tri Talk so the discussion will be more lively with more people seeing the threads. We combined several of the smaller forums into Tri Talk. The response has been positive. (See here: http://www.beginnertriathlete.com/discussion/forums/thread-view.asp...

One of the great features of the site is that it uses keywords within a forum thread to suggest "related topics." With this awesome feature in place, it's easier than ever to find topics that are related to a very specific discussion. Naturally, that cuts down on the need to have a separate forum for every sub-group of triathletes.

That said, there have been some requests to combine Iron Distance Training Talk into the regular Tri Talk forum.

What do you think?



2015-11-06 7:40 AM
in reply to: Guest

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Extreme Veteran
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Cypress, TX
Subject: RE: Consolidate Iron Distance Training Talk into Tri Talk forum?

I think it should be combined.

That stated, traffic to this site is probably about 1/10th what it was prior to the site upgrade and redesign from a few years ago.  Look at the Iron Distance Race Group forums.  Remember when the yearly IMAZ and IMFL threads had thousands of posts?  IMFL is tomorrow and this year's thread has 78 posts, yep... 78!

BT has a traffic problem, not so much a forum aesthetics problem.  People left during the upgrade/redesign and never came back.  It's just that simple.  Not sure why that happened but it did.  I think it was a perfect storm.  a) The site was down a lot longer than planned so people moved on to other things.  b) The rise of social media sites like FB, Twitter, and Strava.  c) The moderation here was just ridiculous at times and rubbed a lot of people the wrong way. The heavy handed moderation did not allow for an even discussion and debate.  BT became a sanctuary for either new, bad, or unqualified coaches or individuals to dispense what was often times just terrible advice.  When called out on it there was often some moderator who would chime in and threaten to ban or suspend people for arguing.  I could understand if things got nasty or name calling ensued but that rarely ever happened here.  I understand BT was the antithesis of the perceived blunt snarkiness of Slowtwitch but that "everyone's a winner" and kumbaya attitude was almost as off-putting as the heavy handed moderation.  d) The number of tri participants has been on a steady decline the last few years and this site is called Beginner Triathlete.  Less beginner triathletes means less people going to a site called Beginner Triathlete.  e) The use of smart phones to access the internet.  BT's full site just doesn't play well with mobile phones and the mobile site just stinks.

I think the rise of Facebook, Strava, and Twitter use for athletes hit BT harder than Slowtwitch because ST caters more to the hardcore and I think the social media sites siphon off more of the casual triathlete/user, which is more of BT's user base than ST's.

I know you didn't ask about all that but merging forums is just putting a bandaid on a gunshot wound.  You need to figure out how to completely stop the bleeding.

2015-11-09 3:45 PM
in reply to: GMAN 19030

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Subject: RE: Consolidate Iron Distance Training Talk into Tri Talk forum?

63 views of this thread and only 2 votes????

2015-11-09 5:09 PM
in reply to: GMAN 19030

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Subject: RE: Consolidate Iron Distance Training Talk into Tri Talk forum?

Generally agree with GMAN on all of his issues.

But to the question on the table, IMO less forums . more forums.   The site got too balkanized, and I think a return to a small number of forums would go a ways to improving the site.

Then there's the two page thread in tri talk about whether pit bulls are dangerous or not.  The mods need to stay on top of that stuff.

2015-11-10 1:21 PM
in reply to: GMAN 19030

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Master
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Kailua, Hawaii
Subject: RE: Consolidate Iron Distance Training Talk into Tri Talk forum?
yes combine.

many of the long distance posts are in the general forum anyway.

2015-11-10 1:56 PM
in reply to: Guest

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Subject: RE: Consolidate Iron Distance Training Talk into Tri Talk forum?

Combine. Too many sub-forums...too many places to check/browse for interesting topics....takes too much time. 



2015-11-11 8:52 AM
in reply to: GMAN 19030

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Master
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Columbus, Ohio
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Subject: RE: Consolidate Iron Distance Training Talk into Tri Talk forum?
Thanks GMAN, we are listening.

There's another thread called "Where did all the BTers go" that has a lot of similar themes. We are working on making some changes around here.
USAT statistics show the sport is still very healthy, although not growing at quite the rate it was 5 or 10 years ago. There are still plenty of new triathletes, and we want them to find a home here with helpful forums, accurate articles, and good training plans.

The mobile responsive thing is a problem, and not one easily fixed, but it's on the radar.

Thanks for the feedback about the moderation. In the late '90s I was a member of a different site (not ST) that was friendly at first and later devolved into being mean and belittling to people like me who had the honest questions that beginners have. So I value the civility here, but it's good to hear about the downside to that, as well.

One person voted no, and I hope they will post and express why they think combining is a bad idea. Just in case there's something I haven't thought of. When I was doing iron distance in 2010, it was nice to have a separate forum, but at that time it wasn't as easy to see related threads, and there were more threads overall to sort through.
2015-11-29 1:43 PM
in reply to: alicefoeller

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Subject: RE: Consolidate Iron Distance Training Talk into Tri Talk forum?

Thanks for the feedback!  We just consolidated Iron distance into TriTalk.

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