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#1 baddog

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Posted 25 November 2014 - 21:21

Could I suggest to the Racing Comments mods a possible change in policy, or more accurately a return to the old ways.

 

I refer to the season long rolling 'topic' threads which now dominate the forum. 'Hamilton vs Rosberg 2014 threads 1-12' etc.

 

These are not really forum topics in the normal forum sense, they are mini-forums in their own right and I feel them to be exclusionary to newer/occasional members and discouraging of genuinely varied discussions. They tend to devolve into months long conversations between the usual suspects and are extremely circular. What also happens is that when an incident happens or a topic comes up it just becomes part of the whole general ongoing mishmash rather than a separate thread which is easy to see and comment in. A major incident or issue will be on pages 125-126 of a thread where anyone coming back to it will never find it.

 

Is there some way these epic threads could be discouraged in the future in favour of threads about one thing? Most discussion forums including this one have always consisted of short term threads lasting generally a few days on tightly specified topics. Occasionally a longer lasting thread like 'here are tables updated every race of relative qualifying' or something like that or the caption jokes threads are cool of course.

 

If people want to discuss a Hamilton/Rosberg incident at the German grand prix 2015 I would say a topic specific thread on the topic which stops once that topic is exhausted would be a good idea.

 

Shaun



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#2 MortenF1

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Posted 25 November 2014 - 21:43

Agreed! 
and I know many more does, it's just a question of them all seeing this thread, so they can chime in here.



#3 Risil

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Posted 25 November 2014 - 21:51

I'd go along with that. I think Racing Comments improved a lot when the big driver threads were broken up.

 

But surely comparing the performance of two teammates is a legitimate topic for discussion? However much it's abused in practice (and qualifying and the races and all the times in between).


Edited by Risil, 25 November 2014 - 21:52.


#4 baddog

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Posted 25 November 2014 - 23:02

A thread comparing performance at a race makes sense.. and the sort of 'mid season scorecard' threads that used to always happen are cool too.



#5 Disgrace

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Posted 25 November 2014 - 23:02

What also happens is that when an incident happens or a topic comes up it just becomes part of the whole general ongoing mishmash rather than a separate thread which is easy to see and comment in. A major incident or issue will be on pages 125-126 of a thread where anyone coming back to it will never find it.

 

Are you sure incidents don't get their own threads? The biggest incidents between Rosberg/Hamilton 2014 as per your example received threads of their own:

 

Monaco 2014 - did Rosberg park it?

 

Team orders: did Hamilton make the right call?

 

Rosberg/Hamilton: crash and aftermath discussion.

 

Perhaps in a longer run, posters will refer back to those incidents in the team-mate threads. But if that's part of a broader point, surely that belongs in the broader team-mate thread?



#6 baddog

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Posted 25 November 2014 - 23:56

Exceptional incidents do sometimes get threads still, and I know once a thread exists the mods try very hard to keep discussion of it there. I'm proposing it is better to do it that way all the time. This is how it used to be here.



#7 Buttoneer

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Posted 26 November 2014 - 00:18

It is how it used to be done, but that was before we were getting 20,000 posts over a race weekend.  The forum is considerably busier than it used to be.

 

I completely agree with you baddog - it's the way things should be done, but I'm not sure how we achieve that if the members themselves don't take the initiative and start a thread to discuss the issue.  Often, there are two or three pages of interleaved posts on a subject before it has started to look like a matter for separate discussion at all.  The lack of specific topics means most of what might be an interesting topic is quite impenetrable or buried.

 

Certainly we can commit to trying to encourage the separate threads when they are created but I will guarantee that within a few more posts here we're going to get complaints that we should have subforums and objections that it's much better to have all the story in one place (or a small selection of parts I-IV or whateva).



#8 baddog

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Posted 26 November 2014 - 00:38

I agree it is largely up to members to start threads on individual topics, and I for one will try harder next year. I guess we could not have a thread that is by its title the official season long thread for a driver pairing?



#9 P123

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Posted 26 November 2014 - 07:26

You would only end up with multiple topics discussing the same thing- driver v driver, race thread, specific incident (sometimes no doubt trivial). The driver v driver topics do tend to burst into life at certain times, but on those occasions you wouldn't be missing anything. More often than not they are just a battle between fans, and at least it keeps that in one place.

#10 pacificquay

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Posted 27 November 2014 - 15:08

It's good that the powers that be accept that new threads should be started. A few years ago it seemed to be seen as a cardinal sin.



#11 Buttoneer

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Posted 27 November 2014 - 19:04

It's a bit like steering an aircraft though.  Now people think that it's OK, we end up with loads of threads for everything.

 

"Thread to discuss Alonso's eyebrow"

"Thread for discussion of Alonso's other eyebrow"

"The official Alonso monobrow thread for discussing whether he just shaves that bit in the middle"



#12 baddog

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Posted 27 November 2014 - 19:37

At the moment mods seem to end up forking off the actual threads from the mutant driver thread after events



#13 SophieB

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Posted 27 November 2014 - 19:52

I guess we could not have a thread that is by its title the official season long thread for a driver pairing?

 

How would that be different to what we have now?  :confused:



#14 baddog

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Posted 28 November 2014 - 03:21

I said NOT have such a thread. right now we have a hamilton-rosberg 2014 thread which becomes its own mini-forum. I would prefer shorter more tight topic threads than that.



#15 SophieB

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Posted 28 November 2014 - 05:38

Oh I see. Well, I guess I can't read.

I'm not sure having lots of individual threads instead like, presumablÅ· for example 'Hamilton vs Rosberg 2015, Monza round', would give you what you want, though. I think all you'd get would be a very large proportion of the front page of RC filled with the team mate threads as new race weekends happened, but people also still wanted to discuss the old ones.

#16 noikeee

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Posted 28 November 2014 - 10:30

I say keep the big team-mate threads as they are, they're their own little circus in an alternate reality and you wouldn't want it to spill out into the rest. Bit like containing Ebola.



#17 MortenF1

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Posted 28 November 2014 - 21:17

What I miss as a consequence of the vs-threads is that I no longer discuss or share views with all F1-fans. Take the Hamilton vs Rosberg-thread for instance, at times it's just a circle jerk and the same is going on in the Alo vs Rai one. 

The neutrals, which is often the best ones to have a discussion with, doesn't visit the vs-threads, is my impression. Those driver-only fans doesn't necessarily have a broader knowledge of the sport, cruel or pompous as it may sound.



#18 Option1

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Posted 30 November 2014 - 23:06

I don't get this place sometimes.  There seems to be a, umm shall we say "reluctance" in allowing people to actually talk about racing.  "Oh no, can't start a thread about that."  "All must be in one giant, impenetrable thread."  It's okay to talk about team mates, but not about other drivers.  Silly beyond extreme to my mind.  So what if a thread is about the aerodynamic properties of Fred's eyebrow?  How does that harm anyone?

 

Neil



#19 Afterburner

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Posted 01 December 2014 - 00:27

I say keep the big team-mate threads as they are, they're their own little circus in an alternate reality and you wouldn't want it to spill out into the rest. Bit like containing Ebola.

Agreed. I think the forum would be better off if they were banned all together, but that won't get to the heart of the problem which is the fact that some people simply can't resist the Team Delusion wars that go on in the scorecards. Think it'd be best to move them into their own subforum, personally, but that's just me; I'd prefer it if F1 itself were in a subforum to RC, having spent a year in threads dedicated to other forms of racing and realising that they're much more enjoyable than the F1 sector of the forum (my opinion completely, of course).

 

EDIT: If you moved the scorecards into a subforum, I'd say go ahead and bring back driver v. driver in the same 'comparisons' subforum, too--then it can be kind of like one big happy asylum away from the rest of the forum. :p


Edited by Afterburner, 01 December 2014 - 00:29.


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#20 hassanov

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Posted 18 December 2014 - 06:24

looks good



#21 baddog

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Posted 19 December 2014 - 22:50

What I miss as a consequence of the vs-threads is that I no longer discuss or share views with all F1-fans. 

 

Just caught this.. that is how I feel too, the single threads devolve to a small number of people having a long term conversation. Inclusive is good!



#22 SlickMick

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Posted 21 February 2015 - 07:31

People who want to discuss a driver's pets, clothes, earrings, IQ, relationships etc. are going to do it anywhere and everywhere, unless there is a dedicated place for them (a place some people will knowingly gladly avoid). The versus threads are ruined, the car thread is a constant battle by the mods, the testing threads rapidly go downhill but luckily get back on track the following morning.
Also, has a maximum number of posts per day/week ever been considered?
- a lot of people can currently post dozens of times trying to ram home the same damn point,
- quality might be improved a little if people had to stop and think a bit more,
- the long threads are more like chat rooms and less like forum threads (see earlier comment re inclusivity).