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And there you have it


Square Wheels

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You called it...  I wonder if some of the LF faithful will cross over.

This is a great place and thanks for creating it but I do miss the good ole days when the Bicycling forums were a vibrant place.  I learned a lot from folks like Velobro, Monkey and Doc Raigarn and many others. Some of the dust ups were epic as well.

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I've joined a dozen or so internet forums since then, but the BLF was my first and they say you never forget your first.

Hm.  I wonder if there are any parallels to real life in that statement.

This news doesn't make me sad, compared to the sadness I felt when I realized the LF wasn't the fun place I remembered (not even judging based on the technical issues).  Those were certainly good times, and so many interesting people along the way.  I wish them well (most of them anyway).

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I kept posting for awhile, but eventually the software just made it too hard for me to log on.  But I agree, I learned a lot about pro racing tactics from Gavia, and I met a lot of people who became friends both online and in real life.  Makes me even happier that you founded this place, SW.

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1 minute ago, TrentonMakes said:

Am I correct in observing that this was posted at the LF an hour ago and no one has commented?  I didn't realize it was that much of a ghost town.

Although I can't connect on my cell I check the site every few days and there is very little activity.  Been that way for a while.

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8 minutes ago, Longjohn said:

Between their crappy software and their forum bullies it was bound to happen

One person in particular soured me on the place andeven though I have log in issues I dont bother trying to log in as Im sick of that dude.  I'm sure a few others left as well because of him... I'd love to see Donkpow, Tom, Torch, 12 String and a few of the 9ther hold outs over here.  

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53 minutes ago, ChrisL said:

Although I can't connect on my cell I check the site every few days and there is very little activity.  Been that way for a while.

Connectivity with mobile devices works now, I found that out last week after months of not bothering to try. Ironic they they fixed that now after allowing it to die on the vine for so long.

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11 minutes ago, JerrySTL said:

That place used to be great! Then they had too many software upgrades that either failed or were much worse than the previous software.

It became obvious (it seemed to me anyway) that years ago Rodale had no real interest in their forums.  The evidence was the shift to the newer software that was more difficult to use, the lack of responsiveness to suggestions or complaints, and the lack of concern when people fled their forums for other places with no effort to regain them.

Nominally, one would think Rodale's business goal was to keep people engaged in their forums and thus keep them close to their products and close to their advertisers.  If that were indeed the case, they would have designed and maintained their websites for seamless and intuitive use.

But everything Rodale did appeared to ignore that 'common sense' line of thought; to use the traditional business principles that attract and keep those who have the disposable income that fuels the profitability of a business.  Which is, after all, the whole reason for being in business because without profitability a business ceases to exist.

So if Rodale's behavior ran contrary to accepted business practices for building a profitable company, then it is natural to ask the question 'What is driving their behavior?' A possible (and perhaps the only) logical conclusion is that Rodale decided the forums were not crucial to their business success and deserved no significant investment of resources.  In fact their behavior indicates they'd essentially given up on the forums but were keeping them as a 'legacy' product, the kind of product that generates a little revenue with virtually no attention.  And to a company that is flopping like a fish, even a little revenue for next to no effort is better than a stick in the eye.

I saw it not as problem in and of itself, but as a symptom indicating Rodale was in trouble. When a magazine publishing company turns its back on one of its electronic outlets for reaching potential customers and for keeping the ones it has, that is to me an indication that management has priorities improperly ordered.

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7 hours ago, Thaddeus Kosciuszko said:

It became obvious (it seemed to me anyway) that years ago Rodale had no real interest in their forums.  The evidence was the shift to the newer software that was more difficult to use, the lack of responsiveness to suggestions or complaints, and the lack of concern when people fled their forums for other places with no effort to regain them.

Nominally, one would think Rodale's business goal was to keep people engaged in their forums and thus keep them close to their products and close to their advertisers.  If that were indeed the case, they would have designed and maintained their websites for seamless and intuitive use.

But everything Rodale did appeared to ignore that 'common sense' line of thought; to use the traditional business principles that attract and keep those who have the disposable income that fuels the profitability of a business.  Which is, after all, the whole reason for being in business because without profitability a business ceases to exist.

So if Rodale's behavior ran contrary to accepted business practices for building a profitable company, then it is natural to ask the question 'What is driving their behavior?' A possible (and perhaps the only) logical conclusion is that Rodale decided the forums were not crucial to their business success and deserved no significant investment of resources.  In fact their behavior indicates they'd essentially given up on the forums but were keeping them as a 'legacy' product, the kind of product that generates a little revenue with virtually no attention.  And to a company that is flopping like a fish, even a little revenue for next to no effort is better than a stick in the eye.

I saw it not as problem in and of itself, but as a symptom indicating Rodale was in trouble. When a magazine publishing company turns its back on one of its electronic outlets for reaching potential customers and for keeping the ones it has, that is to me an indication that management has priorities improperly ordered.

It's a shame because I loved the old Rodale and the original Organic Gardening mag.  Even Bicycling mag used to be good, I swear!  Now I have looked through a little of Men's Health and PRevention and found them to be at least better than Bicycling.  It is pretty nice that at least they kept unbroken posts all the way back to 2006.  Oh well.  Change is inevitable, but still usually bad. :D

 

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10 hours ago, Thaddeus Kosciuszko said:

When a magazine publishing company turns its back on one of its electronic outlets for reaching potential customers and for keeping the ones it has, that is to me an indication that management has priorities improperly ordered.

Considering they let the magazine - its core business was dead tree publishing - go down the crapper, it's no surprise they treated the forum like a case of the clap.

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You know what?  I am not sad that it is gone, and I will tell you why.

First, the forum I know was gone a long time ago, so I mourned its loss a long ways back.  Second, this was a mercy killing, Rodale was shirley going to do this anyway, so it is a good thing to finally get it done.  Third, most people are already here, and the ones that didn't come over now have another opportunity to rejoin civilized society.

So it is good all the way around, yay!

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13 hours ago, Thaddeus Kosciuszko said:

It became obvious (it seemed to me anyway) that years ago Rodale had no real interest in their forums.  The evidence was the shift to the newer software that was more difficult to use, the lack of responsiveness to suggestions or complaints, and the lack of concern when people fled their forums for other places with no effort to regain them.

Nominally, one would think Rodale's business goal was to keep people engaged in their forums and thus keep them close to their products and close to their advertisers. 

So from a business perspective why should they care?  They have a subscription base of how many? ( I have no idea but it's many many).  They sell how many copies on the newsstand every month?  Many more.  The BI forum was an active group for a few handfuls at any one time.  The forum community represented a small handful of numbers that complained about the company and made fun of the magazine.  I would not want them representing my subscriber base.  My opinion is the forum should have been launched long ago.  It supported neither their physical magazine or the online version. 

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14 hours ago, Road Runner said:

Very true.  Save the text.  That link won't work a few days from now.

You can also try using a web archive service such as http://web.archive.org/

You can initiate an archive of a page through their site. I've never tried it with message board pages. There might be some reason it won't work.

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