Announcement: Changes to non-cycling discussion on Bike Hub

[Chris_]

1 minute ago, Gen said:

Which one was the first to go.. I feel a minute of silence is needed in these situations?

It was spoken about a couple posts above.

It had a pretty short lifespan. No tears necessary. (not this time...)

[Gen]

4 minutes ago, Vetplant said:

TNT created a petition to keep Off-Topic.

I think it got to two posts...

aaaaaah,

 

So how much time did the admins say they have to moderate...????

[Gen]

4 minutes ago, Chris_ said:

It was spoken about a couple posts above.

It had a pretty short lifespan. No tears necessary. (not this time...)

aaah..  

 

saving tears for another time

 

[Paul Ruinaard]

Sad to see these go - I learned a lot in side threads and found it the real community rather than just the cycling related topics.

[SwissVan]

7 minutes ago, Vetplant said:

TNT created a petition to keep Off-Topic.

I think it got to two posts...

Clearly the regime feel stronger about that than hijacking of threads....

[Vetplant]

7 minutes ago, SwissVan said:

Clearly the regime feel stronger about that than hijacking of threads....

This moment genuinely feels like back in school, where we would go out of your way to break the rules just for the fun of doing something that was against the "system". Problem is that the "teachers" in this case can read every, single, plan and mitigate against it immediately, nipping it in the bud before it gains momentum.

Might be best to make peace with this and go look for NCR discussions elsewhere.

Edited June 10, 2021 by Vetplant
Acronyms

[SwissVan]

7 minutes ago, Vetplant said:

This moment genuinely feels like back in school, where we would go out of your way to break the rules just for the fun of doing something that was against the "system". Problem is that the "teachers" in this case can read every, single, plan and mitigate against it immediately, nipping it in the bud before it gains momentum.

Might be best to make peace with this and go look for NCR discussions elsewhere.

Na kof it, i've been hubbing since 2005 not going to start again

Just get used to it

[Gen]

1 minute ago, Vetplant said:

This moment genuinely feels like back in school, where we would go out of your way to break the rules just for the fun of doing something that was against the "system". Problem is that the "teachers" in this case can read every, single, plan and mitigate against it immediately, nipping it in the bud before it gains momentum.

Might be best to make peace with this and go look for NRC discussions elsewhere.

 

at a stage we'd come here for a lot of advice on tech and training and and and and.. but I think with GCN's growth a lot of people just go there (if they know about it)  there are other forums for racing  etc, twitter for race news and updates etc. not too sure Bike Hub has enough content or exclusive content to keep people on just bike stuff, that's why I said I think they may be looking into growing their market place and trying to grow their brand to actually make some cash, to be clear there is nothing wrong with that at all.. ( I could be completely off the mark here).

 

It's just sad that the sense of humour has left cause most of us come here to just have a chat and chill out (mostly) yes some days we have Fridays on Tuesdays ... 

 

It is what it is.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Patchelicious]

9 minutes ago, Vetplant said:

This moment genuinely feels like back in school, where we would go out of your way to break the rules just for the fun of doing something that was against the "system". Problem is that the "teachers" in this case can read every, single, plan and mitigate against it immediately, nipping it in the bud before it gains momentum.

Might be best to make peace with this and go look for NCR discussions elsewhere.

Exactly and then tjank when you get detention.... 

[The Ouzo]

2 minutes ago, Gen said:

 

at a stage we'd come here for a lot of advice on tech and training and and and and.. but I think with GCN's growth a lot of people just go there (if they know about it)  there are other forums for racing  etc, twitter for race news and updates etc. not too sure Bike Hub has enough content or exclusive content to keep people on just bike stuff, that's why I said I think they may be looking into growing their market place and trying to grow their brand to actually make some cash, to be clear there is nothing wrong with that at all.. ( I could be completely off the mark here).

 

It's just sad that the sense of humour has left cause most of us come here to just have a chat and chill out (mostly) yes some days we have Fridays on Tuesdays ... 

 

It is what it is.

 

 

 

 

 

 

GCN has also changed. They used to be informative to a slightly higher level of rider, now they seem to be catering to the rookie rider just getting into the sport.

I have not done the paid subs so cant comment what is behind the paywall.

[Gen]

2 minutes ago, Patchelicious said:

Exactly and then tjank when you get detention.... 

dammit I had something very funny to say about detention,, but sadly it's NCR related or on topic.;

 

flip man.????

[Vetplant]

1 minute ago, Patchelicious said:

Exactly and then tjank when you get detention.... 

Nope. Got a lot of hidings though....

But I knew when to draw the line and stay out of the Big K%^ ideas that got guys into big trouble.

[Gen]

9 minutes ago, ouzo said:

GCN has also changed. They used to be informative to a slightly higher level of rider, now they seem to be catering to the rookie rider just getting into the sport.

I have not done the paid subs so cant comment what is behind the paywall.

their content is really impressive and they have access to just about everything and anyone.. everything you need to know or interested in is there.. 

[Patchelicious]

13 minutes ago, Vetplant said:

Nope. Got a lot of hidings though....

But I knew when to draw the line and stay out of the Big K%^ ideas that got guys into big trouble.

Much preferred the option of hidings to detention. Was rather annoyed when they took that away when I was in Std 4

Edited June 10, 2021 by Patchelicious

[Vetplant]

8 minutes ago, Patchelicious said:

Much preferred the option of hidings to detention. Was rather annoyed when they took that away when I was in Std 4

Hidings were strictly speaking no longer allowed. But we were given the option of taking the hiding or having them call your parents instead.

Easy choice

#Platteland

[Matt]

1 hour ago, Gen said:

 

at a stage we'd come here for a lot of advice on tech and training and and and and.. but I think with GCN's growth a lot of people just go there (if they know about it)  there are other forums for racing  etc, twitter for race news and updates etc. not too sure Bike Hub has enough content or exclusive content to keep people on just bike stuff, that's why I said I think they may be looking into growing their market place and trying to grow their brand to actually make some cash, to be clear there is nothing wrong with that at all.. ( I could be completely off the mark here).

 

It's just sad that the sense of humour has left cause most of us come here to just have a chat and chill out (mostly) yes some days we have Fridays on Tuesdays ... 

 

It is what it is.

@Gen this reply isn't directed at you specifically but you raise some points I've seen others question and perhaps some further context and history is needed.

It's quite clear from the reactions of Hubbers that Bike Hub means very different things to different groups of users, we know this but it's often surprising to us just how different that can be.

Here is some context from this side of the curtain. 

Bike Hub began life as a rudimentary "message board" in 2004. Since then it has evolved, partly from our input, but mostly shaped by users and what you've used Bike Hub for. 

As early as 2008 the predominant use of Bike Hub was to buy and sell bikes and gear. Back then we had a simple Buy & Sell forum which quickly became a torrent of ads that was near impossible to search or filter. This was the opportunity that lead me to turn Bike Hub from a hobby into a business in 2010.

The Buy & Sell forum became a purpose built Classifieds section with categories and filtering. We've continued to build on this over time as user demands evolved. 

Later we began publishing some content. Predominantly press releases, but at a stage we produced a healthy amount of original content in reviews, interviews, etc. While we enjoyed creating content and without tooting our own horns did a decent job of it on original content, in a world where everything is available online from some serious international players, as a primary revenue driver for the business it felt like a losing battle. This content pre-occupation led us to all but ignore what always the "big opportunity" for Bike Hub. 

About three years ago now we made the decision to re-focus our efforts on the Classifieds. In numbers even then it was the engine room of Bike Hub, accounting for well over 60% of traffic (now well over 75% of traffic). 

All through this journey the forums have lived on and evolved in their own way. We saw the arrival of big social, Facebook, Twitter, Strava, Youtube and even the likes of WhatsApp begin to service some of the role Bike Hub played in connecting cyclists with each other and information. And no doubt other platforms will do similar in future. Despite this, we feel strongly that the forums can and will continue to add value in specific contexts in a way that these other platforms can't.

We know we can't be everything to everyone, and trying to be would see our demise. GCN, Pinkbike, even some Youtubers and many others... there are so many great sources of cycling content in 2021, all globally available. Even on the Classifieds front we're cautiously aware of the likes of Facebook marketplace and other upstarts.

The bottom line is that in order to succeed and thrive we have to focus, play to our strengths. Our core strength lies in Classifieds. Of course the community that surrounds Bike Hub is shaped in part by forum activity, the content we create and other softer factors. The move to reduce the scope of non-cycling discussion will without doubt change the dynamics of the forums. We expect post counts to drop, at least in the short term, but ultimately the move is one in favour of quality (relevance to our domain - cycling) over quantity.