Any one on two wheels is a friend

I know we are a community, and I partook of the generousity of that community last night at souths and it was a marvellous thing.

Deadjoe has a point, the forum can be spectacularly inflammatory and competitive in terms of sarcastic, funny, stupid comments and it takes a while to get into the flow of that, some threads are more stupid than others, some have a bit more moderation, usually from the OP, when I read the comments on the blog I immediately was protective of the forum, and wanted to comment, but then decided not to.

I don't know how to put the genie back in the bottle, or whether we can. But the forum grows ever larger and I feel for good or ill, the tone has been set, and everyone has fallen in step with that tone. I generally feel those that think the forum is unfriendly are the ones who aren't based in london, who never get the chance to meet up personally, or be included in the rides, events, that we organise as this seems to mitigate the harshness of the banter on here.

I was saying to skully on the way to souths last night (in relation to the amount of cyclists there are on the roads, but its relevant to this point) that its like being a fan of a band, which are really cool and underground, and only those select few know about it, then they become a big success and everyone loves them, so you fall a little out of love with them because of all the "dicks" who are now fans, and the attention they are getting, and for me the forum is like that, it used to be this really small community, that has grown and grown and grown and I think a lot of people have fallen out of love with the forum, and so calming presences are lost and you just get left with those who can shout the loudest, or swear the filthiest, with no comeback so they by default become leaders, and people follow.

I don't know how to change it, and I'm not sure I'd want to, as those who fail to "get" the forum I'd like to believe realise that it is their loss. We are a vibrant community who are putting ourselves out there and making it clear that cycling is fun, it always was, and always will be and we will continue to have fun on our bikes, whether you like the fun we're having or not...

Had to do that...I read a sentence just the other day that was two and a half pages long - was written by a Spaniard, but the character was british. Clearly mocking our punctuation. Bastards.