Any one on two wheels is a friend

well, i stopped coming here for a few months because I got sick of all the bullshit and reflexive shit-slinging, and I only came back to sell some stuff so I see deadjoe's point.

and now you bastards are destroying my productivity again.

fucks-off to meme thread

@bringmemyfix
I'm not hanging out with consumers, i'm hanging out with and speaking to fixed gear cyclists from around the country that have ALL expressed the same opinion, not a single person has said anything other than this is an unfriendly place. I'm not confusing anything with anything else, I worked in community development for years, I know exactly how minorities (not ethnic!) negatively affect the majority.

But they are consumers, aren't they. They've all stumbled across the forum during the hunt for bike bling. That's not how this place started. You could argue that we're like a colony that's being plundered for its resources. That's what it often feels like inside the community.

I've worked in community-based organisations too, and it's prejudice that destroys things - the lazy and frightened mode of thought that takes a negative perception and projects it onto everything ambiguous, whilst ignoring all that contradicts the perceptual paradigm.

i think once you're in and you put some time and effort into contributing go the forum where you can everyone is VERY friendly -

i would generally say the reason we have this reputation is the witchhunt attitude to newbies who waltz in and try and rip of a member of the community - if you think about it, it's quite sweet really - We're just a very protective forum - you can't argue with it's members dedication to the community and the education of every aspect of bicycles - just maybe a little snobby :)

also fucks-off to meme thread

Deadjoe

I like this place probably because of the things you don't.

I enjoy the banter etc. It's also why I enjoy places like the faithfanzine forum, a smallish community of people with a shared interest who also get out and meet each other. The face time we have here makes the interactions very different.

Read the 50/14 thread for an example of us laughing and crying, bitching and fighting but still working as a community. It is a perfect example of how this is actually one of the most genuinely friendly online communities.

http://www.lfgss.com/thread34433.html

How do you know they stumbled across the forum looking for bike bling? I, for one, first came here looking for information about decent parts needed to put together a fixed gear bike. Generalisation?

If ever there was a need for some HTFU...

It's just a forum, about bikes. There were forums about bikes before this one, and there'll be forums about bikes after this one. Some people get more from it than others, the choice exists.

And not everyone on two wheels is a friend, there are some right idiots on bikes out there and I don't wish to extend the hand of friendship to them at this point in time.

You could almost do with a "take comments with a pinch of salt" type warning for users who browse and are not registered - to try and explain that the banter is just that and not to feel put off when someone rips you to shreds for your first post.

I quite enjoy the slanging and straight talking - I hate all those sycophantic forums where you post something up and no one is willing to criticise it, but as an outsider (and particularly those outside london i think) people do often comment about how they read the forum for info and sales but don't want to join in because of all the bitching

How do you know they stumbled across the forum looking for bike bling? I, for one, first came here looking for information about decent parts needed to put together a fixed gear bike. Generalisation?

he means bike bits and he's right - every single member is here as a consumer - it would be very odd to be a member and not own a bicycle or every buy any bike part

I quite enjoy the slanging and straight talking - I hate all those sycophantic forums where you post something up and no one is willing to criticise it, but as an outsider (and particularly those outside london i think) people do often comment about how they read the forum for info and sales but don't want to join in because of all the bitching

Exactly my point.

And DJ, quit banging on with deadjoe... I started the thread, try me instead.

this forum is like the dad i never had =')

by that i mean my dad was constantly nice to me

Best thread ever.

FACT

Welcome DeadJoe and thank you.

this forum is like the dad i never had =')

by that i mean my dad was constantly nice to me

hehehe

One of the most brilliant things about this place are the lateral posts, which you can only really understand after reading people for some time. Thats why thread drift is so funny, and where else can you get punning threads so good.
If people dont like to read and get to know it, then maybe they need to just go somewhere thats easier,
right, if anyone else mentions how unfriendly this forum is Im gonna do time.

I'd like to just point out that I just shared my own opinion on my blog and got a pingback which I responded to, I opted out of having to trawl through the bitching and shit slinging to find information here a long time ago. I'm gonna have to unsubscribe from this thread because I literally don't have time, I've got work to do. I'm not ignoring anyone or anything else, I'm just leaving for the same reason I did before. I'll link the LFGSS text in my blog post to here and people can make up their own minds.

Cheers,
Ty

Fuck off jason and your friendly invites for a weekend out of london. You are not helping our reputation.

VB, Deadjoe invited us to debate the issue with him, so I have done so.

Deadjoe

Read that thread and then log off.

Deadjoe

Read that thread and then fuck off.

Oh, James

How do you know they stumbled across the forum looking for bike bling? I, for one, first came here looking for information about decent parts needed to put together a fixed gear bike. Generalisation?

"decent parts" = bike bling.

Pointless semantic argument.

Want me or not I’m here now :-p

This feels a lot like the scene in See No Evil, Hear No Evil when Richard Prior says “I’M BLACK?!?”. This forum has a really terrible reputation, I’m yet to speak to anyone that has said anything positive about it other than it being a good place to get used parts if you just grin and bare the criticism from some people.

Comments like "I have yet to work out if he is like Paul Merton - a clever person trying to appear stupid or just an idiot.” being thrown around without a thought are the problem. I didn’t speak to the guys on the booth at the Cycle Show because they were busy but if I had I’m 100% sure they would have been very nice but I can’t help but feel that everyone that will visit here after their good experience at the show will be shocked to find that no matter what they say SOMEONE will treat them like shit and take the piss out of everything they say and ask advice on. Yes, all forums are like that but I’ve visited a lot of forums over the years and the few dickheads here really spoil it for me, to the point where I just don’t bother.

I’ve run a couple of forums and I know how hard they are to moderate, and I’m sure that they shouldn’t be moderated by a God figure deciding what people can and can’t say but some people here need to be reined in, know what I’m saying? I ummmed and arrred about saying what I did on my blog but I decided that I’d had enough bad experiences here to warrant what I said. I must point out that I did also say that the 2 spokecards were both ‘cool’ and ‘helpful’.

If you have any beef with me please open a new thread of PM me cause thread hijacking and going waaaaaaaay off topic are two other things that stop me from coming here and I’d like to respect the OP.

Cheers :-)
Ty
The Foot Down

Bloody hell, you're hard work.

Wasn't our first community produced product the "WAC" sticker?

If the underlying reason for this thread is to ban DJ and Pisti then I vote a resounding "YES".

My 2p's worth, from a recently joined member: Google searches led me here initially and after doing a bit of reading on LFGSS I could see it wasn't a forum to come if you're a bit sensitive to criticism or can't cope with being on the receiving end of banter (some of which can seem harsh at times if you're new to internet forums no doubt but then it does mention this in the members intro).

I've been pleasantly surprised how much I've enjoyed contributing here and have felt any banter I've been the subject of was fair or at least not malicious or nasty and those times when I've given as good as I've got it's been taken in good spirit.

Other forums have their own failings, be it that they're over-moderated, that everyone is so nicey nicey with each other that the most ridiculously moronic posts go unchallenged or they are so afraid to discuss anything controversial that any topic beyond what we all enjoyed on TV last night is slapped down by over-anxious cliques of long time members who see it as their duty to police their forum with a rod of iron.

Every forum has it's faults but IMO this place provides a good balance of opinions and views, provides a great service to its members and the wider cycling community where it can and polices itself pretty damn well for such a large forum that by its nature comprises a broad spectrum of character types.

Its not playschool here but if want discussion on virtually every different facet of cycling and up to date info on all of them plus loads more to boot you could do a lot worse than this place I reckon.

Wasn't our first community produced product the "WAC" sticker?

Yes, but that was not directed at other cyclists, it was directed at car drivers.