eja_ bottecchia

This!

OldsCOOL

It was -40 at our house this morning.

eja_ bottecchia

I am a lawyer by profession. I get paid for my opinion. If I ain’t getting paid, I ain’t opining.

Is that simple.

Machka 

Stop when you stop having fun.

If it is irritating and annoying you and just isn't fun anymore ... stop and do something else for a while.

This goes for anything recreational ... bicycle riding, posting on internet, going to the gym, knitting ...

OldsCOOL

Seriously. You could always join a synchronized crochet’ing team.

raceboy

It's like booze or drugs. If you're asking yourself the question, it's probably time to stop.

shelbyfv

IronM

I’m a cyclist and love to discuss cycling. In the winter, however, it’s easy to feel isolated as we’re not out with our buddies so much. I can’t (and shouldn’t) bring up cycling at work or home. So, yeah – social media can be a fantastic outlet.

rydabent

I ride for weight control, exercise, and the pure fun of it. I simply do not find it fun riding below the temp of 65. I have for a bike club ride, but I prefer not to. I do not like riding unless I can ride in shorts.

During the 4 rotten winter months of Nov, Dec, Jan, and Feb, I go the the club and ride their recumbent exercise machine, since I ride bents. Even with a TV on it I still have to force myself to go. But ----------- I do pretty much maintain my leg strength over the winter. It also keeps about 10 pounds of fat off over those 4 months.

Gerryattrick

I think It's best to stop once I've had four or five pints of beer.

My responses then are not very considered!

Road Fan

I’m assuming the decision will be crowd-sourced. If I become too big of an idiot and expose that fact too frequently, I assume people will yell at me. Or, I get bored with this relative to my other interests.

canklecat

Are we talking U.S. pints or British pints?

Gerryattrick

I'm embarrassed to say, the British version.

But I will be cutting back this year, if I can find a pub that sells beer in US pint glasses.

Doug64

When I forget where I parked my bike.

canklecat

Meh. Some U.S. pubs are trying to pass off 12 oz glasses as pints now. Depends on the alcohol content. I'll admit, 8 oz glasses are fine for the 10% winter brew I'm fond of at a friend's tap room.

Wileyrat

I'm just one person here, by all means post whatever you want.

Jim from Boston

”How do we know when it's time to stop?”

I was amused that some of the replies thought it meant to stop cycling, and some thought it meant to stop posting to BF, or stop drinking. After about nine years posting on BikeForums, I have dropped off posting to the public forums. This has been a good thing for me and has freed up a lot of time, since I invested a lot of time and effort to post. I resumed a more active riding schedule this summer (though as usual too little with my busy work and family life and posting is at least vicarious cycling).

Nonetheless,I still read my favorite subforums daily, particularly posts by my many favored subscribers, as well as those I consider grumps. I still like to reply, as a PM, when I read a post that particularly resonates with me.

I have previously publicly posted to BF:In my Introduction to BF, I wrote

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jim from Boston

I stumbled upon this Forum from another totally unrelated Blog and I was quite impressed at the volume of activity and range of interests…I have been perusing this site for afew weeks and I have had several comments to make this so I hope to make useful contributions to future discussion threads, as well as glean from the comments of others.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jim from Boston

…I prefer more the experiential discussions on BF rather than the technical/materiel (hardware) Forums, so I daily visit General Discussion, Advocacy & Safety, Commuting, Fifty-Plus, Living Car Free, Road Cycling,Touring, and seasonally, Winter Cycling.

For me the heady days on the Forums were from about 2008 to 2016, in particular participating in the Fifty-Plus Annual Rides, which have since disappeared.

I think I have absorbed all the good advice I can for a complete and agreeable cycling lifestyle, and recently I have clicked on many fewer threads than before. In the past I have offered IMO several useful suggestions about cycling, particularly for winter and urban cycling, to multiple repetitive threads. They are usually lost in the morass of often scores of replies, both in agreement and dispute with mine.

I’m not especially motivated to read or write about rides in areas I will never visit, or bikes I would not buy. Other cyclists’ biking stories are often meaningful to me, but usually not consequential enough for a reply. Frankly, now my main enjoyment is reading the personal clashes on the various threads, such as these current ones: "I work with a moron", or ”How often do you check your mirror?.”

Quote:

Originally Posted by BillyD

Anytime you have two individuals going at it for days and getting personal and disruptive and off topic . . . well it's time to say goodnight to the thread.

Closed.

WNCGoater

I've been on a number of forums and I've seen a trend. In our society, internet forums and other social media has introduced a somewhat aggressive behavior when sitting behind the safety of an anonymous keyboard, that likely would have never been exhibited before in a face to face encounter. And so, it seems there are those who get their jollies by slamming, flaming, or belittling others on forums that should be simply a meeting place to exchange information and ideas. Usually those are the ones themselves, who suffer some inferiority complex and need to tear others down.
I've seen this trending lately on BF.

I've left other forums because a a few that somehow feel they need to tear other's down, or justify their snotty behavior. No, I'm not thin skinned. Just that life is two short to have to wade through a bunch of people who seem incapable of acting and discussion in a civilized manner. I've seen too much tragedy and heartache in the lives of friends, acquaintances, and my own personal life to waste time with the drama and bad behavior of strangers on internet forums.

Colnago Mixte

I would tend to agree. Despite I don't know how many tens of thousands of members here from around the world, I think I still get better answers from my local bike shop.

What has happened to this place is what happens to all public spaces and is not unique. People with nothing to occupy their time congregate there and cause problems, resulting in onerous rules and restrictions aimed at the mouth-breathers, but these rules only cause reasonable people to leave, and result in more undesirables accumulating and solidifying their little fiefdoms.

There are some extremely helpful and knowledgeable people here, but most have faded into the background, I'm assuming mainly because of the endless bickering, flaming, trolling, ego preening, alliances, and death by a thousand ant bites of dissenting opinions that goes on here. Bikes are supposed to be fun, and they most definitely are, but dealing with some of the toxic, over the top, wayyy overcritical people here is just too much on some days if you happen to have a regular job.

I'm not ready to flounce quite yet, not that anyone would care, but I'm beginning to understand why a lot of the better posters here are almost never seen. It's just basic common sense and wise use of your time to avoid places like this whenever possible.

shelbyfv

Yeah, hard to figure that one! Interesting to read that you have found a way to participate here that suits you better. I know you got a lot of push back due to your "unusual" posting style and extensive quoting of your own previous posts. I'm sure that did take up a lot of time!

Maelochs

Jim From Boston sighting!



Been saving that pic for a while ... Mr. "where are you from, Jim" (as he notes) hardly ever shows up any more.

shelbyfv

That is hard core big boy riding!!

Jim from Boston

Quote:

Originally Posted by shelbyfv

…i know you got a lot of push back due to your "unusual" posting style and extensive quoting of your own previous posts. I'm sure that did take up a lot of time!

fya

Quote:

Originally Posted by roody

...btw, off-topic, i have often noticed your clever andhelpful use of the forum's quote function. Along with your clear writing style,it makes your posts a delight to read

Quote:

Originally Posted by jim from boston

hi roody,

thanks for that nice comment. Even though off-topic, i’ll take this ball andrun with it as my justification (”apologia”)…

posting has become an avocation for me. Since my job requires writing formalreports, with legal implications, i consider myself a “wordsmith,” and besidethe exchange of information and ideas, i enjoy the mechanics of writing, suchas grammar,composition, style, etc. For that addtional mental stimulation.

so with my experiences in cycling, and my frequent posting over the years,if i have replied on a recurrent topic, written to my satisfaction, i’ll justquote it. a further challenge then becomes finding the post…

Note how the quote function has eliminated all the capital letters. I have found the quote function difficult to use; it also splits quotes into separate quote boxes and eliminates spaces between words. Prior to the change that occurred on BikeForums a few years ago, those were never problems.

Jim from Boston

Hi Maelochs,

I don't think that is me in that picture, though I think the storefronts line Boylston St where I live.

Jim from Boston
Location: D'uh

leftthread

When I forget where I parked my bike, I start my search under the street light and next to the keys.