Originally Posted by
Kat12
But how many true "advocacy and safety" topics can there be? "How to ride safely on the road." "Should there be bike lanes and what should they be like?" "How to keep your bike maintained to be safe" (maybe not even for this forum). "There should be X law in Y place" (okay, there are a lot of places just in the U.S., never mind elsewhere-- this could keep us busy for a while). "Should or shouldn't you wear a helmet, and if so, what kind?" "What to do about dogs." "What to do about pedestrians." Etc.
Once all of this has been discussed (I'm guessing more than once), what is left besides current events?
I think the problem in part is that people are taking too narrow a view of what a safety issue is and, frankly, the forum is overrun with zealots who insist on driving every single "current events" conversation into the same ground. One of the best threads recently was the "too hot to ride" thread-people don't think of that automatically as a safety issue, but heat exhaustion or heat stroke clearly are a risks people should be aware of, and it's good to hear from people who've actually had to deal with the problem.
I agree with
flangehead there are things worth reading and discussing on this forum from time to time. It's the only reason I started this thread, because I think it may be worth saving, and it's teetering on the edge of being a lost cause..
Repetition of topics is endemic to the very nature of a forum where newcomers are always welcomed. I'm sure that happens in all live forums on BF. I find a lot of that interesting because every once in a while, somebody comes up with a fresh approach to a problem that wasn't contained in the 35 threads on the subject that preceded it. Also, it's fun to goof on the "everybody but me is wrong about..." guys.