Yeah, here's some more forthrightness from the rude one in exile...
I've yet to see another running web site anything like RC. I was attracted to RC because it was developed (I nearly said "run") by an average bloke who clearly could write
very well but wasn't trying to sell me anything; he wasn't trying to tell anyone how to run, and wasn't doing it for egotistical reasons. He was just a bloke I could relate to, who happened to equally enjoy running and writing about his running. Writing very, very well I must add. That makes RC unique.
Until now, RC has always had Andy as the focus. There he was on the front page, and if you related to Andy, you would most likely fit in with the rest. If we do away with the front page however, this site will change over time. It will mutate in various ways as different peripheral sections become more popular and attract different people to the site. Andy has always been the filter - if you can relate to a middle aged, slowish marathon runner who loved his food and beer and can write bloody well, then you're in. Others disqualified themselves by moving on elsewhere.
Sweder is right to fear change in this case. I do too. But it's already happening, which is perhaps why it was time for Andy to move off the front page anyhow. With the JDRF, Jog Shop Joggers and Habbakuk sections of the forum taking on their own life, you can see how this might all change over time regardless of what happens now. We've gone from a one-room clubhouse where people who didn't like the look of us (or more particularly, didn't like the look of Andy
) moved on, to now being a multiple-roomed clubhouse where people are more likely to find something they like and are directly invited to certain sections without having to come in the front door.
In that sense, it's pointless becoming a running club. The Habakkuks are
already a running club. The JDRF's already have
their special focus. You're only really talking about those few of us who are responding here in this little bit of the site. Really, RC is already becoming a simple meeting place for loosely associated runners each with a different focus.
But we all want something to belong to. I too, already think of RC as "my" running club. But I wouldn't put "RunningCommentary.net" on my running singlets - it's too long for one thing.
Personally, if we're going to have a club name, I'd prefer the
Beer-Swilling Fat Bastards Running Club but I doubt people like Ana or suzieq would relate to it somehow... yeah, maybe Purple Foot is OK if you want to go down that road.
I'm not sure what else to say. I think I'll go for a run and agonise over it some more.
