etrain11: Nothing Was the Same

There has been plenty of discussion both on and off the blog about the comment section and I understand your frustration as readers. Unfortunately, as a reviewer, I have not always been quick about updating comments especially when I'm working/running and not looking at my phone. Although comments don't necessarily need to go up right away to have solid discussion, long gaps is discouraging and disrupts the flow of conversation.

However, on the flip side, I hope that you as readers also understand that certain types of comments that have been all to prevalent on these type of blogs are rude, distasteful and, most importantly, can really hurt someones feelings or reputation. From my time with the two blogs, I've seen some pretty disgraceful conversation and, although I really don't mind the insults or threats aimed at me, I bring that sort of thing upon myself by being public here on this site, sharing my thoughts and becoming something of a public figure. The high school athletes talked about on this blog, on the other hand, are not asking for this sort of attention and many are likely not even aware it exists. Sure, it's fun to have a discussion and perhaps some people like feeling like a more serious athlete or feeling a little famous, but remember that I (and now I should say we) am the one making this site and organizing its content so direct your ire or frustrates at me if you feel you need to grieve. 

I've had many sleepless nights and panicked days before the moderation system was put into place because I worried about what would be unfairly said about our runners. So when searching for a reasonable compromise, I hope you can understand a piece of my struggle.

But here's what I've got for you. As you might already now, we redesigned the playground section of the blog. If you click on "playground" at the top of the page, it should take you to a whole other site rather than just one big post with a bunch of comments. The site link is www.etrainplayground.blogspot.com. We tried to set up a makeshift forum similar to what is on sites like penntrack and letsrun. On this new site, comments go live instantly, unlike the ones on here. I've enlisted the help of my full writing staff to police the site and they will be signing up for email notifications like me on comments going up. They will also be able to add new topics for discussion in the form of additional posts if requested by readers. 

The comment structure on this site will remain the same. However, I will be planning weekly discussion nights here on the blog where I will open up the comment section a bit more, choose a topic or two and have a live discussion with the readers on said topic. More on that to come as we iron out the details. Many of you out there are more creative than me, so hopefully you will have other ideas to help spruce things up in the discussion section.

The playground will still be held to similar standards as the comments on this site, although I will be a tiny bit more flexible. If the trust that we as a site give you with the playground is violated, I will have no choice but to rethink the system we have in place once again. 

I'm hoping that you all with give this a fair shot and embrace the possibility for a new system that may actually be better overall than the one we have had in the past. I really think the forum will be a better discussion option than anything we can provide on our current lay out.

Let's give this a shot. I'm trusting the process ... even on a day like today ironically.

Stay Classy,

train