Race thread locking

[CaribouBread]

Generous few minutes

[Wouter]

28 May 2023, 18:54
Unlocked again.

.

28 May 2023, 15:02. Steven wrote: ↑

As always, please remember we are chatting on discord.
To avoid lots of in-race chatter here, please join us at https://discord.gg/KMEYZFwEE5

(topic paused for a few minutes...)

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Since when are a few minutes FOUR hours?! The race thread was 4 hours closed!
Why close a race thread for an announcement?

So you are obliged now to go to Discord here if you want to ask / post something about the race!
A forum where the race thread is locked during and after a race!
I visit a forum to read and post something. Only when I want to chat I go elsewhere, but I didn't want to chat.

[aMessageToCharlie]

Might as well delete the race threads all together then. Or close the forum completely and everyone moves to discord.

[chrisc90]

I think the discord is great for more informal chat with a lot more relaxed rules.

Race thread, IMHO, should be left open for more informative and constructive posts be posted. Effectively lost a oversight of the race in this thread now so people reading have no context of what happened without watching the race again and reading the thread after the race.

Keeping it locked just spills discussion over to the team threads, and especially post race leaving the thread locked for some 2 hours so people had nowhere to discuss the actual race.

Whilst it likely keeps moderation down a little bit on the race thread, theres a overall loss in post discussion. Keep both areas for discussion just with a reminder of the Discord channel for informal chat. Not everyone has/ or prefers the style of chat you get on Discord.

Just my 2 pence.

[RZS10]

It could have been reopened just after the race but at the end of the day this is a technical forum and even the race threads should ideally be analysis, mostly - not the pointless bickering they usually are for the most part (some of which has spilled into other threads as Chris has pointed out).

By closing it for the runtime of the race most of the (heated) commentary and discussion stays off the forum and then once everyone has cooled off a discussion can be had here.

No point in being overly dramatic about it.

[chrisc90]

Only other option is a non-technical race thread to discuss the race - but I cant see how it would fit in really

[Zynerji]

Might as well delete the race threads all together then. Or close the forum completely and everyone moves to discord.

It's getting closer every day

[AeroDynamic]

Why are we being so dramatic here? This is looking a bit over the top. It’s just a forum. The way some are reacting, it’s as if they lost their internet for 4 hours and missed the actual race.

do people watch the race live? Or are they following f1 to have bicker wars? Serious question.

If it’s so important to be in the moment in the race while commentating, discord is perfect for you.

[cheeRS]

Why are we being so dramatic here? This is looking a bit over the top. It’s just a forum. The way some are reacting, it’s as if they lost their internet for 4 hours and missed the actual race.

do people watch the race live? Or are they following f1 to have bicker wars? Serious question.

If it’s so important to be in the moment in the race while commentating, discord is perfect for you.

This used to be - solely - a great technical forum with minimal subjectivity. Then, a few years ago, many new ‘fans’ started coming here from instagram and twitter, where bickering and toxicity are the norm.

Now, people feel panicked to respond and become incredibly defensive and rude - especially the younger crowd who, incidentally, are typically Max fans, but not exclusively. For example, any suggestion that the RB19 is the fastest car this year or that another driver is comparable to Max gets people ready fist fight it seems. IMO, that’s standard fare for twitter and IG, but is truly ruining these forums.

[Sieper]

Why are we being so dramatic here? This is looking a bit over the top. It’s just a forum. The way some are reacting, it’s as if they lost their internet for 4 hours and missed the actual race.

do people watch the race live? Or are they following f1 to have bicker wars? Serious question.

If it’s so important to be in the moment in the race while commentating, discord is perfect for you.

This used to be - solely - a great technical forum with minimal subjectivity. Then, a few years ago, many new ‘fans’ started coming here from instagram and twitter, where bickering and toxicity are the norm.

Now, people feel panicked to respond and become incredibly defensive and rude - especially the younger crowd who, incidentally, are typically Max fans, but not exclusively. For example, any suggestion that the RB19 is the fastest car this year or that another driver is comparable to Max gets people ready fist fight it seems. IMO, that’s standard fare for twitter and IG, but is truly ruining these forums.

Just aggravating that even after a super special moment in F1, like yesterdays qualy, we have the same few people come and can’t ever acknowledge even in the slightest bit that maybe we did see something special.

I am quite sure we would have the same after todays race. Maybe temp closure is for the best.

[Big Tea]

Why are we being so dramatic here? This is looking a bit over the top. It’s just a forum. The way some are reacting, it’s as if they lost their internet for 4 hours and missed the actual race.

do people watch the race live? Or are they following f1 to have bicker wars? Serious question.

If it’s so important to be in the moment in the race while commentating, discord is perfect for you.

This used to be - solely - a great technical forum with minimal subjectivity. Then, a few years ago, many new ‘fans’ started coming here from instagram and twitter, where bickering and toxicity are the norm.

Now, people feel panicked to respond and become incredibly defensive and rude - especially the younger crowd who, incidentally, are typically Max fans, but not exclusively. For example, any suggestion that the RB19 is the fastest car this year or that another driver is comparable to Max gets people ready fist fight it seems. IMO, that’s standard fare for twitter and IG, but is truly ruining these forums.

Just aggravating that even after a super special moment in F1, like yesterdays qualy, we have the same few people come and can’t ever acknowledge even in the slightest bit that maybe we did see something special.

I am quite sure we would have the same after todays race. Maybe temp closure is for the best.

All these drivers are the very best in the world and we are only 'arguing' about a% top to bottom and a fraction of a % in the top handful. Even if they were in identical cars we would be hard pressed to distinguish which were the best over a full season due to the famous 'lady luck'.

From a personal point of view, to me, 2 of the top 5 drivers I do not like on a personal level ( No I have not met either ) but I still count them as 2 of the top 4, and really respect them, and importantly congratulate them and 'have a moan' at my more favourite drivers when I feel it needed.

There is a famous quote by a football manager that goes, They think it is a matter of life or death, but it is much more important than that.

They may feel like it, but they are not our family there on our behalf, they are there for their own ends and entertain us as a by-product, so personal feelings are all artificial and we should remember that.
An example is when Schumacher was racing never liked him much, but as time went on I not only got to apricate him but got a more balanced view and began to like him. I would not mind betting that there are forum members who 'hate' Hamilton or Verstappen or someone else that, if you asked then in 5 years would be quite appreciative of them.

Without what we are fed on the internet, often by people with their own agenda, we may have a completely different view.

[aMessageToCharlie]

Why are we being so dramatic here? This is looking a bit over the top. It’s just a forum. The way some are reacting, it’s as if they lost their internet for 4 hours and missed the actual race.

do people watch the race live? Or are they following f1 to have bicker wars? Serious question.

If it’s so important to be in the moment in the race while commentating, discord is perfect for you.

I can only speak for myself of course, but I came here multiple hours after the race had ended to read about race/pit strategy, things I might have missed see some wholesome pics of Ocon celebrating, etc. But nothing.

This used to be - solely - a great technical forum with minimal subjectivity. Then, a few years ago, many new ‘fans’ started coming here from instagram and twitter, where bickering and toxicity are the norm.

Now, people feel panicked to respond and become incredibly defensive and rude - especially the younger crowd who, incidentally, are typically Max fans, but not exclusively. For example, any suggestion that the RB19 is the fastest car this year or that another driver is comparable to Max gets people ready fist fight it seems. IMO, that’s standard fare for twitter and IG, but is truly ruining these forums.

Do you really not see the irony in your behaviour?

[Steven]

First of all, mea culpa on having the thread locked for 4 hours. That was not my plan.

That being said, and as I recently explain in PM to someone recently, you may have noticed that this thread locking has been tried last year too. This has typically led to people who disagree raising their voices, but all in all, reactions have been limited.

I think it's fair to say that a chat style communication is more suited for comms as the event happens. Post like "great overtake by Max" or "what did Ocon do there?" are really silly for a forum. We noticed that despite posting about our discord channel, many people actually didn't notice at all as posts drowned those "announcements". But, the locks early this year did result in positive feedback from people who enjoyed using chat while the race is ongoing.

When time permits there will be more encouragement to discuss in discord (instead of the manual posts that I do now) but there is no decision yet whether that will include locking threads.

Thing is, you can't complain this used to be more technical while as at same time complain to not be able to support your favourite driver during the race on this forum. So yes, it's a balancing act in which we are very open to feedback to see which way to go (except if you're being too emotional. Then please step away from the keyboard and come back tomorrow).

Also, this is now a separate topic, so race comments should go in the race thread, not here

[AeroDynamic]

Why are we being so dramatic here? This is looking a bit over the top. It’s just a forum. The way some are reacting, it’s as if they lost their internet for 4 hours and missed the actual race.

do people watch the race live? Or are they following f1 to have bicker wars? Serious question.

If it’s so important to be in the moment in the race while commentating, discord is perfect for you.

I can only speak for myself of course, but I came here multiple hours after the race had ended to read about race/pit strategy, things I might have missed see some wholesome pics of Ocon celebrating, etc. But nothing.

This used to be - solely - a great technical forum with minimal subjectivity. Then, a few years ago, many new ‘fans’ started coming here from instagram and twitter, where bickering and toxicity are the norm.

Now, people feel panicked to respond and become incredibly defensive and rude - especially the younger crowd who, incidentally, are typically Max fans, but not exclusively. For example, any suggestion that the RB19 is the fastest car this year or that another driver is comparable to Max gets people ready fist fight it seems. IMO, that’s standard fare for twitter and IG, but is truly ruining these forums.

Do you really not see the irony in your behaviour?

Wholesome pics are easily found on google and social media. Like galore.

Most of the threads are dominated by snipes and people are missing very little. The thread is predominantly a spot for people to swing their bags at one another. The team threads are basically the sequels.

This forum would be a great service to technical discussion if we just had sticky threads about cars and technical subjects. Everything about team, driver performance can work in individual threads created by people. It would be easier for mods to lock those topics and spot patterns of divisive topics and control the flare ups amongst the people that can’t keep it on SM. It would be easier to moderate a bad thread than constantly trying to filter a single thread.


Discord is good for people that want to talk live with others about the race. The thread here is just a more cumbersome way to do it and I suspect it’s driven by the idea that it’s more in the public domain.

[Steven]

.... and checking the team threads now, perhaps they need in-race locking as well.