Should bike radar swallow it's pride and just retire

[wafter]

there've been at least two botched software changes, resulting in long outages and successively poorer page design, there was a noticeable drop off in active users each time, the last one in particular, some bits had no activity for long periods

without users, the ad revenue will have declined sharply, though anyone capable will have been ad blocking it for ages as they became ridiculously obtrusive at one point

there's been near-zero moderation for a long time, presumably a cost reduction, i'd guess the final nail in the coffin was the online safety act https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/online-safety-act-explainer/online-safety-act-explainer

with the cost of compliance/risk of penalties, and the lack of revenue, no surprise that they chose to shut it down

I think the bottom line was that it wasn't worth the expense or faff for about 50 active forum members left, as there would be no advertising revenue and no Click-throughs to the main website.

Thanks both - that makes sense.

Always a shame to see these little communities die although at least there are alternatives and CC's always treated me well

I assume you're both refugees so welcome to the forum!

 

[oxoman]

Don't think it helped with a few concerted spam attacks and nobody monitoring it until it was to late. A few Walter Mitty types caused what mods there were a few headaches at times. Suspect that's true of most forums. Personally I'm old fashioned and prefer forums and the long defunct friends reunited and refuse point blank to use social media and all it's cookie tracking stuff. As to a certain Mr M Usk he reminds me of a certain James Bond villain and plot.

 

[briantrumpet]

Thanks both - that makes sense.

Always a shame to see these little communities die although at least there are alternatives and CC's always treated me well

I assume you're both refugees so welcome to the forum!

Been here since 2010... but did a lot of politics over on CS - a small but very informative/interesting bunch. The Brexit thread spanned to over 2000 pages and 63k posts.

 

[Pinno718]

"continually rising operational costs" isn't a very clear reason, is it?

Elf n safety innit - ahead of the annual review of online security, (new rules coming in on Monday?), risk assessments etc and BR had no moderation in the end. It was a free for all. Sites need moderation to keep upstarts like me in check.

 

[Gwylan]

You are! See the Chris Rea thread

Be afraid, very afraid. Not many come back from there.

 

[Pinno718]

Be afraid, very afraid. Not many come back from there.

I've survived but that's only temporary as it's nigh on impossible to fight the slippery slope that leads into the fathomless Rea pit dug out of the Dendermonde instructional text by Drago.

 

[No Ta Doctor]

I've seen plenty of forums die, and BR was very much on its last breaths. But just deleting it is horrible, there was some great stuff there that will be lost forever now. Wish they'd archived it somehow

 

[matticus]

Does 'Radar predate ACF (or YACF for that matter)?

 

[Pross]

For anyone wondering about the thread title it’s an homage to an infamous Bike Radar Pro Race thread from 2019 ‘Should Mark Cavendish Swallow His Pride And Retire?’ back when he had a few lean seasons. Needless to say the guy who started it disappeared off the face of the earth when Cav made a resurgence but no-one ever let him forget it. There’s another one now in honour of Froome that has a much stronger case.

 

[No Ta Doctor]

On the subject of BR in-jokes, there's a Friday music thread here and someone has posted The Delgados in it. I'm fighting the urge to tell them the interesting fact that they were named after Sean Kelly's donkey. Now that's a BR thread I would have liked to have revisited at some point

EDIT: And no thanks to the condemned forum's search function, here it is, for three nights only:
https://forum.bikeradar.com/discussion/12720773/unusual-facts-about-pro-cyclists/p1

 

[Pinno718]

On the subject of BR in-jokes, there's a Friday music thread here and someone has posted The Delgados in it. I'm fighting the urge to tell them the interesting fact that they were named after Sean Kelly's donkey. Now that's a BR thread I would have liked to have revisited at some point

EDIT: And no thanks to the condemned forum's search function, here it is, for three nights only:
https://forum.bikeradar.com/discussion/12720773/unusual-facts-about-pro-cyclists/p1

That seems like a good thread. How did I miss it? Why didn't anyone tell me? Bit late now... 🙄

 

[Ming the Merciless]

Be afraid, very afraid. Not many come back from there.

They come out in 600 BC.

 

[Crapaud]

Does 'Radar predate ACF (or YACF for that matter)?

No. Acf was an offshoot of Cycling Plus forum. I forget why, but ISTR it was the audaxers that flounced out. C+ later became BR.

 

[Pat "5mph"]

there's been near-zero moderation for a long time, presumably a cost reduction

The mods on here are volunteers 😇
We do have a Boss though, Shaun, CC's founder and owner.

 

[Lanterne Rogue]

Should imagine it's been a busy week for the mods here, with every new sign up generating five posts needing moderation (not all of them immediately, I assume).

Having done the job many years ago, and having wisely dodged it since, it's much appreciated.