As an "outsider" to the world of "hardcore" swimming ...
Former Member
I swim a lot and really enjoy it. It's something I've done all of my life, growing up in Southern California, and it's my main form of exercise. I'm good at it, but I do it primarily for health and enjoyment.
I've noticed from lurking around this board for several years that there seems to be a very self-congratulatory, cliquish tone to many threads and posts. It seems like it's often a small group of people who post relentlessly, as if they are engaged in some sort of private conversation where they're trying to outdo each other.
Maybe I'm the only one who feels that way. Maybe that's part and parcel of the world of "hardcore" competitive swimmers. Or maybe it's because there wouldn't be anything else to talk about, unless there weren't a constant focus on who's the "best" at this or that.
A race is something that happens once in a while, whereas a lifetime of swimming lasts, well, a lifetime. Yes, it's great to break a certain time in a certain race, but it's also great to have the self-discpline to keep at a daily swimming program and work on improving one's technique and endurance. Both are valid, and, to my mind, neither is more worthy of praise than the other.
Jim Thornton, if I recall correctly, noted a while ago that there were a lot of people lurking around the board and not really participating. If that is the case, I would propose that may be due to the general off-putting tone of things on here. (I won't give examples at this point, although I could.)
Do any of you who have responded to my original inquiry feel any sense of obligation to the organization at large, and do you think the content you add here furthers the purposes of USMS?
Yes.
But this is a discussion forum, not USMS magazine. We actually get to chat about stuff you don't like: meets, gridges, racing, evilstoke, tech suit hypocrisy, speed work, noodlers, shaving .001 off our 50s times, Clydesdales, and how we like our martinis. There is no requirement that we be quiet, dull, colorless, curmudgeonly and stick to straight peer reviewed facts, as you and Mr. Heather so desire. (Yes, I recognize his PM style having been subjected to his tirades before.) So we will both have to put up with each other.
Take the would be Cassius's advice. Now that one shows some promise. And he didn't take the huffy lurker approach. He just jumped in and announced he was "new" and started posting. What a concept.
As was said earlier,this forum is the way "we' make it.One can post about anything (SR or NSR) and everyone will respond as they do.People are rarely outrightly rude.You should have seen how it was in 2002,nasty at times.
Hey sftom, try posting some good questions to the forum, or some good answers to some of the question already posted.(peer pressure)
Better yet....post a link to a video of your swimming and ask for tips.
Or....write a poem and share it with Leslie & Geek
Or....come to one of my workouts and lurk in an outside lane, post how much you hated it but avoid telling me in person
Or...kick the dog and play some more video games
Wow, what an interesting course this thread has taken. I see, nonetheless, that at least a few folks share my concern about the content on the USMS discussion board. And I've received a couple of private messages noting that "a very small insular clique ... dominates the forum, regardless of the thread" and that differences of opinion are met with "harsh defense," to which the OP is often subjected after having been told how "friendly and welcoming" this forum is.
Is this really the face USMS wants to project to the public, and, more alarmingly, its own members? Do any of you who have responded to my original inquiry feel any sense of obligation to the organization at large, and do you think the content you add here furthers the purposes of USMS?
I'm new to swimming, but I'm not new to the internet and certainly not to messageboards. I'm definitely "inside" at the forum I consider my home on the internet (not this one, but who knows, maybe it will be someday), even though I don't actually feel "inside." Just consider that all these people who appear "clique-ish" aren't actually all in on all the same stuff, jokes, etc... When in Rome, do as Romans do, but that doesn't mean all the Romans like each other or they're all part of the same conspiracy to murder the latest Caesar or what have you... So it might sound ridiculous to some of these fine swimmers around here when you say they're all part of the same herd.
As for a stickied special thread just for lap swimming and fitness... what. Special "stickied" threads have been brought up from time to time at my home base and the big strike against them is that it's very easy to miss or ignore a sticky thread. And when you start stickying threads that aren't about rules or official announcements, then enters the question of where the line is drawn and that's a whole other headache right there. Plus, I tend not to like that "big block of bolded threads" up at the top of the forums that nobody ever clicks on. It's harder to tell when the latest response was and so on.
When in Rome, do as Romans do, but that doesn't mean all the Romans like each other or they're all part of the same conspiracy to murder the latest Caesar
As Jim said, you are very wise.
