Audax UK Facebook group

[Phil W]

A geriatric female has joined the Facebook group, should I be worried?

[shyumu]

But so many people and places are now using FB that it’s perhaps becoming an irresistible tide and it might be useful to be signed up, if only I can get comfortable with the idea/method.

I am sorry to come to this conversation late Ploddin, but the tide has turned on FB.

As a Father of two teenagers I have a brief insight into the opinions of today's yoof:  Young 'uns are finding alternative social tools.  Numpties are filling the timeline with reheated_spam and commercial orgs are leveraging 'friends' posted opinions as recommendations.  Joining FB to be part of a discussion group is common practice.  As you are coming to FB after the hype, you have successfully avoided becoming mired in the tar pits of sharing personal data.

Yes - use an alter-ego (tick).  Online T&Cs are likely to be un-enforceable following the ruling on Strava liability.
Join the FBUGs and treat as an additional info stream.

Then ignore FB.  Don't post photos back.  As a FB group manager I know that most of the communication flow is one way.

(ps - 4 Duvel's might be giving me the 'Dutch' courage to post strong opinions - I should perhaps switch off the laptop and find out what Lelystad is like as a town.)

EDIT: The Facebook AUK group is a great example of facebook working well and I'm grateful to Ian for doing his best to bring it back from the edge.  I use it to promote events and the chitchat is quite sensible by FB standards.  (Well done Ian).

[Feanor]

As the father of another 2 teenagers, I'd like to 'like' that.

They do both have FB accounts, but they are mostly dormant.
They use other stuffs ( I really should find out what! )
They regard FB as 'what their parents would use'.

Which is a bit rich: I am a reluctant FB user, only to access some closed groups.

[αdαmsκι]

I should perhaps switch off the laptop and find out what Lelystad is like as a town

Lelystad is a pretty odd place built as a commuter town to Amsterdam that didn't work as it was too far from Amsterdam. It is a pretty crap place, not dirty just lacks any soul. Use your non computer time to visit somewhere nice!

[Jaded]

Can't understand why a facebook thing for AUK is needed, other than to draw traffic to the AUK site. It's got issues - as PP has been saying, it isn't inclusive, it is part of a big empire that is interested in your data, it wants to feed off your contacts. Most importantly it just waters down the efforts of volunteers - they have duplicate work to do. It was a but like LEL - it had a website, but updates were put elsewhere. Understandable when there is a Comms team shuffling all the balls in the air, but an unnecessary overhead when it is just a team of volunteers.

Unless the AUK site is not fit for purpose.

[Hillbilly]

Both this forum and things like Facebook do, at least, give a sense of community.  I think this is a good thing.  Most of the time.

(As an organiser, I can imagine it will also be helpful for promoting events.  With 500+ subscribers, there is a fair chance of decent reach compared to this forum and even the website).

[L CC]

They use other stuffs ( I really should find out what! )

Snapchat & tumblr.

(click to show/hide)

There is research being done at the moment into tumblr & suicide. tumblr has a snowball effect of re-posts & re-blogging that encourages/ enables/ creates approval for a culture of self harm and self loathing  which vulnerable teens are tuning into, and checking out (in all manner of meanings). The capacity for anonymity is greater than on Facebook/myspace/other predecessors and as such users are maybe more open in their intentions, and seeing more intentions makes more actions likely. You don't have to follow your teens on tumblr but you need to know that this is out there. (Obviously if you have happy well adjusted teens this aspect is largely an irrelevance).

[shyumu]

... if you have happy well adjusted teens...

What are these?

[Philip Whiteman]

It has been 24 hours since Ian made me an administrator on the AUK Facebook Group.  I am astonished with the fast rate of applicants seeking approval to join the group.  Clearly, Ian's work at promoting the page and its contributors have provided a sound footing for a group that is growing quickly. 

[shyumu]

It has been 24 hours since Ian made me an administrator on the AUK Facebook Group.  I am astonished with the fast rate of applicants seeking approval to join the group.  Clearly, Ian's work at promoting the page and its contributors have provided a sound footing for a group that is growing quickly.

Are there minimum and maximum speeds for the growth of the facebook audax page?  And how far will we ultimately get with facebook?

[Phil W]

Updates weren't put on the LEL 2013 website due to a lack of easy functionality for that. The LEL 2017 site will tackle that short coming. As with all these things , it evolves from experience.

[mattc]

Updates weren't put on the LEL 2013 website due to a lack of easy functionality for that. The LEL 2017 site will tackle that short coming. As with all these things , it evolves from experience.

The march of technology - Roll on 2017!

(I thought HTML could be edited in Notepad - or vi/emacs/etc if one prefers - even by luddites like me. Technology that is decades old. I need to keep up!)

[post not entirely serious]

[Philip Whiteman]

Steve Abraham has just become the 1000th member of the AUK Facebook Group.

Have you joined yet?

https://www.facebook.com/groups/audaxuk/

[LittleWheelsandBig]

No and never will.

[Jaded]

What he said ^^

[bikey-mikey]

I am scared by Facebook and do not have the capacity to understand continuously all the things I need to do to avoid cocking things up and giving away personal information.

Telling me what not to do is great for about 15 minutes, then I've forgotten it, and start worrying.

Right about now three or four of you are going to say "well don't use it then".

If I don't use it why join it?

If I just read things and can't comment what's the point.

Yacf works fine so why go another way?

[Ningishzidda]

Don't worry about Facebook. GCHQ have been watchng us for years.

[hillbilly]

I've stopped using the facebook group.  It's a hotch potch of information that I found increasingly tedious.

[eck]

I've stopped using the facebook group.  It's a hotch potch of information that I found increasingly tedious.

  So, nothing like this place then?

[Veloman]

........... and giving away personal information.

........ Yacf works fine so why go another way?

You would be amazed how much personal information is provided on this forum by some!

[hillbilly]

I've stopped using the facebook group.  It's a hotch potch of information that I found increasingly tedious.

  So, nothing like this place then?

Hotch potch is more a reference to it being unstructured.  Once a conversation has run its course, it is essentially lost.

It is also easier to filter out tedium on this forum (by not visiting the threads).

[PloddinPedro]

I'm not sufficiently competent technically to know, but my guess is that Facebook has evolved (as far as AUK is concerned) mainly because of the trend towards mobile 'phone use. For me, I find fora such as YACF far better structured for reading what I'm interested in and avoiding the random trivia. With Facebook, everything is just one long stream and the items that may interest me are in danger of being submerged by the dross.

I do hope that the proposed AUK forum, agreed at the last AGM, does indeed get created and becomes the primary source of communications, instead of Facebook.

Or am I just being a dinosaur?

[marcusjb]

Facebook is good for being easy to find.

It is terrible as a forum replacement. Searching is very poor (let's say I wanted to look for answers on what cream is best for saddle sores, or whatever, I really don't think Facebook currently allows for this.

It is good for publicising events "hey everyone, I am running a new 300".

The auk forum will be an interesting experiment.

[Jaded]

........... and giving away personal information.

........ Yacf works fine so why go another way?

You would be amazed how much personal information is provided on this forum by some!

However it is not required. The forum is a limited social network dedicated to cycling and cyclists as opposed to a money making international behemoth that trades in data and usage.

Sure, creepy stalker types can get stuff out of this forum, but they get what people have ceded. It's a community.

[teethgrinder]

Yacf works fine so why go another way?

For me it's a tool for trying to get more riders into Audaxing and maybe get a few people riding my September 600.
Facebook activity can get flagged to their Facebook "friends", which could spread the word.