Horrible form from ST to take over the challenge like this. I will only participate in EJ’s challenge and not the ST challenge.
i just don’t stipulate to your characterization. first off, this was dev’s idea. it was (as i recall) more like the 25/25 challenge. then it just kept going, because dev kept going. and there we were, at 100/100.
this was born as a slowtwitch activation powered by dev. or a dev activation powered by slowtwitch. or, if you want to put it another way, it was a dev/slowtwitch activation powered by eric jensen’s training log, and eric and i chose to incorporate that training log into slowtwitch because it was a convenience for everyone.
what i object to is the notion that this was anything other than a slowtwitch initiative. eric was a vendor. it’s like saying that an IRONMAN race belongs to sportstats, if sportstats decides to pull out.
now, as to why there is no longer a deal between eric and slowtwitch: eric j asked for a very big increase in the monthly payment to him to maintain the forum. eric w balked. i don’t blame anyone. we had a sweetheart deal from eric for many years. i don’t know how things might have been different if i was still making decisions. but i don’t think you can blame either eric.
one way to solve this would’ve been for eric w to still allow eric j to host the challenge. but there are some moving pieces there and at least one other option that does make a kind of sense is to (for example) have the challenge hosted at strava, and most of us have an account there do we not?
so, again, i’m not weighing on this, other than to say no, absolutely no, this is not slowtwitch absconding with someone else’s property. i have been there for hte history of this. i wrote the articles every year reminding you of this challenge. i produced the direct mails reminding you. i (or herbert, or somebody at slowtwitch) posted the threads going over the rules, considering rules changes, and then i posted and hosted the sticky thread that tracked the conversations. it was slowtwitch who pumped the air into the tires of this challenge, and it was dev, a slowtwitch community member since forever, who watched his idea grow.
so, i might agree and i might not agree with eric w’s decisions on where to host the data of this challenge. but it is absolutely under his purview to do so.
I am not claiming that ST stole anybody’s property or idea, what I am claiming is that ST had absolutely no plan (or forgot about it), and once they saw EJ’s post they scrambled.
Tom said it best:
Not really. I would say more like you deleted Eric’s “Annual 100 / 100” post, WITHIN THE COMMUNITY, locked my thread enquiring what happened when it took a direction you didn’t like, and replaced it with your “Official” thread with zero details and an obvious total lack of planning.
Listen, I enjoy this place, and I usually side with ST but it is pretty obvious that there were no plans, and there’s probably some poor chap right now trying to put something together quickly so that ST can host this challenge, instead of just blending it with EJ’s, and then be ready for it next year.
What I am calling “horrible form” is closing that other thread, making an announcement with absolutely no details or plans.
i don’t stipulate to that either. in fact, on the very day that eric j’s thread was posted i’d reached out to ryan and eric c to find out where we’re hosting the 100/100. on monday i did my first run to get myself ready for it
eric j chose to use a property belonging to eric w to advertise his version of the challenge. i think that’s rather cheeky, don’t you? i think both erics might’ve handled this in a slicker way. but to the point of my answer to you, when you wrote that slowtwitch is taking over a challenge, it sure seemed to me you meant that it was absconding with a property to which it had no right or title. if that’s not what you meant, i stand corrected.
in my view, the challenge belongs to the community here, and the community has the right to join whatever challenge it wants. the community built this challenge. but i greased the joints and oiled the links, goddammit, so let’s just remember history correctly. there are some folks out of the country at the moment, so where this challenge will eventually be hosted i don’t know yet. i am at everyone’s disposal if anybody wants me help or advice, otherwise i’m confident we’ll all find out where the (slowtwitch version) of the thing will be hosted and we have plenty of time if we’re starting on november 15th. as you might recall, every year i ask you all when you want to start, and i generally ask that right around the 1st of november.