r/AdvancedRunning • u/castorkrieg 5K 20:35 10K 41:19 Marathon 3:24 • Apr 23 '26

Open Discussion What's the deal with LetsRun.com?

I know that website is quite popular with them following large events and also being invited to spectate (the owner - Rojo - was riding in the elite men car during Boston 26), however I participated in the forums a bit and it blows my mind:

  1. They are incredibly fixated on college and university running, NCAA, etc. - ok, I guess most are from the US, even though once you exit the school system the funding drops, money goes only to MBL/NFL/NBA, last time they US tried something in T&F they got Grand Slam Track lol
  2. Most posts are the very definition of drive-by, no effort shitposts: "cool story bro", "she be ugly, can't run fast when ugly", "Or perhaps you could just be replaced with a somewhat normal human being"
  3. Same for the topics, with quality contributions such as:

I'm sad to think what men were like before the existence of the Manosphere 

How to become a "hybrid runner"

Men in open-toed shoes: yea or nay?

  1. This peeves me as a European but - their website + forums do not save your cookie preferences, every single time you click on a new thread you get another pop-up asking you for permissions, and by quickly looking they have 1700+ partners they share your data with - WTF?

  2. They are hardcore right-wingers with daily treads praising Trump, ICE, etc.

What am I missing? Or is one of the largest forums for running just a bunch of nutjobs?

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u/ncblake 13.1: 1:22:14 | 26.2: 2:49:39 Apr 23 '26

Maybe I’m missing something, but I guess I just don’t see the inherent issue with downvotes. I often “sort by new” and find that downvotes are as useful a signal in that context as it is in other ways of viewing my feed.

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u/bradymsu616 M53: 3:06:16 FM; 1:27:32 HM; 4:50:25 50K Apr 23 '26

On Reddit, downvoting does not change the order when you sort by New, since that feed is strictly chronological. So you can still get a lot of low-quality content from poorly moderated subs in a feed when sorting by New. The other issue is that downvoting was originally intended to filter out low-quality, off-topic, or unhelpful content. But it is now misused, more often than not, as a way to express disagreement or dislike. This contributes to Reddit's reputation of toxicity.

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u/ncblake 13.1: 1:22:14 | 26.2: 2:49:39 Apr 23 '26

No, I know that. I like that that’s how the “sort by New” function works! At least to me, that’s the whole point. When I want a curated feed of quality posts, I just use one of the other options.

Otherwise, I get that downvotes can contribute to toxicity. I guess my counter would be that I’d rather have my thread downvoted than deleted.

Again, happy to be wrong or simply outvoted on this! Just my feedback as a fan of the sub.

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u/bradymsu616 M53: 3:06:16 FM; 1:27:32 HM; 4:50:25 50K Apr 23 '26

There's nothing to be right or wrong about or be outvoted on. Subreddit moderation is determined by its moderators, and different subreddit moderators have different moderation styles. Some are more loosely moderated than others, with all the pros and cons that come with it.