See, for me, it's very important that the monthly thread continue (and I'd even like it to have enough activity to be weekly again). First, we have WISHers who do make that their "home." Second, people new to WISH can dive in there, get a feel for the place, and see whether they'd like to stay. Questions are asked there, but sometimes it's just chatty. Sometimes I just browse the monthly thread to see what people or up to, and will hopefully be a stronger presence there this year. Third, I think people will continue to post their questions as their own thread if that's what they want--I don't see the monthly thread competing with that.
Oh, and I don't see the race threads disappearing at all!
Deekay, you said what I'm feeling better than I could, methinks.
I have been around here a long, long time as well (since 2005, when we were just a weekly thread on the main WISH board before we got our own forum) and have really enjoyed the influx of new people and the evolution from a group focused solely on WDW Marathon weekend to a group committed to all sorts of endurance events all over the world (with of course, WDW Marathon Weekend).
I understood the team concept when it was launched, as it was a friendly competition and way to keep track of miles and such going forward and I don't think you saw the weekly thread suffer for it.
Now the weekly thread is now a monthly thread... and from the outside looking in... the teams are much more insular than they were. By removing the weekly/monthly miles challenge, the teams essentially become clique threads and are beginning to cause the problem they were intended to solve: creating groups of people that appear to newcomers to move too fast and be too insular for new people to join. There are people out there who feel they don't belong here because they are NOT members of teams...
It still makes me feel really good when someone new to the group posts a welcome and they are
uniformly welcomed with open arms and tons of support. That's the real spirit of WISH... and it heartens me to still see it alive and well.
From the looks of things, it appears that some of the team threads will go on... in what form or fashion, who knows. But the monthly/weekly thread needs to stay. The "why bother having it" question? Where are members to go if they aren't members of, or wish not to participate in, a team clique thread? To me, that would be the ultimate affront to non-"team" members, old and new.
I love the idea of more virtual events. The 10K at Thanksgiving was a nice surprise and came off well. So going forward I would love to see those happen and will happily join in!! Thanks to Tracey for starting what I hope becomes a bigger part of the group. The individual race threads for non-WDW Marathon weekend stuff... love that too!
I know this was long-winded, but ultimately what I hope happens is that all the members of WISH get out of it what they need and what they put into it. This is a remarkable, supportive place that has helped me in many ways. I have met people who I sincerely hope are lifelong friends. They have encouraged me to do things I wasn't sure I was capable of.... and I hope everyone here, team or no, is able to have that same experience.
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