Adam, I like your mom, too.
I can just imagine a new person joining the blog- say someone who is just starting running for the first time ever, out of shape and a bit shy about the whole thing. Maybe mid-30's, 3 kids, and a busy schedule. Not even sure how far a 5k is, but her friend signed her up for one in 3 months and said she should try to break 35 minutes. Somewhat hesitantly, she blogs her first 3 days but then has a busy day and misses the next day. But she doesn't feel too bad because she still ran more in the past 3 days than in the past 13 years combined. Much to her horror/surprise, the next day she notices a huge goose egg on her blog for all too see. Very embarrased and a bit confused, she quits blogging and we never hear from her again. We don't even know if she is still running.
Goose eggs wouldn't cause many of us to quit the blog, but I guarantee this scenario will occur.
...And these are the people that tend to benefit the most from the blog.
Negative reinforcement just doesn't work. Everyone who smokes knows it's stupid, but they choose to smoke anyway, despite the huge labels on the packages and scare campaigns on TV. And the death penalty does not always deter crime. And when you train a dog by beating him, all you get is a dog that cowers and then snaps at you. You train a dog by giving him treats (not trying to say that we're all dogs...)
To change a
person, you need to change the heart, and a .png image of a goose egg will barely skim the surface, or will potentially harden the heart. To get a person to go from 3 days/week running to 6-7 days/week running it would be more effective to:
1. Befriend them
2. Comment frequently, thoughtfully, and gently
3. Hopefully see them in person, share a meal with them, and encourage them
4. Come up with other incentives that use positive reinforcement. Golden egg is a good idea. A way to track
number of workouts would be good (we need a field for doubles - AM and PM sessions). Or time spent training would be good. (even when injured I often spend two hours/day on training and rehab...even though none of it shows up on the mileage board). The honor board is a nice idea.
Personally, I know that I have influenced the training of several people on the blog (whom I now live through vicariously, thanks), and managed to do it without humiliation tactics or other negative reinforcement.
I do understand the concept of your idea, and understand your major points and objectives (and agree with many of them), but I think all of your goals can be accomplished without a little goose-egg graphic. For what it's worth, this thread has generated two pages of discussion so far. To date, 11 different people have voiced opposition ranging from "mild disagreement" to "horrible idea". Most of these people are long-time bloggers with some race/speed credentials has well. Zero people have voiced support. Zero people have stepped forward to participate in the contest.
The fact that so many people don't like the idea is a
good thing. It means that people
really care about this blog. We've invested a lot of time and care into it, and have traded a lot of advice. We would hate to see it turn a direction like this.
Obviously the blog is not a democracy, but we hope that our benign leader will listen to counsel.
