Given the move to a private-by-default setting, where people can opt into a public presence here… And the fact that CityStrides has a fun friendly competition aspect within each city…
Perhaps we need an ‘anonymous participation’ mode, where no specific information is shared about yourself (no name, no streets progressed/completed, no city participation list, no map information, etc). Instead, only general information is shared (number of streets completed, percentage of city completed, etc) through either a generalized name (‘Anonymous Runner’, ‘Strider’, or something) … or I can get fancy and auto-generate names, or allow people to set public pseudonyms or something…
To the folks out there with private accounts, does this sound like something you would use?
To everyone, do you have opinions on the specific details above … other ideas, etc?
Would be a good idea I think. Just let people create a pseudonym themselves so they can find themselves If you could use a pseudonym you could navigate around the privacy issues …
To be honest i would not be happy if someone has more completed streets than me and i cannot see his runs to compare myself with.
One thing i do note is that even though i changed my name on runkeeper and strava to exclude my lastname, this change did not effect my name on citystrides. Just having a pseudonym on-line is sufficient for me.
I don’t know if this should be in this thread - or if I should start a new one.
I have been thinking about this very point - but from a different perspective. After I started with city stides, I mentioned to a friend in a different city and he started too. I’m competative and the idea of being the first to 100% in my city appeals to me. The same for my friend. When I clicked on his city to see where he was, I couldn’t see him. I spoke to him and he told me he was going to go ‘private’ until he was in first position, so others wouldn’t worry and try to stay ahead.
I don’t like this. I don’t like the idea that I’m in a race - but I have no idea where I actually am - am I currently 2nd in my city and just 23 streets from taking first place - or are there a bunch of “hidden people” just building up thier street count for the surprise reveal. Urgh!
Therefore - I’d propose that in the ranking displays, people who are “private” are still displayed by their % complete stats, but with a name of Anon (or Strider or whatever) and no link to personal info.
This would give all striders a true sense of where they are in the stats.
If you could use a pseudonym you could navigate around the privacy issues …