What is the best way to do this? I see some profiles I would like to make a note of and return to with ease. Also would like to send PM (private messages) to some Striders. Do either of these capabilities exist outside of the community forum/on the main site?
Yeah, that’s been brought up Friends list/leaderboard and More social interaction within CityStrides
I’m extremely uncertain about a kind of “open messaging” system. There aren’t really a lot of vectors for harassment in CityStrides (and there are a lot of good moderation tools in this forum software) so I want to be very careful about which features are built out and how they can be used.
I’m leaning towards a ‘friendship’ model over a ‘follower’ model (where both parties would need to confirm/allow that relationship), but since the ‘follower’ model would adhere to the existing privacy rules I think it’s worth considering.
If I added a ‘follower’ model relationship, I’d probably also add the ability to be completely hidden from the site in all possible ways (the current privacy settings don’t hide you from the main Strider list, with a secondary question of whether or not that should even exist in the first place 
).
I’m a bit more inclined to push messaging into this forum software, since it already exists. 
It would be nice to more properly link up the two sites, though - e.g. linking from one to the other. 
@david.krulewich It also might be possible to find them on Strava*. I follow a couple Striders there, and it’s far easier to know when CS people I would follow, do something interesting.
-* Other than Garmin, CS and Strava are the only sites I link my activities to.
@JamesChevalier Honestly I don’t think it matters at all which method you choose. Facebook is friends and Instagram is followers. Strava is followers and Mapmyrun is friends. The bottom line is that creating connections is what fosters a community and will help grow the site (if that’s what you want after all). Just make a choice and go with it.
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@ericjrw the problem with following people on Strava is that CS has many proprietary advantages Strava lacks, specifically as it relates to mapping historical runs. For example, this user: Salena Chatman - CityStrides has ran in every town in Connecticut and I can see her routes very easily via CS. So when I go to run in a new town, I’d like to be able to quickly reference the run she completed in that town and see if it would make sense to leverage parts of her route. In strava, I would have to dig for months/years to find that same run. Having said that, from a social stand point, sure I could add on Strava or Garmin (feel free to add me 
) but again - that’s not why I am using CS…
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Ahh, thanks David. I had not considered that aspect. Could have sworn I’ve seen a head-slap before, but can’t find, so I’ll use this instead: 