Segment creator and discussion

[anchskier]

Display who created a segment and include a means to contact them or a discussion feature within the segment page that notifies them of someone trying to contact them.  Segments are frequently created with poor GPS data, poor start/stop points, or duplicating segments already available.  Allowing a means to contact the creator, either directly or through a proxy, will allow others to provide feedback to improve the segments and reduce duplication where possible.  Many times, the creator could make a small adjustment to the start or stop points of a segment to resolve issues, but instead, since there is no way to find who created it, someone ends up making a duplicate.  This just clutters to database over time.  There is one segment in my area that has 7 separate segments created for it, all with only very minor differences.  When one person sets a new KOM, the previous holder gets 7 notifications.  This is ridiculous and unnecessary.  Strava techs refuse to help clean up the database, yet they don't provide users with any tools to do so themselves.   Another solution would be to name local moderators who have some ability to edit segments or contact the creators so it isn't just open source to everyone else if privacy is the concern.  

[eric]

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@anchskier wrote:

Strava techs refuse to help clean up the database, yet they don't provide users with any tools to do so themselves.   Another solution would be to name local moderators who have some ability to edit segments or contact the creators so it isn't just open source to everyone else if privacy is the concern.  

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I do think privacy is a concern, but I really like your idea of creating some tools for users to better clean up segments and/or have local moderators. Those local moderators could be set for a small geographic region, and they would probably do it for free. I would take a 10 mile area around my house 🤠

[Ian]

I agree that there is quite a bit of Segment duplication and some poorly created Segments, for example, with GPS anomalies or starting before a junction (or finishing after a junction), which makes it too easy for users to "cheat" by not covering the full Segment distance.  However, as someone who has created a lot of Segments (hopefully with sufficient care), I wouldn't really want to be hassled by other users who want adjustments that might give them a better leaderboard position.  Some communication with the Segment creator could be helpful but to protect privacy it might be better to do this anonymously.

[JustMtnB44]

I think something along these lines is needed. I am one of the trail stewards for a local park and sometimes trail sections are closed or rerouted. Sometimes people make new trails by riding down a hillside and then create a segment for it. We go in and remove the trails, but the segment still exists with no way to remove it. This draws unnecessary attention to the old route and can cause extra work for us if people attempt to re-open it. At the very least there should be a feature to archive old segments that are no longer relevant due to trail changes. This could be done either by contacting the creator, or with a voting system (some min number of votes to archive). I would also be in favor of local admins, but at least for mountain biking they should be people involved with the trails somehow.

[Hi_MakeItBetter]

I agree there needs to be a way to modify a segment.  TrailForks has a great system with user submissions, regional and local admins.  For Strava... it's First come First create... and it may not be right.  If a user creates a segment then stops using Strava... everyone is stuck with it.  A timeout waiting period could be used to request a change... and if a set time has passed... a group vote could change the segment.  Maybe even hand over the segment "admin" to an active user who frequently uses the segment.