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What’s the point of Strava? Can’t people easily cheat on the results to outcompete others? Like what happens if I use an e-bike to beat the best times?

r00fus 2y ago
Strava is a social app with a gamification angle. I use the social to share my rides (only) with people who follow me and to view people I follow to get inspired. I also use the gamification to compete - but really only against myself.
jerlam 2y ago
There is no reward for getting the best time. Also, the people that you beat are extremely motivated to investigate and flag your activity; it will look pretty obvious that it was ridden on an e-bike due to incorrect / missing data like heart rate and wattage. I have the record on a short inconsequential running course near me. I occasionally get a notification that someone beat my record and I am forced to look at it; it is always someone on a bike or car, and I flag it and it eventually goes away. Also, my own record activity has been flagged multiple times despite it only being slightly faster than the second place finisher - I no longer bother trying to contest it. The joke is on the flagger since I have run the exact same record time, several times, so I still have the course record.
- bigiain 2y ago
  Not everyone is as chill about that as you. https://www.forbes.com/sites/kashmirhill/2012/06/20/a-quantified-self-fatality-family-says-cyclists-death-is-fault-of-ride-tracking-company-strava/ https://www.forbes.com/sites/kashmirhill/2012/06/20/a-quanti...
  - recursive 2y ago
    It's even possible to do dumb stuff in pursuit of a personal best without using an app at all. But it should be noted that the Strava user in question doesn't seem to have been cheating. For some reason, they were trying to set a legitimate score in an ill-advised way. There's no evidence here that cheating in Strava is a problem. Is Strava promoting unsafe riding? Maybe. I don't really think so. But it's not connected to the cheating question.
mikeryan 2y ago
The vast majority of Strava users are only competing with themselves or, at best, to be atop a daily leaderboard for a somewhat popular segment.
recursive 2y ago
It's fun. Don't take the leaderboards too seriously. The kind of people that would care about high placement at any cost tend not to be the kind of people who care about strava. (mostly) People that can legitimately get a KOM on a segment tend to be known in a local community. If someone new shows up at #1, it's pretty obvious looking at their workout if its legit or not to someone familiar with the sport. What's the point of wikipedia? Can't people just easily publish fake information? Like what happens if I make an article about myself? It's pretty much a solved problem.
- Rastonbury 2y ago
  I once jogged to my car and drove somewhere close forgetting to turn Strava off getting all the PBs and split records
Beretta_Vexee 2y ago
The cycling leaderboard around where I live are full of professional cyclists capable of overtaking an e-bike while remaining in zone 2. People don't use Strava in the hope of getting a good place on the board but to compare themselves with their friends, club members and the pros.To follow their own development and that of their friends, to discover new paths, new events, and so on. Above all, it's a social network based around sport. No baby photos, no politics, just people happily practising their sport - it's the anti-Tweeter and it's great.

r00fus 2y ago

Strava is a social app with a gamification angle. I use the social to share my rides (only) with people who follow me and to view people I follow to get inspired. I also use the gamification to compete - but really only against myself.

jerlam 2y ago

There is no reward for getting the best time. Also, the people that you beat are extremely motivated to investigate and flag your activity; it will look pretty obvious that it was ridden on an e-bike due to incorrect / missing data like heart rate and wattage. I have the record on a short inconsequential running course near me. I occasionally get a notification that someone beat my record and I am forced to look at it; it is always someone on a bike or car, and I flag it and it eventually goes away. Also, my own record activity has been flagged multiple times despite it only being slightly faster than the second place finisher - I no longer bother trying to contest it. The joke is on the flagger since I have run the exact same record time, several times, so I still have the course record.

bigiain 2y ago
Not everyone is as chill about that as you. https://www.forbes.com/sites/kashmirhill/2012/06/20/a-quantified-self-fatality-family-says-cyclists-death-is-fault-of-ride-tracking-company-strava/ https://www.forbes.com/sites/kashmirhill/2012/06/20/a-quanti...
- recursive 2y ago
  It's even possible to do dumb stuff in pursuit of a personal best without using an app at all. But it should be noted that the Strava user in question doesn't seem to have been cheating. For some reason, they were trying to set a legitimate score in an ill-advised way. There's no evidence here that cheating in Strava is a problem. Is Strava promoting unsafe riding? Maybe. I don't really think so. But it's not connected to the cheating question.

mikeryan 2y ago

The vast majority of Strava users are only competing with themselves or, at best, to be atop a daily leaderboard for a somewhat popular segment.

recursive 2y ago

It's fun. Don't take the leaderboards too seriously. The kind of people that would care about high placement at any cost tend not to be the kind of people who care about strava. (mostly) People that can legitimately get a KOM on a segment tend to be known in a local community. If someone new shows up at #1, it's pretty obvious looking at their workout if its legit or not to someone familiar with the sport. What's the point of wikipedia? Can't people just easily publish fake information? Like what happens if I make an article about myself? It's pretty much a solved problem.

Rastonbury 2y ago
I once jogged to my car and drove somewhere close forgetting to turn Strava off getting all the PBs and split records

Beretta_Vexee 2y ago

The cycling leaderboard around where I live are full of professional cyclists capable of overtaking an e-bike while remaining in zone 2. People don't use Strava in the hope of getting a good place on the board but to compare themselves with their friends, club members and the pros.To follow their own development and that of their friends, to discover new paths, new events, and so on. Above all, it's a social network based around sport. No baby photos, no politics, just people happily practising their sport - it's the anti-Tweeter and it's great.