What ever happened to the Cog?

Is this a permanent thing or temporary?

Joe

He cared more about being right than helping anyone.

Fact of the matter is that all my gains came through TR, not from reading his shitty books, which I own.

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And educating others. Why even come here if you are unwilling to do that? It is not as if this is the Discord channel of all academics working in exercise physiology.

forgive my ignorance, should I know who this guy is?

Posting the image to not encourage any sales.

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So, does anyone actually know what happened? He left and asked for his account to be nuked? He was kicked off? And TR nuked his account? (I can’t find it with a search.)

In the past, people have been asked to leave but their posts remained.

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its not hiding… searched for @the_cog and it came up:

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It is how it works if those are the facts of the situation. You are still debating this dead horse even after the guy is not around.

I’ve heard him say this about the 20 minute test at least a dozen times over the years (on podcasts).

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Thanks. I was typing that in the search and it was saying that nothing was found. I guess it was searching just the topic - my error.

So, what’s up with the this topic? I see no evidence of him having been booted off the system. His account is still active. I imagine that he’s a little bored with us knuckleheads and has some real world work to do. :slight_smile:

first post:

and the user in question:

:man_shrugging:

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My point wasn’t to resurrect this beaten horse, but how he handled the fact that the 20-minute test was mentioned in several of his works, especially his pioneering and most widely read works.

I took issue with the fact for how he dealt with it (as an example of why I think he was kicked off): quoting or citing one‘s works is how you argue in science. Gaslighting the other person that “I should have known he disagreed with it and this was entirely his co-author‘s claim.” is toxic, not just to people he debates with, but all of his collaborators.

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Cycling is a hobby for him. His career has been as a researcher in a medical school.

I found that exchange with a quick search. If anything, you were kind of rude. He told you how that book collaboration went down and you kept doubling and tripling down on your assertion about how he should take responsibility for the 20 minutes test in the book.

I’m surprised he wasn’t more rude to you there.

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But, let’s be clear - it was even beyond that. He tried to change the definition of FTP countless times, specifically the duration. In some cases it’s defined as an hour, other cases “about an hour”, and yet other cases he eventually tried to define it as literally any value he wanted. Something that was so theoretically fundamental to…literally his everything, and…nevermind…sigh.

(Side note: I don’t care what the FTP time is, but I do care when you have a book and write a bazillion articles boldly claiming one thing, then try and change the definition later, while concurrently blaming everyone else for saying an hour, after they were literally following your literal work.)

Then we get to product bits. He was heavily against running power meters (as evidenced by his ST forum posts on the matter, which are easily found), and then Stryd offered him a paid consulting gig, and boom, he was a huge proponent. He previously slaughtered people that were for running powers before that (in his usual style), and then afterward would slaughter people in forums for those that said anything bad. We’re not talking “disagree”, but harsh insults/etc, as always (all while mostly being wrong).

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The thing is with forums, is that you make rules. Those rules suit you. You think they are great rules. Other people agree, reinforcing the political decisions you’ve made. Those decisions exclude people from the forum.

All is well right? Well, kind of.

As long as you are included by those rules.

Dr Coggan is well known for being an ass, but also a genius - if you will forgive both colloquials. So, it makes sense to ask - are you sure the rules are excluding the right people?

This is certainly not a place where you are encouraged to be yourself. Quite the opposite, you are encouraged to be someone nice. It takes me effort to mask every time I post here and I’ve been posting here for a while. Now, I can do that. Other people can’t, and it’s not always because they’re bad people.

I do like this forum and its rules, but like any forum they are imperfect.

What I like about Coggan’s forum style is the ruthlessness. It’s tiring to talk to ignorant people in the nice gentle coaxing way that they might deem acceptable and actually learn something from. You put all the effort in, and they put in none. Maybe they get all in a hissy fit because you’re telling them a truth they can’t understand, and call you rude. Or arrogant. Like it’s your fault they are ignorant.

I don’t know how, but there needs to be a way to include people who have something to contribute and are considered rude, in society whether it is online or at work.

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The essence of your post reminds me of a classic insult “I can explain it to you, but I cannot understand it for you” type of scenario.

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I`m agree with you…The problem will be when we only have nice people in the forum, and little knowledge about cycling

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Well, there is a problem I’ve faced my whole life.

It’s perfectly acceptable that you can run/bike much faster than me. That you’re much stronger than me. That you’re much taller than me. Not just acceptable but usually a source of pride.

But the notion that I am much smarter than you is utterly offensive.

:man_shrugging:t2:

But why listen to me, I must have ‘Napolean syndrome’… :wink:

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I think we need the exact opposite of this currently in the world; where rude, entitled, selfish, and abusive behaviors are ubiquitous. I don’t care what the guy has to say if he can’t be decent, there are lots of other people who are and can offer the same thing in a more persuasive way.

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I honestly don’t see many posts on here from tall high w’kg folks belittling and gaslighting short weaker people :thinking:

There are plenty of smart people out there that don’t think they are superior… and plenty dumb people who think they are…

EDIT: just to clarify… this is not an assault on you… i know nothing of your strength or intellect… I just don’t see intelligence as the issue with The_Cog

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Sorry gonna just scoop my jaw off the floor at the mental gymnastics required to turn this into a bad thing, and evidence that the forum rules are misguided.

This forum, like every forum, is a community of human beings. It’s a bunch of people – emotional, irrational, analytical, funny, boring, excitable, long-winded, brilliant, dim people – united by a common interest. There are no downsides to making it an inclusive space, where people can ask questions and have conversations without fearing “ruthless” responses from famous subject matter experts who condescend, patronize, and snark because that’s fun for them. There are no downsides to treating our fellow enthusiasts with some grace, and some patience. None. Zero downsides.

If one can’t do that, if you can’t respond to a “dumb question” without being a little mean, if you can’t perceive disagreement as anything other than stupidity, if you can’t imagine how a particular concept could possibly be misunderstood, then please, for the love of Merckx, step away from the conversation for a bit. You lack the empathy and creativity to educate, and that’s fine. Let somebody else handle it.

There is a cost to tolerating brilliant jerks in a community. You lose the brilliant but meek voices. You lose the funny but shy voices. You lose the insightful but timid voices. You end up with a community that’s just a bunch of jerks, some brilliant but mostly otherwise, because those are the only people who can thrive in an environment that toxic. It’s not worth it.

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