Where this system can break.
LoC is an operational experiment. These are the constraints, failure modes, and open questions we are working against — stated honestly.
Most ultras run through dead zones. Reports can be delayed, lost, or batched on signal return. We are exploring offline-first capture as a future contributor mode.
Not every observer reports with the same specificity, accuracy, or restraint. Moderation absorbs the variance today; a contributor reputation system is on the roadmap.
Humans misread fatigue, misidentify bibs, and project emotion onto runners. Verification, confidence tagging, and cross-source corroboration are the defense.
Some observations meaningfully affect the race if published live. The Commentator Feed exists in part to absorb context that should not be public in real time.
More contributors means more inbound. Human moderation is a feature, not a bug — but it is a real constraint on event size and concurrent races.
Contributors are drawn toward the leaders, drama, and familiar names. Distribution of attention across the field is an ongoing operational problem.
Open feeds optimize for engagement, not accuracy. LoC trades reach for restraint: nothing reaches anyone without a person standing behind it.
Some of what LoC is trying to do has never been done at race scale. Parts of the system may need to be rebuilt, narrowed, or abandoned. That is the cost of building in public.