Return To The Glory Hole (Need Your Input!)

[Hockey5djh]

1 hour ago, Texas_OutLaw7 said:

I think we can be the test-unit for Webby. If NFC East Fans can not kill each other, the rest of the Divisions should be fine.

I'm ready...

[D82]

I don't know if Webby would go for a Division Forum, but we can certainly start up an NFC East Discussion thread. It seems to generate a lot of discussion in the Eagles forum.

[Webmaster]

An NFC East forum would work if there were more activity in the team forums.  As it is now an NFC East forum would just make things slower in the Eagles, Cowboys, and Redskins forums.   I want to boost team forum activity, not take activity out of these forums.

As Des said however, an NFC East Discussion topic  with in the Cowboys forum is a good way to get some more activity going in the Cowboys forum.   I know a couple of the busier team forums have topics to discuss rivals and as long as it isn't used to troll, it really adds good discussion and activity to the forum.

[Webmaster]

Again the main thing we need to do in here is start some new topics for discussion.  If you look at the busier forums they have tons of good descriptive topics.  It's easy for members to jump in and add their thoughts to something when they can look at the forum home page and easily tell everything that is being discussed.  In the last ten days there has only been 7 new topics started in here.  Only 2 real unique ones, as 3 are on Elliot, one on a new mod, and this one.    

What about a topic on Dak's second season expectations?   Predictions for Dez this season?  Rookies you are looking forward to seeing this year?  Players on the roster bubble?  Position battles? A topic for your next preseason game? and more.   @Desperado82 and @flyingmonkey30 you guys are going to have to start topics like this each day until you get members back in the habit of starting new topics for discussion.  

[Phire]

An NFCE forum could absolutely work. Our fans don't seem to troll each other that much, maybe back in the day, but not really anymore. The Eagles forum has been running an NFCE thread and we love having rival posters in there. All teams are usually fairly represented in there and things remain civil. 

I have no doubt that such a forum could work, but the question is whether it is desirable. In my honest opinion I think the team forums are the best for long-term forum health. I say this as an Eagles mod who is part of the most active team forum on the website, and I don't say that to brag. But there has to be a presumption that we're doing something right.

What I find essential is creating a community. Fostering friendships, even taking advantage of rivalries. What keeps people coming back here? None of us are paid to be here. I'm not paid to be a mod here. I'm here strictly on a volunteer basis. Why do I do that? No offense to Webby but I'm not spending countless hours of my life out of any sort of love for the website admin. I'm here because I enjoy talking about life and football with guys I could sit down with and have a quality conversation. I could choose a dozen other websites to have the same discussions. But it won't be with the same people. That's the key. The website is a platform. What makes it unique is the members who use it.

You don't get the same kind of community in NFL General. Or the News forum. There's one place you're all on the same side and that's the team forum. You might even have geographic ties to each other. Hell a few of us have even gotten together to get beer. Many of us are Facebook friends.

Each community will get its own identity. The Eagles forum has a bunch of mischievous guys who like to have fun and toe the line. As a mod I could attempt to capture that energy and nudge it toward positivity or come down hard with bans and warnings. If I had chosen the latter our forum would be dead. That's just the simple truth of the matter. I've always made it a point to be extremely laissez-faire in our forum. That had gotten us in trouble. But we haven't chased anybody away. Nobody complains about over moderation in the Eagles forum. If members of a forum complain about over moderation I don't think that should be swept under the rug.

Back to the NFCE thread idea. I don't know that such a forum is desirable. You'll get people who inevitably abandon their team forums, which to me are precious, and spend all their time in that division forum. Even forums like NFL News, in my opinion, has harmed the team forums. Back before NFL News people had to go to the team forums to discuss trades or blockbuster moves. Now when there's big news there's multiple places people are talking about it. The 100 pages a blockbuster deal would get involving a Giants player in NFL News doesn't even have a darn thread in the Giants forum (this is hypothetical).

So when a big trade from the NFCE occurs, we'll have a thread in the team forum, the division forum, and the news forum. Discussion is spread all over. I think that harms the team forums. The team forums are the most important forums. They are the most apt to building a community. Community keeps people here.

Thats just my thoughts.

[MKnight82]

25 minutes ago, Webmaster said:

An NFC East forum would work if there were more activity in the team forums.  As it is now an NFC East forum would just make things slower in the Eagles, Cowboys, and Redskins forums.   I want to boost team forum activity, not take activity out of these forums.

As Des said however, an NFC East Discussion topic  with in the Cowboys forum is a good way to get some more activity going in the Cowboys forum.   I know a couple of the busier team forums have topics to discuss rivals and as long as it isn't used to troll, it really adds good discussion and activity to the forum.

I think you're missing an opportunity here.  I don't think starting division forums would reduce activity in team forums.  But most posters will not go into another team's forum and post.  Making a designated division thread should increase cross team activity that currently isn't happening as much as it should.  

One thing I think you should consider, is this site competes with official team forums from all 32 teams.  If I wanted to only talk to Redskins fans, I would go to extremeskins and post there.  One of the main advantages of this website is that there are fans of all 32 teams on it.  You should embrace posters to interact amongst fans of other teams IMO.  It will distinguish this site more from others in a positive way.

[D82]

@Phire that's actually a good point. I know before the NFL news forum, and before I was even a member, the first thing I would do would be to check the Cowboys forum daily to get the latest Cowboys news. 

[Webmaster]

20 minutes ago, Phire said:

Back to the NFCE thread idea. I don't know that such a forum is desirable. You'll get people who inevitably abandon their team forums, which to me are precious, and spend all their time in that division forum.

 

20 minutes ago, Phire said:

What I find essential is creating a community. Fostering friendships,

 Exactly.    People stay for the friendships they make in the team forums.   This is why team forum activity is so critical to the long term health of the forum.    It's why I'm going around to all the team forums pushing more activity.   The new forum update only makes the forum better if members use the features to increase their activity with their friends on the forum.  

[Webmaster]

5 minutes ago, MKnight82 said:

But most posters will not go into another team's forum and post.

Many of our top members do go into other team forums to post.  @Matts4313 and a few other Cowboys members have a great rivalry with the Eagles members and they frequent the Eagles forum.   

[D82]

2 minutes ago, Webmaster said:

Many of our top members do go into other team forums to post.  @Matts4313 and a few other Cowboys members have a great rivalry with the Eagles members and they frequent the Eagles forum.   

Yup. We have a pretty good bond with quite a few Eagle fans. We'd gladly welcome the Skins and Giants fans to come over more often.

[MKnight82]

Just now, Webmaster said:

Many of our top members do go into other team forums to post.  @Matts4313 and a few other Cowboys members have a great rivalry with the Eagles members and they frequent the Eagles forum.   

Matts and myself, maybe HTTR, we're pretty much the only ones.  There's a running gag within the Eagles NFCE thread that there's no one to vote for the Baldies Award for best non Eagles fan poster because no one else posts there but a few of us.  The posting activity between team rivals is very limited outside of NFL General (about football, the non-football threads obviously there's all sorts of people chatting).  

Again, the interaction with fans of other teams is what makes this site unique to me, not the relationships within the team forums.  I can go to the Redskins official team forum for that.  I prefer this site because I can chat with fans from all 32 teams.  

[Matts4313]

17 hours ago, HDsportsfan said:

Ha....Prime-Time....he was irritating as all get out and would beat a dead horse to a dust pile. I forgot he got banned. I can't remember what it is for either. Related to the GB game maybe. But a good example. But overall seemed to be a good guy and meant no harm. Man, he would stand is ground regardless and not budge lol.

Don't have any easy answers. There are a few I'd ban the hell out of here if I could. All they do is post crap just to be argumentative knowing it will get people PO'ed. Basically trolling, but done so it doesn't actually break any forum rules. Just right up to that edge.

 

Have fun being a mod. LOL I was one on a popular Android site. It can be a thankless job.

Having an ignore button should help contain the bickering between certain posters. 

[Webmaster]

1 minute ago, MKnight82 said:

Again, the interaction with fans of other teams is what makes this site unique to me, not the relationships within the team forums.  I can go to the Redskins official team forum for that.  I prefer this site because I can chat with fans from all 32 teams.  

Everyone has some different reasons they are on the forum.  Many members only visit their own team forums.  Some members only use the NFL News forum.  Heck we have a few members now who only visit the Soccer or Baseball forum.  Some visit dozens of forums.  You like to interact with rivals and that is great.  There are many ways you can do that already.  NFL General, News, Comparisons, rival team forums, etc.    

[Webmaster]

3 hours ago, Texas_OutLaw7 said:

Let's get some of them in here:

@Phire, @Kiltman, @Nabbs4u, @Jroc04, @Hockey5djh

@Woz, @Jeezy Fanatic, @turtle28, @Thaiphoon, @MKnight82

@Acgott, @Shockey1979

 

 

Here is a good example of how using some of the new features can boost activity.  After this post, this topic blew up.  Now @mention your favorite cowboy members in an interesting football discussion and we will really get some activity going in this forum.  

[Matts4313]

2 hours ago, MKnight82 said:

If you were going to do this, there would have to be some relaxed standards on the trolling rules.  I mean it would basically be a forum to trash talk fans of your division teams.