Soccer Forum Annual Review Thread

ntlbell

Dub13 wrote: »

Its simple really,Boards Soccer forum is different because of the mix of fans we get all mingling.There are countless other sites offering a club only format,how many other sites are offering what we are..?We have issues yes of course we do and we are trying to work through them,but it would be utterly stupid if we changed what makes us different.

Your poker analogy is flawed IMO,the lads split for other reasons not the structure of the forum.They in fact took in the main the same structure to the new site.

The whys of what happened is irrelvant the fact is if you keep saying to the user base "do it somewhere else" eventually they will.


Mods are here to help give the user base a good expirience, "enablers" if you will.

So put it the users, let them decide, and if they decide for it, enable it.

I don't particularly want seperate forums, I just think the mods reasons for not having them don't hold much water, and if there's a large amount of users that do want it, give it to them or give some valid reasons for not having it, besides "do it somewhere else"

I *really* don't want to see seperate club fora. It would kill what makes the football special imo.

Mr Alan

wasn't it put to the users not long ago and they voted against it?

Yes. The stats are buried in this thread somewhere. The superthread sub forum is another idea altogether though.

Xavi6

Two questions for those wanting a superthread forum -

1. Is every club entitled to a superthread?

2. Do you think the clubs who have smaller superthreads (as they have less fans) in the main forum will attract the same attention they do now in subforum? Or will they become a thread that only the same 4 or 5 posters post in?

Xavi6

Xavi6 wrote: »

Two questions for those wanting a superthread forum -

1. Is every club entitled to a superthread?

2. Do you think the clubs who have smaller superthreads (as they have less fans) in the main forum will attract the same attention they do now in subforum? Or will they become a thread that only the same 4 or 5 posters post in?

1. I don't see why not, the room would be there.

2. That could be up to them. They could link it in their sig to get more people aware of their club, for starters. And if/when anything newsworthy happens, it can be posted about in their superthread.
If you have the Superthread forum in your subbed forums list, all threads in that forum will show up in your main front page as and when they're posted in.

GLaDOS

Xavi6 wrote: »

2. Do you think the clubs who have smaller superthreads (as they have less fans) in the main forum will attract the same attention they do now in subforum? Or will they become a thread that only the same 4 or 5 posters post in?

As it stands, the bohs superthread sinks into oblivion quite quickly if one of the regulars don't post and is thus forgotten about until one of bumps it.

K-9

Papa Smut wrote: »

Yes. The stats are buried in this thread somewhere. The superthread sub forum is another idea altogether though.

Think the super thread forum vote was close.

Xavi6 wrote: »

Two questions for those wanting a superthread forum -

1. Is every club entitled to a superthread?

2. Do you think the clubs who have smaller superthreads (as they have less fans) in the main forum will attract the same attention they do now in subforum? Or will they become a thread that only the same 4 or 5 posters post in?

Whoever wants one I suppose and feels the need to create one.

Also, superthreads for smaller clubs would be easier to find and would be further up the page on the separate sub forum.

ntlbell

Mr Alan wrote: »

wasn't it put to the users not long ago and they voted against it?

Sorry, didn't know this.

Carry on.

Mr.Nice Guy

Xavi6 wrote: »

Two questions for those wanting a superthread forum -

1. Is every club entitled to a superthread?

2. Do you think the clubs who have smaller superthreads (as they have less fans) in the main forum will attract the same attention they do now in subforum? Or will they become a thread that only the same 4 or 5 posters post in?

I think every one in the soccer forum now should be in there.

As for the second point, on the BBC site for example there are club sections for practically every club in England and they each get their fair share of fans. I would suspect the same will be true in the superthread forum.

I feel there would be plenty of attention for the threads there because, and Papa Smut touched on this, they might use it as a source of news. Personally speaking I've checked out the City thread since the World Cup to see what the fans there have been saying about the transfer activity. It being in the club forum wouldn't put me off doing that. Same goes for other clubs in the news.

Thanx 4 The Fish

Again I ask, doea anybody remember the Go Ahead Eagles of Deventer?

wandatowell

Thanx 4 The Fish wrote: »

Again I ask, doea anybody remember the Go Ahead Eagles of Deventer?

Aint got a scoobies who/what it/they is/are.

K-9

Thanx 4 The Fish wrote: »

Again I ask, doea anybody remember the Go Ahead Eagles of Deventer?

Are you linking that to a super thread sub forum? Apples and Oranges tbh.

pickarooney

Thanx 4 The Fish wrote: »

Again I ask, does anybody remember the Go Ahead Eagles of Deventer?

What a question! We were a whisker away from promotion this year after a phenomenal up and down season. 2011 will be the year we bounce back and make it to the Eredivisie, then the fairweather bandwagoners will come crawling back.

Thanx 4 The Fish

wandatowell wrote: »

Aint got a scoobies who/what it/they is/are.

That is interesting, they were all the rage not long ago. OUt of sight, out of mind?

d22ontour

Superthread sub forum would be the best step forward at this stage.Every club that wants one can start one there.We all know the top 5 or so , which wouldn't make looking for them any harder.Leave the football forum to actual threads.If the threads are deemed superthread worthy then they can be merged with little ease too.
While the don't post in this thread again mod response has been used sometimes, i feel it's time to enforce it in threads now.Match or club with time restrictions would be a good solution maybe ...

5starpool

Thanx 4 The Fish wrote: »

Again I ask, doea anybody remember the Go Ahead Eagles of Deventer?

To try and pretend they are the same is just silly. Are you trying to say that a superclub forum would result in the suuperthreads being abandones and forgotten about? That GAE thing was always a silly idea that was just going to be a passing fad.

I don't feel strongly enough to care whether they have their own forum or not, although I don't think it is a terrible idea and has many merits, but either way they will get plenty of traffic.

eagle eye

Thanx 4 The Fish wrote: »

That is interesting, they were all the rage not long ago. OUt of sight, out of mind?

Yeah a bit like my post earlier actually.

This was your work, can you explain your thoughts here when deciding to infract the test post and not the image post?

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showpost.php?p=66899139&postcount=148

pickarooney

Thanx 4 The Fish wrote: »

That is interesting, they were all the rage not long ago. OUt of sight, out of mind?

With all due respect to the Eagles, if you're trying to suggest that if Chelsea were moved to a separate forum they'd be forgotten about...

If GAE didn't have their own forum it would be a pain to find the relevant threads. It averages about three posts a week but I don't see how its existence is harming anyone and I honestly doubt thre would be more posts in there if they were mixed back in with the main forum. I could be wrong; maybe other posters can say if they stopped posting because of the separate forum or if they just got bored.

PHB

I'm not really buying this argument that if you put superthreads into a sub-forum or some other technical solution that nobody would post on them. Go Eagles was an utterly different thing, in no way a regular thing.

Do people think that the Manchester United Superthread, or any superthread for that matter, would get less traffic for being in the sub-forum?

Leiva

If I wanna post something about my team on my teams superthread , then an extra button press ain't gonna stop me .

Only downside I can see is for the mods moving/merging alot more threads from the front page to the sub forum super threads , as newcomers won't see the superthread upfront .

M.

Mr Alan

i think they will certainly get a little less traffic from people who are not fans of those clubs. people who use the general forum but may contribute to the superthreads the odd time depending on what's being discussed.

Leiva

Mr Alan wrote: »

i think they will certainly get a little less traffic from people who are not fans of those clubs. people who use the general forum but may contribute to the superthreads the odd time depending on what's being discussed.

True.

One thing I like about this soccer forum is the mix of fans on super threads .
An extra level would probably filter out that , hence less posts/traffic.

Xavi6

PHB wrote: »

I'm not really buying this argument that if you put superthreads into a sub-forum or some other technical solution that nobody would post on them. Go Eagles was an utterly different thing, in no way a regular thing.

Do people think that the Manchester United Superthread, or any superthread for that matter, would get less traffic for being in the sub-forum?

It's not about traffic for the United thread, or the Pool one.

Traffic to the threads of other clubs with smaller threads and less fans will suffer.

Leiva

Xavi6 wrote: »

It's not about traffic for the United thread, or the Pool one.

Traffic to the threads of other clubs with smaller threads and less fans will suffer.

If the super threads go on a sub forum then why not just make a forum for each team ?
Something that would make boards.ie like all the other forums , something that would be a step backwards and take away from the enjoyment/mix this soccer forum offers.

Classic case of :
Dont fix what's not broken

Mr Alan

linking articles to the s*n newspaper in the Liverpool thread should be banned. its offensive to the vast vast majority of Liverpool fans.

L'prof

Xavi6 wrote: »

Traffic to the threads of other clubs with smaller threads and less fans will suffer.

Really? As it is, I barely notice the smaller threads in the soccer forum because they don't stay on the main page very long. If they were moved or a function was implemented whereby you could filter the forum I'd definitely see a lot more of them and would take more of an interest in them. It's not going to be the same for everyone of course, but that's how I see it!

astrofool

How about instead of a super thread forum, having a talk/gossip/rumours forum? Then instead of bulky big threads, you can have multiple small threads (e.g. Man utd reserves, Liverpool rumours, Chelsea club talk).

The real stories are then on the main soccer forum, if a piece of gossip becomes real, the thread can be moved/merged.

Mr.Nice Guy

mixednuts wrote: »

If the super threads go on a sub forum then why not just make a forum for each team ?

Wanting a sub forum for super threads and wanting a forum for each team are two completely different things. You are bringing up the latter in order to dismiss the former.

Personally I'd find it impractical to have forums for every club but very sensible and user-friendly to have a sub-forum for superthreads. The forum at present is inundated with 'Team Talk/Gossip/Rumour' threads for clubs. I would regard that as a negative and something that could be improved.

pickarooney

I still reckon a Premiership forum is a no-brainer, as well as a couple of other sub-forums.

MIN2511

pickarooney wrote: »

I still reckon a Premiership forum is a no-brainer, as well as a couple of other sub-forums.

So what you propose is Barclays Premiership, Champions League, World cup forums?

That could work

Xavi6

MIN2511 wrote: »

So what you propose is Barclays Premiership, Champions League, World cup forums?

That could work

No it wouldn't.

The main forum would cease to exist pretty much without the above, and you would have to factor in a LOI subforum as well cause if the Premiership is getting one then so should our own league.

The only compromise I see is a seperate superthread forum to remove some of the clutter and keep the page one-ers happy.

Anything more will kill what's already in place.

pickarooney

Xavi6 wrote: »

No it wouldn't.

The main forum would cease to exist pretty much without the above, and you would have to factor in a LOI subforum as well cause if the Premiership is getting one then so should our own league.

Are you just being existential for the sake of it? Sure, if you turn a house into a block of flats technically the house ceases to exist, but so what? What is with this line of thinking that if you tidy things up a little people will stop posting?

Xavi6

pickarooney wrote: »

Are you just being existential for the sake of it? Sure, if you turn a house into a block of flats technically the house ceases to exist, but so what? What is with this line of thinking that if you tidy things up a little people will stop posting?

They won't stop posting. No one suggested that. The forum wont lose posters, they will just be less diverse in their posting.

If you take the three main topics of conversation out of any forum you will see traffic diminish.

There's tidying and then there's destroying by putting people in different corners of soccer with too many subforums.

All I'm trying to do is make sure that the great forum we have stays that way.

Mister men

Only joined a while back but have to say overall am dissapointed with the lack of banter. Seems you could get banned if slagging off a poster or player/manager whatever.

Xavi6

Mister men wrote: »

Only joined a while back but have to say overall am dissapointed with the lack of banter. Seems you could get banned if slagging off a poster or player/manager whatever.

That's not true at all.

There's a big difference between taking the piss and being nasty (personal abuse).

Mister men

Xavi6 wrote: »

That's not true at all.

There's a big difference between taking the piss and being nasty (personal abuse).

Last time i checked taken the piss was banter. Who said anything about personal abuse Xavi? Surely when down the pub you take the mick out of your mates who support your rivals or your rival teams players etc.. That's a big part of what football is about no?

Mitch Connor

Xavi6 wrote: »

That's not true at all.

There's a big difference between taking the piss and being nasty (personal abuse).

again, it is clearly true. HS got infracted for calling Al a lazy bum (for not googling something himself)

That was clearly a bit of banter and he got infracted for it.

So saying it is not true at all is rubbish.

namloc1980

L'prof wrote: »

That would probably be the ideal solution, but I can't see it being implemented. Three options maybe:

Show all threads
Only show Superthreads
Only show other threads

EDIT: Hang on, that system is already in place here. Could this be implemented??? Pretty please??? But the the ability to make your selection permanent for every time you visit the forum.

This is by far the most sensible solution to the club superthread issue. Everyone is a winner: for those who don't want the forum broken up, everything will stay exactly the same. And for those who have no interest in club superthreads, they can simply filter them out at the click of a button. Is there any reason why this can't be implemented in the SF?

Xavi6

Mister men wrote: »

Last time i checked taken the piss was banter. Who said anything about personal abuse Xavi? Surely when down the pub you take the mick out of your mates who support your rivals or your rival teams players etc.. That's a big part of what football is about no?

But who was banned for taking the piss?

(and before anyone says it, Headshot was infracted, not banned)

Mitch Connor wrote: »

again, it is clearly true. HS got infracted for calling Al a lazy bum (for not googling something himself)

That was clearly a bit of banter and he got infracted for it.

So saying it is not true at all is rubbish.

Fine, your one example makes the 'at all' redundant.

It's not by any means the status quo however and there is plenty of craic.

Ush1

Xavi6 wrote: »

They won't stop posting. No one suggested that. The forum wont lose posters, they will just be less diverse in their posting.

If you take the three main topics of conversation out of any forum you will see traffic diminish.

There's tidying and then there's destroying by putting people in different corners of soccer with too many subforums.

All I'm trying to do is make sure that the great forum we have stays that way.

Gotta agree with this.

Speaking from my own point of view, I don't support any of the teams in the super threads. However, I do post on them as they are usually active topics and appear at the top of page 1.

If they were moved to a sub forum, I honestly wouldn't be arsed posting in them I don't think. But a sticky with links to them would be handy for the more inactive ones like the Real Madrid thread etc...

The Muppet

Mister men wrote: »

Last time i checked taken the piss was banter. Who said anything about personal abuse Xavi? Surely when down the pub you take the mick out of your mates who support your rivals or your rival teams players etc.. That's a big part of what football is about no?

To be fair the mods do their best to allow banter but just like down the pub some users can't take any banter and hassle and personal abuse can result, thats when the mods become involved to clean things up.

gandalf

namloc1980 wrote: »

This is by far the most sensible solution to the club superthread issue. Everyone is a winner: for those who don't want the forum broken up, everything will stay exactly the same. And for those who have no interest in club superthreads, they can simply filter them out at the click of a button. Is there any reason why this can't be implemented in the SF?

Hang on I must have missed that post in all the noise. That is brilliant and if its been implemented on a forum already it should be relatively simple to implement here*.

It would solve the problem for people saying superthreads take up too much room etc.

*As I do not know how vbulletin works in the background this may not be true

PHB

Xavi6 wrote: »

It's not about traffic for the United thread, or the Pool one.

Traffic to the threads of other clubs with smaller threads and less fans will suffer.

That's fair enough. Well then what about taking out the 5 or 6 biggest threads? They are the ones that do the clogging up anyway.

Xavi6

PHB wrote: »

That's fair enough. Well then what about taking out the 5 or 6 biggest threads? They are the ones that do the clogging up anyway.

And move them where? To a superthread forum? If that happens then might as well just move the whole lot.

That seems to be the best option from what I can see.

SantryRed

Xavi6 wrote: »

And move them where? To a superthread forum? If that happens then might as well just move the whole lot.

That seems to be the best option from what I can see.

Why can't we just have a prefix for the superthreads? That will work for everyone then!

Dub13

I was away for the weekend so only catching up on this now.We will leave this thread open for another 24 hours or so,that will be a week open so if you have anything to say get a move on.

Dub13

SantryRed wrote: »

Why can't we just have a prefix for the superthreads? That will work for everyone then!

Yes the prefix idea may be a good comprise to this,I will look into this and see if there are any issues we need to look at.

astrofool

Xavi6 wrote: »

They won't stop posting. No one suggested that. The forum wont lose posters, they will just be less diverse in their posting.

If you take the three main topics of conversation out of any forum you will see traffic diminish.

There's tidying and then there's destroying by putting people in different corners of soccer with too many subforums.

All I'm trying to do is make sure that the great forum we have stays that way.

Look at other forum areas on boards.ie

When traffic gets to a certain level (which happened about 3-4 years ago on the soccer forum), it makes sense to subdivide the forum, then, what usually happens is that each forum grows in it's own right. LOI for example are lucky to have a topic or two on the first page, yet there is certainly enough clientele to keep a forum busy. Same would go for internationals (who's popularity would wax and wane with the season schedule).

It could even go on a general soccer forum, and then a talk/gossip/rumours forum.

This can of course go too far, witness what happened to the games forum before it got redesigned, but I suspect that soccer could handle 2 or 3 forums and grow the user base from there (as well as getting rid of problems with superthreads, arguments over club forums etc.).

The Motors forum is a good standard to follow. It's been added to slowly over the years, and has succeeded in keeping it's regular clientele, while also having sections for specific types of users (classic, 4x4 etc.).

Dub13

astrofool wrote: »

The Motors forum is a good standard to follow. It's been added to slowly over the years, and has succeeded in keeping it's regular clientele, while also having sections for specific types of users (classic, 4x4 etc.).

Its not a great comparison in fairness....I know BMW drivers hate Merc driver etc etc but its nothing even remotely like a UTD & Liverpool dived.Football fans are tribal,and most of them will stay with there own kind if not encouraged to mingle.