MESSAGE BOARD/FORUM STATUS
The message board/forum (LINK) has not taken off like I had hoped. This was one of the aspects of the new site that I had most looked forward to having, but for whatever reason(s), it seems to have been forgotten. One reason may be that the new site launched right when my football season began, so I have not been able to devote a ton of time to posting and discussion. However, it is something I would like to promote, and I do appreciate discussion of various topics (sports, music, movies, books, even politics and religion as long as people are respectful). What do you think could be done to promote discussion on the forum? Now that you’ve had a few months to settle into navigating the site, what suggestions might you make?
RANDOM NOTE
I have continued to forget to note this, but I was really excited in the spring/summer of 2014 when I was contacted by a national college football preview magazine to write a feature on Michigan football. Lindy’s Sports was doing their annual Big Ten football preview, and they wanted me to scope out the offensive line for what would turn out to be Brady Hoke’s final season. I wrote the piece, had their editor make a few suggestions, and . . . then got the rug pulled out from under me. Lindy’s decided not to run the magazine. I was given a “kill fee” for my work, which meant I got 50% of what I had originally agreed. I wasn’t too concerned about the payment, though; it was more the publicity that the site would have received. I never set out to be a journalist, but it would have been cool to published in Lindy’s, which I used to buy from Borders in Ann Arbor every year.
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Hi Thunder,
One thing I would like to see would be persistence in logins. Despite not clearing cookies/cache on Chrome, every time I come to the site I am not logged in. I think you mentioned at one point a login widget on the main screen was expected to be added, but I have not seen it yet.
I first started going to the forums right away, but since I was not a logged in user – there wasn’t much I could do. I couldn’t even find a way to login from the forums in Chrome, unless I am completely blind (possible).
So I would then go to an article, probably login, but get distracted by all the content you provide – never getting back to the forums.
I think the addition of the login widget on the home page, combined with persistent logins will go a long way towards user contributions both in the forums and throughout the site.
Just my .02.
-Brett (boliver46)
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I looked into fixing this myself, but it does not seem like something that I’m capable of fixing. Login issues are something that I plan to get the developer to work on.
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Sorry to hear about your article for Lindy’s not seeing the light of day. I rather enjoy your football analysis. Better luck next time.
I tend not to think about the forum on this site for two reasons: (1) my focus here is more on your content and not others, and (2) it doesn’t catch my eye, and therefore I don’t remember to check it. But I’ll try to remember going into the future.
“even politics and religion as long as people are respectful” … you expect a lot, good sir. I’ve yet to see an internet forum that treats those subjects respectfully.
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Thanks. The forum doesn’t really catch the eye. I agree. I’m trying to figure out the best way to promote it. I don’t want to clutter up people’s Twitter feeds with tweets to links from the message board. It’s something I’ve considered, though.
Politics and religion are interesting to discuss, I think. I don’t really mind when people get heated, as long as it doesn’t devolve into threats, name-calling, etc.
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I think if you want the forum to be that site, then you need to initiate most of it in this nascent stage; otherwise, people–who are so inclined to post something like that–are going to post on the websites that they already do. IOW, by merely providing a forum, you’ve have not provided anything novel/special. You need provide your thought, and if that’s special enough to start a discussion, then great.
You used to post more technical stuff about blocking and tackling, especially diagnosing Michigan plays/players. That was awesome, and something that UM fans couldn’t get from other places. Brian is dong more of that. But, he’s probably less technical (or, urr, correct) than someone with your background. I know it’s time consuming, but you asked. That would probably drive more thought-provoking discussions to your forums.
I might be in the minority, but all the focus on recruiting is fine. Still, unless it’s more technical, then it’s just something to skim very fast. My guess is that you enjoy it, which is great since it’s your site. But, unless you provide more technical aspects (i.e., something of value, that fits your particular strengths), then it doesn’t drive much traffic to the discussion forums.
Still, I enjoy/appreciate the site. Thanks.
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You’re right that I probably need to promote it. For me, it’s a matter of choosing how to promote it. (Tweets, links from the main page, etc.?)
I used to do more technical stuff. You’re right. It is somewhat time consuming, and it’s time that I just don’t have during the football season. I feel like it’s not really relevant when I actually have the time to write, unfortunately. I don’t know how many people care about a breakdown of a play from January through July or so.
Thanks for the feedback.
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I’m going to echo the sentiment that to generate activity in the forum, it may be necessary for you to seed some stuff early. Then maybe link to it from a main-page article you post titled, maybe, “Forum Posts of Interest” or something like that.
If others are anything like me, they’ll be more likely to respond to something than to initiate it. Over time that can change once people become accustomed to participating.
My reluctance to initiate is because my experiences elsewhere on the web have not been positive when I initiate a thread. I’ve done that on three separate websites — two motorcycle forums and MGoBlog. At MGoBlog people live for the opportunity to be judgmental about new threads. Snark reigns supreme, which to my eye wears thin very quickly. And on motorcycle forums every since thread eventually devolves into a debate about helmets, loud exhaust pipes, or Harley Davidson vs. any other bike manufacturer.
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I’ve always enjoyed reading your posts and have gotten a lot of football knowledge from TTB over the years. That said, the new site is disappointing. The Offer Boards are not nearly as helpful to refer to in their current, unsortable form. And so many of your articles can’t be read on my Ipad because the text gets covered over by the damn banner ads.
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FWIW, the offer boards can be sorted somewhat if you hit CTRL+F. That way you can scroll through players by position if you type in “LB” or “QB” or something like that. It’s not an ideal sorting measure, but it’s serviceable in some respects. Unfortunately, the program won’t allow those pages to be sortable by position. I plan to look into a better alternative. The older offer boards were difficult in their own way.
Also unfortunately, the ads have been a pain in the arse. When the site was originally launched, the developer failed to put a sidebar on all the pages. Essentially, the only time you would see the sidebar is if you clicked on “Blog” at the top of the page – the forum, the main page, etc. were devoid of a sidebar. That not only hurt the navigability of the site, but it also really cut down on ad revenue. This isn’t my main job (or even my #2 job), but I do make some money from the site. Without the sidebar, I was making 33% to 50% less in ad revenue on a daily basis because there were so many fewer ad impressions and clicks.
I asked the developer (not for the first time) to ensure that a sidebar would appear on all the pages. Unfortunately, it has affected some mobile users, particularly iPad users. I’m not really sure what the best fix is for that situation. If I revert to the old way, I lose a significant chunk of revenue. If I keep it this way, some people get annoyed/angry and perhaps stop visiting the site. I’d like for everyone to be happy, but I just don’t think it’s a good business decision to sacrifice so much of my revenue just for the people who use iPads.
Anyone with any technical knowledge is welcome to suggest some solutions.
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