What should be done with this particular thread? It started as a baseball thread back when Mark Mulder still roamed the earth, then it got bumped, and has now become what I would classify as a Social thread.
I don't really care where that thread is placed but it does seem like that by moving it to social you are stating humor isn't welcome in baseball talk.
But I personally don't care where any posts sit. I visit all the forums. I am not insulted if my thread is moved, and I don't care where it is moved to.
What should be done with this particular thread? It started as a baseball thread back when Mark Mulder still roamed the earth, then it got bumped, and has now become what I would classify as a Social thread.
I don't really care where that thread is placed but it does seem like that by moving it to social you are stating humor isn't welcome in baseball talk.
But I personally don't care where any posts sit. I visit all the forums. I am not insulted if my thread is moved, and I don't care where it is moved to.
I would keep the thread where it is. Yes its definately off topic, but it's also just a bumped thread. Bumped threads are inevitable in an established posting community. The thread has already run its course and once everyone gets their giggles out of it the thread will go back to the bottom and not cause any problems.
If you start making a big deal out of people going off topic on old bumped threads you'll end up making a mountain out of a mole hill (like I did with this thread) and nothing good will come of it. If it becomes a persistant problem I would suggest sending a PM to the people who keep doing it, Elphie in this case, and ask her not to bump old threads unless it keeps the thread on topic. If that doesn't help then make an announcement about it, and if that doesn't help, then start moving threads.
I've been casually reading this thread over the past few days, and it's an interesting study in group dynamics/relationships/interactions. I'd be interested in a couple of our philosophy student/professors weighing in on this topic, as this is an issue not necessarily unique to Internet message boards.
I agree, in that I enjoy reading Jerry and boyer's comments just as much as (and slightly more than) RC's and skmskw's. For me, the "been there" experience exudes out of their posts. Yet the newer, statistical analysis side of the game intrigues me, so I find myself learning a lot from those type of posts, too.
I know whenever I throw my 2 cents in about something (as opposed to just posting the NL Central comments), I share my opinions when I have something to say that maybe hasn't been discussed yet. (Yeah, I throw a joke every once in a while, but I mostly leave that to Leroy.) I don't go all dramatic and exaggerate, but keep it simple and subtle. I'm certainly not the smartest guy on the board, nor do I aim to be. But I know I'm not a slouch, either (though Leroy may beg to differ), so I don't feel like I'm "never contributing anything" to a thread. And because most of us are Cards' fans, there's that shared respect that I think makes everyone's posts valued and not belittled.
Now that I'm done rambling, I'll throw this suggestion out there: GR is not the first baseball message board, nor will it be the last. What if our moderators took a look at other baseball message boards (SOSH comes to mind) to see how they segment their threads/forums. I'm not saying we should be just like Team X board, but maybe there's something to learn from other boards. Maybe you'll find they have the same problem. (I would maybe suggest NSBB too, but they seem to get a little too emotional over there at times (banning people quickly, not letting new people register, shutting their board down after a bad loss, etc.))
P.S. I don't want Michael or other mods to take offense to the last paragraph. You probably did some research before starting this place, and I don't want to you to think I feel you just started this place on a whim, because it's not that easy. But maybe this perspective was looked at as intently as it's being analyzed now.
P.P.S. TheoSqua, don't worry about the number of posts. Some people are simply more verbose than others. If not for the NL Central comments, I'd be right there with you (if not less).
There is actually a warning that says, "Son of Sam Horn is not the place for water cooler discussion of the Red Sox" or something like that, and you actually have to be "promoted" (of sorts, prove your worth or whatever IIRC) to be allowed to post in the main forum from the sub-forums. That doesn't sound like what people are asking for here.
As long as posts stay substantive I would venture to say that no board is going to wane in popularity. It's actually the opposite of what some people here are suggesting if I'm reading correctly. "Me too" posts and lack of substance is what kills a board. I'm sure I'm as guilty of the opposite as anyone, but as long people are either a) actively adding to the discussion, or b) being legitimately funny, then there's nothing to worry about.
The board will be attractive to read, therefore more people will read it. The more people that read it, the more quality posters come from that community and so on.
Keeping it quality, however Michael and the mods decide that should be done, if done correctly, may make some people mad, and you may lose some people that don't add to the discussion, but that's exactly how you build a popular and attractive board.
They probably seem like dicks at SOSH but I wonder what their Alexis ranking looks like.
If you feel intimidated at GRB, you will absolutely wet your pants at SOSH. That is a site definitely for "serious" baseball discussion, there doesn't seem to be any room for light hearted discussions of any kind. I personally don't want GRB to go that route.
jim wrote:If you feel intimidated at GRB, you will absolutely wet your pants at SOSH. That is a site definitely for "serious" baseball discussion, there doesn't seem to be any room for light hearted discussions of any kind. I personally don't want GRB to go that route.
I'm not suggesting it should, either. I merely cited SOSH because I think of it as the poster child for a baseball message board that is established and is a place for passionate fans who have at least a decent understanding of the game.
And while we haven't had someone like Schilling drop by here yet, we can all dream of a MLB player registering someday.
TheoSqua wrote:
If you start making a big deal out of people going off topic on old bumped threads you'll end up making a mountain out of a mole hill (like I did with this thread) and nothing good will come of it.
I still don't see why threads being moved is a "big deal." If an old thread gets bumped and turns into a big joke rather than baseball discussion then maybe it should be moved to social, and i don't think that should be as an insult to anybody or anything. It's just a move.
And while I do enjoy good humor, I have seen forums where most threads will be sidetracked with lots inside jokes from "popular" forum members who all know each other, and that can end up taking away from possible good discussions. And that can also be very intimidating for an outsider.
I don't know, i think the mix is pretty good right now.
I very rarely use any stats in my posts. I do that for a few reasons.
1) I don't know very much about stats. Every time I do use stats, someone comes out of the woodwork to point out a different stat that I haven't even heard of to prove my point wrong.
2) I enjoy reading someone's personal opinon on what they see more than some stat I could look up myself on baseball prospectus. An opinion is more valuable to me than some random stat. I could be a baseball hermit in my basement looking at stats for hours, but I'd rather talk with people about what actually happened. That's why it's good to have so many different personalities. But that's just my opinion.
As for whether something is in Baseball Talk or Social... It's not a huge deal to me. I think that stuff like Shannonisms, Caption Times, and other things like that should be alright in Baseball Talk.
Although it's good to have serious discussion on baseball, it's also a lot of fun to have a different variety of topics instead of straight up statistical analysis. I think it levels it out more.
I think things like the video of that Atlanta minor league coach should be in Baseball Talk because it is something related with baseball. Something like "What's your favorite animal?" could be left in social.
I don't think that the forums need to be spread out evenly. Like it was said before, this is supposed to be predominantly talk about baseball. Shouldn't Baseball Talk be the most popular forum? If something that happens to be funny, but is related to baseball, why should it be left out?
Shouldn't we call it "Statistical Analysis Talk" then?
