New Dream Team Board structure boring

[Rimmer]

No doubt this will be moved to the string set up for this purpose and therein lies the problem I think you have with this new structure.

It will be moved into a long string lost somewhere on page 7 or page 17 where few if any people will read it. (for better or worse)

The changes to the board have been made now; posts related to players are moved off to their own area leaving non player topics here.

What we now have is the same topics there day after day each getting longer and longer, the subject being changed constantly within the strings (as is usual as we react to comments made by our peers). The problem is that these interesting diversions and discussions are lost in a long long thread with a title which has long since become irrelevant to the topics being discussed as the string is hijacked over and over so people can have their say. Potentially interesting new topics being lost in mix.

I was a very active contributor, I would pop into the forums, look at the first 2 or 3 pages of topics … say to myself … I want to have my say on this topic or that topic and away I would go. Now I look, and it is just the same topics on the front page just with longer strings of comments.

I don’t want to search through the same strings day after day looking for the gems of wisdom or uninformed comments made by my peers (which clearly need my intelligent contribution and direction) making my 3rd, 4th or 10th comment into the same string, knowing that almost nobody will read it anyway.

I want to be stimulated when I join the forums, I want to see 'new' topics inspiring or outrageous so that I am motivated to comment.

By shuffling the strings on footballers into the background we lose the currency of the issues.

For example:

Someone hears a whisper that Matty Richardson was seen out in drag the other night and rolled an ankle while in his 10 cm stiletto’s and may be unavailable to play this weekend. With this new format I would have to be trolling the individual player list looking at Richo’s string in the 200 other strings to come across this gem. (Yes clearly a 7 foot 110k footballer in drag would likely have rated a comment somewhere else but you get my point.)

I want to see ‘Today’s Issues’ appearing on the first couple of pages of the forums, not lost in a long string under a generic heading along with 3 weeks of comments on very varied subjects.

Having a busy forum with lots of topics is not a bad thing, those of us who are truly interested and regular contributors will go back a few pages every time we come online and the interesting subjects will be being bumped back to the front of the cue because people will want to have there say.

Let us run the topics we want to see and talk about here please.

 

[bloodpumpsRnB]

What's a string?

 

[lifelike_]

What's a string?

and how long is it?

 

[richskee]

I'm with you, the DT board used be one of my favorites now i rarely visit. MODS are being way to anal with rules and regulations. It used be filled with 'NEW' and interesting topics, now it's the same old crap. 'Inury thread, Team Discussion, Captain Selection and Scores thread'.

No offense but 54dogs is the worst thing that happened to this board.

 

[richskee]

P.s: Shouldnt this be apart of the 'Future DT board Structure' thread??

 

[Papa Juggs]

I've tried for useful change.

Doesn't work. There's a special inner circle here and the needs of the masses aren't catered for at all.

 

[Saint KFC]

Doesn't work. There's a special inner circle here and the needs of the masses aren't catered for at all.

The whole point of the setup is to encourage individual thought and promote intelligent discussion. Although at face value it may appear as if the setup is not beneficial to the masses, it acts in improving them as DT'ers.

Tell me, who would get more out of a Rich --> Premium trade

The guy who posts and gets a one word answer and then runs off without any thought whatsoever and completes the trade

The guy who does a bit of research and investigates the BE of Rich and his premium targets, weighs up the pros and cons of each premium and eventually makes his own decision on the best course of action.

The DT community, as a whole, is a hell of a lot better prepared as DT'ers thanks to the current setup.

 

[Jay-Z]

I'm with you, the DT board used be one of my favorites now i rarely visit. MODS are being way to anal with rules and regulations. It used be filled with 'NEW' and interesting topics, now it's the same old crap. 'Inury thread, Team Discussion, Captain Selection and Scores thread'.

No offense but 54dogs is the worst thing that happened to this board.

What he said ^^

 

[Papa Juggs]

Forums don't work if individuals can't make threads.

They are trying to make it more than it is.

A forum is self sorting. The junk threads go to the bottom as nobody wants to post in them.

Forums should be about quick turnover.

I think the level of control is just so 54dogs is doing less work. If so there needs to be more mods. I don't care really just make this forum FREE!!!!

 

[Jay-Z]

The DT community, as a whole, is a hell of a lot better prepared as DT'ers thanks to the current setup.

This is not true if the new structure pushes people away from reading this forum at all

 

[senrulzisback]

I have to agree with both sides here.

STKFC Makes a good point that the board is like this so it can be more user friendly, and the board isn't clogged up, and easier to access.

Although all these people complaining about the current structure are the general public. And if the whole point of this new structure was to attract the general public, then what have we achieved?

I guess the way the board is ATM is a more advance DT'ers kind of board. People in their first seasons of DT, and have no real experience will struggle to understand most things on this board.

IMHO, the board is fantastic for my current liking. If this board was for experienced DT'ers only, then it is on the right track.

Though if we are trying to make this a public DT forum for every kind of DT'er, then we are on the wrong track.

 

[LemmingMaster]

This is not true if the new structure pushes people away from reading this forum at all

It actually can work both ways.

I remember in my first year coming onto big footy, I was getting annoyed at the constant threads with nothing of substance. Then you would attempt to ask a question to either get a one lined reply or 5 people ask questions after your question.

I almost walked away from BF due to the lack of quality on the board. Now that the quality has increased (in my eyes), I've now seen fit to pay money to the site, via a membership. I see it as me showing my gratitude to the developers for their product.

I would almost log onto this site at least once a day and I now use many of the other threads. (I was ONLY here for DT at the start)

There will never be a system that pleases all users, but most reasonable concepts now get considered and then the owners of the site decide what is appropriate.

A big part of me still understands the want of many other posters for a different format, it is hard to please all.

 

[Lakey91]

IMO, the general public DTers make up the majority of the competition. If we were aiming for these people, it should just be threads of ablett v bartel, and quick answers, as this is what they need - nothing wrong with this at all, but this is the way it is. I tend to presume that ive youve made the effort to join bigfooty, and you post regularly on this board, then you actually care a fair bit about DT and want to actually improve - and probably discuss things a little bit more deeply. If this is the case, then kudos to you, and hopefully the board structure is helping you - i personally find it easy to navigate and full of clarity in its structure now. However, this is confronting to the more casual DTers who just want a quick fix.

In short, we have two groups with different needs and wants:
1) the DT addicts and those that strive to improve into the top bracket of DTers
2) the casual DTers who just want an answer fast

Making a board that suits both these groups is VERY challenging - much more than any of us can imagine. And thus, there will always be conflict - when a change is made, one group may love it, while the other may hate it. Thus, keeping, or making, both groups happy, is almost impossible.

I think we need to find a happy medium, and i personally think that we have got it currently, but naturally my perspective is blurred because i am a member of one of those two groups, and cannot give an objective perspective.

 

[drummoyne]

I think the new structure is great, dont know why we need a new thread for every article/rumour doing the rounds.

I will often just check the "Articles, Injuries and Suspensions Thread" when I visit, it provides most of the days AFL news in one place. Threads like these need to be kept and not pushed back from the first page.

I wouuld also like to show some support for 54Dogs who has done a great job maintaining an element of structure to the DT board.

 

[BarcaRulz]

I like the new Player sub-forums.. all thats missing is one big post (that is locked and cannot be replied to) that lists all the players and has links to their threads.

As for the main board, i hate it. It takes too long to find a small piece of info. It used to be when a player got injured you'd have at least five "**** no Goddard is GOONE" threads, so you'd know the news straight off the bat, and in the long run only one would continue and the others would get merged. Now you have to check the injury/articles/suspenions thread and go through two pages to find that..

 

[Hodges]

Forums don't work if individuals can't make threads.

They are trying to make it more than it is.

A forum is self sorting. The junk threads go to the bottom as nobody wants to post in them.

Forums should be about quick turnover.

I think the level of control is just so 54dogs is doing less work. If so there needs to be more mods. I don't care really just make this forum FREE!!!!

I agree with this. The current setup is strangling the life out of this board. Was much more interesting last year.

 

[Papa Juggs]

Everybody needs one thread per team.

That will scare 54dogs but I need to explain.

Brainstorm theory.

Say Joe_DTnewbie needs help with his team. He post his team in the trades thread with all the info people need to help him but will only get the injection of 1 or 2 ideas or thoughts before it is totally buried by other people trying to shout louder to get some attention.

If Joe_DTnewbie has his own thread he could post up a screenshot and all the posts would just be about his team. He will get a whole heap more discussion and ideas and improve his dreamteam much more.

After a few days he has what he wanted the thread falls off the bottom of the page and the cycle continues.

This is a forum. That's the way it should be.

 

[the egg]

I agree with this. The current setup is strangling the life out of this board. Was much more interesting last year.

I agree too. It's setup to suit the minority who live and breathe dreamteam and love to have their scientific chats in specific areas of the board.

Free the place up a bit and make the mods do their job which is to close threads which arent worthy.

 

[ojeriojo]

Then you would attempt to ask a question to either get a one lined reply or 5 people ask questions after your question.

IMO this is what currently happens with the new super-threads such as the trade discussion and player comparison threads. As I see it, the problem with these threads is that they attract posters who wish to ask questions, but there is less incentive for attention by the posters who have the answers.

Hence my agreement with the OP's observation:

I don’t want to search through the same strings day after day looking for the gems of wisdom or uninformed comments made by my peers (which clearly need my intelligent contribution and direction) making my 3rd, 4th or 10th comment into the same string, knowing that almost nobody will read it anyway.

The board does seem to have lost some of the quality discussion that I recall occurred prior to the No Passengers sub-forum being set up (I'm not sure if it is still operating) - though the tidbits that were thrown to the masses last year were insightful.

I'm not having a go at the mods, but just expressing my observations of the trend. Having said that, I think that the new Players sub-forum works well by promoting discussion on topical players.

 

[Cartman121]

I like the new Player sub-forums.. all thats missing is one big post (that is locked and cannot be replied to) that lists all the players and has links to their threads.

That's a good idea and one which should be implemented soon. Personally think the Players Board has been fantastic so far, some good quality in-depth discussion in there but has also meant that the main board hasn't been cluttered with 10 different threads on Shaun Higgins each week. Has made the main board far more user friendly IMO.

As for the main board, i hate it. It takes too long to find a small piece of info. It used to be when a player got injured you'd have at least five "**** no Goddard is GOONE" threads, so you'd know the news straight off the bat, and in the long run only one would continue and the others would get merged. Now you have to check the injury/articles/suspenions thread and go through two pages to find that..

You could always check afl.com.au for that news, they usually have it first. But I do understand where you coming from, it takes time to look through the 2009 Reports, Articles, Suspensions and Injuries! (Part Two) thread instead of finding a specific thread for the player that you're interested in, but it has helped to reduce the clutter of the main board and keep only the relevant threads on the front page.

Everybody needs one thread per team.

That will scare 54dogs but I need to explain.

Brainstorm theory.

Say Joe_DTnewbie needs help with his team. He post his team in the trades thread with all the info people need to help him but will only get the injection of 1 or 2 ideas or thoughts before it is totally buried by other people trying to shout louder to get some attention.

If Joe_DTnewbie has his own thread he could post up a screenshot and all the posts would just be about his team. He will get a whole heap more discussion and ideas and improve his dreamteam much more.

After a few days he has what he wanted the thread falls off the bottom of the page and the cycle continues.

This is a forum. That's the way it should be.

No offense but that's a terrible idea; noone wants to come onto the board and see 200 individual threads on someone elses DT. Have you noticed the response when someone does open a thread on their own team? That person either gets abused or is just simply ignored, there is no way this would ever work. People would lose interest and no-one would give out advice.

If people can't get a response from the main board it's probably because they haven't done enough research in the first place and noone can be bothered helping someone figure out whether they should simply choose Bartel or Ablett. If people put the time in and provide their case for each decision with some thought and facts provided then posters will feel much happier to respond.

I agree too. It's setup to suit the minority who live and breathe dreamteam and love to have their scientific chats in specific areas of the board.

Free the place up a bit and make the mods do their job which is to close threads which arent worthy.

How so exactly? You've made a fairly general statement.

The board is of a much better quality than what it has ever been in the past. FYI moderators don't get paid, they volunteer there own spare time. So try not to take pot shots at someone who is going out of their own way trying to make the board a more user-friendly place - not directed at you egg.

 

[Beau_Waters for PM]

I actually thought that the forum this year is much better than it was last year (and the year before), but it's good to hear different opinions. Any feedback is better than none!

 

[Saint KFC]

To those complaining about having to trawl through page after page in the injury thread -

Quick Links
Edit Options
Thread Display Options
Number of Posts to Show per Page
Show 30 Posts per Page

At the most, I will have to backtrack one page in the thread (after clicking the Last Page button), but that hardly happens

 

[Pie Legend]

I like the new structure of the board.

There a several specialized thread, like captain, round talk, injuries etc. You don't have to trawl back pages to find them. Much more convenient.

The dedicated players board is a great addition, really got a lot out of the chats that goes on about every player.

I don't understand why people are criticizing it because the mods don't have to do more work, and are only changing it to set themselves. This is totally wrong. They change it to become more user friendly. And IMO it's worked.

Sure the usual posters on the board got there way, but they did it thinking of the casual DT'er and his/her needs.

Also, you don't have to go through every thread looking for little bits of gold. There are several threads that provide this service.

I certainly think I've become a better DT'er over the past year and a half because of the board, and I hope I will only get better with the board improving.

Dogs and Co, keep up the good work.

 

[Kid A]

Forums don't work if individuals can't make threads.

They are trying to make it more than it is.

A forum is self sorting. The junk threads go to the bottom as nobody wants to post in them.

Forums should be about quick turnover.

I think the level of control is just so 54dogs is doing less work. If so there needs to be more mods. I don't care really just make this forum FREE!!!!

Yeah, then no one learns a thing about DT, posters aren't accountable for their comments and four days after a topic is made, no one remembers it, no one can evaluate it with hindsight and no one can improve their strategy. Instead you have the equivalent of a snap poll for every question with little justification or reasoning.

 

[Papa Juggs]

No offense but that's a terrible idea; noone wants to come onto the board and see 200 individual threads on someone elses DT. Have you noticed the response when someone does open a thread on their own team? That person either gets abused or is just simply ignored, there is no way this would ever work. People would lose interest and no-one would give out advice.

If people can't get a response from the main board it's probably because they haven't done enough research in the first place and noone can be bothered helping someone figure out whether they should simply choose Bartel or Ablett. If people put the time in and provide their case for each decision with some thought and facts provided then posters will feel much happier to respond.

Ok so I reckon we have a new subforum "My DT" where people can spam about their own team. Those that do have the time to help can go in these threads and give advice. Isn't that what those NP guys are for? To give expert advice?

How much expert advice is getting to the average BF DT poster?