Expanding Links and other upcoming projects/needs for the board

BleacherBum593 · March 2nd, 2008, 09:40 AM

With the start of the 2008 season (our 2nd) here at the "new" FanHome board, I'm going to request your help in a few things.

1st - For all those who have been readers here in the past, I'd like to extend an invitation for you to finally "dip your toes" in the water and become posters on the board.

Your thoughts on the Cards and their organization would be very welcomed.

For the board to be successful we need to develop a diverse following. Some will agree with others, some will disagree. That's fine. The only thing that I ask is that you keep it civil and stay away from the "name calling" that goes on at other message boards.

2nd - I'm trying to "improve" the links thread that I have started. I'm looking to expand the Restaurants/Nightspots/Hotels sections to Memphis, Springfield, Jupiter and the Quad Cities area. And if I can get some feedback - to Batavia and Johnson Cities.

If you live in those cities or have traveled to see Cardinal baseball there, I'd like to get some feedback, so that we can share it with other fans who are planning on going there.

In addition, if you have any other links that you would like to see added, ie bloggers, baseball sites, etc. include them also.

Finally, I'd like to get your op's on how we can improve the board. What can we do that would interest you in becoming more involved?

Some suggestions that I have received from a few friends are:
- Regular chat sessions
- Interview's with people associated with the Cards organization, like we started last season (BB593-stopped when FanHome wouldn't give us improved chat software)
- Get a player to do a Q&A thread (McClellan? - BB593's thought)
- Have a player on the roster thread linked to his stats (BB593 - Baseball Cube? - we could also sponsor players there)
- Have a players current salary - attached to his name on the roster thread
- Have FanHome sponsor a blogger(s) and vice versa
- And BB593's suggestion - work with a minor league team to link from their site to a message board here that we would sponsor. Example would be the Memphis Redbirds who explored that option last year.

So. What do you think we could do? Add your thoughts and suggestions onto this thread. Let's see what we can come up with and make this the #1 board in the Cardinal Nation once again (just like the old days).

BleacherBum593 · March 4th, 2008, 08:04 AM

Sooooooooooooooooo.

No one has anything to offer to help increase traffic to the board??????

If you don't want to post your idea's here, then send me a PM or email me at bleacherbum593@aol.com

adeel · March 4th, 2008, 08:35 AM

I think traffic comes from good discussion, period. That means coming up with interesting posts and then furthering discussion, which might be a little artificial to start. Since none of the boards really have a good critical mass, I'd suggest doing this at the general MLB board.

GoCrazyFolks · March 4th, 2008, 10:54 AM

Bleach,
I think the ideas above are all great. I definitely like the idea of having some of the players participate on a regular basis. The chat sessions have always been one of my favorite attractions.
I think a bio of each player on the roster thread would be interesting. Just the basics; DOB, Year and round drafted, position, level of play (A, AA, etc.) and progression by year, and maybe years lost to injury.
Love the Q&A idea. Wouldn't mind seeing players, coaches, and/or management from any of the teams answer some questions.

Coop · March 4th, 2008, 12:09 PM

In the 1990's I got web-tv. I found Post-Dispatch and Cards Talk.
The flaming posters and trolls caused me lots of distress.
A lot of them are people who always have disliked the Cardinals
and just want to disrupt the site. Moderators let it go.

I was happy to find the early fanhome.

There are other good Cardinal fan forums, too. You link them.

I did enjoy scout. Then Faux Noise and the moderators made it a payola
site. They brought in flamers and trolls.

I haven't enjoyed scout or cards talk for quite a while.

I like the way you are doing it here. Keep up the good work!
I hope a lot of people do join back in,
instead of just being guests.
They are good guests, or they would have been causing problems.

I do get a lot of my information from Post-Dispatch writers.
They are important.

BleacherBum593 · March 4th, 2008, 01:07 PM

Thanks for the thought adeel, but at this point I'm just thinking of what we can do to build traffic on this board.

If you were around when the original FanHome started (better known as baseball boards.com at the time), we were able to build it up board by board. Once you start getting 3-5 active boards, the whole site will benefit in the long run.

One of the ways to do that is make a board stand from all the other boards on the 'net. Word does get around pretty quickly.

BleacherBum593 · March 4th, 2008, 01:15 PM

Thanks GoCrazy.

Quote:

I think a bio of each player on the roster thread would be interesting. Just the basics; DOB, Year and round drafted, position, level of play (A, AA, etc.) and progression by year, and maybe years lost to injury.

That would take some time to develop. Would you be interested in helping develop it? Bedir and I talked last year of creating a seperate board for something similar to this.

The seperate board would become a sub-forum to this board. All the players in the organization would have a seperate thread. The main thread for each player would list all his vitals that you mentioned plus his yearly/career stats. Pretty much use your imagination on what could be listed.

To gather the information, people in the community would do the research and add it on to the thread. That info would then be "certified" and added to the main players post (post #1) by the mod team.

To do that (since I wouldn't have the time myself), we would have to add 3-4 add'l moderators (in my estimation).

Those threads could then be linked to the roster page.

adeel · March 4th, 2008, 06:06 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by BleacherBum593

Thanks for the thought adeel, but at this point I'm just thinking of what we can do to build traffic on this board.

If you were around when the original FanHome started (better known as baseball boards.com at the time), we were able to build it up board by board. Once you start getting 3-5 active boards, the whole site will benefit in the long run.

One of the ways to do that is make a board stand from all the other boards on the 'net. Word does get around pretty quickly.

Good point. I was around for the BaseballBoards era in 1999. I'm somewhat old-fashioned in that plain old discussion attracts me. I'm here for the conversation.

You're right that a good team board will bring in posters. After all, I'm here, aren't I?

BleacherBum593 · March 4th, 2008, 07:07 PM

I agree that the ultimate goal is to generate discussions that are both thoughtful and also educational to the fans who visit this board.

It's been my experience over the years that we'll have fans who are at different levels in what they want and can contribute to the community. On one end of the spectrum we'll have poster's who'll lay out arguments that support their positions by using statistics and on the other end we'll have people who will just give opionions. Both are fine. Over the years and other message boards, we've been able to have these discussions in a thoughtful and respectful manner.

Others will just be "flys" on the wall, who stop by from time to time, to read the discussions, look thru our roster sections to see what moves have been made, or look thru our scoreboard sections to see how our farm teams are doing. Every once in a while, they'll join in the discussions.

We made some in-roads this past year and now it's time to put together a game plan to take us to the next level. That's what I'm asking for from people like you, GoCrazyFolks, ArRedbird, BrotherBri, Coop, stlkat and others to help with.

bedir than average · March 9th, 2008, 11:54 AM

Last year when the season was strong and hope abounded in Cards land this forum was one of our highlights. You guys here did a damn fine job, both the moderators in arranging some great interviews and the posters here were extraordinary.

John, Kevin and myself are going to try a few new things which I hint at in my current sig and should have a demonstration of it in just a bit.

This is your space though, feel free to use it.

BleacherBum593 · March 15th, 2008, 05:43 AM

I'm in the process of contacting a couple of bloggers to help cross-promote between our site and their's. See the above Announcement by FanHome management.

If you have any candidates, please contact me via PM (Private Message on this board).

BleacherBum593 · March 21st, 2008, 03:10 PM

ArRedbird and I have started discussing updates to our roster thread.

We're thinking of adding the following column headings:

Player Pos Num# B/Thr Ht Wt DOB Yr Signed/Drafted

Is there any other information that we should consider adding?

We'll start with the Big Club and then move onto the minors.

As we move down to the minors, we could probably use your help in gathering the infomation that will be needed. Any volunteers?

BleacherBum593 · March 21st, 2008, 05:44 PM

We've started a contest today (running till the 1st pitch of the season) to name the new sub-forum we are adding for player bio's of all current players in the Cardinal organization.

If successful, we may expand it to include past players in the organization.

ArRedbird will be overseeing its construction. Fan participation will be strongly encouraged to help make the board a success.

BleacherBum593 · March 23rd, 2008, 09:16 AM

The player bio board is up and running. I've listed players on the 40 man roster plus NRI's to camp so far. You can start adding information to the those threads. In fact, Coop has been very busy this morning plugging info in.

If you see any of my typo's, please let me know and I'll correct them. If you see any info that you consider to be inaccurate, please let us know.

The board will only be as good as you the fan make it.

March 2nd, 2008, 09:40 AM	#1 (permalink)
BleacherBum593 Moderator Join Date: Nov 2006 Location: St Louis (LF Bleachers) Posts: 1,884	Expanding Links and other upcoming projects/needs for the board With the start of the 2008 season (our 2nd) here at the "new" FanHome board, I'm going to request your help in a few things. 1st - For all those who have been readers here in the past, I'd like to extend an invitation for you to finally "dip your toes" in the water and become posters on the board. Your thoughts on the Cards and their organization would be very welcomed. For the board to be successful we need to develop a diverse following. Some will agree with others, some will disagree. That's fine. The only thing that I ask is that you keep it civil and stay away from the "name calling" that goes on at other message boards. 2nd - I'm trying to "improve" the links thread that I have started. I'm looking to expand the Restaurants/Nightspots/Hotels sections to Memphis, Springfield, Jupiter and the Quad Cities area. And if I can get some feedback - to Batavia and Johnson Cities. If you live in those cities or have traveled to see Cardinal baseball there, I'd like to get some feedback, so that we can share it with other fans who are planning on going there. In addition, if you have any other links that you would like to see added, ie bloggers, baseball sites, etc. include them also. Finally, I'd like to get your op's on how we can improve the board. What can we do that would interest you in becoming more involved? Some suggestions that I have received from a few friends are: - Regular chat sessions - Interview's with people associated with the Cards organization, like we started last season (BB593-stopped when FanHome wouldn't give us improved chat software) - Get a player to do a Q&A thread (McClellan? - BB593's thought) - Have a player on the roster thread linked to his stats (BB593 - Baseball Cube? - we could also sponsor players there) - Have a players current salary - attached to his name on the roster thread - Have FanHome sponsor a blogger(s) and vice versa - And BB593's suggestion - work with a minor league team to link from their site to a message board here that we would sponsor. Example would be the Memphis Redbirds who explored that option last year. So. What do you think we could do? Add your thoughts and suggestions onto this thread. Let's see what we can come up with and make this the #1 board in the Cardinal Nation once again (just like the old days). __________________ "Build it and they will come"

March 4th, 2008, 08:04 AM	#2 (permalink)
BleacherBum593 Moderator Join Date: Nov 2006 Location: St Louis (LF Bleachers) Posts: 1,884	Sooooooooooooooooo. No one has anything to offer to help increase traffic to the board?????? If you don't want to post your idea's here, then send me a PM or email me at bleacherbum593@aol.com __________________ "Build it and they will come"

March 4th, 2008, 12:09 PM	#5 (permalink)
Coop Senior Member Join Date: Nov 2006 Location: Memphis Posts: 4,168	In the 1990's I got web-tv. I found Post-Dispatch and Cards Talk. The flaming posters and trolls caused me lots of distress. A lot of them are people who always have disliked the Cardinals and just want to disrupt the site. Moderators let it go. I was happy to find the early fanhome. There are other good Cardinal fan forums, too. You link them. I did enjoy scout. Then Faux Noise and the moderators made it a payola site. They brought in flamers and trolls. I haven't enjoyed scout or cards talk for quite a while. I like the way you are doing it here. Keep up the good work! I hope a lot of people do join back in, instead of just being guests. They are good guests, or they would have been causing problems. I do get a lot of my information from Post-Dispatch writers. They are important. Last edited by Coop; March 4th, 2008 at 12:15 PM.

March 4th, 2008, 01:07 PM	#6 (permalink)
BleacherBum593 Moderator Join Date: Nov 2006 Location: St Louis (LF Bleachers) Posts: 1,884	Thanks for the thought adeel, but at this point I'm just thinking of what we can do to build traffic on this board. If you were around when the original FanHome started (better known as baseball boards.com at the time), we were able to build it up board by board. Once you start getting 3-5 active boards, the whole site will benefit in the long run. One of the ways to do that is make a board stand from all the other boards on the 'net. Word does get around pretty quickly. __________________ "Build it and they will come"

March 4th, 2008, 07:07 PM	#9 (permalink)
BleacherBum593 Moderator Join Date: Nov 2006 Location: St Louis (LF Bleachers) Posts: 1,884	I agree that the ultimate goal is to generate discussions that are both thoughtful and also educational to the fans who visit this board. It's been my experience over the years that we'll have fans who are at different levels in what they want and can contribute to the community. On one end of the spectrum we'll have poster's who'll lay out arguments that support their positions by using statistics and on the other end we'll have people who will just give opionions. Both are fine. Over the years and other message boards, we've been able to have these discussions in a thoughtful and respectful manner. Others will just be "flys" on the wall, who stop by from time to time, to read the discussions, look thru our roster sections to see what moves have been made, or look thru our scoreboard sections to see how our farm teams are doing. Every once in a while, they'll join in the discussions. We made some in-roads this past year and now it's time to put together a game plan to take us to the next level. That's what I'm asking for from people like you, GoCrazyFolks, ArRedbird, BrotherBri, Coop, stlkat and others to help with. __________________ "Build it and they will come"

March 4th, 2008, 08:35 AM	#3 (permalink)
adeel Veteran Member Join Date: Nov 2006 Location: Toronto Posts: 840	I think traffic comes from good discussion, period. That means coming up with interesting posts and then furthering discussion, which might be a little artificial to start. Since none of the boards really have a good critical mass, I'd suggest doing this at the general MLB board.

March 4th, 2008, 10:54 AM	#4 (permalink)
GoCrazyFolks Member Join Date: Nov 2006 Posts: 167	Bleach, I think the ideas above are all great. I definitely like the idea of having some of the players participate on a regular basis. The chat sessions have always been one of my favorite attractions. I think a bio of each player on the roster thread would be interesting. Just the basics; DOB, Year and round drafted, position, level of play (A, AA, etc.) and progression by year, and maybe years lost to injury. Love the Q&A idea. Wouldn't mind seeing players, coaches, and/or management from any of the teams answer some questions.

March 9th, 2008, 11:54 AM	#10 (permalink)
bedir than average Hall of Famer Join Date: Nov 2006 Location: Starbucks Posts: 8,258	Last year when the season was strong and hope abounded in Cards land this forum was one of our highlights. You guys here did a damn fine job, both the moderators in arranging some great interviews and the posters here were extraordinary. John, Kevin and myself are going to try a few new things which I hint at in my current sig and should have a demonstration of it in just a bit. This is your space though, feel free to use it. __________________ I'm sorry I left for a while. I needed a vaction, and then work changed substantially. I'm over 50 hour weeks, plus two hours a day of commuting time. A few weeks ago I launched my own blog about Seattle Sounders FC and Life in Puget Sound. I won't be by these parts often as my focus has changed. Sorry about the unannounced retirement.

March 15th, 2008, 05:43 AM	#11 (permalink)
BleacherBum593 Moderator Join Date: Nov 2006 Location: St Louis (LF Bleachers) Posts: 1,884	I'm in the process of contacting a couple of bloggers to help cross-promote between our site and their's. See the above Announcement by FanHome management. If you have any candidates, please contact me via PM (Private Message on this board). __________________ "Build it and they will come"

March 21st, 2008, 03:10 PM	#12 (permalink)
BleacherBum593 Moderator Join Date: Nov 2006 Location: St Louis (LF Bleachers) Posts: 1,884	ArRedbird and I have started discussing updates to our roster thread. We're thinking of adding the following column headings: *Player Pos Num# B/Thr Ht Wt DOB Yr Signed/Drafted* Is there any other information that we should consider adding? We'll start with the Big Club and then move onto the minors. As we move down to the minors, we could probably use your help in gathering the infomation that will be needed. Any volunteers? __________________ "Build it and they will come"

March 21st, 2008, 05:44 PM	#13 (permalink)
BleacherBum593 Moderator Join Date: Nov 2006 Location: St Louis (LF Bleachers) Posts: 1,884	We've started a contest today (running till the 1st pitch of the season) to name the new sub-forum we are adding for player bio's of all current players in the Cardinal organization. If successful, we may expand it to include past players in the organization. ArRedbird will be overseeing its construction. Fan participation will be strongly encouraged to help make the board a success. __________________ "Build it and they will come"

March 23rd, 2008, 09:16 AM	#14 (permalink)
BleacherBum593 Moderator Join Date: Nov 2006 Location: St Louis (LF Bleachers) Posts: 1,884	The player bio board is up and running. I've listed players on the 40 man roster plus NRI's to camp so far. You can start adding information to the those threads. In fact, Coop has been very busy this morning plugging info in. If you see any of my typo's, please let me know and I'll correct them. If you see any info that you consider to be inaccurate, please let us know. The board will only be as good as you the fan make it. __________________ "Build it and they will come"