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umteman
PickupHockey Pro
USA
662 Posts |
 Posted - 02/13/2017 : 13:11:39
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We are in the midst of the season with the playoff races shaping up yet I logged in to find only 5 active topics in the past two weeks 4 of which were authored by me. Is this site dying or is it left to me to keep it going or could I be the one killing it?
Did you hear about the retired proctologist? He spent 40 years saying "what's a place like this doing in a girl like you?"
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The Duke
PickupHockey Veteran
Canada
1239 Posts |
Posted - 02/13/2017 : 13:42:49
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yeah not much goin on here for sure
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n/a
deleted
4809 Posts |
Posted - 02/15/2017 : 07:10:38
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No, I still check in. When I get the chance . . . which isn't as often as before, that's for sure.
There's a snowball effect as well, only in reverse. A few of our more prolific posters (Beans and Alex were the two biggies, but there were more) basically stopped posting, so then the conversations die down, etc.
Don't Leaf me hanging, Buds! |
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Beans15
Moderator
Canada
8286 Posts |
Posted - 02/16/2017 : 07:33:27
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I check in from time to time as well but there are two reasons why I think this thread slowed considerably. Firstly, to Slozo's point, most of the conversations were between 4-6 people. It gets stale talking from and listening to the same POV. Secondly, and most important, hockey is boring these days. Both the product on the ice and the media. There are no stories anymore. There is almost no creativity in the game. I find hockey so systematic today and such a lack of player creativity, I fall asleep or change the channel on most games today. Frankly, I am extremely apathetic toward hockey until the playoffs.
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Alex116
PickupHockey Legend
6113 Posts |
Posted - 02/16/2017 : 08:47:35
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I also check in, quite frequently actually, however, with so little response and often days between, it's gotten boring. I always preferred the forum here over other far too populated sites as there were too many posts/responses to read through to find an actual reply to your posts (on other sites).
When I first signed up, after a year or two of "browsing", the population here was great. The back and forth chatter / debates were strong. Sure, there were times that things got kinda carried away and the mud slinging got a bit much (I'll admit on a few occasions I was not helping things) but I think most, myself included, improved as posters as the time went on. Not sure why things subsided like they did, as quickly as they did? I guess things could have gotten stale between some of us regulars but maybe it was a combination of that and just simply a lack of many new, intelligent posters as well? I do recall watching others sign up prior to my actual "joining" and in the past few years, the numbers of "new" posters seemed to dwindle.
I personally don't have a problem with hockey today and don't find it boring really though I will admit, the regular season just doesn't compare to playoff hockey. The thing that keeps me interested on a day to day basis is I'm a gambler. I bet online, I bet through the lotteries and I bet amongst friends. I even had a bookie at one point. It's hockey pools, both "keeper leagues" and year to year "re-drafts" that have me perusing forums, looking for info on prospects, injuries, etc. And in that regard, it's nice to be able to throw out a question to people on here to get their opinions on things like trades or drafts or player expectations, just to get an unbiased view or opinion on a guy maybe I've become hung up on?
Umteman.....my only other comment towards you, and please don't take this the wrong way, is in regards to the threads you start. The vast majority of them are very short comments that are POH's version of "click bait". You usually throw a comment out that means absolutely nothing to anyone, unless they click the link that you usually attach. There's rarely much of a comment or opinion of your own and it's as though you are simply waiting on others to get the conversation going. For example, the current topic titled "and your money would be on?" has a link attached, and the only comment you add is "I mostly agree with this". Agree with what? Without clicking the link, we really have no clue. Even if I read the link without clicking on it, and I see it's got something to do with who Vegas is picking to win", I still don't know what. I have to assume it's hockey related but is it who's gonna win the cup? The Calder? The draft lottery? I'm all for links to support your posts, but add some content to get a thread going! Tell us "why" you agree. Give us some insight. I'd prefer to click a link and after reading your thoughts, be able to either add to it and agree with you, or counter as to why I think otherwise. Again, please don't take any offense to this, it's just some constructive criticism to hopefully improve things around here!
Playoffs are coming, the deadline is looming, etc. Maybe we can see an increase in traffic around here?  |
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JOSHUACANADA
PickupHockey Veteran
Canada
2308 Posts |
Posted - 02/17/2017 : 08:39:46
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I too check out whats new pretty regularly here, but the topics are not fast and furious anymore. Some of the sites I comment on regularly, SB being my favorite, have something new at least twice a day, per team trend, with tonnes of responses for close to 100 posters per team, who I am starting to get familiar with like I was with posters here. That's where I go first now days. I assume this is a no pay job for Moderators and Admin and thats why the topics, polls and trends dont happen as frequently as they use to.
This use to be the site I went to first and the people I enjoyed discussing hockey with first. Its disappointing for me though, because right around the time I really started getting interested in hockey pools and following this site, there were so many topics per day and for a while I just read the responses and learned alot. Posters like Beans, Slozo, Alex, Leigh, FatElvis etc, were generally the ones that got the topics going to high volume responses and sometimes some heated conflict, which can be fun here. I only started responding due to misrepresentations of some of the greatest hockey players ever by others, the great who is better conversations about Gretzky, Orr, Lemieux, Crosby and Ovechkin. Hell I remember a time on here that Crosby and Ovechkin were not even drafted yet.
I know I could put more effort into starting topics and driving up responses, but I have found that unless your a fan of a certain team the topics die pretty quickly here now. I miss the heyday of the Kessel for Sequin debate. I will say there is a wealth of knowledge in the old trends of this site and I would hate to see the topics side die due to lack of traffic. |
Edited by - JOSHUACANADA on 02/17/2017 08:40:10 |
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umteman
PickupHockey Pro
USA
662 Posts |
Posted - 02/19/2017 : 05:58:30
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Umteman.....my only other comment towards you, and please don't take this the wrong way, is in regards to the threads you start. The vast majority of them are very short comments that are POH's version of "click bait". You usually throw a comment out that means absolutely nothing to anyone, unless they click the link that you usually attach. There's rarely much of a comment or opinion of your own and it's as though you are simply waiting on others to get the conversation going.
Yeah, that's pretty much it; I figured people would not likely follow the link and read the article if I give too much of what it pertains to so I leave them to read it with the idea of responding to their comments on it.
Did you hear about the retired proctologist? He spent 40 years saying "what's a place like this doing in a girl like you?" |
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leigh
Moderator
Canada
1755 Posts |
Posted - 02/20/2017 : 10:52:01
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Hey guys! Thanks for this post Umteman. It's the elephant in the room for sure and we should talk about it. As some of you know I've been running this website since 2001 and I've seen the ups and downs in the traffic of the forums and we definitely have been in a lull in the last couple seasons.
Having experienced this before I can tell you that there are two major factors contributing to it:
1) Prolific and Controversial Posters - each wave of growth in the forums is typically fostered by having many prolific posters contributing to the conversation. One of the common attributes that key posters have is that they can be, at times, somewhat 'controversial'. This controversy sparks conversation and debate (and due to some good moderation, we've been able to do this in a pretty healthy and safe online environment over the years) We have seen a drop in the number of people that bring this attribute to the forums. Remember, posters like this aren't controversial for the sake of being controversial, they are genuine in their opinions and the rest of us can tell this and are drawn to them and the conversations they are a part of. Among many other attributes, they maintained a balance of subject-matter knowledge, forum awareness, and of course, controversy. Please note that I am not saying that everyone should now try to be controversial, not at all. Please be yourself (your online self anyway :-)) I am just citing that there are fewer of these types of posters contributing regularly now. And like Slozo said below, there is a snowball effect to this. This is what we've experienced of late. It really takes a village.
2) Technology Adaptation - admittedly we have been slow to adapt to a mobile platform. Until this year we did not have a mobile version of our website. I'm happy to say that we now have one www.pickuphockey.com/mobile/ BUT the new mobile site does not yet have the forums integrated into the system. With a great deal of traffic using the mobile platform the result is that they don't frequent the forums. We hope to remedy that for next season by integrating the forums into the mobile platform.
These are two of the key reasons for the lull. There are other factors, like what Alex said about how to post. You definitely want to phrase things in such a way that it engages people in conversation. And if you link somewhere you'll want to summarize what it is about, so people know. AND post some conversation point to bring them back to the board. Also the topic title is very important, be clear about the title.
Lastly, I could use a little help with the polls (see the home page under the logo at the top left). Polls are a fun way to engage our members in debate. These used to be very community driven so I didn't have to come up with creative polls on a regular basis. Everyone did! This job has been fully in my hands since the forum traffic slowed and I have done a dismal job of keeping up on it (I'm sorry guys! This is my fault entirely  ) I welcome all of you to create polls and then we can feature them on the homepage. If this interests you please do read the polls guidelines here http://www.pickuphockey.com/forum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=3485 I'm looking forward to seeing what you can come up with ;-)
I'd really like to see these boards come back to life, so here is my promise to you, our loyal community. I will engage in these boards on a regular basis moving forward. I hope you guys will continue. We have a really good, deeply knowledgeable core group of posters here, let's see if we can spark a few good conversations.
In the meantime we'll work on this end to get the boards 'mobile' so all of our audience has the opportunity to engage in these worthwhile debates.
Thanks!
Leigh |
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wtf - slow forum boards 
