Hockey Writers, Black Aces and forum involvement

[horrorfan]

Firstly, I'd like to say that I appreciate the efforts in growing this site and getting more people to contribute, which in turn creates more discussions and feeds our fantasy hockey addiction.

However, I'm a bit concerned with one section becoming solely a showcase of another site's work and another section, which was intended to showcase Dobber members' own work, is rarely being used. I was tempted on sending a private message to Dobber instead but I think this deserves to be made public because it affects everyone.

Recently, it appears that there are two main writers for the Hockey Writers. Every so often, they'll create a thread to highlight a new piece which encourages discussion. However, rarely do I see these writers contribute to the forum other than these posts. Isn't the reason to bring them onto this site (as a partnership I presume) is to help them showcase their work and get them involved in this community? That second part is key - if you don't contribute then how does it really help grow the site? One of the writers does follow up from time to time and very occasionally has briefly commented on other threads. The other one, as far as I've seen, just posts and leaves.

I think it's very important that these writers become more involved in this community. I admit, I haven't read one article of theirs, partly due to the subject matter, but mostly because I'm on this site for this community and the members' contributions and advice. Furthermore, we have another section which was created for the sole purpose of having members showcase their own work, for some in the hopes of becoming main writers on this site.

For those new members, you may not know it, but the Black Aces was created a few years ago, starting with a series of competitions to come up with a name. It was a cool idea and got a lot of people contributing their ideas. Then once it started more people wrote articles in the section on any subject, and occasionally these were showcased on the main page. It's possible some of the writers we have now came from this section, but even if they didn't, I feel that it opened the door to many people to do something they enjoyed, and as a bonus it would help others.

Now, it's hardly used other than Studs and Duds and (in the past) some Cage Match articles. We have a section that showcases another site's work, with very little contribution beyond it, and we have a section intended for Dobber members to showcase their own work, and it's rarely used. Is there a lack of interest or is it no longer promoted?

Anyway, I felt that this needed to be said. I'm not sure who will agree and who will disagree and that's fine, I'm happy to take some constructive feedback. However, I really feel we're missing an opportunity to improve this site, and I also hope that the Hockey Writers take a more active involvement on here.

Thanks for reading.

[Dobber]

Odd timing for this post - go to the Black Aces right now

[horrorfan]

Odd timing for this post - go to the Black Aces right now

Funny that...it's my sixth sense.

Seriously though, I feel my post is still valid. What do you think?

[petegreg21]

I'm glad your brought up the Hockey Writers thing, horrorfan. It's something I've noticed as well and it's actually just led me to steer clear of clicking on their threads altogether. Something about it screams "pay-per-click" so when they aren't contributing anything to the forum outside of a link to their own articles, it really turns me off from opening them and reading them.

that being said, I frequent THW and I read what I want to read. I pay particular attention to their site leading up to the draft as well. But it's just something about the way they're posting links on here that's rubbing me the wrong way.

Rant over and thanks for raising this.

As a relative newcomer, just to clarify, if Black Aces for anyone to post in? If I came up with a well thought out hockey article am I allowed to post in there or do you have to be approved or something first?

[Dobber]

Funny that...it's my sixth sense.

Seriously though, I feel my post is still valid. What do you think?

Definitely. We need to inject life into it. This will help.

THW the intent is to give them another platform, an act of friendship. If they use it, great. Generates discussion. If they don't, that's okay too. If they become involved in the rest of the community, even better. If not, then they miss out. I'm not sweating over it.

[rataylor22]

I'm glad your brought up the Hockey Writers thing, horrorfan. It's something I've noticed as well and it's actually just led me to steer clear of clicking on their threads altogether. Something about it screams "pay-per-click" so when they aren't contributing anything to the forum outside of a link to their own articles, it really turns me off from opening them and reading them.

that being said, I frequent THW and I read what I want to read. I pay particular attention to their site leading up to the draft as well. But it's just something about the way they're posting links on here that's rubbing me the wrong way.

Rant over and thanks for raising this.

As a relative newcomer, just to clarify, if Black Aces for anyone to post in? If I came up with a well thought out hockey article am I allowed to post in there or do you have to be approved or something first?

Write it and post it right away! It's an open forum just like the rest of them. We want to read it bud

[Daydream Nation]

Horrorfan, Peter- I completely agree with you guys. I too have noticed at least one THW who just posts links to his articles and never contributes anything else. Needless to say, I don't click on any of those links.

[horrorfan]

Definitely. We need to inject life into it. This will help.

THW the intent is to give them another platform, an act of friendship. If they use it, great. Generates discussion. If they don't, that's okay too. If they become involved in the rest of the community, even better. If not, then they miss out. I'm not sweating over it.

By not contributing elsewhere makes me less want to click on their articles. It works both ways. If they want others to read their articles then I feel they need to gain a level of trust and become more involved. Someone just posting a link to their site isn't enough for me to go there. A couple responses already on this thread suggests the same thing, and wouldn't be surprised if there are many more. I don't think it looks great having a section dedicated to a group that just posts links and disappears. If you want to give them another platform, then I would rather they create articles for this site as well as theirs, not just use this one to promote theirs.

[doulos]

The thing is, there is very little harm in letting those guys post links. Circling the wagons and preventing each other from posting wouldn't accomplish much. I'm not a fan of how little interaction there is either, and it's caused me to simply not even look at their posts any longer, but it doesn't really hurt to have them do their thing either. At the very least it has the benefit of keeping the doors open for future interactions there.

[horrorfan]

The thing is, there is very little harm in letting those guys post links. Circling the wagons and preventing each other from posting wouldn't accomplish much. I'm not a fan of how little interaction there is either, and it's caused me to simply not even look at their posts any longer, but it doesn't really hurt to have them do their thing either. At the very least it has the benefit of keeping the doors open for future interactions there.

I can understand that. However, my thoughts were tied to the fact that we already have an area that should encourage writing from Dobber members and we're not using it, all the while there's a section given to writers who don't contribute other than links to their articles on a separate site. Platform is fine to share thoughts and opinions, but I feel like it should come more from within. If they were to contribute more to the forums then I would feel like they are more a part of the community. Combine that with an increased emphasis on the Black Aces, and this would definitely improve things.

[doulos]

They are not a part of the community. They are guys that drop by to post links to their own articles. Dobber is gracious enough to let them do that in a place designated all their own. It doesn't stop people from writing articles, contributing content etc in other parts of the forums. Those guys have zero intention of being a part of the community, and so in some ways it makes even more sense to give them their corner to post their links and then head off to whatever else that are doing.

The Black Aces section is actually FOR people who want to be a part of the Dobberhockey community.

[Savvy1982]

I can understand that. However, my thoughts were tied to the fact that we already have an area that should encourage writing from Dobber members and we're not using it, all the while there's a section given to writers who don't contribute other than links to their articles on a separate site. Platform is fine to share thoughts and opinions, but I feel like it should come more from within. If they were to contribute more to the forums then I would feel like they are more a part of the community. Combine that with an increased emphasis on the Black Aces, and this would definitely improve things.

I don't feel that their posts (which are generally little commented on) are discouraging our own members from posting - the two Emu Squawks posts this week were FAR more commented on than the random THW posts.

[horrorfan]

They are not a part of the community. They are guys that drop by to post links to their own articles. Dobber is gracious enough to let them do that in a place designated all their own. It doesn't stop people from writing articles, contributing content etc in other parts of the forums. Those guys have zero intention of being a part of the community, and so in some ways it makes even more sense to give them their corner to post their links and then head off to whatever else that are doing.

The Black Aces section is actually FOR people who want to be a part of the Dobberhockey community.

I don't feel that their posts (which are generally little commented on) are discouraging our own members from posting - the two Emu Squawks posts this week were FAR more commented on than the random THW posts.

I don't think I said they were discouraging others to post. I am tying to two together given that we already have a platform to be used (for whatever reason it's not), all the while we have a section that contains external writers who link their articles and contribute to little else. You feel they can come and go and do what they want - that's fine. I have nothing against others who feel differently than I do. Essentially I'm highlighting two separate issues that together give me a little concern, that's all. I would rather there is more emphasis/encouragement on Dobber members writing more and using Black Aces for what it's intended then having writers from an external site post links to their articles. That would make the site better IMO. Could we have both? Of course, but given the current situation it's not the case.

As for Emu, that's great and happy contributions are starting up again. I would actually recommend having Emu's posts on Black Aces.