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Jumbo
01-15-2008, 08:20 PM
Lately, the boards have become increasingly cluttered with recruiting threads. I say "cluttered" not to signify a lack of interest, but because most of the threads vary from each other only slightly at the beginning, and by the end of the thread, they are almost identical.

So, here's an idea. We create one thread per recruiting target. We can have an "Elliot Williams Recruiting" thread. Same for Kenny Boynton, Greg Echenique and so forth.

In theory, we could also do a "UNC recruitng" thread a "Duke's recruitinment of big men" thread, and other topics that get posted multiple times per week.

So, here's a poll with three options:

1) Leave everything as is -- a new thread is a new thread.
2) Create player-specific recruiting threads for the season to consolidate posts.
3) Create player- AND issue-specific threads for the season to consolidate posts.

Please vote and post your thoughts.

DevilCastDownfromDurham
01-15-2008, 08:33 PM
I'm a big fan of this sort of consolidation. I've seen a lot of other boards try it with varying degrees of success (of course things spill over, topics wander, threads get hijacked, etc.) but it seems like a great idea that should work especially well on this board since the tone is often more friendly than on others.

I've also seen some boards pin/sticky certain explanations/pieces of information that are referred to often or FAQ's for commonly-asked questions (i.e. what recruits is Duke interested in, charts with past recruiting classes/statistical leaders season and historical/etc., the real story with 1995, etc.) Not sure if that would be a time-saver or not, but it's struck me as a neat idea.

See, I've already hijacked the thread. :)

watzone
01-15-2008, 08:33 PM
I don't like the one thread per player idea and here is why ... If there is breaking news on a recruit such as Leslie McDonald, it gets lost in the thread and some people simply do not visit the thread thinking they had seen it all having tired of the subject. They would have no way of knowing that Leslie was offered or that he may have committed. Also, what if Boynton scored 70? Wouldn't that deserve it's own thread? I realize it gets cluttered, but lets face it, recruiting is the lifeblood of the future and clearly some of the most popular threads on the board.

I do think general chatter about who is, or when is, might be better served in a certain area. But breaking news or something of significance deserves it's own thread.

Jumbo
01-15-2008, 08:40 PM
I don't like the one thread per player idea and here is why ... If there is breaking news on a recruit such as Leslie McDonald, it gets lost in the thread and some people simply do not visit the thread thinking they had seen it all having tired of the subject. They would have no way of knowing that Leslie was offered or that he may have committed. Also, what if Boynton scored 70? Wouldn't that deserve it's own thread? I realize it gets cluttered, but lets face it, recruiting is the lifeblood of the future and clearly some of the most popular threads on the board.

I do think general chatter about who is, or when is, might be better served in a certain area. But breaking news or something of significance deserves it's own thread.

I think we could handle breaking news (and it would have to be legit news, not another highlight reel going on YouTube) in one of two ways:
1) Leave the "news" thread up for a day, then move it to the existing thread.
2) Move the "news" thread into the existing thread, but leave a "redirect" for the merged thread for a few hours.

watzone
01-15-2008, 08:51 PM
I think we could handle breaking news (and it would have to be legit news, not another highlight reel going on YouTube) in one of two ways:
1) Leave the "news" thread up for a day, then move it to the existing thread.
2) Move the "news" thread into the existing thread, but leave a "redirect" for the merged thread for a few hours.

I like the part before options one and two. I see it like this, if there is significant breaking news such as Leslie Williams (thats a joke) is offered or Leslie McDonald commits, it pretty much kills a lot of prior talk. To put a commitment in a general thread would make one go through all the clutter. A lot of the prior comments and speculation in a long thread suddenly loses it's allure once a player has signed. Redirects float to the bottom too quickly IMO.

Maybe it's just me, but I feel like I have missed out on some good discussion and info when some threads have been merged in the past. That's "some" threads. It is disheartening to find a thread where you would have loved to have chimed in but didn't want to read through 166 posts;) Just my opi.

watzone
01-15-2008, 08:53 PM
Hey, what about a recruiting board seperate from this one??? That way you know what you're getting into;)

Jumbo
01-15-2008, 08:54 PM
I like the part before options one and two. I see it like this, if there is significant breaking news such as Leslie Williams (thats a joke) is offered or Leslie McDonald commits, it pretty much kills a lot of prior talk. To put a commitment in a general thread would make one go through all the clutter. A lot of the prior comments and speculation in a long thread suddenly loses it's allure once a player has signed. Redirects float to the bottom too quickly IMO.

Maybe it's just me, but I feel like I have missed out on some good discussion and info when some threads have been merged in the past. That's "some" threads. It is disheartening to find a thread where you would have loved to have chimed in but didn't want to read through 166 posts;) Just my opi.

Fair enough. If we decide to create über-threads, we should definitely figure out some special way to treat breaking news.

throatybeard
01-15-2008, 08:57 PM
Hey, what about a recruiting board seperate from this one??? That way you know what you're getting into;)

That sounds marvelous. A good place for the 23 threads in the last 3 months about how we supposedly can't recruit big men.

Duvall
01-15-2008, 09:02 PM
I think we could handle breaking news (and it would have to be legit news, not another highlight reel going on YouTube) in one of two ways:
1) Leave the "news" thread up for a day, then move it to the existing thread.
2) Move the "news" thread into the existing thread, but leave a "redirect" for the merged thread for a few hours.

Since the only "breaking news" worth reporting is that a player has committed to Duke or some other school, I vote that all pre-commitment post be merged into one thread, and a new thread started after a commitment.

-jk
01-15-2008, 09:03 PM
Since the only "breaking news" worth reporting is that a player has committed to Duke or some other school, I vote that all pre-commitment post be merged into one thread, and a new thread started after a commitment.

I like this idea. It nicely parallels the "pre-game and in-game" vs. "post-game" threads.

-jk

Jumbo
01-15-2008, 09:07 PM
Since the only "breaking news" worth reporting is that a player has committed to Duke or some other school, I vote that all pre-commitment post be merged into one thread, and a new thread started after a commitment.

Well, you could argue that a player knocking a school off his recruiting list is newsworthy. Certainly, we'd want to have a thread devoted to an on-campus visit (to get the Crazies ready to welcome the recruit). So, it's a bit tricky.

watzone
01-15-2008, 09:09 PM
Well, you could argue that a player knocking a school off his recruiting list is newsworthy. Certainly, we'd want to have a thread devoted to an on-campus visit (to get the Crazies ready to welcome the recruit). So, it's a bit tricky.

Indeed. I am sure you guys will think of a viable solution.

Jumbo
01-15-2008, 09:12 PM
Indeed. I am sure you guys will think of a viable solution.

Well, I hope everyone here can help come up with that solution. Ideally, this will be a community-based effort.

watzone
01-15-2008, 09:24 PM
Well, I hope everyone here can help come up with that solution. Ideally, this will be a community-based effort.

Since I am one of the resident recruitniks and run a $ site dedicated to Duke recruiting (had to get that in), here are my suggestions.

Breaking News (all suggestions are for Duke prospects only) - a prospect has a phenominal game, a prospect is injured, a prospect cuts a school from his list or adds a school providing it is significant. Others include, a prospect being offered, a legitimate new prospect hits the radar (must be legit) and of course commitments. Oh, oh, oh and as Jumbo said, on campus vists for Cameron Crazy preperation. This would include both official and unofficial visits ... as if anyone would know about these visits until the week of the visits unless they subscribe to a great site:)

The above applies to commitments too as do the suggestions below

Designated threads - general talk on a prospect or class, a prospects game stats or results (unless he freaks), overall questions about prospects such as 1) is Duke recruiting ... 2) why doesn't Duke go after... 3) Could somebody please explain why ... 4) why hasn't Duke offered ... 5) how come Carolina signs all these guys and Duke ... This could get long, but you have the general idea.

SilkyJ
01-15-2008, 09:26 PM
Hey, what about a recruiting board seperate from this one??? That way you know what you're getting into;)

I was gonna throw that out there.


Since the only "breaking news" worth reporting is that a player has committed to Duke or some other school, I vote that all pre-commitment post be merged into one thread, and a new thread started after a commitment.

not true at all. what about a recruit getting injured or narrowing his list or finding out that we offered someone (for example, there was lots of chatter about leslie mcdonald on this board and we only offered him today...) yada yada.

I'm not sure what the solution is. I like the idea of consolidation, but lets be honest, those threads would grow to 500+ posts in no time which would stifle discussion to a certain degree.

I do know that back on the old DBR there was this short and sweet table that had our target recruits/people we were very interested in at the bottom of every page. I've brought this up before to no avail but I do remember that was an easy way to keep up with recruiting at a high level. Not really a solution to this problem though, so i'll leave it alone...

i'm sure someone will think of a good idea...seeing as how its my 14th straight day in the office, I'm going to take a pass on the whole "thinking" thing right now...

watzone
01-15-2008, 10:07 PM
... a little help here mods! Change that typo for me! I guess the edit button disappears after using it three times for additional suggestions.


The above applies to commitments too as "does" the suggestions below

-jk
01-15-2008, 10:16 PM
... a little help here mods! Change that typo for me! I guess the edit button disappears after using it three times for additional suggestions.

The above applies to commitments too as "does" the suggestions below

Use the preview button to check and edit before you post. You can edit for about 10 or 15 minutes after you post.

-jk

speedevil
01-16-2008, 04:43 AM
Hey, what about a recruiting board seperate from this one??? That way you know what you're getting into;)
what about a duke football and womens basketball separate from this one? that would remove a lot of clutter also

Troublemaker
01-16-2008, 08:05 AM
When breaking news occurs, change the title of the uberthread so readers will know the news just by glancing at the title before entering the thread.

The Leslie McDonald uberthread starts out as

"Leslie McDonald is offered by Duke"

becomes

"Leslie McDonald official visit on XX/XX/XXXX -- begins pg 4"

becomes

"Leslie McDonald eliminates Tennessee -- begins pg 6"

becomes

"Leslie McDonald to announce choice XX/XX/XXXX -- begins pg 10"

"Leslie McDonald, welcome to Duke" <--- this should be a new thread.

elvis14
01-16-2008, 12:54 PM
I'm OK with consolidation and the pre-commit, post-commit system sounds good to me. I DO NOT like the idea of moving news on basketball recruits to a separate board. At the same time, I don't find the number of recruit thread to be distracting so it might just be a good idea to consolidate subjectively when it makes the most sense. This is the only board I read, I read it to follow our team and I like the fact that I can do that by just reading posts here every day (come to think of it, I might be addicted or something!). Also, as someone else has mentioned, one of the great things about this board is how friendly and positive it is.

I do like the idea of having a football or womens hoops board (or just moving those threads to the Off-Topic forum).

SilkyJ
01-16-2008, 01:30 PM
When breaking news occurs, change the title of the uberthread so readers will know the news just by glancing at the title before entering the thread.

The Leslie McDonald uberthread starts out as

"Leslie McDonald is offered by Duke"

becomes

"Leslie McDonald official visit on XX/XX/XXXX -- begins pg 4"

becomes

"Leslie McDonald eliminates Tennessee -- begins pg 6"

becomes

"Leslie McDonald to announce choice XX/XX/XXXX -- begins pg 10"

"Leslie McDonald, welcome to Duke" <--- this should be a new thread.

Thats really interesting to me, and would pretty much alleviate my concern which is that after the thread gets to 10 pages or whatever people are going to stop reading. If you know to just jump right to a page, then it makes it different...

There would be some lag though as people like Watzone are not moderators so if Wat decided to share some good info with us, he wouldn't be able to change the title of the thread. He would have to PM a mod or something...not a big deal though in the grand scheme, I suppose...