tux
12-18-2007, 05:07 PM
Now that the coaching search (and the related 600+ coaching search thread) is behind us, I wanted to make one general comment re: the board. I do this somewhat reluctantly because, historically, these sort of comments seem to rankle the moderators; that is not my intention, as I read the board daily and think it is well-moderated, esp. compared to similar fan sites. However, I do feel like this is something that is bound to come up in the future.
The coaching thread became too long. (Yes, I know about the "Read first unread post" and "Read last post" options. Those are great, but when a thread gets *really* long, there are often several places within the thread where new posts are appearing...) In addition, the lay-out of the system makes searching long threads difficult; i.e., scrolling through a long list in a small window and having to scroll in two directions (horizontally and vertically) to see the posts. Surely, I'm not the only one to find that cumbersome.
Beyond those limitations --- that are mainly due to the board software --- I think a more general argument can be made about having a little more user-directed topic generation. To me, it would be fine to give people the benefit of the doubt when creating a new thread; the marketplace of ideas works well, as threads that are not of interest (like this one) will be pushed down the page in favor of others. I think most of the time posters are aware of the other threads, but would like to take the discussion in a new direction. Unless taken to an extreme (20 threads about last nights game, e.g.), I think the board would be better off with less "cleaning up" by the moderators.
To take the coaching thread as an example: A good portion of that thread was people relaying and then discussing the "news of the day"; once that news became "yesterday's news", it would have been better to have been moving down and off the front page. There were also several sub-threads that popped up about the merits of individual coaches; that was interesting because several posters had good information about potential coaches, their records, philosophies, etc. IMO, the board would not suffer with those threads separated out. Or not. Let the users decide. (Have the moderators ever split a thread? I doubt it, but a case could be made...)
This extends to the "Duke-X post game thread" threads. Yes, like I said, no one wants 20 threads about last nights game. But sometimes one thread (the other extreme) is almost as frustrating.
Now, maybe most of the posters added to the "coaching search thread" on their own w/o much moderator intervention, but one could argue that we're all gradually being conditioned to do this. If the goal of the board is to generate the greatest number of interesting and thoughtful discussions, the current strategy is less than optimal.
The coaching thread became too long. (Yes, I know about the "Read first unread post" and "Read last post" options. Those are great, but when a thread gets *really* long, there are often several places within the thread where new posts are appearing...) In addition, the lay-out of the system makes searching long threads difficult; i.e., scrolling through a long list in a small window and having to scroll in two directions (horizontally and vertically) to see the posts. Surely, I'm not the only one to find that cumbersome.
Beyond those limitations --- that are mainly due to the board software --- I think a more general argument can be made about having a little more user-directed topic generation. To me, it would be fine to give people the benefit of the doubt when creating a new thread; the marketplace of ideas works well, as threads that are not of interest (like this one) will be pushed down the page in favor of others. I think most of the time posters are aware of the other threads, but would like to take the discussion in a new direction. Unless taken to an extreme (20 threads about last nights game, e.g.), I think the board would be better off with less "cleaning up" by the moderators.
To take the coaching thread as an example: A good portion of that thread was people relaying and then discussing the "news of the day"; once that news became "yesterday's news", it would have been better to have been moving down and off the front page. There were also several sub-threads that popped up about the merits of individual coaches; that was interesting because several posters had good information about potential coaches, their records, philosophies, etc. IMO, the board would not suffer with those threads separated out. Or not. Let the users decide. (Have the moderators ever split a thread? I doubt it, but a case could be made...)
This extends to the "Duke-X post game thread" threads. Yes, like I said, no one wants 20 threads about last nights game. But sometimes one thread (the other extreme) is almost as frustrating.
Now, maybe most of the posters added to the "coaching search thread" on their own w/o much moderator intervention, but one could argue that we're all gradually being conditioned to do this. If the goal of the board is to generate the greatest number of interesting and thoughtful discussions, the current strategy is less than optimal.