Are you happy with GL's activity?

Honestly the best idea for this forum is to remove chat so more gets discussed in threads. Plus Goal.com was way better because we didn't have chat.

TBH I'd make a La Liga section instead of a Barca + Madrid for better discussions. The Barca posters on this forum are the best posters. Madrid are the worst. They can even each other out

We already agreed it's not banter that was the issue but trolling. I know there are a lots of posts to read, but it would be best if you read them before commenting. I love you Tom, but banter is more your field. And that's cool - like I said, the banter is fine (just not my cup of tea). The trolling is what was the issue and that much seems to have been agreed upon now.

The issue we seem to be on now is activity and how to get more people on the forum.

Remove chat? Worst idea I've heard to far. I wouldn't want to refresh and change pages every freaking minute. Chat has also given so many fun moment and it's much more fluid communicating through it on matchdays. I don't know about you, but I'd probably have to kill myself reading 20 pages of "good pass from Messi" in a thread each matchday.

Also don't see the problem with the forum atm, I enjoy it greatly. It's always a fine line walk. It's very close community right now, so it's hard to say really if more posters would make it better or worse. It could make it oversaturated etc. like Reddit is for example where there is no sense of who the different users are. Extreme case (Reddit) but I think it illustrates the point I'm trying to make.

Chat is the best thing about GL.

Also am I the only one who doesn't recall GL ever being a super serious forum? In fact, their is less trolling now compared to 2011/2012.

Casciavit wrote:Chat is the best thing about GL.

Also am I the only one who doesn't recall GL ever being a super serious forum? In fact, their is less trolling now compared to 2011/2012.

No you are right, it's never been super serious and there is less trolling then there's ever been lol.

It's not that it was a super serious forum - but we had a good amount of quality posters. The hub was also really amazing. It has Sepi talking about his crazy life, Eman, Adnyana, sushi master, McLewis and we had some great conversation going on.

I agree with that. But As I said before, we've lost the best posters that were on this forum, and we've never been able to replace them.

The Black Sheep wrote:It's not that it was a super serious forum - but we had a good amount of quality posters. The hub was also really amazing. It has Sepi talking about his crazy life, Eman, Adnyana, sushi master, McLewis and we had some great conversation going on.

Yeah but pretty much none of them left because of trolling.

How about this...instead of replacing them, become them. Sometimes a team loses players and it's up to the others to step up

Word of mouth is also big. Companies advertise on social media and use people to advertise for them. I personally don't care to have a bunch of new people here, but that seems to be what people want. So why not be proactive as opposed to some of the people in here complaining and pointers fingers at the admins/mods?

How do you know? I don't know for certain - I know sushi master got busy with work. Maybe you junk better than I about the rest. But like thimmy said, he will always make sometime for GL.

I have been limited bedause of work, but I have come back. Although now I limit my activity with serious threads because I felt this place was shifting. I think you make some valid points, but so does thimmy. It's about priority - I don't need the threads and topics I like to be super active. But I doubt that everyone one left and didn't come back because of life. I think it's more than that - a combination of things and feeling this place was changing. But I know how sensitive I can be and won't deny maybe it's just me who felt/feels that way.

But some people are clearly posting here and making their perspective out to be the truth. I just what people to take a moment and think outside of their own shoes.

Chat is not the issue either, chat is opened for live games where it's infinitely better than game threads. I said it before that the only threads chat stops from growing is game threads where it is just a bunch of people constantly refreshing their screen typing quick 1 liners about the match and turning the thread in to a poverty chat in its self.

Nobody misses that.

The 'issue' is obvious to me.



Veteran posters leave for whatever reason (Unavoidable)

And they don't get replaced, or at least rarely do.

GL is obviously not well known, it's not advertised and it's not going to be stumbled upon that often. So we could talk about this every 6 or so months until 2020 or agree that GL needs advertised or left as is.

Chat is ruining the forum yet activity at chat is at an all time low too.

The amount of people on chat we get for a big CL match nowadays is what we used to get for random Serie A matches a few years ago.

For me more people is not what we need, 30 people active everyday can do wonders. Sometimes on matchday there are 25 people online and the atmosphere is just so much catchy. Don't want 100 people crowding the place and turning threads into chats where noone knows what other is talking. If we were to have 30-40 people regularly posting, things can change very quickly fo better. The strength of this forum is its core members like GLS, RWO, RG, Cbarca etc. so as long as they are active I don't think forum will die.

I agree chat IS NOT a problem. It's great for members to be more personal and I was never a fan of game day threads. It's 2016 do people really want to refresh a browser to chat about a live game?

That is, when/if chat is open. Chat rarely appears these days ( I know RG has work and stuff)

A lot of people are saying it's down to users leaving. But even if they all did return/posted more often, surely discussing the same things with same people for 5+ years in the same format, topics etc gets stale? I know this about the lack of activity, but I think both issues kinda tie into each other.

Also leave chat alone ffs. It definitely isn't affecting activity. It is as harmless as Bored housewives doing gossip in kitty party.

Onyx wrote:A lot of people are saying it's down to users leaving. But even if they all did return/posted more often, surely discussing the same things with same people for 5+ years in the same format, topics etc gets stale? I know this about the lack of activity, but I think both issues kinda tie into each other.

I doubt it would be like that, it never was before. It's just a lot of the people who start those topics have left or the ones who have grown tired and don't wish to do it anymore like me.

Onyx wrote:A lot of people are saying it's down to users leaving. But even if they all did return/posted more often, surely discussing the same things with same people for 5+ years in the same format, topics etc gets stale? I know this about the lack of activity, but I think both issues kinda tie into each other.

It's called growth and development. For example: Neymar isn't the same player he was 5 years ago. If you think 5 years of living has no impact on a being, I'm not sure what to tell you.

I've been thinking about this here and there and this will probably be my last post in this thread.

In life if you want something, you must be proactive. You don't rely on others to do it for you. If people want more memebers advertise and tell your friends (social media, word of mouth, etc...). If people want more activity, post and try to create conversation. There are some threads that remain super active (WWE, movie thread and so on).

This place has always been a community and we have been blessed with an amazing staff. Hell they even brought TMO back. They listen to our ideas and thoughts (even if you don't see them post, you best believe they are MODERATING and discussing in house).

I'm only here because I welcome communicating and like to hear what everyone thinks. A few years ago I decided I would limit what I post and accepted this place for what it was becoming. And from what you guys say, it flourished and was super active. If things have died down, y'all just need to find another way to increase activity. Not this BS about blaming the staff for not advertising this place. Or blaming social media and so on. People will always crave connection and that's why a forum can flourish.

I have faith you guys can do it, but the finger pointing has to stop. And yes, I am/was guilty of that recently and in the past.

One love my brothers and sister(s?)

I see GL 2011-2014 as more of an era where things were great. The finale was in 2014 and anything beyond that is just an attempt to recreate the experience. And in most cases the original is always the best, because it's organic. Why do I think this? Well because we had a small group of users who didn't really know each other and by 2014 everybody knew each others characteristics really well. Now the core that remain are simply going through the motions most of the time imo.

Casciavit wrote:I agree with that. But As I said before, we've lost the best posters that were on this forum, and we've never been able to replace them.

Exactly, this is ... neither more nor less.
Great posters, not just posters. I hope some will be back soon..

Casciavit wrote:Chat is the best thing about GL.

Also am I the only one who doesn't recall GL ever being a super serious forum? In fact, their is less trolling now compared to 2011/2012.

Besides I believe few would log in a forum if it is a super serious forum
Mainly , who logs in a forum , it is because he wants to find a nice place, like a 2nd " house" , where talking about football ( in this case ) but under a good climate.
Basically I believe noone 'd resist on a forum if it was populated from Harry Redknapps good to inform just about football .
Football is a passion,not a job.

This is what I can suggest:

I would close down the club sections. What's the point of a Bayern section? There is 1 very active and about 2 semi-active Bayern fans on the forum. Barca section is one of the more active ones and even there no one really cares about creating match day threads anymore. There's usually someone who makes an half-arsed thread in the middle of a game and that's it. Instead of having scattered discussions all over the place everything should be in one forum (general section/main forum/whatever you want to call it). This might (and most likely will) also have the following positive side effect: If someone creates a "What's wrong with our team" thread in the Madrid section, most non Madrid people will either not even bother to look at the thread or they will look but refrain from commenting, because it's "their" section: "I wasn't asked". If the same thread was in the general section "for everybody", more people would a) see the topic and b) discuss the topic.

This forum has some great and active members who for some reason never show up in the general section and only stay in their own sections. Chelsea fans like Shed and Soul for example. It's insane that, despite this being a relatively small community, in more than 3 years I have probably never exchanged words with Shed because he never shows up in the general section and I can never be bothered to look into the Chelsea forum but whenever I can be bothered to lurk there, he makes great posts. alexjanosik another one who never shows up in the general section. I usually never agree with him on anything but he's still a great poster and most people never get to communicate with him because he never leaves the Barca section. A lot of great discussions could be generated if we could actually get MT to communicate about a topic with alexjanosik, for example. But they never exchange words because of the current forum structure.

Ehhh. I don't think that's a great idea. Some posters might shy away if your take their home from them. Milan section is still pretty active and considering the shape our team is in, I think it is pretty impressive. The people you mentioned stay in their sections because the conversion is quality (my guess).

Barcelona section I used to follow but I heard it died down because of new posters who kind of killed the vibe.

In the proposed "general forum for everyone" there could still be threads à la "FC Bayern Fan Thread 2015/2016" and Hans can continue to talk to himself there if he wishes. Similar to the La Liga/Premier League/Bundesliga/Serie A threads right now in the general section, people who want to have a "home" and only visit certain themed topics could still have it that way. What's the point of having an entire forum section for 1-5 active members though?

futbol wrote:What's the point of having an entire forum section for 1-5 active members though?

It's a matter of keeping stuff together, too. Mind you, the forum search function is a catastrophe, and I like things a little tidy ^^

The Black Sheep wrote:
Barcelona section I used to follow but I heard it died down because of new posters who kind of killed the vibe.