Are you happy with GL's activity?

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.

Instead of one general section for every club, I would have a section for each league. So an English football section, Spanish, Italian etc. Maybe once activity increases the individual sections could return.

In addition to that, you could change the rules up a bit and have the general section gravitate towards more serious discussion. Currently the general section is geared towards casual chat, with the odd serious topic.

Also switching to vbulletin would be an upgrade imo. It's an A+ forum platform and has a professional look to it. A new look and feel would certainly freshen things up for a lot of the older users.

And finally everybody should make it a priority to advertise and promote the hell out of the forum in any way imaginable. Twitter, facebook friends, yahoo, youtube, rival forums etc. Also try and get goal legacy high up on google search.

Someone pls email this all to rg.

I agree with MT, rather than having only the general section, I would at least have league sections. I also kinda agree with Fußball, the club sections have largely become pointless. It might be worth trying it, moving from club sections to league sections. Is there that much to lose, really? Personally I would probably post more about Arsenal / Chelsea / ManU etc if instead of having their own sections they would all be in one, Premier League section. On the other hand, though, I wonder would having league sections have a detrimental effect on the general section? Where would the line go that what do you post in the general section and what in the league section?

I would fear that having League sections might dry out the GenSec and isolate people in the league sections, thus leading to less interaction and looking at other leagues.

For me the current club sections are more like archives where one could read up older topics about certain clubs in one place, while the GenSec is the main place for discussions.

There is no detailed discussion about clubs in the general section, though. Like player threads or transfer threads for different clubs. If, say, Arsenal fans talk about Oxlade-Chamberlain in the Arsenal section, that same discussion would never take place in the general section. If discussion about Oxlade-Chamberlain took place in a league section instead of the Arsenal section, I at least would somehow feel more invited to take part.

In theory it could work if we had league sections for the more detailed discussions that currently happen in the club sections and keep the more general discussion in the general section.

To play the advocatus diaboli - how would, say, ManUtd fans feel if they have to share the League section with, say, Liverpool or ManCity fans? Currently in the club sections it is easier to go against trolling, while in a general league section it might be a bit more difficult to keep different parties apart.

(BTW, don't see me as someone who wants to shoot down this idea - I'm just putting up arguments where things might turn out difficult. I'm not a decision maker on the forum structure anyway as stuff like this can only be put into action by the Admins)

I have to agree with rwo. I don't think Milan fans want to discuss their team with Juventus/Inter/Roma fans. That doesn't mean club sections are exclusive to fans of the team, however I feel like visitors usually come with a little more respect. Put everyone in the same house and I think it could lead to more negative than positive discussion.

I will only speak for Milan section since it's my home. That place is like a big family and we've been together for years. Taking away the section would not be fair and I also think there's no guarantee it will benefit the forum.

The way I see it is right now there's a lack of activity in the club sections. Now if you merge them into league sections, the activity levels are more acceptable. That's essentially the change.

The general section remains as it is when it comes to league threads etc.

Also when it comes to the general section, why is it set in stone that it has to be the main section with the most activity? Maybe sharing it among 4-5 league sections might not be such a bad idea?

Onyx wrote:Also when it comes to the general section, why is it set in stone that it has to be the main section with the most activity? Maybe sharing it among 4-5 league sections might not be such a bad idea?

This would mean that the random Serie A fan would visit the Pemier League section to make one or the other post there or the random Premier League fan would have to visit the La Liga or Bundesliga section, too. Frankly I doubt that this would be the case, and so IMO the activity would be even less and trickle out.

There is a reason the method "divide and conquer" works against a group as it draws out the strength and weakens it instead of the group being able to pool their strength in one place where there is more interaction.

rwo power wrote:To play the advocatus diaboli - how would, say, ManUtd fans feel if they have to share the League section with, say, Liverpool or ManCity fans? Currently in the club sections it is easier to go against trolling, while in a general league section it might be a bit more difficult to keep different parties apart.

(BTW, don't see me as someone who wants to shoot down this idea - I'm just putting up arguments where things might turn out difficult. I'm not a decision maker on the forum structure anyway as stuff like this can only be put into action by the Admins)

Well most people on here right now know each other really well. Everyone gets on and it's just casual banter, even between rival fans. Whenever a troll comes along every so often, the ban hammer swiftly comes out. Now the goal should be to attract more users.

Once the new users examine the style and atmosphere of the forum that we have going, they'll either fit in or get banned as a result of trolling. It's basically what happens now really. Maybe enforcing some of the clean debate section rules around the forum would help with trolls and also promote serious discussion.

rwo power wrote:

Onyx wrote:Also when it comes to the general section, why is it set in stone that it has to be the main section with the most activity? Maybe sharing it among 4-5 league sections might not be such a bad idea?

This would mean that the random Serie A fan would visit the Pemier League section to make one or the other post there or the random Premier League fan would have to visit the La Liga or Bundesliga section, too. Frankly I doubt that this would be the case, and so IMO the activity would be even less and trickle out.

There is a reason the method "divide and conquer" works against a group as it draws out the strength and weakens it instead of the group being able to pool their strength in one place where there is more interaction.

Yeh, I mean I'm not suggesting the general section goes away. It would still be useful for stuff like transfer rumours, CL and other 'general' discussion.

But for the original idea, all that would happen is club sections would get merged into one section for their league, thus increasing the activity. That's all it is really. General would remain as it is. There's often threads that are created currently in the general section that get moved to club sections. So the current system kinda also has a grey area.

how did we go from needing more to members to completely revamping the forum mt? Too much change and we lose our identity.

General section is there for that reason. Club section allows a certain comfort. I can't remember the last time I posted in general section, but I still post here and there in the Milan section. If they made a league section, I can't say I'd be very motivated to post. Nothing against the other guys of the forum, but I like being able to discuss my club in our own section.

You have to remember that just because you like or want something, it doesn't mean others will. I also don't think it's a good sign when part of your plan involves banning memebers quickly and applying clean debate section rules to the forum in general. Look how many guys in this thread alone enjoy the banter.

I don't believe we need an identity change.

Thing is, ever since the forum was created, we've had a close group of users who've come to know each other very well. By 2014, everybody knew each other responses to most topics, their posting styles and characteristics. Due to it, the forum has become more of a community to chat casually as opposed to a place where topics are discussed in depth. GL most certainly wasn't as casual as it is now during it's prime. Now because of that bonding and connection between the group, it is no longer the place that it once was.

Bringing in an influx of new users is certainly one of the ways to attempt to break the mould. The issue here is the lack of activity. Right now we have club sections where the activity levels are low. Now if you merge them into league sections, the activity levels are automatically more acceptable. Heck, it might even encourage less active users to post there because of the new format.

Now when it comes to identity, well the core users are the identity. No matter the format, or design, it's the users who dictate what the identity is. Replace the current core group with others, then it would result a completely different place.

Like I said before, I don't have a problem with the banter. It's worked for this forum. But going back to my point above, the forum has turned into a casual chat session for a community. It's no longer a forum for proper discussion. I believe making things a bit more serious would help in the long term.

I disagree the activity levels automatically go up if you merge the sections. I just said I'd be less inclined to post if sections were merged. I'm willing to accept I might be in the minority, but there's no way on knowing that. Perhaps you could created a thread and make a poll. That way you can get feedback from those who have remained loyal to this place. No sense in making changes if it would turn off the current members.

I'm just saying it's all speculation right now and I highly doubt the admins would make such a big change without more feedback from the community.

Yeh, by automatically, it's on the assumption that the current trend of activity/users continues. I see no reason why it would drastically change with the tight knit group we have.

I actually made the same suggestion here a few years ago. http://www.goallegacy.net/t26990-merging-sections-idea

Though that was when there was more activity all round. Maybe with the current circumstances people may show more interest.

I don't want to encroach too much on this discussion. It's been an excellent one and we (Mods/Admins alike) appreciate everyone who has contributed to it.

We (your current Admin staff) created this forum as a means of continuing what Goal.com started with their forums. That was the sole purpose for the creation of Goal Legacy,at the time. We didn't want what we had at Goal.com to end, despite the fact that even then it was plagued with banter, trolling and some truly awful posters who were only there to foment discontent and controversy. That was the plan though: To continue where we had left off since Goal had decided to go in a different direction. We've done that.

I won't lie to any of you though. We had chances to market this place. We've had a lot of them honestly. That was never what we were about though. We wanted this community to stay tight knit because we created this forum not to expand it, but to maintain it. That isn't to say that we'd turn away new posters. We obviously haven't been doing that and won't in the future. We have and will continue to welcome growth in the community. And yet marketing was not our goal because increasing our user base was not our goal. While our current stance on this is no longer 100% definitive (we're discussing this topic amongst ourselves just as you guys have been here), I think what we never want to lose sight of is that this place doesn't exist without guys here to support it. None of the Admins or Mods here have lost sight of that and I can say that with absolute confidence.

Having read the last 7 or 8 pages, it's been difficult honestly because there's a lot of truth being spoken, but it's necessary all the same. What I took away most from this is that many of you still care what happens to this forum and that's huge. It's now our responsibility as Admins and Mods to understand what we can do to help make this place better, in whatever shape or form that may take.

I'm now going to take my Admin hat off for just a bit and speak as simply a poster in this community for almost 7 years. I want this place to be a reflection of all of you and what you want most out of an online football community. I tend to agree that banter is not the problem here...not anymore anyway. Having lurked and occasionally posted on Chiesa Di Totti (Roma's most popular English forum) and other SBNation blog spaces, these communities have their own forms of banter just as we have ours. It's part of the flavor that separates our forum from others. It should be embraced, not derided, in my opinion. I get that it's not to everyone's liking, but when tasteful and well-timed, it enhances the experience rather than decreases it. That's what we should be shooting for. I'm not just here to see myself post. I'm here to learn more about the game and I've done just that in my time here. Banter, in a strange way, helps with that. For me, at least.

To wrap this up,

It should go without saying by now that we understand the concerns regarding the waning activity on the forum. Contrary to popular belief, not all Mods/Admins are ok with this. I'm not just sitting here typing this and shrugging my shoulders. I've made my thoughts known to the Admin/Mod staff on where I stand on this. We started this forum to sustain and maintain and that was originally my stance as well. Now I want to see it move forward and grow larger than what it is now and what it was even in at its best. What that looks like, I have no idea at this point, but despite my time having dwindled noticeably, I am committed to using whatever free time I do have to help that along. You guys are as big a part of this as we Admins/Mods are so your say in what you want to see happen (as well as how you think we can get there) should be taken into consideration.

With that, I think we've all seen and heard enough about what problems this place has. I would love to see ideas for solutions to those problems.

Feel free to post any ideas you may have or PM me or any of the Mod/Admin staff, if you're uncomfortable with that. As we develop ideas, plans and agreements amongst ourselves, based on your feedback, we will present them to you ( the community) for additional feedback before developing next steps.

Whatever happens next will be gradual so please be patient. I'm a big fan of doing things right the first time so if we have to take some baby steps and really talk things out before making decisions, then that's what we're going to do.

Beautiful post Mclewis, i don't really have anything to add tbh as you have just about covered everything really.

Very well said my brother. I actually feel like this thread has shown me how much I still care about this place.
So I will definitely be looking to be a little more active in my old home (the hub). I definitely feel like this thread showed me how many people still care and that alone is incredibly motivating.

Wonderful post, McLewis!!! Thank you for giving your input and sharing your thoughts as a poster. You've always been a class act.

Seriously, the main problem is lack of new users that stick around.

So we need to bring in people.

As I said, make a facebook page and a twitter about GL. Post stat charts, links, best sentence of the week. Twitter and FB should also take part in football discusions with hastags, using sentences from the forum, posting images of posts related to the topic going on, etc.

Well if we want to bring in new people, it's our jobs as users to welcome them. I recall RG and two welcoming in new users in that welcome to GL thread and perhaps us has users can be more welcoming (not saying we're not) - however I'm sure we can do a better job of involving them and acknowledging them.

I don't think welcoming new users is a problem, no one joins a forum and thinks he's instantly going to be best mates with everyone. If there's enough quality and quantity in the discussions, they'll stick around, if they don't, they wouldn't even if they had the best welcome ever.

Btw, I also don't think we're competing with social media that much. Social media is good for quick comments and checking out people's reaction to stuff. Forum is for actual discussions. People who prefer social media would rarely make good and active forum members anyway, imo.

Free cat's idea of giving GL social media presence isn't bad, though, if we just have people who want to make the effort.

I'm just speaking from past experience. I joined the UFC forum a few years ago and the memebers were great. Stuck around for awhile, however I eventually left because of the moderators. I'm not saying we aren't welcoming, but perhaps we could find ways to have a higher retention percentage of the new users we do get. Perhaps we can be more engaging with them and get them involved.

The lack of activity is alarming and spiralling into the nothingness. From yesterday morning to today 0 posts in Barça section and only 7 or 8 threads have replies in the general section.

Come on guys, give new ideas. I think I'm the only one that gave a couple. It's very easy to criticize, but not so easy to fix things.

So no measures being taken after the Round Table conferenc?. I think starting Facebook page of GL is one if the best things we can do. I was randomly mentioning GL on other FB football pages but got warned on majority of them.

Did you read McLewis' post? Things aren't going to happen overnight, bruh.