Re: Are you happy with GL's activity?

by Guest Wed Mar 09, 2016 10:47 pm

We had a good amount of guys who would try (Arq, Dani, amongst others). In my opinion there was a time when the forum decided to be less disciplined and people went to town. There's nothing wrong with banter, but I think there's also a time and a place. It's a hard balance to find. But I think people get turned off when they're trying to have a conversation and a majority of posters come across as trolls. Again, I can only speak for myself.

Years ago I feel like Barcelona section was awesome and so was the Milan section. Then everything in general section became Ronaldo vs Messi. My memory isn't the best, but I stopped posting because I felt like there was no conversation going on. I actually used to frequent the Barcelona section a lot back in the day, but I was told some new posters kind of spoiled it.

The thing is one great poster can't make or break a forum, but it only take a handful of trolls to rock the boat.

I almost called myself the thread killer because it seemed whenever I posted, that thread became inactive. I used to live for the hub and looked forward to posting my thoughts or creating threads.

by Great Leader Sprucenuce Wed Mar 09, 2016 10:47 pm

Lucifer wrote:we are like Gyms of Internet forums

I'm legit crying here rofl

by McAgger Wed Mar 09, 2016 10:57 pm

The Black Sheep wrote:We had a good amount of guys who would try (Arq, Dani, amongst others). In my opinion there was a time when the forum decided to be less disciplined and people went to town. There's nothing wrong with banter, but I think there's also a time and a place. It's a hard balance to find. But I think people get turned off when they're trying to have a conversation and a majority of posters come across as trolls. Again, I can only speak for myself.

Years ago I feel like Barcelona section was awesome and so was the Milan section. Then everything in general section became Ronaldo vs Messi. My memory isn't the best, but I stopped posting because I felt like there was no conversation going on. I actually used to frequent the Barcelona section a lot back in the day, but I was told some new posters kind of spoiled it.

The thing is one great poster can't make or break a forum, but it only take a handful of trolls to rock the boat.

I almost called myself the thread killer because it seemed whenever I posted, that thread became inactive. I used to live for the hub and looked forward to posting my thoughts or creating threads.

I definitely agree Dom.

Again, it comes down to the fact that we've either driven away quality posters or they simply became discouraged to make any further attempts at quality discussion. For example, I know Arq still reads the forum because he posted not too long ago when some thread caught his interest.

Losing activity from long term posters like Dani, Nick, Arq, Gil, Sepi, Vibe etc hurts the forum a lot. They either don't post at all anymore or they are banned, or in Sepi and Gil's case are waiting for Liverpool/Chelsea to do better again for their return.

We do need some injection of new blood and activity to save GL. Some of us will stay to the end, most others will probably slowly disappear as well and there will be no more GL. That's really the path we are currently on unless we make an attempt to revive GL.

by Kaladin Wed Mar 09, 2016 11:11 pm

I mean, its not as bad as people think, we've also gotten good posters like Robes, Cabbage, rincon, hans, farfan, Glory, etc

Granted, some joined earlier than later. But, i agree that more people are disappearing than coming. I mean, we're really obscure, aren't we? Does Google even show us up?

I also have to disagree with people pointing fingers at the mods about not caring, i mean sure they have duty of care towards the forum. But, so does every single poster here, this is a collective effort, because we as posters make up the forum.

Also, i don't think its as bleak as people say it is, sure its dropped off, but there's still some great posters here. We definitely need some more variety of posters, i once offered my little brother to RG like some whore but he denied. I can always force him to join if he still wants.

In the end, what i mean to say, is that its up to us.

by Great Leader Sprucenuce Wed Mar 09, 2016 11:13 pm

ES wrote:i once offered my little brother to RG like some whore but he denied.

by BarrileteCosmico Wed Mar 09, 2016 11:33 pm

Obviously there are many factors that come into play when discussing activity. The banter vs serious topic is interesting, but I think it's also a symptom of declining activity. New blood would create more in depth discussion.

Personally I don't think banter is at an all time high, remember the clasico meltdowns? That was high banter. Now it's mostly polite.

The underlying problem is that we have a user base in declining age, which leads to inactivity as people have less time to talk about football online, while not enough marketing to offset this in new blood. I think everyone agrees on this point.

The problem is what to do about it?

There are 2 places where we struggle: 1. Getting people to know about this place and sign up and 2. Keeping them. How many of the people who say hi in the newbie thread actually stick around? When futbol heroically got like 10 people to sign up I think only linetty stuck around, with a few dropping by every now and again.

by rwo power Wed Mar 09, 2016 11:53 pm

By the way, one thing that actually disencourages even me to post stuff is reactions like the replies to my post here: http://www.goallegacy.net/t30470p250-official-retirement-appreciation-thread#1576568

I mean, I'm used to getting no replies when I post in certain threads in the Rest of the World section, but when people ridicule statements due to open ignorance, it is even worse and probably makes people think twice about posting something that isn't utter mainstream and just more of always the same and thus rather boring.

by M99 Thu Mar 10, 2016 1:52 am

Lucifer wrote:What amazes me is new people come, introduce themselves, post 1 or 2 posts and never ever return we are like Gyms of Internet forums

Thats because of the death of club sections. Most people only post in specific club sections only. I ventured out of Milan section after years myself. Why should they stay here when there is no activity?

Also this place should have been marketed at its peak. It never ever was advertised in any form or way at all and if anyone of the administration wants this place to be more active they have to do it.

But thats the thing, I don't think anyone minds this place dying.

by B-Mac Thu Mar 10, 2016 2:05 am

Lack of free time is what keeps me from here as much as I used to be, working then coming home and having to get stuff done in my free time has bypassed the days where I could just sit around refresh threads and have full discussions and debates. GL is growing up

Prime banter posters activity has decreased, the Jibers, Gil's, Sepi's. Not saying they are the life blood of this place, everyone is, but there controversy usually gave you reason to post lol.

suspect activity will increase in silly season as usual when everyone thinks this is there teams year again Proud

by M99 Thu Mar 10, 2016 2:28 am

I don't want to repeat the points I made earlier, so I'll repost what I posted in another thread.

Spoiler:

by Guest Thu Mar 10, 2016 2:40 am

Well if you were a new poster who wanted actual conversation, would you actual stick around? The identify has changed and I'm sure that doesn't help. If I was new and didn't know anyone, I would have no interest in posting. I think people wanted it this way and didn't realize this would be the outcome. I think it's hard to deny this when all we lost so many members who made those well thought posts. It would take a group effort to bring this place back to what it once was (or something close to it). In life you attract what you put out there and the vibe I get is clownish and humor. On top of that, a majority of that was inside jokes that new posters wouldn't get. I recall some members making that very point.

The hub used to be amazing and we had a few people making thought provoking threads. I remember the "which 5 GL members would you want to meet" and which 5 would you want to part with. There so much gold going on here and now look at it.

As far as the posters making the forum, Indint disagree. But Lee be real, there is no forum without the core admin staff. We should never forget that. I'm curious to know what would happen if this forum got shut down and moved again. Remember how amazing it was when we all migrated like one big family? I don't think we have that strong of a following anymore.

All that being said, the very fact people are communicating and making time to post here says a lot to me.

The black sheep still loves this place!!

by Guest Thu Mar 10, 2016 2:50 am

We made a conscious decision not to market and bring in more people for the sake of it. This was a special place and more people is not what we needed. I don't think everyone realizes how magical it was. If you didn't experience it and know posters like iras, it's going to be hard to understand. I know I sound overly sentimental but I was going through dark times where a lot of my "social" interactions happened here. Me and Arq used to share essay messages and I learned so much about myself. I went through depression and goal legacy helped me through it. That's how real and meaningful this place was for me.

I can say with certainty that I would not be who I am today without this place.

Please excuse any typos as I'm writing this while walking through the city streets.

by CBarca Thu Mar 10, 2016 4:01 am

Those that have mentioned the age of the population pretty much have it spot on, for me.

Goal Legacy is like a girlfriend that you've had for a long while and you've become so used to the status quo that you don't really see any need to improve or change the relationship. At first she was very exciting, it was a match made in heaven--and she delivered great banter as well as entertaining, but many a time also intellectual, discussion. You guys had good fun, you would troll her, she would troll you back, and Mole would tell people that football sucks and that he only watches CL semifinals and finals these days.

At first, she was probably one of your larger priorities. One of the things you looked forward to after a day of school or work was getting back and hopping on the bantmobile to take a ride with her and fetch a cheeky Nandos. However, after some time, your priorities began to change. The relationship began to stagnate. Not in a bad way--but you've become used to each other. In some ways that's very good--there is a level of comfort that is achieved that lets you know even before Harmonica posts that you're going to encounter at least 10 gifs, and you and your comp are ready for it. You know before even speaking to the woman that she is objectively the most logical person on the internet--her whobanged rating backs it up, after all.

Suddenly, without you noticing, you're logging on just a couple times per day. You're having a laugh here and there, mostly lurking. She's off doing her own thing while you're off doing yours--because all of a sudden you have a job to worry about, or university to worry about. Perhaps not only does GL take a step back in priorities in your life, but football may as well. The thing is...why would you complain? Why would you change what is so comfortable? Things have changed but it's still the same old girl--the love is there, it's simply that circumstances have changed. And hell, I wouldn't go to another forum (I've been here for what, over 6 years now?). I know I would miss ES punching his cat and acting like it's OK, I would miss LeSwagg James' jerking off to Le2-7. I would miss Robes saying something enlightening in a language that somewhat resembles English. The banter and the football discussion...it's something that I don't get where I live. Nobody cares about football where I am. GL always has, though.

And I think perhaps the most deadly part about this is the reciprocity of the relationship. As you're giving the girl less time, less priority, so does she to you. This is especially true in a community as close knit as GL. As the GL faithful gives less priority to GL, so does GL give less priority to you (in the form of less discussion, less topics, less diversity, less new posters).

I think that what has happened here is an unfortunate byproduct of having a very faithful group of guys who won't leave the forum, who have now gotten older by at least 3-4 years (for a lot, more than that). That's fine, as long as we recognize exactly what's going on. I'm finally starting to realize after people have been complaining for a couple years that maybe this place does need a little new blood.

Then again, in an ending that should sum up the core of my post here...the fact of the matter is...this place could also stay the same and because of it's reduction in priority to me over the last couple years, it could also stay the same and, shit, I'm alright with that.

by Guest Thu Mar 10, 2016 4:12 am

M99 I totally saw Cipha Sounds on the street as I was walking home tonight reading this thread. Realized it a little late and gave him a "YOO" as he walked by me lol

by Pedram Thu Mar 10, 2016 7:08 am

I think we shouldn't really blame ourselves for the lack of activity, nowadays forums are becoming obsolete because people would rather use social media to get their daily online fix and also save more time so they're less inclined to post in forums.

It's just a natural process that we have to live with it. i post in some other forums and they've been also experiencing a decline in activity for the past few years so GoalLegacy isn't an exception.

by Art Morte Thu Mar 10, 2016 8:41 am

M99 wrote:But thats the thing, I don't think anyone minds this place dying.

I think people do mind, but because it's so difficult to do anything about it, there is a sense of silent acceptance.

The options for increasing activity seem to be to:

a) GL members promoting GL in social media and possible other forums they use. This is a bit, I don't know, awkward.

b) Searching the net for other low-activity forum with which GL might merge. I think someone in the Introduce yourself thread said not too long ago that he's coming from another forum that's dying down. Give a shout in such a place to move over here if they're feeling like it.

c) The other way round, GL members joining another forum en masse.

I don't know do people want to do A, it's a bit weird. B could make sense, but I don't know would it be successful. C is undesirable.

On the other hand, if we do nothing, then we accept this path of ever-decreasing activity on GL.

by RED Thu Mar 10, 2016 9:22 am

-The forum has lost a core of it's best posters.

- Too much indulgence in 'bantering'. Potentially good discussions turn into back and forth jokes full of insider GL quips. Kinda discourages you to wanna join in on the discussions sometimes. Gives off a feeling of pointlessness.

- Many of the PL so called top teams are awful this season and/or flopping hard. I could sense a few fans in this forum just can't be arsed atm. Not that much positive things to talk about (I include myself in this). And the PL holds the majority of fans that make up this forum.

by Thimmy Thu Mar 10, 2016 9:22 am

I don't think aging members is a long-term issue for this forum, in terms of activity. I'm pretty sure I'm one of the longest active members on here. I've had periods of complete inactivity, but I've always come back. If a member wants to return, off-internet obligations aren't going to stop them from doing so. If they don't return, it's because they've completely lost interest. I don't think I'll ever waste brain activity on having a serious football discussion on here again, though. People on here have always liked to think that the members, and the discussions on football we have here is somehow of higher quality than other forums and football comment sections, but sometimes I honestly can't tell the difference between the discussions going on here, and the ones on Youtube or Goal.com Laughing

If I had been as excited about this forum today, as I was when I first got registered, my soul would've been completely sapped of energy by now Razz

by El Messico Thu Mar 10, 2016 9:40 am

I'm one of the new posters that futbol brought around.

As many have noted, I don't post much because there's just not enough discussion. It's not that the people who contribute are not contributing enough. It's just that in terms of unique user visits, the count is really low. There's just not enough people. Add to it the fact that this is a multi-club forum and the already low user count is spread out across 10 different subforums.

I read this forum whenever I can though because the banter really is great. On most other forums, many people get offended way too quickly and take criticism of their favorite team/player as a personal insult.

by Casciavit Thu Mar 10, 2016 10:14 am

GL has suffered from losing it's best posters. Arq, Dani, Dost, Jibers, Vibe, Nick, Forza and Zealous were all fantastic posters who rarely post these days. I'm sure I'm missing a few names too. The thing is when great posters like those leave, you need to replace them with quality. Now I'm not trying to say the new posters aren't good, they are, but the names I mentioned above were the crème de la crème. It also doesn't help that in the past few years you can count the amount of new posters who regularly post on one hand.

by Great Leader Sprucenuce Thu Mar 10, 2016 10:56 am

RED wrote:-The forum has lost a core of it's best posters.

- Too much indulgence in 'bantering'. Potentially good discussions turn into back and forth jokes full of insider GL quips. Kinda discourages you to wanna join in on the discussions sometimes. Gives off a feeling of pointlessness.

- Many of the PL so called top teams are awful this season and/or flopping hard. I could sense a few fans in this forum just can't be arsed atm. Not that much positive things to talk about (I include myself in this). And the PL holds the majority of fans that make up this forum.

I can only speak for myself but that's not the reason i stopped indulging in serious discussions anymore.

The reason i stopped had absolutely nothing to do with " banter " it's because i have gotten old and really can't be bothered anymore, if the banter didn't exist i probably wouldn't bother at all as it's quick and easy and requires little to no effort and i really don't feel like posting like i used to.

by Guest Thu Mar 10, 2016 11:13 am

http://www.goallegacy.net/t16863-has-the-trolling-on-this-forum-got-out-of-hand

http://www.goallegacy.net/t17155-just-be-yourself

First thread I created when I felt this place was changing.

Second is more of an example about the discussion this place once offered.

And the obligatory Sepi thread - http://www.goallegacy.net/t14937-what-are-your-top-5-goals-of-2012-not-the-usual-health-money-success-etc

We were very different people, but I always appreciated how he could spark discussion.

I miss sushi master Sad

Going back and looking up old threads brought back some good memories.

The thing about bringing friends or recommending GL to people we know (for myself) didn't feel right because this was a place I could be vulnerable. But I'm probably in the minority in terms of what I wanted from a football forum.

As far as people getting busier. I don't disagree, but I think people would be willing to make more time if it seemed worthwhile.

by Kaladin Thu Mar 10, 2016 1:41 pm

On Vibe's case: this is what he said on his twitter

"Read the forum. Mods didn't ban me, I banned myself. Why?Because the forum became a bad place. Left with a bang for few remaining great people."

by Guest Thu Mar 10, 2016 1:50 pm

Left with a bang for a few people, yet those people are unhappy. If you don't like what something has become, just leave. Instead he had to put on a show which left people made at the moderators and no one seemed to enjoy the bang.

by El Gunner Thu Mar 10, 2016 2:45 pm

M99 wrote:Also this place should have been marketed at its peak. It never ever was advertised in any form or way at all and if anyone of the administration wants this place to be more active they have to do it.

This.

But then a coupled of us argued things were going well and we wanted to keep La Familia tight and not disrupt it in anyway. Don't really think any of us thought it would get to this point. We didn't bother thinking about it. Because why? Quality and banter were at an all time high, and we just accepted and probably thought we would stay a tight group for a long time.

The onus falls on the people who left and not the new ones who are supposed to join. Why did those people leave in the first place? Because the place died down? Well, it couldn't have been dying down if one or two didn't decide to leave at the start. They made their choices! And that's cool that's their rightful choices. We just have to accept it now and bare with the consequences. If we're serious about growing again then we definitely need new blood, and then we as a group will have to all come together in a thread and discuss this very seriously, not just leave it hanging in the air.

by Guest Thu Mar 10, 2016 2:57 pm

Quality and banter was the problem. People who wanted banter didn't really respect the quality and threads would derail. That's what I mean by it only taking a few bad apples to ruin it for all. You guys have hilarious banter, but I don't come here for that. I laugh and enjoy it, but I respect it from far. I think the issue was that the banter crowd didn't have that same mindset - they would spread the banter all around.

I would definitely have to go back and read some threads because my old man memory is shaky. I just remember a point and time where I noticed a shift occurring. I sweat we had open discussions about it. Some members said the admin and moderators were too strict. Eventually (if I recall correctly) the decision was that the forum would be run a little more loosely. I think rwo became a mod and eventually myself and kick. I'm not sure if that was because we got more active or what.

I think the issue is that those who banter weren't as loyal. So eventually people tried to walk that line and wouldn't like when they were deducted 25%. Classic case of give an inch and they take a mile. I said earlier I wasn't the biggest Sepi fan, I think he was big on trying to just avoid crossing the line and his following was incredibly loyal. It seems all the banter people had loyal followings...but as soon as things don't go their way, they need to make a big show and get banned.

The posters who wanted good conversation and debate probably noticed this (again, this was my experience) and decided to slowly stop posting. Or we would post and have to deal with nonsense. That led to people not posting as much quality stuff and when you combine that with the "class clowns" throwing hissy fits, you get where we are now. Maybe I'm wrong, but the list of banned "respected" members is a pretty long one....

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