Adopt-a-Team subforum -- now open

[SeoulSoxFan]

Hey guyzzz,
 
What is the community's thought on a team subforum?
 
Pros: does not clutter "main" board + keeps all teams threads in one place
Cons: rate of participation + less exposure by being in a subforum
 
Whatchasay?

 

[mpx42]

I think it'd be a great idea, purely for terms of organization. Right now. if someone wanted to discuss, say, the Cardinals, they'd have to make a new thread which would probably be on the second page and forgotten before too long. As for rate of participation - if people want to discuss a particular team they're going to go out of their way to find that specific thread. The draft subforum has pretty good levels of participation, even though it doesn't appeal to all the members.

 

[DaughtersofDougMirabelli]

I don't think it's a bad idea but I don't think it would last long. The Draft and RealFantasy forums work because they are short term and/or have a high interest from a select group of people. Once you throw all the teams into another subforum unless people are constantly going in there to peak their interests I could see interest waning and very little participation. Also there are quite a few teams that have high interest (Jets, Dolphins, Broncos, and Seahawks) all which do well on the main forum and don't clutter, but a large amount that have little to no interest. I don't see a Jacksonville Jaguars thread being anything more than a barren wasteland, and I think more teams fall into the latter camp. 

 

[Slow Rheal]

What about breaking it down by division with eight threads instead of 32?

 

[dbn]

What about breaking it down by division with eight threads instead of 32?

 
I second this idea. Actually, I suggested this a couple of years ago but nobody responded to it.

 

[SeoulSoxFan]

What about breaking it down by division with eight threads instead of 32?

 

I second this idea. Actually, I suggested this a couple of years ago but nobody responded to it.

 
Since we have healthy (i.e., high-interest) threads, a hybrid could work:

• Seven threads for non-AFCE divisions (if anyone wants to break a team out, more power to him/her)
• Plus existing/new individual team threads

AFCE is well-covered, j-man is rolling with the Broncos thread, Gunfighter is an awesome source for Raiders news, plus the other teams already mentioned are fairly active.
 
Community can chip in for general division threads. 

 

[Dogman]

I think this is an awesome idea as long as other people handle whatever you decide to do.
 
I am incredibly lazy.

 

[soxfan121]

I like the division idea more than individual team threads. However, the NFC West is tough because we have 49er & Seahawk fans who keep those threads rolling but (to my knowledge) no Cards or Rams fans. 
 
And whatever we do, let's make sure the Washington football team name isn't involved. 

 

[SeoulSoxFan]

I like the division idea more than individual team threads. However, the NFC West is tough because we have 49er & Seahawk fans who keep those threads rolling but (to my knowledge) no Cards or Rams fans. 
 
And whatever we do, let's make sure the Washington football team name isn't involved. 

 
All current individual team threads will continue on -- 49ers, Seahawks, all included.
 
We'll call the other team Washington Chop Sueys. 

 

[j-man]

 
All current individual team threads will continue on -- 49ers, Seahawks, all included.
 
We'll call the other team Washington Chop Sueys. 

how about D'C or landover  

 

[j-man]

actually  i could help u guys out i have a lot of say at SB Nation   i pretty much know a few members of every NFL Team Fanbase  and i know some head writers really well    IE San Diego Staff  and Chicago  Staffs   

 

[SoxFanInCali]

I like the division idea more than individual team threads. However, the NFC West is tough because we have 49er & Seahawk fans who keep those threads rolling but (to my knowledge) no Cards or Rams fans. 
 
And whatever we do, let's make sure the Washington football team name isn't involved. 

I'm a Rams fan, and post in here occasionally, but I figured that nobody else would care enough to support a team thread, and I don't need to post just to read myself.  I would probably be more likely to post in an NFC West thread, even though I know most of the discussion would be about the other teams.

 

[SeoulSoxFan]

I'm a Rams fan, and post in here occasionally, but I figured that nobody else would care enough to support a team thread, and I don't need to post just to read myself.  I would probably be more likely to post in an NFC West thread, even though I know most of the discussion would be about the other teams.

 
Thanks SFC -- I've found myself get more interested in a team (Raiders for one) due to excellent posting by the team's fans. So I'd welcome and be grateful for your contributions.

 

[KiltedFool]

I'd say no.  It's the opposite of Field of Dreams, If they come, build it.  If a team has enough density of fans here to get a thread at least popping onto the front page with some frequency, it will stand on it's own.  If it's a team with little to no representation here, it's just a forum wasteland.  Division threads at most, that has some potential to build some continuity, but I could also see it being a mess.  Divisions with only one team well represented here in the fanbase might congregate on their team thread moreso than the division thread.
 
The Adopt-a-team forums for MLB the majority of the teams the threads are totally fallow, if there's any fan representation there for those teams they're not saying much, single digit post counts over whole seasons.
 
Definitely don't split off into separate forums entirely, far too much fragmenting there.

 

[SoxFanInPdx]

I'm a Rams fan, and post in here occasionally, but I figured that nobody else would care enough to support a team thread, and I don't need to post just to read myself.  I would probably be more likely to post in an NFC West thread, even though I know most of the discussion would be about the other teams.

 
Although I'm a Pats fan primarily, but I always have had a sentimental tie to them. My father is a Rams fan and I've been watching Rams games since the Jim Everett days. So, they're a team I pay close attention to. Really fascinated on what they're going to do this draft. Hell, the team has always been intriguing to me. I'd participate in a Rams thread for sure.

 

[Pxer]

I'd like it so I don't have to filter through those threads in the main forum.

 

[Infield Infidel]

 
 
Since we have healthy (i.e., high-interest) threads, a hybrid could work:

• Seven threads for non-AFCE divisions (if anyone wants to break a team out, more power to him/her)
• Plus existing/new individual team threads

AFCE is well-covered, j-man is rolling with the Broncos thread, Gunfighter is an awesome source for Raiders news, plus the other teams already mentioned are fairly active.
 
Community can chip in for general division threads. 

 
This is sort of what we've been doing for college football in the college sports forum. they last couple years, MBD or RedOctober or I make threads for the big 5 conferences and an FCS thread, and then people start threads for whatever teams they support (Texas, Stanford, Notre Dame, etc). 
 
It usually works well in the late summer and early in the season, there's a lull in mid-season, and then in November they pick up. Threads where teams don't have a lot of followers tend to die in that mid-season lull. 

 

[Bosoxen]

I'd like it so I don't have to filter through those threads in the main forum.

 
This is the issue. I think, however, the baseball forum model serves as a pretty good guide here. We have:
 
Red Sox forum
General MLB forum
 
All of the non-Pats and general NFL threads could go in the NFL forum, resulting in increased exposure for the non-Pats threads due to being mixed in with the general NFL content (threads such as proposed rules changes and such could go there). This would also serve to unclutter the Pats forum, which always turns out to be a massive clusterfuck. As an added bonus, those of us that don't care about Pats-specific content can stay away from it completely, since the general NFL content would not be mixed with the Pats stuff. So we would have:
 
Patriots forum
General NFL forum
 
Division threads just sound like a bad idea. Throwing fans of rival teams into the mix with each other is bound to start some shit.

 

[LondonSox]

I'm an Eagles fan and there is always plenty to write about it seems I'd be happy to support an adopt a team 

 

[Gunfighter 09]

Great idea, though I think there should only be two forums: Pats/NFL and the adopt a team. The nice part about an adopt a team forum is that there would be question what the perspective of huge thread is in terms if Najaf outcome the author is hoping for. Then on the primary BBTL forum you could assume a Pats or objective slant.

 

[Infield Infidel]

 
This is the issue. I think, however, the baseball forum model serves as a pretty good guide here. We have:
 
Red Sox forum
General MLB forum
 
All of the non-Pats and general NFL threads could go in the NFL forum, resulting in increased exposure for the non-Pats threads due to being mixed in with the general NFL content (threads such as proposed rules changes and such could go there). This would also serve to unclutter the Pats forum, which always turns out to be a massive clusterfuck. As an added bonus, those of us that don't care about Pats-specific content can stay away from it completely, since the general NFL content would not be mixed with the Pats stuff. So we would have:
 
Patriots forum
General NFL forum
 
Division threads just sound like a bad idea. Throwing fans of rival teams into the mix with each other is bound to start some shit.

 
I think this is the best idea; separating Pats stuff makes a lot of sense, there are fans of a lot of teams in there. 
 
BBTL has more action than any other sports forum. We could probably put an adopt a team subforum in the General NFL forum like the adopt a team subforum in the MLB forum, or just have team threads in the General forum. 

 

[Sille Skrub]

Anything that generates new threads is good for the board.

Only terrorists and communists enjoy megathreads.

Please start new threads (on anything) whenever possible. I'll never understand people's fear to start new threads around here.

 

[SeoulSoxFan]

Thanks for all of your thoughts and prayers. 
 
After much consideration, here's what we're going to try out:

• A new subforum for any individual team threads (new and existing)
• There'll be new & additional divisional threads -- anyone can start them once the subforum is open

The concerns against having a subforum are very legit and thank you all for raising them. Here are my thoughts:
 

Once you throw all the teams into another subforum unless people are constantly going in there to peak their interests I could see interest waning and very little participation. Also there are quite a few teams that have high interest (Jets, Dolphins, Broncos, and Seahawks) all which do well on the main forum and don't clutter, but a large amount that have little to no interest. I don't see a Jacksonville Jaguars thread being anything more than a barren wasteland, and I think more teams fall into the latter camp.

I think the divisional thread idea may take care of covering (or not covering -- that's okay too) the low-interest teams. Let's see how it shakes out and react accordingly.
 

I'd say no.  It's the opposite of Field of Dreams, If they come, build it.  If a team has enough density of fans here to get a thread at least popping onto the front page with some frequency, it will stand on it's own.  If it's a team with little to no representation here, it's just a forum wasteland.  Division threads at most, that has some potential to build some continuity, but I could also see it being a mess.  Divisions with only one team well represented here in the fanbase might congregate on their team thread moreso than the division thread.
 
The Adopt-a-team forums for MLB the majority of the teams the threads are totally fallow, if there's any fan representation there for those teams they're not saying much, single digit post counts over whole seasons.
 
Definitely don't split off into separate forums entirely, far too much fragmenting there.

To me a low-traffic divisional thread is not necessarily a bad thing, especially if it's in a subforum where it's not getting stuck in page 5 nor cluttering up the "main" board. From Pats fan's POV, the ebbs-and-flow of an NFL season may dictate that even the most remote teams & divisions will be relative to Pats at some point, and see a spike in interest. If the interest dies down afterwards, so be it. Even if a team/division thread has just a few active and passionate participants, that's a net positive to BbtL as a whole. 
 
However, no one wants to see threads grow cobwebs -- if a thread gets started and really does become "wasteland" as KF puts it, I'll go ahead and close out the thread and fold it into a divisional thread.
 

This is the issue. I think, however, the baseball forum model serves as a pretty good guide here. We have:
 
Red Sox forum
General MLB forum
 
All of the non-Pats and general NFL threads could go in the NFL forum, resulting in increased exposure for the non-Pats threads due to being mixed in with the general NFL content (threads such as proposed rules changes and such could go there). This would also serve to unclutter the Pats forum, which always turns out to be a massive clusterfuck. As an added bonus, those of us that don't care about Pats-specific content can stay away from it completely, since the general NFL content would not be mixed with the Pats stuff. So we would have:
 
Patriots forum
General NFL forum
 
Division threads just sound like a bad idea. Throwing fans of rival teams into the mix with each other is bound to start some shit.

 
I agree with Bosoxen & others that BbtL could be cluttered from time to time, and non-Pats threads could use more exposure. 
 
However, I've decided against the idea of having two entirely separate forums (i.e., BbtL vs. general NFL forum). Although BbtL has grown in recent years, I don't think it has have enough volume for now. Let's start with a subforum within BbtL, and grow into a two-forum format when there's enough support.
 

I'm a Rams fan, and post in here occasionally, but I figured that nobody else would care enough to support a team thread, and I don't need to post just to read myself.  I would probably be more likely to post in an NFC West thread, even though I know most of the discussion would be about the other teams.

I'm an Eagles fan and there is always plenty to write about it seems I'd be happy to support an adopt a team

Although I'm a Pats fan primarily, but I always have had a sentimental tie to them. My father is a Rams fan and I've been watching Rams games since the Jim Everett days. So, they're a team I pay close attention to. Really fascinated on what they're going to do this draft. Hell, the team has always been intriguing to me. I'd participate in a Rams thread for sure.

 
To me responses from SoxFanInCali, LondoxSox, and SoxFanInPdx above are the main reasons to try out the subforum. Ownership is critical in keeping threads active, and hopefully posters who are not Patriots fans will be more involved in the team-specific and divisional threads.
 
And as anything else in BbtL, nothing is permanent -- please free to PM me or Skrub for any concerns or ideas.