Wrestling only forum, anyone?

[Handles II]

Yes. This.

Great post Fish.

[Greco]

I agree with the idea of too much non-wrestling stuff.  I have stopped looking at the forum due to this issue.  When I go 2-3 days without visiting and then I hit unread posts since last visit there are 2-3 pages of 'misc. stuff' and 3-4 posts about wrestling.  This past weekend Wisconsin wrestlers had some great battles at the FILA nationals.  Very little discussion if any.  How may wrestling fans get turned off by all of the noise.  When my HS boys, who are die hard wrestler's, ask me 'why is there so much junk on the forum', then maybe we have a problem.  This used to be a great place to read and discuss Wisconsin Wrestling. I would like to know what percent of posts are now about wrestling?  How many fans/wrester's are now gone?  How many posts are by the same group of 10-15 people? Thanks for letting me share my thoughts.

Old Panther stated that there are 66 sections, and only 10 are non-wrestling. I'm not sure how that adds up to too many non-wrestling. Those of you who want to talk more about wrestling, go ahead and get after it. There are 56 sections about wrestling. Choose a few and start some threads. If you are simply waiting around to see what someone else says that is new, then perhaps you are part of the reason why it is dead. All of you that want more wrestling posts, AWESOME! Get going on it, start some chatter and then you will see more wrestling topics on the "updated topics" link.  Simple solution. Sheesh.

Handles, I said that there are 66 wrestling related forums, not 66 total. The total is 76, 10 are non-wrestling. The problem with that, and I state it again, is that the 13% make up 90% of the content.

[Greco]

I agree with the idea of too much non-wrestling stuff.  I have stopped looking at the forum due to this issue.  When I go 2-3 days without visiting and then I hit unread posts since last visit there are 2-3 pages of 'misc. stuff' and 3-4 posts about wrestling.  This past weekend Wisconsin wrestlers had some great battles at the FILA nationals.  Very little discussion if any.  How may wrestling fans get turned off by all of the noise.  When my HS boys, who are die hard wrestler's, ask me 'why is there so much junk on the forum', then maybe we have a problem.  This used to be a great place to read and discuss Wisconsin Wrestling. I would like to know what percent of posts are now about wrestling?  How many fans/wrester's are now gone?  How many posts are by the same group of 10-15 people? Thanks for letting me share my thoughts.

BINGO!!!

Your boys are an example of what the non-wrestling content turns away. Talk about lost revenue for Tom. Turning away new forum members isn't a good business model. Kind of like running a tree nursery and displaying your various composting options near the front door.

[bigoil]

If you look at the main page, the list will tell you when the last post was. Click on UW, main, college, etc where there is a recent post. I read a lot about wrestling and post a lot of misc junk.

Nice throw by Thielke.

[imnofish]

If you look at the main page, the list will tell you when the last post was. Click on UW, main, college, etc where there is a recent post. I read a lot about wrestling and post a lot of misc junk.

Nice throw by Thielke.

+1

[Handles II]

I agree with the idea of too much non-wrestling stuff.  I have stopped looking at the forum due to this issue.  When I go 2-3 days without visiting and then I hit unread posts since last visit there are 2-3 pages of 'misc. stuff' and 3-4 posts about wrestling.  This past weekend Wisconsin wrestlers had some great battles at the FILA nationals.  Very little discussion if any.  How may wrestling fans get turned off by all of the noise.  When my HS boys, who are die hard wrestler's, ask me 'why is there so much junk on the forum', then maybe we have a problem.  This used to be a great place to read and discuss Wisconsin Wrestling. I would like to know what percent of posts are now about wrestling?  How many fans/wrester's are now gone?  How many posts are by the same group of 10-15 people? Thanks for letting me share my thoughts.

Old Panther stated that there are 66 sections, and only 10 are non-wrestling. I'm not sure how that adds up to too many non-wrestling. Those of you who want to talk more about wrestling, go ahead and get after it. There are 56 sections about wrestling. Choose a few and start some threads. If you are simply waiting around to see what someone else says that is new, then perhaps you are part of the reason why it is dead. All of you that want more wrestling posts, AWESOME! Get going on it, start some chatter and then you will see more wrestling topics on the "updated topics" link.  Simple solution. Sheesh.

Handles, I said that there are 66 wrestling related forums, not 66 total. The total is 76, 10 are non-wrestling. The problem with that, and I state it again, is that the 13% make up 90% of the content.

So it's even more than I stated. Well looks like there are plenty of opportunities for people to post about wrestling as do the 10-15 regulars who also post on the other sections of this forum. You want a different percentage of posts, then quit whining, warm up your fingers and start typing. Problem solved.

[silent_but_deadly]

I would suspect less than 5% of Wisconsin's wrestling community visits the forum (and that is a generous estimate).  Much less % of people even post on the forum.  The next wrestling event you visit, ask around if people are even familiar with the forum and if they are why they don't participate?  Few even know it exists, while those that do are turned off by the bickering and silly arguments.  

You see the same small handful of people posting daily and visiting their computers repeatedly throughout the day.  Some just looking for the opportunity to find fault with someone who previously argued with them in a previous post.  For many of these daily posters it is an addiction.  You have people trying to justify this obsessive behavior, but just imagine--they are on here several times a day reading and posting--throughout their work day, before work, after work, during family time--it's silly and does nothing to promote Wisconsin wrestling.  And there is some people who use this forum exclusively for advertising their business or to promote their own self interest (preseason nationals, Askren, etc.)

Yes, the rest of us can move on and not read this stuff.  But what these small percentage of posters don't realize is their posting addiction has driven away most of the Wisconsin wrestling community from the forum.  Don't believe me, ask around and see what responses you get--I have...

There is a reason that when you look at other state's forums they have more people participating online.

[imnofish]

I would suspect less than 5% of Wisconsin's wrestling community visits the forum (and that is a generous estimate).  Much less % of people even post on the forum.  The next wrestling event you visit, ask around if people are even familiar with the forum and if they are why they don't participate?  Few even know it exists, while those that do are turned off by the bickering and silly arguments.  

You see the same small handful of people posting daily and visiting their computers repeatedly throughout the day.  Some just looking for the opportunity to find fault with someone who previously argued with them in a previous post.  For many of these daily posters it is an addiction.  You have people trying to justify this obsessive behavior, but just imagine--they are on here several times a day reading and posting--throughout their work day, before work, after work, during family time--it's silly and does nothing to promote Wisconsin wrestling.  And there is some people who use this forum exclusively for advertising their business or to promote their own self interest (preseason nationals, Askren, etc.)

Yes, the rest of us can move on and not read this stuff.  But what these small percentage of posters don't realize is their posting addiction has driven away most of the Wisconsin wrestling community from the forum.  Don't believe me, ask around and see what responses you get--I have...

There is a reason that when you look at other state's forums they have more people participating online.

No offense, but I doubt that the actual statistics support your perspective on this.  I consistently see many visitors online and their views of topics (including non-wrestling) appear to far outpace what posters/members can generate.  BTW, when you are visiting other states' sites, do you post?  Also, how do their general populations compare to Wisconsin's?  Have you comparatively extrapolated that to determine per-capita participation rates? 

[jaguarwrestler]

I have been on this forum over 10 years.... never once have I hit "new posts since last visit" I check the UW forum if I wish to see new posts, I checked the general forum if I want to see new posts or I check whatever other forum if I want to see new posts. The main part of wrestling is from December to March so from April through November we need some filler... doesn't mean we don't still talk wrestling when there is news but not a lot of news in the state to talk about in the off months. Some people come here to get news on the UW but don't care who won WWF kids state, so they turn to Packers and Brewers news instead, nothing wrong with that. If you want a forum strictly for wrestling.... start one, pay for it, monitor it and then see how you feel about it.

Should we also get rid of the MMA section? I mean that has little to do with wrestling.

[imnofish]

I have been on this forum over 10 years.... never once have I hit "new posts since last visit" I check the UW forum if I wish to see new posts, I checked the general forum if I want to see new posts or I check whatever other forum if I want to see new posts. The main part of wrestling is from December to March so from April through November we need some filler... doesn't mean we don't still talk wrestling when there is news but not a lot of news in the state to talk about in the off months. Some people come here to get news on the UW but don't care who won WWF kids state, so they turn to Packers and Brewers news instead, nothing wrong with that. If you want a forum strictly for wrestling.... start one, pay for it, monitor it and then see how you feel about it.

Should we also get rid of the MMA section? I mean that has little to do with wrestling.

How about discussions that attempt to micromanage content and member participation?  My take is that I participate in, and monitor, threads throughout the site.  Posting and reading are both valid methods of participation, but the latter leaves only an anonymous record of my involvement.  Does that fact yield a relevant statistic?  Should "big brother" be using that statistical difference to limit my options? 

[jaguarwrestler]

Many people never post, or hardly ever post... maybe if more people posted about wrestling we would have more wrestling content. We can't just leave it up to the core of 50 or so people to keep the forum up to date. Many people come here to read only... just look at how many "guests" are on here.

As far as turning people away... I don't get that one, I mean I never once read a Misc. post without going into the Misc. section. If I am here to check on the General Wrestling forum I don't see any of the other "noise" nothing about college, national or Olympic, MMA or anything else so what would be turning me away. If you don't like the off topic stuff............ don't read it, a fairly simple concept.

[imnofish]

Many people never post, or hardly ever post... maybe if more people posted about wrestling we would have more wrestling content. We can't just leave it up to the core of 50 or so people to keep the forum up to date. Many people come here to read only... just look at how many "guests" are on here.

As far as turning people away... I don't get that one, I mean I never once read a Misc. post without going into the Misc. section. If I am here to check on the General Wrestling forum I don't see any of the other "noise" nothing about college, national or Olympic, MMA or anything else so what would be turning me away. If you don't like the off topic stuff............ don't read it, a fairly simple concept.

Out of all of the sites available on the internet, I visit this one most often.  The others just don't contain as much content that interests me.  Since it's all about me, I think we should just shut down the rest of the internet.  Then, everyone would spend all of their time on this site.  While we are at it, let's make it mandatory that all visitors post something on every thread that they visit, so I can track their participation.  Additionally, each post must meet certain content standards, based upon my personal preferences and preconceived notions about what is appropriate.  People who fail to meet my personal requirements should be banned from the internet, which should be pretty easy to do if my recommendations are followed.   

[wrestlersdad]

So is this thread really about wrestling??

[silent_but_deadly]

I would suspect less than 5% of Wisconsin's wrestling community visits the forum (and that is a generous estimate).  Much less % of people even post on the forum.  The next wrestling event you visit, ask around if people are even familiar with the forum and if they are why they don't participate?  Few even know it exists, while those that do are turned off by the bickering and silly arguments.  

You see the same small handful of people posting daily and visiting their computers repeatedly throughout the day.  Some just looking for the opportunity to find fault with someone who previously argued with them in a previous post.  For many of these daily posters it is an addiction.  You have people trying to justify this obsessive behavior, but just imagine--they are on here several times a day reading and posting--throughout their work day, before work, after work, during family time--it's silly and does nothing to promote Wisconsin wrestling.  And there is some people who use this forum exclusively for advertising their business or to promote their own self interest (preseason nationals, Askren, etc.)

Yes, the rest of us can move on and not read this stuff.  But what these small percentage of posters don't realize is their posting addiction has driven away most of the Wisconsin wrestling community from the forum.  Don't believe me, ask around and see what responses you get--I have...

There is a reason that when you look at other state's forums they have more people participating online.

No offense, but I doubt that the actual statistics support your perspective on this.  I consistently see many visitors online and their views of topics (including non-wrestling) appear to far outpace what posters/members can generate.  BTW, when you are visiting other states' sites, do you post?  Also, how do their general populations compare to Wisconsin's?  Have you comparatively extrapolated that to determine per-capita participation rates? 

To answer your question, I do read other state's forums more than our own and yes I have on occasion posted there as well.  

Let me provide an example to further illustrate my perspective as to why the Wisconsin wrestling community is not using this forum:

MN vs WI Forum
Both MN and WI had the same number of kids quality for schoolboy duals coming up next week.  Same amount of wrestlers, same amount of parents and same amount of coaches from each state.  Also keep in mind we have a slightly larger population than MN....but....

MN:  On 5/21 @ 1:23 PM someone in their state posted on their forum a question about schoolboy duals.  As of right now they have had 600 page views with 7 replies.
WI:  On 5/22 @ 10:48 AM someone in our state posted a question in our forum about schoolboy duals.  As of right now we have had only 105 page views with 0 replies.  

I'm no rocket scientist but that seems to be a bit of a clue that the MN forum has a lot more wrestling activity than ours does.  Why does MN have more people interested in their wrestling forum than here in WI?

IL vs WI Forum

Yes we have about 5.7 mil and IL has about 12.9 mil.  But take a look at these numbers.

WI:  In the kids forum in the past 30 days we have had 5 topics posted.
IL:  In their kids forum in the past 30 days they have had 38 topics posted.

IA vs WI Forum


The great state of Iowa has 3.1 mil population (just over half the size of WI) yet...

WI:  5 posts in kids topics for past 30 days
IA:  32 posts in kids topics for past 30 days

If a change isn't made soon, that is the future of our high school forums.  People will go elsewhere unless a change is made.

imnofish - I just saw that you posted in another topic that you no longer have kids wrestling nor have you coached for over 15 years.  It would appear you aren't as involved in the sport as much as of the rest of us so I'd suspect you perhaps don't go to as many events as some of us?  Here's what I can tell you--few people know of this forum and those that do complain about it frequently because of the non-wrestling topics and petty childish bickering that a few dozen people engage in on a daily basis.

[imnofish]

I would suspect less than 5% of Wisconsin's wrestling community visits the forum (and that is a generous estimate).  Much less % of people even post on the forum.  The next wrestling event you visit, ask around if people are even familiar with the forum and if they are why they don't participate?  Few even know it exists, while those that do are turned off by the bickering and silly arguments.  

You see the same small handful of people posting daily and visiting their computers repeatedly throughout the day.  Some just looking for the opportunity to find fault with someone who previously argued with them in a previous post.  For many of these daily posters it is an addiction.  You have people trying to justify this obsessive behavior, but just imagine--they are on here several times a day reading and posting--throughout their work day, before work, after work, during family time--it's silly and does nothing to promote Wisconsin wrestling.  And there is some people who use this forum exclusively for advertising their business or to promote their own self interest (preseason nationals, Askren, etc.)

Yes, the rest of us can move on and not read this stuff.  But what these small percentage of posters don't realize is their posting addiction has driven away most of the Wisconsin wrestling community from the forum.  Don't believe me, ask around and see what responses you get--I have...

There is a reason that when you look at other state's forums they have more people participating online.

No offense, but I doubt that the actual statistics support your perspective on this.  I consistently see many visitors online and their views of topics (including non-wrestling) appear to far outpace what posters/members can generate.  BTW, when you are visiting other states' sites, do you post?  Also, how do their general populations compare to Wisconsin's?  Have you comparatively extrapolated that to determine per-capita participation rates? 

To answer your question, I do read other state's forums more than our own and yes I have on occasion posted there as well.  

Let me provide an example to further illustrate my perspective as to why the Wisconsin wrestling community is not using this forum:

MN vs WI Forum
Both MN and WI had the same number of kids quality for schoolboy duals coming up next week.  Same amount of wrestlers, same amount of parents and same amount of coaches from each state.  Also keep in mind we have a slightly larger population than MN....but....

MN:  On 5/21 @ 1:23 PM someone in their state posted on their forum a question about schoolboy duals.  As of right now they have had 600 page views with 7 replies.
WI:  On 5/22 @ 10:48 AM someone in our state posted a question in our forum about schoolboy duals.  As of right now we have had only 105 page views with 0 replies.  

I'm no rocket scientist but that seems to be a bit of a clue that the MN forum has a lot more wrestling activity than ours does.  Why does MN have more people interested in their wrestling forum than here in WI?

IL vs WI Forum

Yes we have about 5.7 mil and IL has about 12.9 mil.  But take a look at these numbers.

WI:  In the kids forum in the past 30 days we have had 5 topics posted.
IL:  In their kids forum in the past 30 days they have had 38 topics posted.

IA vs WI Forum


The great state of Iowa has 3.1 mil population (just over half the size of WI) yet...

WI:  5 posts in kids topics for past 30 days
IA:  32 posts in kids topics for past 30 days

If a change isn't made soon, that is the future of our high school forums.  People will go elsewhere unless a change is made.

imnofish - I just saw that you posted in another topic that you no longer have kids wrestling nor have you coached for over 15 years.  It would appear you aren't as involved in the sport as much as of the rest of us so I'd suspect you perhaps don't go to as many events as some of us?  Here's what I can tell you--few people know of this forum and those that do complain about it frequently because of the non-wrestling topics and petty childish bickering that a few dozen people engage in on a daily basis.

Your statistics show that fewer people follow wrestling in Wisconsin, but provide no hard statistical evidence that non-wrestling topics are a significant causative agent in that trend.  The stats on this particular thread apparently support my assertion.  If you feel that more wrestling-specific discussion is the key to increasing site participation and contentious bickering is counterproductive, wouldn't it make more sense for you to start (and participate in) more wrestling threads, rather than attacking a segment of the membership here?  Is this thread promoting bickering, or discussion of wrestling?