Here's the latest between Dan and myself.

Me:

Thanks Dan, 

It'd be a shame to see that forum get wound up though. If that looks like it may be the case going forward could we be contacted with a view to keeping it running in some other form? 

Thanks again.


Daniel Findlay
Aug 19, 2024, 3:48 PM (18 hours ago)
to me

I can share a little more on that - at this stage we're definitely keeping the forums operating - we just haven't had any advertising and commercial support for the main ftbl site for a while so we're at a bit a crossroads.

I think one option would be to try and find a publisher for the site who had the time and resources to invest in growing it again so that may be the path we head down but I will certainly keep you informed with any developments on that front.

All the best,

Dan

Me:

I can shed a little light on why there's little engagement and growth. The original website used to have the main articles on the page with a 'join the discussion/comment' section below the article which drove new users onto the site. There were literally hundreds of active posters every day. As more and more of the publishing was pushed onto facebook etc that section was taken away from the online articles which is, in large part, why it's become a bit of a backwater.

Any sort of 'join the discussion' tagline on the facebook articles would help no end getting new users onto the forum but then it's a matter of where you're going to get the most bang for your buck ad revenue wise I'd imagine.. 

If worst comes to worst it would be ideal if the site could be archived for export to a new forum in some form or another. Like I said there's a dedicated and engaged bunch of users currently engaged on the site.

The discussion continues here if you're interested. https://forum.insidesport.com.au/3129051/FTBL-Forum-Future-Discussion?PageIndex=3

Thanks again for all your help and keeping us informed.

yep agreed, there is one other forum I frequent being a car one and you log in, go to new posts tab bingo every single one comes up since you logged off so you can easily review and post one by one your interested in.
Be great having it here.

The Thai betting spam just makes me hungry :)

Thanks Guus, I'll give it a go.....

All and well fellas recent posts, RIMB I don't think there is that much disrespect overall.
Obviously he said she said stuff that I'll put my hand up being guilty of but out and out abuse ?
Sure one or 2 do but most not really.
I think its pretty healthy amongst majority of us - we all know where we stand regards to the game and that obviously enhances debate what we're after in the first place.

I asked for this very same thing 10 years ago I reckon.  Would be such a cool toggle. 'New activity' or whatever.

Semi off-topic but how do add a pic to my avatar? I can only see a bunch of random images to choose from.

Don't we all do that already ;)

In the old days we had a few bloggers on here - notably posters like Cold Toast Gaz - who posted regular articles on anything they thought worth airing. Seems such a long time ago.

The time it takes to create considered and detailed posts and threads is probably something we all appreciate without really thinking about. You have to have a lot of time on your hands to do that and many people just don't have the time and/or word craft to do it.

We can get posters like decentric who spend a lot of time putting together detailed analysis based on his knowledge and own experience, and due to his writing style and delivery can alienate people enough that they find it hard to let go of that. If we want the content, then as Midfielder is suggesting, disagree without the attacks, slurs and ongoing mockery and make the forum a place to pose thoughts, disagree constructively either in detail or with a few words, but at the same time respect the effort of any poster for their own experience, judgement and knowledge.

I find that at this stage there is low enough activity to see everything posted over the last couple of days on the front page. If any revival or new forum design and plan results in higher traffic, or worse combining many areas into one volume list, then current posts will be pushed back to a second page or beyond again.

Honestly - as annoying as it is to find current threads across a number of pages I think I would welcome that inconvenience with the increased traffic.

Finally - I think some of you actually fail to appreciate the true beauty of Thai betting spam. It makes the front page look so pretty and lets us know that our forum is recognised and appreciated in the global online environment.

The way I do it is sort the topics by "Last Post", then at the end of the topic title is a right angle bracket, click that to "Jump to first unread post".

Is there a tab you can hit that brings up all new posts since your last visit ? 

Yep that’s exactly what’s happened in the past. 

It is true as the newest post bumps it up giving that alertness to it. We're not in massive danger with spam as yet because it can still be cleaned up.

yeah that was a problem last time popular threads were stickied

I instintively skip stickied threads. I feel like that's where good threads go to die. 

That's what I was thinking. With all the spam I think the key threads need to be stickied to the top.  They'll be bumped anyway utnits annoying having to load a page or 2 (I know there's a search function).

I think the forum is mature enough (it may or may not have been before) that people know all the good stuff it at the top. 

Add AA of course. 

Might be worth refreshing the sticky threads btw.

- A-League General Chat
- NSD General Chat
- State League General Chat
- Socceroos and Mens National Teams General Chat
- Matildas and Womens National Teams General Chat

Also an announcement/rules sticky thread, maybe with a list of current mods so people know who to reach out to. 

Open for debate ... suggestion.... to help bring back users...

A lot of the remaining forum users are quite knowledge pertaining to a range of areas in Football..... further many have key want issues....

What about we start to post threads of some size i.e. 400 to 650 words.... and IMPORTANTLY if we disagree with what's written lets discuss it rather than attack...

I think Football is lacking aside from the Roar, any real online forum with detailed analysis.... we do have article on this site... but I was more thinking of forum driven articles...

Please don’t kill the forum, Dan 🙏 

Dan if you're reading this we need this place man 

Shot me mate a note to ask if there was an update and got this result.


Not yet, my apologies.

We very much appreciate your offer but we're currently working through our wider plans for ftbl and the forums.

I should be able to share more in the next week or two.

Best, Dan

Thats how I first found this place..... 

The day they stopped that was the day new members fell off a cliff.

This forum is the best. Don't post much anymore but have learned so much from this forum. It can't die. 

Used to get new posters everytime there was a new article as the comments section would take you straight to the forum

Again, I just implore anyone in charge to backup the posts ASAP. It's a treasure trove of stories of times that aren't well covered. Would be criminal to lose it all forever.

In it's heyday it was really something awesome. It was a hub for quite a few things but unfortunately when IS took over, they seemed to change tact. 

I get that they have their own vision and way of doing things, but I would have said that perhaps keeping the core of what made this such a successful place should have been kept. I don't see the engagement on here as much as I used to and that isn't great for the game in general. 

There's a few things that don't help.

The FTBL spam bots. Thai betting spam. Moderator coverage (because of the Thai spam). Forum functionality e.g., no obvious notifications, can't skip to most recent posts until there are 6 pages in the thread, ease of editing, search function, mobile posting functionality etc.

Also the number of active posters atm. I reckon it's getting busier from when I started posting but I wasn't here in the heyday. But message boards aren't fashionable anymore. I doubt there's a poster here in their 20s. 

What it does have is a lot of amazing, pashionate and knowledgable posters. That's golden. It makes the place a lot of fun. 

They must use stats as engagement figures to convince advertisers on their articles 

A good start would be if the IS bot stoped spamming the forum with all the articles on its site. Especially as the articles are not related to the threads. In Australian Football there are threads about European Football. No one engages with these threads too. 

It's clear people are not engaging with this forum as they once used to. I'm surprised it is still going. 

Can we rename this thread ftbl state of forum discussion or something? 

Holy shit. I just took a peak at World Football. That is a heck of a lot of spam. It's a pity whoever took over from KA didn't fully appreciate what was working here and why it was so successful.