Posted by mmt0315 on 12/27/2011 9:23:00 AM (view original):
Its really a shame seeing what the forums have become. On any given subject I barely recognize any of the posters and it seems most vets (obviously there are the exceptions); have taken my approach and only poke their heads in on occassion. Im wondering what it would take to get the forums more active again or if its just the way things are now. Any of the old timers care to share why they dont check in anymore?
I can say for me that its not a matter of the game going stale. I still check my teams as often as I used to and am probably more active within my own CCs than Ive ever been. I just dont feel the forums are productive. There are far to many people giving misinformation or providing opinion as though it was fact. I also cant stand how insulting people become when a position contrary to their own is presented (not saying Ive been perfect in that realm myself). It used to be that 10 new topics appeared daily...now...they barely get updated.
I think your perception may be part of the problem. For any new people, or even more veteran players, reading this says "I could talk, but I'm not recognized as a vet / old timer, so I'm not going to". Or even the premise in your opening sentence that the forums have somehow gone down in quality may cause people to think that its pointless to come here. I've not been around as long as some, but my recollection is that it was really 3-4 coaches like olddave and a couple others that would really get things going. Others would respond, but not really be ones to start up conversations. Obviously, those coaches have left.
This, combined with the fact that we haven't really had any updates for over a year, I would expect the boards to stagnate. When the new patches came in recently, there were plently of new threads started. But they didn't last long, because the majority were basically cosmetic changes. The new seeding process still generates new discussion.
The attitude of "people giving misinformation as fact" also deters people from posting. I for one wouldn't feel like posting on here just so some "vet" and "old timer" can rip on me, nitpick my entire statement, and generally talk down to me. I posted in some thread a while back about the minimum number of minutes needed to maintain a stat. Sure enough, some "vet" came in and said something to the effect of "I cant believe you are stating one number as a fact. It varies by player, work ethic, etc". Well, I think we all knew that, and any coach who puts 7 min into a stat will find that for 90% of players, this is fine, but some it won't. So you adjust their minutes. But thats something the coach will learn. There's nothing wrong with saying "7 min, adjust as necessary". But some "pro" had to come in talk down to the people posting. That makes it much less likely anyone is going to bother to stick their neck out and say anything the next time.