It really makes no sense for me to keep making general threads during slow periods when, with a forum based system, users can make their own topics and discuss what interests them. To make this transition will cost money (e.g. to buy and customize themes, etc), so any donations can be sent via paypal — please send as a “gift to friends” so they don’t take a fee. I think a forum would be a music better idea. So, send me some themes you guys like. I want to use phpbb forum software, as I’ve found it the most advanced and versatile over the years. I could use some help finding a phpbb theme that’s compatible with smart phones as well.
From the last topic:
So, during these slow periods I have nothing to write about.
Would you rather have nothing going on, or do you want me to bring the forums back? I might ditch wordpress all together and make angrybeavs.com a forum. I’m leaning towards that because then people can talk about what they wish.
What type of categories would you want for a forum?
Football, Basketball, Baseball…recruiting info separate or just include it under those 3?
Women’s sports a separate area or include under those?
Maybe a general discussion and “other” for things like wrestling, volleyball, etc?
Give me some ideas. This area is going to die because I’ve got nothing, so we need to move to the forums. It will be much more lively if this area disappears and we only have the forums, and people can create their own discussions.
Mens sports, women’s sports, jacks bullshit à la mode.
Haha.
I’ll make an entire category for Jack.
Did someone say ice cream?
It’s a weird situation.
I need a forum since guys want to discuss things that I don’t. That’s what forums are good for. Yet at the same time, when I do write an opinion piece, it tends to be about something important, so I’d it requires it’s own place. So almost need a forum with an area blocked off for news/opinion pieces. I’m not sure such a template exists.
When I had the old forum area, nobody used it. Then they’d complain when I didn’t write a new topic. I’m not in the “publish or die” mindset like a lot of bloggers. I do this as a hobby when I have something to say, not for money or hits. So, I’m not just going to keep making threads about nothing.
You can stick your choice of posts to the top to ensure visibility.
What would be perfect would be a forum where the home page showed your chosen sticky on the front page with the forums listed below and a “read more” button on the sticky. I’m not sure one exists, but it seems plausible someone has thought of something similar.
I thought of that, and agree it would be perfect for a site like this.
For real this time, do a men’s sports and women’s sports, then athletic department section and a non athletic department section and general discussion.
All recruiting news would be within the mens/women’s sections. This allows you to just browse topics on one section, and with sports overlapping it makes it easier to navigate.
Your opinion pieces should just be stickied or pinned at the top of those sections with an limit of 3 opinion topics The oldest topic would drop off once you posted a new topic. Then at least it is on the page of mens/womens/ect, and can be seen.
I hope you understand what I’m saying. I’m working outside and is hot as balls…..has been the last few days, and I’m about ready to pass out into a ditch.
What’s AB’s estimated user base? I frequent many places where they have many active users, so individual forums (football, basketball, baseball) get plenty of activity and don’t look deserted. On the other end, there are many places with individual sport forums and not many active users, and the place just looks empty. If the latter sounds more like AB, I’d be for consolidating the main sports together to avoid any forum wastelands.
Men’s Sports
Women’s Sports
Academics/General OSU?
Off-Topic
How much money do you need so it doesn’t look like Pure Orange?
We’re at over 4 million views since 2009. Registered users are 240, but I don’t know how many lurkers/trolls/unregistered users (all the amish guys) we have…probably a lot.
Custom themes run from $20 to $200, so it really depends. I’m trying to find the best that integrates twitter, etc. And also something that highlights a post when I do write an op-ed piece. It’s hard to find all that in forum software.
As an Amish avatar I find this very offensive
In the world of opinions, you know everyone has one, I think the site is just fine the way it is.
That said, I will be happy with whatever you end up doing, with hardly any whining…well….
It’s fine the way it is, but I might not post for the next few months since there’s nothing going on, but maybe someone else feels there’s a lot going on and wants to start a topic about what’s on their mind. See, a forum allows that. This format doesn’t. Their opinion/topic gets lost in a sea of comments.
I understand your point, but I thought that’s what the “General” thread was for.
I guess I’m just the old dog not wanting to learn new tricks.
I think a good idea might be to make an “op-ed” forum, where I just write all my posts, just like I do here. I can lock permissions so only I can create threads there, but allow users to comment on the posts. It will be just like this area in that sense.
Then, in all the other forums, allow users to create, edit, comment on anything. That seems like the best way to go about it. Then on the right side hopefully integrate twitter.
I think this sounds best to me.
No look above at my post, use the sticky/pinned type, maybe change the font color also. That way we’re not clicking all over the place. You’ll get more looks.
The problem with that is if there’s a period of time where I have a lot to say and I’m making a lot of opinion based posts, there would be too many stickies.
Just putting all my stuff in its own area is probably best for organization and so I don’t clutter the top of the forum with stickies during prolific periods.
Most of what i read on the site comes through the emails after i ‘subscribe’ to a post. Will the forums allow for emails as well?
Most good forums do that, or have a “show relies to my comments” type button where you can see what people say to you. I know some even allow you to find all posts where you’ve been mentioned by name. I’ll try to look for something that has a ton of features.
I’m on a music forum where I get emails whenever someone replies. I think that’s a standard option.
I’d also go for a simple/minimal design like this one. I hate most sports sites. They’re over the top. We stay classy here.
Would something similar to this layout work? http://www.macrumors.com/
You post your op-ed on a page like on the default address above and then link to a discussion at the bottom of the post which redirects to the “op-ed” forum. In addition to the op-ed forum, you also have the others mentioned above, etc. I imagine you could integrate the Twitter feed on the right instead of all the various links MacRumors has.
Many automotive sites/forums operate the same way. This was just the quickest example I could think of.
I agree. Keep the minimalist look. Same for the color scheme. White, black, orange looks good, I think.
Basically:
angrybeavs.com = Op-ed, Twitter feed, link to specific forum discussion at bottom of op-ed
angrybeavs.com/forum or forums.angrybeavs.com = standard vBulletin (or similar) forum layout
Thinking something like this:
http://www.webopedia.com/DidYouKnow/Images/041708_Forums.jpg
Below the double blue lines would remain the same, but above would be where the beginning text of a sticky op-ed would reside with a “read more” button.
Breaking everything off into the top sub-group would also work, but I would want the primary text on my page to be shown for any sourcing purposes.
Looking forward to when you add the pay section to your site for the premium content like you mentioned in early April.
You should blacklist people who talk about the premium topics outside of the forum.
Oooh!
Playing with pointy sticks!
Football, Basketball, Baseball…recruiting info separate or just include it under those 3?
Recruiting separate, plus you’ll likely have the recruiter twitter feed anyway if possible, right?
Women’s sports a separate area or include under those?
Maybe a general discussion and “other” for things like wrestling, volleyball, etc?
Accidental post:
“Football, Basketball, Baseball…recruiting info separate or just include it under those 3?”
Recruiting separate, plus you’ll likely have the recruiter twitter feed anyway if possible, right?
“Women’s sports a separate area or include under those?”
Separate.
Maybe a general discussion and “other” for things like wrestling, volleyball, etc?
How about a “Life of Riley” category, or “The Riley Watch” I don’t think he’s long for Nebraska, and people seem to enjoy his (and Banker’s) predictability. such a category gives them a place to go without bringing it into a Beaver football thread.
Music category? A popular tangent here.
Politics category? Again, popular and may heat up near and after November. You may end up posting more op-eds there.
Angry,
I read the blog quite often, though don’t contribute a ton because many of the threads have golden nuggets of information and a bit of drivel that has to be sifted through. I would like to echo the concerns of others that I believe a forum would look like a ghost town on this site. The user base is small but active. Half of what makes AB an interesting place to visit is the diversity of comments and the evolving topics (minus the troll bullshit by a few idiots with more time than sense). I think that you may miss out on active participation from some people by moving to a forum format as not everyone is going to bounce around to all of the topics. The more opportunity you give people to ignore sections of the website, the more they will ignore those sections, which will look bad. I can relate that the blog can take up much of your time which is tough if there isn’t anything going on that interests you.
What if you allow registered users to create topics. If the topics are interesting others will participate, if not, then they will falter and a new topic will rise up. This would allow you to keep roughly the same format, but alleviate the pressure of you adding new topics all the time. It also allows you the opportunity to soap box and create a controversial topic to post and ensure it hits the front page. The other side of a forum is that you will have to curate all of the nooks and crannies of the forum, where here you only have to really curate the top one or two threads, which I believe would be less work.
You could also create additional admin rights for others that are deemed moderators, sort of how Reddit does the subreddit threads. This would relieve you from some of the burden of policing all of the thread comments.
Just my 2 cents. Thanks for maintaining this blog. Appreciate the intel that you all provide with regard to the men’s football and basketball teams. I will admit that I usually find out all of the good stories here first. Not sure how you guys get the intel, but keep up the great work. If it ain’t broke….
Yeah, I thought about that — allowing some users to author threads.
It’s not a bad idea.
Thoughts?
Another issue: sometimes I’m out and forget that there’s say a baseball game on a Tuesday, so I don’t put a thread up. Someone who is around often should have authority to put that up.
As long as you remain the only admin, I’m fine with a diary set-up.
I looked into this. “Editors” can write posts but can’t act as admins, so if I make a handful of trusted people editors option C could work.
But, if they start writing drivel, it would be tough to tell them they suck and they’re fired. So, maybe we should all decide who we trust doing that. I know Silverstream would be high on the list. Maybe oldbeav? Whiskey and Nicebeav come to mind.
Jack, I think everyone would oppose you doing it. No offense meant. Maybe we can get a list of names then make a poll and go with option C.
I can populate the discussions just fine. I don’t know that I have enough energy to produce content for sports right now anyway. I think that’s an evolving population that you can allow or disallow as you see fit. I would tend to be democratic about it. Most people here can rightly call BS on this or that themselves.
“Whiskey and Nicebeav come to mind”
You don’t give Whiskey the keys to the Ferrari. Well, Geo Metro in this case I suppose. But hey! If it pisses off some of our trolls, I’m down
Agree 100% with Hopeful.
The main problem is this:
1. Sometimes I have nothing to write about. Are “General threads” enough for readers?
2. Sometimes I’m out when a game starts. Especially true when it’s a game I’m not interested in, but people want to talk about it.
What’s the best way to handle these?
a. Leave it as is?
b. Move to a forum where anyone can create whatever?
c. Keep this format, but select a few members to write posts?
If we go with C, I’d worry about quality control. Like poorly written articles or rants about stupid shit that I’d then have to delete. If we go with C, maybe these people just step up when I forget to make a game-day thread? Or they write a draft and run it by me first if it’s about a certain topic? Maybe once I see they’re good writers I give them more leeway. I do worry about quality control with option. C, but otherwise I like it.
Worried about quality control? Fooled me
That’s #1,295 on that list.
Derp derp derp.
Helpful as always.
they’re so cute at that age
Didn’t you already try this when you let Jack write up basketball games and he ended up just picking the Beavs to win every game?
On hoops I was good.
It was on that gawd damned UCLA Friday nighter for baseball where the runner wasn’t sent home on an obvious wave through… and would have won the game… and I just exploded with about four beers in me.
Wow. That was years ago.
Haha. He was quite the optimist.
Interesting edit.
Matt Boyd pitching right now for Detroit and looking good into the 2nd inning.
As has been mentioned, the uncluttered format here, along with the three color approach is very appealing.
The F150 Forum linked below is an example of what I hope NOT to see angrybeavs become. Not only is it a “busy” presentation which contains many ads, but the content is so scattered that a user may find info/opinions on a fairly narrow topic to appear in several different threads.
The idea of even a limited number of editors (if I understand correctly) could also result in several posts on the same topic with replies scattered about, Seems cumbersome to me. Whereas the current format seems to work especially well when a post is devoted to a specific game (FB) or series (Baseball).
Would getting around the possibility of multiple posts on the same topic by various editors be an admin headache? I mean, having editors “run it by” you might be hard to manage on a timely basis.
Could the problem of angry not being around to put up a post for the next game be solved by a single regular reader being given editor access with the understanding that their only authority is to put up a “new game” post?
Here is the F150 example:
http://www.f150forum.com/
Oldbeav, want to be an “author”? This would allow you to write posts but not edit anything. So if I’m not around you can make a game thread.
I made NiceBeaver an author, too, since he can do the same and also make recruiting posts.
Let’s test this out for a while and see how it goes (if you want to do it).
Sure, I’m willing to give it a shot.
Will you give us Mandy updates LOL?
Okay, you and NiceBeaver are authors.
Just make sure when you make a new thread, than you look on the right and file it under the correct category. e.g. if it’s a general thread, just put it under “athletics”, football related goes under “football”, etc.
the rest is self explanatory. go have a look.
If a thread goes over ~250 comments, and I’m not around, that’s another good reason to make a new thread.
Seems easy enough, I put up a test thread under one category, changed it to “media”, and then trashed it.
orangejulius helped out by making a comment on the (now trashed) thread.
Now…………….when is that next game?? And, will Jake get the start??
Teacher’s Pet!
I like this format. Giving a few trusted active members the ability to make game threads should solve any away issues you might have.
Mama Muchado as a guest writer?
Only if Angry will allow me to pay for that content
I think this fits into recent topic somewhere – or other.
http://www.spectator.co.uk/2016/06/generation-snowflake-how-we-train-our-kids-to-be-censorious-cry-babies/
Title says it all. Sad. And true.
Title does not say it all. In fact, this is the closest I’ve seen to someone getting it right.
Previous generations created what we have now. There are different factions. There are also groups who are defiant in different ways and to different degrees. But the overwhelming plurality would be those who grew up in a different age.
They (we also) were always taught to be afraid of something or someone. And then they were taught that the way to deal with that fear is to legislate away our freedoms. Spy on your neighbor. Report anything or anyone not like you to the authorities. Keep you and yours safe.
Oh… and don’t stop shopping for that fabulous thing that was made in a slave shop by a fourteen year-old serf… or they’ll win.
The comments for that article are much more interesting than the article itself.
What the fuck happened to Tyson Penn? Forgot he went to high school after signing?
I was just about to ask what the story is. Very disappointing to lose 2 now.
What you talkin’ bout Willis?
“Whachu”
gesundheit
Twitter message from above. He’s not coming
Watched his camp highlight video over and over, failed algebra 1…..
Maybe he hated GA so much that it was his only way out?
His quote is weird: “I am no longer committed to play for OSU”.
Uh, no, you failed to qualify…
Math is hard.
Is it possible he’s dumb enough to not know the difference?
He removed all doubt with his twitter post.
I like the current format. Even though at times it seems disorganized, part of the fun is reading through the varied posts and finding out what direction it is going. I can always find timely breaking news without any censorship, along with interesting and often educated opinions. Sometimes the topics go to extremes, but that is the beauty of this site, pure freedom of expression. I don’t think every thread needs to have a topic as the members will come up something on there own. Angry’s topics are usually interesting and often lead to some very good discussions. However, I do not think every thread has to go with a topic heading.
Nicebeav what’s the prediction on the Forsyth kid? Who was his neighbor again? Is he still wearing beaver gear?
If I had to guess i would say Michigan or Oregon, but that’s purely a guess. I dont think it will be the Beavs unfortunately.
Nemec has Oregon as his prediction and has for several weeks.
I am his neighbor. He wears osu gear more then Oregon gear based off what I’ve seen. It also helps that Alex linnekhol, a former osu olineman is his mentor.
Maybe he wears more Oregon State gear to stiff Beaver fans since he’s going Ducks.