What do you want to see on FCB to make it ...

mchenrycards · Sep 7, 2013

phillyfan0417 said:
This is exactly whats needed. member produced content is the best kind of content.

Weekly pick-up threads
mailday

Hell, i'm working on getting the band back together for the podcast.

I had talked to Chris about writing some things a number of months ago and for the better part of the last 6 months I have drifted away from this place due to much of the "stuff" that was happening here. I like the direction he and the mods are trying to take FCB and I guess I want to live up to the old adage.....if you aren't a part of the solution you are a part of the problem. So hopefully I can crank out some decent content others might have at least a passing interest in. I am looking forward to seeing what others come up with as well.

alexs64 · Sep 7, 2013

First off I want to say that I LOVE FCB! There is no other board like this. I first showed up here a little over 3 years ago. This first thread I posted in was the New Member Thread. Then I posted my own thread about looking for some Cory Rasmus cards. And in that thread I learned who Chris was. We had a little go round so to speak and after that everything was gravy. I started posting in the MT and the guys there welcomed me with open arms. Since joining I have added tons of cards to my Andre Ethier PC because I was able to get a little guidance from the guys on how I could/should collect. Of the folks on this board, I would have to say that 98% of them are good genuine people who are thoroughly vested in the hobby. There are a few who just come in here and spout off when they feel like it, that is not my issue to deal with. I love this board and the majority of the people who visit/post or call this place home. I do not want to see it go anywhere and I would love to see it flourish. If there is anything you guys need from me to help with just let me know. I will be more than happy to do what I can with the time I have available.

Thanks,
Alex

CatdaddysCards · Sep 7, 2013

Ill help in any way I can. That said, I have no ideas. I love coming to FCB to chat and pick up the occasional card. My activity slowed down, from a few months ago, but I'm still here daily.

The a-holes are the main downer on the site, for sure. No one wants to ask an innocent question and be bombarded with sarcastic BS.

-------------------------------------

Need Moustakas, Hosmer and patches.

predatorkj · Sep 7, 2013

I usually try to come up with a thread or post that sparks or should spark a good discussion but they usually fizzle out around 2 pages max unless a flame war happens(which at that point the thread is dead anyways). It just seems like people aren't interested in anything other than pictures of a new card and everyone saying nice and then moving on. Not really sure how to combat that. People get aggravated by my post length but never stop to consider that just a few words hardly do any one person's thoughts justice. It's like nobody can stand to read a reply over four words long.

I really enjoy the 90's thread and the discussion it can bring. But anything short of that or a few other long standing threads, and you just don't get the back and forth necessary for a good discussion. And starting a thread in the football area is like peeing in the wind. Which sucks because I love football just as much as baseball and I have a very minute outlet here for it.

Jaypers · Sep 7, 2013

Get a professional athlete to become an FCB poster. It worked before on the old BMBs (i.e. Phil Hughes), making it THE place to be. He wouldn't have to post nearly as often as the regulars do.

If [MENTION=1720]cgilmo[/MENTION] can organize signings at his store, I don't see this next step as being far-fetched.

Weimer · Sep 7, 2013

These are just some random suggestions and ideas. They're by no means great ideas but maybe they'll spur some discussion and provoke some more thought. If they're terrible, then just ignore them.

1. Consolidate the forums. Embrace FCB for what it is instead of trying to make it what it's not. FCB first and foremost is a baseball oriented forum. It's just the way it is. There's no denying that. The other sports are severely lacking and no matter what Chris, the mods, or anyone else tries to do it has remained that way for years. So instead of fighting it, embrace it. Make all the other sports into one subforum and get rid of all the extra subforums. Highlight and focus on the baseball forum and discussion. Be really good at one thing instead of mediocre at several and beating a dying horse trying to rejuvenate areas of the forum that have never been active to begin with. If it hasn't happened after 5+ years, it's not going to no matter what you do. This may not be a popular idea, but I honestly think it would help this site in the long run because I imagine a lot of new people show up here and see how dead the other forums are and turn around and disappear as fast as they came.

2. Start being more strict with banning trouble makers for good. Look, I'm all for freedom and people having the ability to express themselves but there are a handful of people on these boards that have been far more trouble than they're really worth. They do nothing but fight with people, stir up trouble, and provoke people as much as possible. There's really no need for those people here. If they've been suspended more than once and won't stop, ban them and let them go elsewhere. They're obviously not going to learn and aren't going to change.

3. Chris should step back and take more of hands off approach at FCB and let someone or a few other people run the ship. There's mention made more and more lately that Chris is super busy with his store and trying to keep everything moving in the right direction. So lessen his load and have someone else step up and take things on here. Yes it's Chris' baby and he created FCB and will always be a part of it. I'm not suggesting he have nothing to do with FCB anymore, but it's obvious he's quite busy and could benefit from not having to do so much. I'm sure he wants to have his business succeed so that obviously isn't going to be something he's going to put on the back burner and spend less time on, so FCB being less of a priority for him and letting others step up and take the lead may be a good thing.

Other than that, there's really not much else I can think of. Everything else has already been tried at least once if not numerous times in the history of FCB and it hasn't worked long term. People have left and aren't coming back. Doing contests, writing more articles, doing more group breaks, posters posting more is all fine and great, but it's obviously not making a lasting difference. So stop trying the same stuff that doesn't really work long term and come up with a new approach. And in all honesty, FCB is probably never going to be as active and busy as it was the first few years of its existence. Everyone from BMB flocked here which is why it was so busy. People have left the hobby, have lost interest in message boards, or just got sick of the shenanigans here and don't care anymore. It happens. There's really nothing you can do about that.

jcmint · Sep 7, 2013

great post sir

mchenrycards said:
I honestly don't think there is anything wrong with FCB besides the occasional poster who likes to stir the pot and piss as many people off as they can but the Mods are working on that. To everyone else, well I say for this community to survive everyone needs to participate. Give-aways, well written articles, stories about hobby experiences, great pickups, things we all would like to read and comment on should be written here on the boards. I am working on a few things right now that I hope will help contribute and I hope others will do as well.

jcmint · Sep 7, 2013

Very nice well thought out post. We are all trying to make this place better. Chris has a good staff and we are working behind the scenes to better the site.

Weimer said:
These are just some random suggestions and ideas. They're by no means great ideas but maybe they'll spur some discussion and provoke some more thought. If they're terrible, then just ignore them.

1. Consolidate the forums. Embrace FCB for what it is instead of trying to make it what it's not. FCB first and foremost is a baseball oriented forum. It's just the way it is. There's no denying that. The other sports are severely lacking and no matter what Chris, the mods, or anyone else tries to do it has remained that way for years. So instead of fighting it, embrace it. Make all the other sports into one subforum and get rid of all the extra subforums. Highlight and focus on the baseball forum and discussion. Be really good at one thing instead of mediocre at several and beating a dying horse trying to rejuvenate areas of the forum that have never been active to begin with. If it hasn't happened after 5+ years, it's not going to no matter what you do. This may not be a popular idea, but I honestly think it would help this site in the long run because I imagine a lot of new people show up here and see how dead the other forums are and turn around and disappear as fast as they came.

2. Start being more strict with banning trouble makers for good. Look, I'm all for freedom and people having the ability to express themselves but there are a handful of people on these boards that have been far more trouble than they're really worth. They do nothing but fight with people, stir up trouble, and provoke people as much as possible. There's really no need for those people here. If they've been suspended more than once and won't stop, ban them and let them go elsewhere. They're obviously not going to learn and aren't going to change.

3. Chris should step back and take more of hands off approach at FCB and let someone or a few other people run the ship. There's mention made more and more lately that Chris is super busy with his store and trying to keep everything moving in the right direction. So lessen his load and have someone else step up and take things on here. Yes it's Chris' baby and he created FCB and will always be a part of it. I'm not suggesting he have nothing to do with FCB anymore, but it's obvious he's quite busy and could benefit from not having to do so much. I'm sure he wants to have his business succeed so that obviously isn't going to be something he's going to put on the back burner and spend less time on, so FCB being less of a priority for him and letting others step up and take the lead may be a good thing.

Other than that, there's really not much else I can think of. Everything else has already been tried at least once if not numerous times in the history of FCB and it hasn't worked long term. People have left and aren't coming back. Doing contests, writing more articles, doing more group breaks, posters posting more is all fine and great, but it's obviously not making a lasting difference. So stop trying the same stuff that doesn't really work long term and come up with a new approach. And in all honesty, FCB is probably never going to be as active and busy as it was the first few years of its existence. Everyone from BMB flocked here which is why it was so busy. People have left the hobby, have lost interest in message boards, or just got sick of the shenanigans here and don't care anymore. It happens. There's really nothing you can do about that.

matfanofold · Sep 7, 2013

jcmint said:
that was a great thread, I gave away plenty of stuff in it. it would have been nice to see more people claiming.

Agreed, although I am on the plus side, it was nice to see and be involved with the thread. I would still participate if it came alive again.

jcmint · Sep 7, 2013

its alive and well

matfanofold said:
Agreed, although I am on the plus side, it was nice to see and be involved with the thread. I would still participate if it came alive again.

Juan Gris · Sep 7, 2013

Weimer said:
1. Consolidate the forums. Embrace FCB for what it is instead of trying to make it what it's not. FCB first and foremost is a baseball oriented forum. It's just the way it is. There's no denying that. The other sports are severely lacking and no matter what Chris, the mods, or anyone else tries to do it has remained that way for years. So instead of fighting it, embrace it. Make all the other sports into one subforum and get rid of all the extra subforums. Highlight and focus on the baseball forum and discussion. Be really good at one thing instead of mediocre at several and beating a dying horse trying to rejuvenate areas of the forum that have never been active to begin with. If it hasn't happened after 5+ years, it's not going to no matter what you do. This may not be a popular idea, but I honestly think it would help this site in the long run because I imagine a lot of new people show up here and see how dead the other forums are and turn around and disappear as fast as they came.

I agree in that baseball is by far my favorite sport to collect but 5 months of off-season and more than enough interesting developments in the football and basketball markets are relevant to myself and, I assume, many others here (as well as the outsiders we're looking to join in on discussions). Don't get me wrong, I could talk baseball in the dead of winter with Jack Nicholson until we freeze to death but it seems best to have adequate back-up topics when we baseball lovers need them.

As for what I want most... I love topics discussing oddities and previously unknown rarities and errors. That and the hobby needs more love for Adam Dunn. He's feeling blue.

Weimer · Sep 7, 2013

I never said you couldn't discuss other sports. If you read what you quoted, I said consolidate all the other sports into one forum. Because those forums are FAR LESS active. And it's not even really a debate. I love basketball and football. I'm not even a big baseball fan. But I know damn well there's not going to be much activity on either forum, especially basketball. So there's really no need to have separate forums for all of the other sports. Consolidate it down. Make it seem like there's more activity and more of a presence here for other sports by having all of them combined into one forum.

David K. · Sep 7, 2013

Would love to see a trader manager on this board. It works great on another site where I'm also a member in good standing ..over 6,000 trades/buying/selling. Best regards, David

Juan Gris · Sep 7, 2013

Weimer said:
I never said you couldn't discuss other sports. If you read what you quoted, I said consolidate all the other sports into one forum. Because those forums are FAR LESS active. And it's not even really a debate. I love basketball and football. I'm not even a big baseball fan. But I know damn well there's not going to be much activity on either forum, especially basketball. So there's really no need to have separate forums for all of the other sports. Consolidate it down. Make it seem like there's more activity and more of a presence here for other sports by having all of them combined into one forum.

I read what I quoted. Do you suggest we combine the pre-existing separate sections for basketball, football, hockey, NASCAR, MMA and nonsport into one singular section?

I say leave room for improvement while not stunting the possibility for growth. Who knows when the MLBPA will decide to pull another 1994 and leave us wanting more.

BBCgalaxee · Sep 7, 2013

I want to see each and every member here live by the motto "DON'T BE A DICK!"

Seriously, that is the absolute best thing for this board and every day life.

Sent from my HTCONE using Freedom Card Board mobile app

Fandruw25 · Sep 7, 2013

I know alexa ratings don't mean a whlole lot due to the way the info is gathered however this is pretty bad concerning traffic
Freedomcardboard.com Site Info

23.30% people leave after viewing one page on FCB up 29% in 3 months
6.8 daily pageviews per user, down 32% in 3 months.
10:39 daily site time, down 32% in last 3 months

gmsieb · Sep 7, 2013

BBCgalaxee said:
I want to see each and every member here live by the motto "DON'T BE A DICK!"

Seriously, that is the absolute best thing for this board and every day life.

Sent from my HTCONE using Freedom Card Board mobile app

I don't like your tone!!!!!

Seriously though, I couldn't agree more. It's the way people act here and treat others, that makes people go away or stop posting.
I was turned off enough by it, that I asked for my acct to be canceled a while back. Now, I mostly just use the boards for info and to make
an occasional attempt at humor or a PED rant. I'd like to see FCB become friendlier and more fun, but for now, I just use it for jaypers,
allincards, and to ask an occasional question to a few guys I trust in the hobby to be honest with me. FCB has big potential, it will be as
good as we all make and want it to be.

Greg

ChasHawk · Sep 7, 2013

Am I the only one that thinks the constant discussion of how to improve FCB and how to increase traffic might actually be part of the problem?

How many lurkers do you think read all those kinds of threads and then say to themselves... This is da forum I wanna join!!?

Hullfan · Sep 7, 2013

BBCgalaxee said:
I want to see each and every member here live by the motto "DON'T BE A DICK!"

Seriously, that is the absolute best thing for this board and every day life.

I agree with this. I don't post a ton here but do read a lot of the threads and I get sick of when someone asks a question and the next person's reply is "Google it". I understand sometimes people should be smarter before they ask a question but why not just go out of your way to answer it rather than reply " Go research it"

ASTROBURN · Sep 7, 2013

jcmint said:
that was a great thread, I gave away plenty of stuff in it. it would have been nice to see more people claiming.

I agree the giveaway threads were excellent. Even though the chances of me landing something for myself were slim, i still checked every time it got bumped to the top of the threads. And i would contribute to it more, but unless you guys were lookin for Astros i couldnt do much. So i concentrated my abilities to help out my fellow Bagwell and Biggio collectors, off the threads.

And a big reason i am personally not active on a bunch of threads is mainly because they dont concern my collection at all. No point in going into a thread about 2012 cards for example. It doesnt pertain to me at all.

i enjoy the community here, mainly the player collectors in the 90s thread. Thats my daily bread and butter.

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