Expanding the Soccer Forum? (Now With Link)

Post #1 » by **LittleOzzy** » Tue Dec 30, 2014 2:44 pm

Hi everyone,

I need everyone's help in a bid to expand the forum and attract new members to our area of RealGM.

LINK: viewtopic.php?f=437&t=1364073

I have been in discussion with the RealGM staff about expanding the forum to include both a separate English Premier League Forum & Major League Soccer forum.

If this happens the forums would be set up in this manner:

The General Soccer Board
English Premier League Forum
Major League Soccer Forum
Wiretap Headlines Discussion
Articles Discussion
Polls Discussion

Here's how you can help. Howard Mass will have a thread tomorrow to gauge interest in a bunch of new forums. Those will include the two soccer forums that will expand this area. Even if you don't follow both leagues, help our soccer fans and vote for both league forums to be added.

It's that simple and will really help attract more users to the Soccer area of RealGM. Let's return this board to the active weeks of the World Cup. Please vote for both the Premier League & Major League forums to be included in the RealGM expansion.

J-Mezzy · Post #2 » by **J-Mezzy** » Tue Dec 30, 2014 3:35 pm

Where will this thread be?

Post #3 » by **LittleOzzy** » Tue Dec 30, 2014 3:40 pm

J-Mezzy wrote:Where will this thread be?

Likely posted as a stickied announcement like the three threads above discussing the forum changes already. I'll link it here as soon as it's posted.

EArl · Post #4 » by **EArl** » Tue Dec 30, 2014 9:01 pm

Is the MLS forum even that legit to have its own forum? I understand the EPL. I still think that a forum on International football and another on Club would be a good and smooth transition.

DD12 · Post #5 » by **DD12** » Tue Dec 30, 2014 10:26 pm

The way it is the best i think. no need to change.

truth18 · Post #6 » by **truth18** » Tue Dec 30, 2014 10:28 pm

EArl wrote:Is the MLS forum even that legit to have its own forum? I understand the EPL. I still think that a forum on International football and another on Club would be a good and smooth transition.

Agreed. Let's not spread this forum thin, wouldn't want the opposite to occur and make the forums less attractive/more barren. Not sure MLS has enough interest to warrant it's own forum.

J-Mezzy · Post #7 » by **J-Mezzy** » Tue Dec 30, 2014 11:06 pm

The mls will win some fans from Orlando. That Orlando city thread in the Orlando Magic forum is pretty busy and that team has yet to play a game.

I for one will be more active on the MLS than I've currently been since I'll finally have a team to follow

truth18 · Post #8 » by **truth18** » Tue Dec 30, 2014 11:15 pm

J-Mezzy wrote:The mls will win some fans from Orlando. That Orlando city thread in the Orlando Magic forum is pretty busy and that team has yet to play a game.

I for one will be more active on the MLS than I've currently been since I'll finally have a team to follow

Yeah, but that's only one team. Frankly, I can't see any posters other than me posting regularly on the Revolution fan side, and I'm sure the same.applies to many other teams.

I feel like now isn't the time to expand the MLS forum. We need more posters first.

J-Mezzy · Post #9 » by **J-Mezzy** » Tue Dec 30, 2014 11:33 pm

I understand. I think it would take advertising in all of the other forums to draw people in.

Post #10 » by **Shaazzam** » Tue Dec 30, 2014 11:41 pm

Dumb idea.

Post #11 » by **blkout** » Tue Dec 30, 2014 11:45 pm

I'd be against it. This forum is really active but that's not because there's a lot of posters, it's because a few posters post a lot. I don't think a lot of guys would bother if they had to navigate multiple forums to post.

Post #12 » by **LittleOzzy** » Wed Dec 31, 2014 12:21 am

J-Mezzy wrote:I understand. I think it would take advertising in all of the other forums to draw people in.

The expansion for MLS would include logo links on NBA forums that have a team.

Just like MLB, NHL & the NFL.

Captain_Obvious · Post #13 » by **Captain_Obvious** » Wed Dec 31, 2014 12:22 am

How about:

Post #14 » by **LittleOzzy** » Wed Dec 31, 2014 12:24 am

truth18 wrote:
EArl wrote:Is the MLS forum even that legit to have its own forum? I understand the EPL. I still think that a forum on International football and another on Club would be a good and smooth transition.

Agreed. Let's not spread this forum thin, wouldn't want the opposite to occur and make the forums less attractive/more barren. Not sure MLS has enough interest to warrant it's own forum.

You have to remember that this is a mostly a North American forum, and they have a great chance to grow soccer if they keep it local.

MLS will have a natural link to most of their NBA forums.

Post #15 » by **LittleOzzy** » Wed Dec 31, 2014 12:27 am

truth18 wrote:
J-Mezzy wrote:The mls will win some fans from Orlando. That Orlando city thread in the Orlando Magic forum is pretty busy and that team has yet to play a game.

I for one will be more active on the MLS than I've currently been since I'll finally have a team to follow

Yeah, but that's only one team. Frankly, I can't see any posters other than me posting regularly on the Revolution fan side, and I'm sure the same.applies to many other teams.

I feel like now isn't the time to expand the MLS forum. We need more posters first.

It's the 20th season of MLS, if not now, when?

It's time to jump in full force. and grow the board at the same time the league should be at an all time high.

Orlando, Toronto, L.A & New York should all have active fans. The rest will come as the league grows with more exposure.

EArl · Post #16 » by **EArl** » Wed Dec 31, 2014 12:32 am

LittleOzzy wrote:
truth18 wrote:
EArl wrote:Is the MLS forum even that legit to have its own forum? I understand the EPL. I still think that a forum on International football and another on Club would be a good and smooth transition.

Agreed. Let's not spread this forum thin, wouldn't want the opposite to occur and make the forums less attractive/more barren. Not sure MLS has enough interest to warrant it's own forum.

You have to remember that this is a mostly a North American forum, and they have a great chance to grow soccer if they keep it local.

MLS will have a natural link to most of their NBA forums.

I get what you are saying, but I think that at the end of the day the MLS hasn't reached its peak of having enough post/posters to maintain itself as a separate entity. Why don't we put it to a vote as to what to do? Should we move in for expansion, or just stay pat?
The soccer forum has definitely increased in activity, but it still needs work imo. The only threads that have activity are EPL, La Liga, MLS, Bundesliga,Transfer thread and slightly on the USA and Arsenal thread. If there is one thread that I would make into a forum, it would definitely be the EPL, even though I myself rarely post there.

Post #17 » by **LittleOzzy** » Wed Dec 31, 2014 12:44 am

EArl wrote:
LittleOzzy wrote:
truth18 wrote:
Agreed. Let's not spread this forum thin, wouldn't want the opposite to occur and make the forums less attractive/more barren. Not sure MLS has enough interest to warrant it's own forum.

You have to remember that this is a mostly a North American forum, and they have a great chance to grow soccer if they keep it local.

MLS will have a natural link to most of their NBA forums.

I get what you are saying, but I think that at the end of the day the MLS hasn't reached its peak of having enough post/posters to maintain itself as a separate entity. Why don't we put it to a vote as to what to do? Should we move in for expansion, or just stay pat?
The soccer forum has definitely increased in activity, but it still needs work imo. The only threads that have activity are EPL, La Liga, MLS, Bundesliga,Transfer thread and slightly on the USA and Arsenal thread. If there is one thread that I would make into a forum, it would definitely be the EPL, even though I myself rarely post there.

When Howard posts the thread tomorrow you can voice your opinion either for or against. It's just going to be used to gauge the interest level, though everyone clearly knows how I feel.

I think EPL & MLS should both be expanded into their own forums. I think both will remain active and grow with proper promotion. Going from one forum, to three forums won't be a huge change but will give us plenty of opportunities to grow the discussion.

EArl · Post #18 » by **EArl** » Wed Dec 31, 2014 12:56 am

Looking at the top posters in the MLS thread (since 2011) There are only 5 people that have posted consistently. Assuming that the activity in this new forum expands lets say 10 more posters. Is that enough posters for the board to be considered busy?

As to my proposition it would be something like this.
1)RealGM Soccer(Forum)

-Club Soccer/Football (Sub-Forum)
(Main Threads)
=EPL League
=La Liga
=Bundesliga
=MLS
=Italian League
=Transfer Thread
=Arsenal
=Man U

-International Soccer/Football (Sub-Forum)
(Threads)
=USA Soccer
=Euro Cup 2016 (France)
=World Cup 2018 (Russia)
=Germany national football team
=Random Thought thread
=FIFA Ballon d'Or Award/International Awards
=Media thread (popular on the NBA Gen board)
=Top 100 List (Similar to NBA PC board)

My biggest concern with this split is that International football has some Inactivity when there aren't any major tournaments, but by making a media thread and a random thread there can be activity there.

I think if this becomes successful than you can move on to make forums for the bigger teams, but it will take time. I look at the NHL board as an example and it looks bad.

truth18 · Post #19 » by **truth18** » Wed Dec 31, 2014 1:09 am

LittleOzzy wrote:
truth18 wrote:
J-Mezzy wrote:The mls will win some fans from Orlando. That Orlando city thread in the Orlando Magic forum is pretty busy and that team has yet to play a game.

I for one will be more active on the MLS than I've currently been since I'll finally have a team to follow

Yeah, but that's only one team. Frankly, I can't see any posters other than me posting regularly on the Revolution fan side, and I'm sure the same.applies to many other teams.

I feel like now isn't the time to expand the MLS forum. We need more posters first.

It's the 20th season of MLS, if not now, when?

It's time to jump in full force. and grow the board at the same time the league should be at an all time high.

Orlando, Toronto, L.A & New York should all have active fans. The rest will come as the league grows with more exposure.

I'm all for growing the MLS discussion, just worried it will only be those 4-5 franchises with active discussion and no one else (kind of like the NHL/NFL/MLB forums). At least at the moment we have a good group of core posters in that thread.

Anyway, I'll save the rest of my thoughts for the thread.

Great job running this forum btw. You're one of my favorite mods, Ozzy, and your hard work does not go unnoticed. Posting in this forum has been really fun since I discovered it--you have truly created a great place for unique, intelligent football discussion.

Post #20 » by **LittleOzzy** » Wed Dec 31, 2014 1:10 am

EArl wrote:Looking at the top posters in the MLS thread (since 2011) There are only 5 people that have posted consistently. Assuming that the activity in this new forum expands lets say 10 more posters. Is that enough posters for the board to be considered busy?

As to my proposition it would be something like this.
1)RealGM Soccer

-Club Soccer/Football
=EPL League
=La Liga
=Bundesliga
=MLS
=Italian League
=Transfer Thread
=Arsenal
=Man U

-International Soccer/Football
=USA Soccer
=Euro Cup 2016 (France)
=World Cup 2018 (Russia)
=Germany national football team
=Random Thought thread
=FIFA Ballon d'Or Award/International Awards
=Media thread (popular on the NBA Gen board)
=Top 100 List (Similar to NBA PC board)

My biggest concern with this split is that International football has some Inactivity when there aren't any major tournaments, but by making a media thread and a random thread there can be activity there.

I think if this becomes successful than you can move on to make forums for the bigger teams, but it will take time. I look at the NHL board as an example and it looks bad.

The NHL board was a mistake from day one, and that's why I'm suggesting a small growth for soccer. We can't just stand pat forever, we need to expand at some point.

Imagine an EPL forum where each team has it's own thread, where discussions can be really expanded. While at the same time imagine a general forum that has more room to expand discussion for the German, Italian and French leagues.

I agree it may be too soon to do this, but we need to jump at the chance in my opinion. Major League Soccer has grown every year. We should jump on that opportunity to grow as well.