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I'd Love Us To Have More News Driven Threads On Specific Topics - Please Help (1 Viewer)

Joe Bryant

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I'm pretty sure we all have the same goal here. We want vibrant discussion for fantasy football. 

I said it in the Subscriber Contest thread and I mean it - I don't know of a smarter group than the Shark Pool. 

But our format has become a problem. 

People visit and scan news items. For the items they're interested in, or have a question about, they'll comment. That's the basics of how a discussion forum will work.

The problem we have now is when a thread shows up and it has a generic title like "Darren Waller - 2nd Best TE" that's not enough description.

The news is that Darren Waller has missed 5 days of camp and there is discussion as to whether that's anything to worry about or if everything is fine. There can be good input from quotes from Jon Gruden to tweets from James Palmer that Waller was interacting with fans and whatever. 

That's what people are talking about. And the thread description needs to say that. 

So a thread title to talk about Waller missing practice and if folks are worried him is much better when it's something like "LV TE Darren Waller 8.9.21 - Missed Last 5 Practices - How Concerned?"

That's what I'd like us to when there are news specific topics that come up.

Search is still your friend. 

I'd also ask that you please include the players first and last name in the title so it's easily searchable. Christian McCaffrey is way better than CMC. That kind of thing.

Thanks for helping and thanks for all the work tons of you have done over the years in making this a great place for discussion. Looking forward to lots more of that. Thanks. 

 
Feels a bit like herding cats, trying to get a hundred+  OPs to stay current on player thread titles.  Though likely impossible, subtitles enabled where any member (or a designated subset) can alter the content of the sub-titles would be one solution to this.

ETA:  I think I misread.  Are you suggesting that people start new threads for things tied to current events rather than dropping them in a catchall thread?

 
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As long as those news threads are linked to the main player threads. I like the Shark Pool specifically for the player threads. I can go back in the thread to see if a similar injury has occurred, or if I missed some interesting tidbit of info. 

I don't disagree that it might not be clear to a new user, but it doesn't take long to figure out. I see that the Waller thread has been updated, I take a peak, and I see that article that Faust has inevitably quoted/linked and then the discussion spins out from there. Just seems like posting player specific news stories as their own threads is going to render the main player threads pointless and/or lead to multiple people posting the same news thread over and over again (because, let's face it, no one is going to use search when they think they "have the scoop"). 

I agree 100% with the full player name. 

Just my  :2cents:

 
I hardly post, but read quite a bit.  If i recall the old days correctly there were many similar topics and many topics about a particular player.  Posts quickly fell off the front page, especially in-season when the board is more popular. 

Its your pool, and maybe i am just old now. But i prefer being able to catch all the news of a particular player in one place.

I can see benefits to what you are suggesting but believe its going to be difficult to moderate and easy to miss information on a player because its contained in a specific post.

Eta:  often a player isnt on my radar for whatever reason, but late in the season or most likely I am considering becoming an owner in the off-season, when i go into the player thread i can quickly catch up on all the news of the past season and more importantly how the opinions of the player gave progressed over that period of time.  I find this information very valuable and would hate to see it go away.

 
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I'm also in the camp that says this will clog up the board in a way that goes against the intention. But perhaps we can make it work if we give it a try. I suggested to Joe there should be more advertising or notification to users about the starred thread functionality. I think that makes the readability of a thread a million times better and there are lots of people that don't know about it.

But maybe if we create a new breaking news thread at a given moment, we should post a link to it in the player thread? Then that is a not so subtle nudge to folks to go over there for discussion related to whatever that news is. My concern is we will still have two threads going gangbusters each time this happens. But maybe if we do this enough times with enough reps (I said it) it can become habitual. 

I have no wisdom to offer whatsoever in terms of the judgement call nature of "when is it serious enough" news.

What happens when 6 people post the same breaking news thread (in spirit) at the same time? And it doesn't get cleaned up immediately and then good points are made in one thread and then in another? I think it can be done but I think there are some pretty big challenges to it.

 
Gotta have the link to the news thread posted inside the player thread. 
I would say the opposite - post the player thread inside the news thread in case you want to refer to historical info/insight on the player.

If it’s overall info/insight on a player though and not necessarily news, I can see that going into an overall player thread.

There’s probably some sort of decent balance here, as I indicated to Joe.

 
What happens when 6 people post the same breaking news thread (in spirit) at the same time? And it doesn't get cleaned up immediately and then good points are made in one thread and then in another? I think it can be done but I think there are some pretty big challenges to it.
I remember this happening a lot more in the past and those threads ultimately were merged into one topic for organizational clarity.

For the most part what we have been doing its saving moderators that extra step.

 
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I am all for it and it keeps the recent news discussion fresh. If you want to create recent news threads for specific players, please ask your board admins to merge those threads with the main player thread after x days of no further discussion 

 
I am all for it and it keeps the recent news discussion fresh. If you want to create recent news threads for specific players, please ask your board admins to merge those threads with the main player thread after x days of no further discussion 


I dont hate this idea but if the mods have to take action...

Then the mods can update the player threads topic title with the appropriate news item.  And i would include a link in the first post which links to the first post associated with the topic change.   The first post would then be an index to the full post with all associated  news items. 

All player commentary is still self contained. The topic title is updated to drive content and discussion. 

I have no idea if this is feasible from a business/moderator perspective,  but it doesn't muddy the waters of the pool.

 
I know when I do google searches on certain players if I keep looking long enough I usually come across a shark pool thread on the player. Like on the 3rd page or something of the search.

If the motivation here is to drive traffic to the site by more common google search criteria then lay out those guide lines so we can follow them.

 
I dont hate this idea but if the mods have to take action...

Then the mods can update the player threads topic title with the appropriate news item.  And i would include a link in the first post which links to the first post associated with the topic change.   The first post would then be an index to the full post with all associated  news items. 
Your suggestion requires the mods to take an active role in Shark Pool participation. Mine simply requires them to clean things up after the fact. 

 
I’ve been thinking similarly…Wouldn’t a good solution be to have new threads start every year? Tom Brady 2021 with all Tom Brady threads linked in it but older threads locked for comments. 
 

Also perhaps a “Faust” thread where all new news is posted but discussion happens in the players 2021 thread. 
 

Also one thing I always do is open a thread, go to the end and back page a few to a date I want to start at. Is there a better opening point? 
 

lile previous posted said, I don’t know how to use the functionality of the star etc after more than a decade, perhaps a tutorial pinned would be helpful. 
 

This is the best place and my most visited, so I’m just helping your quest, not complaining 

 
Your suggestion requires the mods to take an active role in Shark Pool participation. Mine simply requires them to clean things up after the fact. 


I agree, but dont discount the work the mods need to do to keep things in order.  There used to be a rush to post breaking news just so people could see their name as the thread starter and all those needed merged.  Will that happen again, i have no idea, but my guess is yes.  With that said, i will admit its far less work than I suggested.  But, thats not my problem.  Its a matter of the product FBGs wants to provide.  I am a subscriber, i use the rankings/projections but mostly i subscribe for the boards.

As others have asked, the motivation behind Joe asking for the pool to change isnt entirely clear. 

 
I agree with the general sentiment that single threads that hold all news for a player are better than "breaking news" topics per thread. Joe, are you wanting the board to be more like social media in-the-moment topics or something like that? What's the angle here?

 
Same response here. I like to be able to go to a player thread and read everything in chronological order about the player. Its not difficult to go to any particular injury or suspension or discussion of his hold on his job. If issues overlap, that just shows a better picture of what his situation is. I want to open the last couple of pages in a thread and have the most current information about all that's newsworthy with that player. 

I am okay with discussions being in separate threads and linked back to the main thread, but it isn't as useful  to me as keeping them all together. If you look at the pool several times a day like most of us, you generally know pf anything major involving a particular player and if something new comes up it's right there and you are pretty up to date (or can go do more research). 

Two good changes, if doable, would be to have the player's name in every title (as mentioned above) and to allow the most recent poster to re-name the thread (keeping the player name). That would keep new issue ID easy and obvious. I don't think the naming right would be abused any more than it is now and it wouldn't be still sitting there outdated several months after the fact.

Its not a huge issue to me. I'll still be here however this works out. I just favor having as many player threads as possible on the first and second page, and fear that splintering each player into all the threads that their fans deem newsworthy would reduce the players per page and force us to go through many more pages of threads to get the same breadth of coverage.

 
Hi Folks, Thanks for all the comments and PM. 

The only motivation on this is making the board more useful and engaging. Period.

Right now, we make it a guessing game for the reader as they read the topics. They see a thread that only says "Darren Waller - 2nd best TE" and think, "I wonder what that's about?"

This would be the equivalent if Rotoworld ran their news page with just a list of players and no headline. And said, "You must first click on the player and let the page load and then you will see what the story is about". Of course they don't do that. They give you the player name and then why they are in the news. 

In the Waller example, a good title would be one that says, "Darren Waller's missed last 5 practices. Is there cause for concern?" If a reader in our forum sees that, instead of thinking, "I wonder what the story is with Waller?" they think, "Am I interested that Waller's missed five days and do I have an opinion on being concerned?" Then they can make a decision to engage or not. 

That's all I'm trying to do. To create the best place for smart folks like you to engage and discuss football. 

Right now, when threads have no headline or worse, incorrect headlines, I'm not helping you with the best place.

When "the Marcus Johnson" thread is titled "Marcus Johnson - Indianapolis", that's a terrible experience.

When the thread title is "Marcus Johnson - WR Titans - Julio Jone / AJ Brown Stash?" that's a headline what will draw good discussion from folks like you.

That's all I'm trying to do. 

Only the moderator or the person who started the thread can change a thread title. One solution would be to hire a full time moderator who did nothing but change titles all day but that's ridiculous if we can solve at the root issue and ask people to post good titles. 

I get the idea some people want a thread to be a "database" for a player. That's not what the forum was ever designed to be. It was designed to be a place for people to engage and discuss fantasy football and better titles will do that. I have tried to build a thriving community of people like you. Not a database of NFL Players. 

The database idea also falls apart often as there are many times multiple players in a discussion. The thread of "CeeDee Lamb / Terry McLaurin / Allen Robinson? " was a good thread with valuable discussion as people are prepping for drafts. 

I get the "if it's not broke don't fix it". I do think there is a complacency factor in play too. I don't think we realize how unwelcoming our forum is to people who haven't been here before. New people look at the forum and it looks insane to them as many of the thread titles have no description. We get it as we're mostly used to it. But even I find myself not jumping into discussions as I'll scan the thread list and see no descriptions on anything and know full well I don't have time to click 10 threads to play the guessing game of what they might be about. We currently have a great group of posters mostly using a format that is poor for engaging users. 

I also fully get change is difficult. And I don't have any perfect answers. I'm just trying to create the best forum for us.

For sure, not every news story needs its own thread. We all get that. It takes some sense from people. And maybe that's some of the worry from folks. I trust you folks to post good threads. As I said yesterday in the thread with @Dr. Octopus I think threshold for "does this need it's own thread?" is probably how you'd answer the question, "Would this make a good topic for discussion?". I think you'll know it when you see it. 

So if you can start new threads when you feel there is discussion worthy news about a player, or very often players, I'd appreciate if you would create a new thread, include the players first and last names in the title so it's searchable and a few words on the news. I think that's infinitely better than burying the story in an "official" thread with no description in the title and I think it'll create more engagement. We're all adults here. Please use good judgement and common sense. I have faith in you. 

Thanks for the help on all this and thanks for being part of the forums.  

 
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I'll give it a try.  I just need something newsworthy to post!


And that's an excellent point. The threshold for starting a new thread needs to be relatively high like that. 

And we have to be smart. If Darren Waller misses another day of practice, we don't need a "Darren Waller misses 6 days of practice." That news can go in the Darren Waller missed practice, how concerned are you?" thread. Again, I don't have all the answers. Just trying to create a more engaging forum with better descriptions in the thread titles. 

 
Two good changes, if doable, would be to have the player's name in every title (as mentioned above) and to allow the most recent poster to re-name the thread (keeping the player name). That would keep new issue ID easy and obvious. I don't think the naming right would be abused any more than it is now and it wouldn't be still sitting there outdated several months after the fact.


Thanks @Catbird  Full names in the titles is great and easily doable.

Unfortunately, only the original poster or a moderator can change thread titles and that would be full time job so that's not doable. 

 
And to be clear, this isn't an ultimatum. This is exactly what I said - I'm asking folks to help with this. 

I know I can't force things. I see a significant weakness in how we're doing something that's keeping us from the goal of creating the best board for discussion that we can. And I'm asking folks to help with that. 

If people want to bury a news story in an "official thread" with no description, I can't stop that. I just am saying I think we can do so much better there and I'm asking folks to help. 

 
What happens when 6 people post the same breaking news thread (in spirit) at the same time? And it doesn't get cleaned up immediately and then good points are made in one thread and then in another? I think it can be done but I think there are some pretty big challenges to it.


That's a fair point.

I would say two things. 

1. We've always asked folks to post big breaking news as a new thread. And that hasn't been a problem in the past with multiple people posting the same thing.

2. I'm putting faith in you folks to scan the front page or do a quick search before posting so we don't have duplicates. This requires good posters to work. And I think we have that. 

 
One more thing. I fully understand the appeal of the old way. It's a positive to have everything in one giant repository thread. And if you're familiar with the oddities of the forum, you know to look past the title where it has the player listed for the wrong team. Or Tom Brady's title says "Bust Alert" from 2013. or Justyn Ross is out for the 2020 season. That's kind of fun and familiar like a goofy old house. My house is like that. I get it.

I had someone accuse me of not listening to folks. I don't think that's accurate. I think I fully understand the appeal of database way. I just don't think it's the best way to create the best discussion. I think sometimes people mistake "You're not listening" when it's really, "I understand what you're saying. I just think there is a different way I think can be better". 

I do agree for sure not trying to understand the "other" side is a significant problem in society today. I don't think that's happening here and I've been appreciative to all the folks who've told me they see what I'm saying even if they don't agree with it. I've done the same. Thanks. 

 
I'd much prefer a sub forum for breaking news. I understand the idea behind the initiative here but honestly it feels like it will create clutter. I know me and if it gets too cluttered I'll just stop reading and go somewhere else because I just don't have time to dig for info. I think what you're asking for is a good idea but I just don't think the main board if the place for it. Just my $0.02

 
I’ve been thinking similarly…Wouldn’t a good solution be to have new threads start every year? Tom Brady 2021 with all Tom Brady threads linked in it but older threads locked for comments. 

Also perhaps a “Faust” thread where all new news is posted but discussion happens in the players 2021 thread. 

Also one thing I always do is open a thread, go to the end and back page a few to a date I want to start at. Is there a better opening point? 

lile previous posted said, I don’t know how to use the functionality of the star etc after more than a decade, perhaps a tutorial pinned would be helpful. 
 
Yeah if you click on the star next to a thread title, it will automatically zoom you straight to whatever the most recent unread post is. So it is in chronological order for you the reader without having to hunt or search. You just click the star. You have to have made at least one post within the thread to activate it, though.

Thank you for attending my TED talk.

 
Yeah if you click on the star next to a thread title, it will automatically zoom you straight to whatever the most recent unread post is. So it is in chronological order for you the reader without having to hunt or search. You just click the star. You have to have made at least one post within the thread to activate it, though.

Thank you for attending my TED talk.
Thank you! The last part about making at least one post is what has messed me up!

 
Yeah if you click on the star next to a thread title, it will automatically zoom you straight to whatever the most recent unread post is. So it is in chronological order for you the reader without having to hunt or search. You just click the star. You have to have made at least one post within the thread to activate it, though.

Thank you for attending my TED talk.


Thanks. The bolded just makes this feature unuseful for tons of people though, Most everyone just clicks on the right side on the last post from on the thread and they go to the most recent post. 

 
Only the moderator or the person who started the thread can change a thread title. One solution would be to hire a full time moderator who did nothing but change titles all day but that's ridiculous if we can solve at the root issue and ask people to post good titles.
So give moderator powers to 3-4 trustworthy members.  We all know Faust is going to drop a ton of these new topic posts anyway, why not give him (and a few others) the power to just update original titles (and merge threads when breaking news fades)?  Giving the right few people the ability to maintain thread titles would solve this and not have a ton of new posts clogging things up. 

I know in past years I have had to open 4-5 pages in separate browser tabs just to keep up with the last 24 hours or so and I was interested in less than 1/2 of them.  Creating more threads to talk about players already being talked about isn't going to be good for discussion, it's going to make things harder to keep up with.

 
So give moderator powers to 3-4 trustworthy members.  We all know Faust is going to drop a ton of these new topic posts anyway, why not give him (and a few others) the power to just update original titles (and merge threads when breaking news fades)?  Giving the right few people the ability to maintain thread titles would solve this and not have a ton of new posts clogging things up. 

I know in past years I have had to open 4-5 pages in separate browser tabs just to keep up with the last 24 hours or so and I was interested in less than 1/2 of them.  Creating more threads to talk about players already being talked about isn't going to be good for discussion, it's going to make things harder to keep up with.


That adds a ton of work to the moderators. So much easier if people just use good descriptive titles. But it would help. 

 
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Thanks. The bolded just makes this feature unuseful for tons of people though, Most everyone just clicks on the right side on the last post from on the thread and they go to the most recent post. 
I know, that's why I suggested changing that so everyone could do it, because not everyone wants to post or has anything to say. And there needs to be room for them here. But even just a notification that the functionality exists would be helpful. But that is an idea that is not mutually exclusive with your idea of news specific threads. We can do both.

 
I know, that's why I suggested changing that so everyone could do it, because not everyone wants to post or has anything to say. And there needs to be room for them here. But even just a notification that the functionality exists would be helpful. But that is an idea that is not mutually exclusive with your idea of news specific threads. We can do both.


Thanks. We don't have the ability to change it though. It's an invision software thing. 

 
Yeah if you click on the star next to a thread title, it will automatically zoom you straight to whatever the most recent unread post is. So it is in chronological order for you the reader without having to hunt or search. You just click the star. You have to have made at least one post within the thread to activate it, though.

Thank you for attending my TED talk.


Thank you! The last part about making at least one post is what has messed me up!
You don't need the star to go to the first unread post, the dot will do it too.  The star just indicates you've posted in that thread.

 
I'd much prefer a sub forum for breaking news.
Or simply a pinned thread discussing the latest NFL news of that day.

To me the FBG player pages are one of the biggest assets of the entire site and I wish that the thread for that specific player in the Shark Pool was integrated more closely to the player page. I love how they have "Player News" in a column on the right and kind of wished they had the most liked post of recent days and an easy link somewhere to that thread in the right hand column. Either on top of or below the team links.

 
Let me look at the adding moderators thing. We might be able to do it where we could spend a few hundred dollars giving away some free subscriptions in exchange for moderators cleaning up thread titles and always making them descriptive. That's a lot of work though and I'm not sure how much people are up for. 

 
To me the FBG player pages are one of the biggest assets of the entire site and I wish that the thread for that specific player in the Shark Pool was integrated more closely to the player page. I love how they have "Player News" in a column on the right and kind of wished they had the most liked post of recent days and an easy link somewhere to that thread in the right hand column. Either on top of or below the team links.


That's a great idea. Can't happen this year as we're buried with critical stuff we have to get done. Yahoo is still giving us fits on the synching for instance we don't have the schedule maker yet. But I can see that for the future. 

 
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You don't need the star to go to the first unread post, the dot will do it too.  The star just indicates you've posted in that thread.
🤦‍♂️

Thanks. We don't have the ability to change it though. It's an invision software thing. 
7000 some posts and 7 years later and I have finally learned that the dot works for this as well. Ok Joe so you don't have to reprogram anything but what about a simple note that tells users they can do go to latest unread post by clicking the dot/star? I've only been using computers since 1979 but am I just an idiot and everyone else already knew this?

Again, not as an alternative to your ideas here but an additional improvement idea. 

 
Joe, no matter what, you reaching out for input by us is a big plus to me. I feel we are part of your committee sometimes. And when all is said and done you will lead us through. 
 

To remain relevant and to thrive is what we all want for here. This is our home for our hobby. You maintain that with your efforts and I very much appreciate you vision. 
 

 
Joe, no matter what, you reaching out for input by us is a big plus to me. I feel we are part of your committee sometimes. And when all is said and done you will lead us through. 
 

To remain relevant and to thrive is what we all want for here. This is our home for our hobby. You maintain that with your efforts and I very much appreciate you vision. 
 


Thank you. That's definitely how I see you folks. Thanks for the kind words. 

 
🤦‍♂️

7000 some posts and 7 years later and I have finally learned that the dot works for this as well. Ok Joe so you don't have to reprogram anything but what about a simple note that tells users they can do go to latest unread post by clicking the dot/star? I've only been using computers since 1979 but am I just an idiot and everyone else already knew this?

Again, not as an alternative to your ideas here but an additional improvement idea. 


Cool. I hear you. We can try to add something at the top about this although it's my experience nobody reads or pays attention to that stuff. :(  

 
Cool. I hear you. We can try to add something at the top about this although it's my experience nobody reads or pays attention to that stuff. :(  
I literally just hovered my mouse over the dot and it says "go to first unread post".

So I am pretty sure that proves your point since it has been there all along. Dang. Imma go make some trade offers now.......

 
As an example, this is what I'm talking about when I say I'd much prefer a more descriptive title:  Saquan Barkley - 08.09.21 - activated from the reserve/PUP list - Do you trust him?

That's a topic a LOT of people have on their mind right now. And we have a lot of smart people here who I bet have good discussion to bring for this topic. 

My thought is a topic with a better title like will generate tons better discussion than a title that is just "Saquon Barkley - NYG"

 
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I'm in the camp that says one of the biggest UX benefits of this board is that all player info is in one thread. It makes search so much easier and fewer posts fall off the first page because of three posts about Michael Thomas. The topics that end up meriting their own thread sort themselves out and really only a handful of stories a year deserve it.

Like the Waller thread IMO is the kind of thing that starts to clutter up the board. Where does it end? Thread for Cousins has Covid? Thread for Kadarius Toney running with the 1s what does it mean? Thread for Barkley might hold out? 

The reality is there are other places people can and should go if they want to engage in off the wall ad hoc conversations. Like many here I'm sure I'm on Reddit which is as opposite from the SP as it can be as far as how threads are organized. They are far more emphermal.

The SP is the perfect complement to that. You say that new people come to the board and it seems insane. I say that's a user onboarding issue. :)

This is a great system that once people use it and understand you see the power of having all the talk about a player in on thread. IMO you would be removing the SP's one true USP and competitive advantage that is has over every other FF site if you move away from this.

 
As an example, this is what I'm talking about when I say I'd much prefer a more descriptive title:  Saquan Barkley - 08.09.21 - activated from the reserve/PUP list - Do you trust him?

That's a topic a LOT of people have on their mind right now. And we have a lot of smart people here who I bet have good discussion to bring for this topic. 

My thought is a topic with a better title like will generate tons better discussion than a title that is just "Saquon Barkley - NYG"
And in all seriousness, if you didn’t know that pertinent detail you probably wouldn’t click on his thread. 

 
And in all seriousness, if you didn’t know that pertinent detail you probably wouldn’t click on his thread. 


Exactly. That's exactly what I'm trying to address with this. 

This is where I think some of the folks here have a blindspot. They don't realize how much smarter they are than the average fantasy player. Tons of people here knew he came off PUP. That's what you do. But there are also a LOT of people playing fantasy football that did not know he's of PUP. So now without ever spending 1 second clicking on anything to load or reveal, they get:

1. News that Barkley is off PUP

2. A prompt for discussion as to how much you trust him this year.

BOTH of this things increase the the quality of conversation and discussion in my opinion. 

 

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