Should the Newtown forum be joined with NSWRL forum

[roopy]

LU now has a few guys working on improving the coverage of the NSWRL (girvie and I). We are trying to make sure all Flegg and Premier League games are previewed and all scores are reported as promptly as possible.
As part of this - we are also trying to get the NSWRL forum working as well.

I think there would be much more discussion of Newtown topics if the topics were on a forum that was used daily by a dozen or more people.

The forum topic could read something like 'NSWRL - for discussion of all topics related to Newtown, Norths, Balmain, CC Rip and all other Premier League and Flegg sides'.

[roopy]

As an argument for this change - for about 18 months I worked to keep open an AMNRL forum.
In the end I got sick of trying to think up new topics to keep the section going, and I folded it into the International section.
Since that time we have had more Americans posting - and American topics get a wide range of views expressed - and I don't have to work at it to make it happen.
In short - discussion of the American scene has improved heaps.
I think we can make that happen with Newtown topics by getting the NSWRL section really working well.

[Bluebag]

Why should we lose our forum to prop up the NSWRL site, it helps us with exposure of issues and events that would normally not be seen in the NSWRL forum which we were on originally.

What is being done in this forum to generate new posts from other clubs ie Jim Beam, Flegg etc.

What is the rationale behind this idea anyway.

[roopy]

Why should we lose our forum to prop up the NSWRL site, it helps us with exposure of issues and events that would normally not be seen in the NSWRL forum which we were on originally.

What is being done in this forum to generate new posts from other clubs ie Jim Beam, Flegg etc.

What is the rationale behind this idea anyway.The rationale is to try to make one strong forum for the discussion of PL and Flegg (Jim Beam too - but we are not focused on that at the moment.) I think this will serve the purpose of everyone - but if Newtown people hate the idea - it won't happen.

If you look at the LU news service - we have got a new section for Jersey Flegg - and we have made the commitment to keep up to date ladders, previews of all games in Flegg and Premier League - and full scores for all games of Flegg and Premier League from this round.

I have also asked the moderators of all sections to copy threads from the team sites that have to do with Flegg and Premier League into the NSWRL section.

In short - we are trying to get things moving as best we can.

[roopy]

Bye the way - I made the poll viewable - so that i can see if regular users of the Newtown forum are voting one way or the other.
I did this because the votes of regular users obviously count for far more than 'drop-ins'.

[greg]

I,m with Bluebag. Keep ours the way it is. With our history and tradition we deserve our own spot for all to see.

[roopy]

I,m with Bluebag. Keep ours the way it is. With our history and tradition we deserve our own spot for all to see.I understand you wanting your own forum - but would you be better served by being the major players in a forum where all games in PL and Flegg are discussed?
I think you would be - but it is a risk trying to make this happen.
Both forums have only 2000-3000 posts - so they are both really chost towns at present.
I wouldn't think a forum was working at all with less than 100-200 posts a week, minimum.

[Spike]

I like the Newtown forum on its own. Its always had its own forum and no one ever complains about them. I say let them be

[roopy]

I like the Newtown forum on its own. Its always had its own forum and no one ever complains about them. I say let them beI'm not trying to do damage to Newtown - I'm trying to get some really viable NSWRL discussion going by getting enough people in the one spot to make it happen.

[greg]

I think you will find that contributors to each team forum pop up on other teams forums in regard various matters. The whole front row forum is well set out as it is with access to all teams and associated topics. I know your intention is good and not anti Newtown, but to myself, a mad bluebag, I feel our own forum site for all to see is one to be proud of and show all and sundry that there are still jets supporters everywhere.

[Spike]

I suppose there is still a Newtown forum at another rugby league site if it doesn't work.

[roopy]

OK - plan B.

[Jeffles]

The way I see it, NRL clubs have their own forum AND and NRL forum. Why can't NSWRL clubs have the same.

We have enough traffic on this forum to make it our own.

In short - no thanks.

[izzo]

Only an idiot would remove the Newtown Forum

[Jeffles]

The difference between here and the AMNRL forum (which I frequented) was that the latter was a one and a half man band - roopy and Tomahawk. Here there are more dedicated and interested parties.

Your minimum benchmark of 100-200 posts a week is absolute rot. i understand you want minimum quantity requitrements. It should be enough that there are several posts here per day and the discussion keeps moving along. We've never had to pull topics out of the clear blue sky to get discussion going.

This is bullying - plain and simple! Just because we're not as big as the NRL club forums means something is wrong with us.

We would not be better served in a general PL and Flegg forum. we don't even have a Flegg side. It's like asking the Bunnies if they'd be better served in the NRL and JBC forum.

I frequent the NSWRL forum a lot. If there is general discussion I'll put it there. The system works fine.

[The Dawson Twins Minus 1]

Unsurprisingly, my vote goes to keeping our forum separate. Many Newtown posters also post in the NSWRL forum when there is a topic that concerns other clubs.

For starters, none of us have any trouble knowing what the more obscure Newtown topics / references are about.

When we only had the NSWRL forum, we had to write a bunch of back story to make our postings comprehensible to folks from other clubs.

This tended to stifle the discussion and totally stuffed any in-jokes we might have made within the Jets circle.

I say leave it as it is. We deserve our own forum for many reasons - not simply because we are the original Aussie RL club, but also because we have the best support of any of the non-NRL outfits in NSW.

A big help in that has been having our own forum on this (and previously other) sites. If LU wants us to merge back into the NSWRL forum here, that's their call.

But I can only imagine that all the Newtown posters will migrate to wherever we have our own forum, just as we did the last couple of times the forum became untenable.

Therefore, you'll only be reducing the post volumes in the NSWRL forum, not increasing them.

[greg]

My sentiments exactly.
By the way, great win over parra. Hope Im not getting too ahead of things but I can sense a grand final and national TV coverage in September for the men in blue.

[Willow]

Calm down Jeffles... no one is being a bully. Show me anywhere where any site owner has bullied you or any Newtown supporter.

Roopy, you've certainly stirred up a hornet's nest buddy. lol

Leagueunlimited.com has always supported Newtown, both on the main page and in the forums.

And that won't change. As far as I'm concerned, Newtown will always have an inside run on these forums.

P.S.
In other words, this forum is here to stay.

[2 True Blues]

Far from enjoyed our last convo Willow. But thanks for the re-assurance. Why change what is not broken.

GO THE MIGHTY BLUEBAGS.

[2 True Blues]

Just went to vote NO, but realised that the other ( half ) of 2 True Blues has already voted accordingly. Chalk up another NO vote to the total anyway mate.

Also saw the names of the people who voted YES. Am regularly on this site and after reading their names can not recall ever seeing them in any of the discussions on this site. They dont even use it. Why bother voting YES then you fools.

[roopy]

Just to make it clear - this is my idea and I just 'ran it up the flagpole to see if anyone saluted' to quote an old polititian.

I have been given the task of getting the NSWRL forum and news service up to a good standard, and one of my ideas is to get as many people who are interested in NSWRL games together as possible, but I can see you all value your own forum too much to let it go.

[Bluebag]

Have you contacted Jim Beam clubs to promote the NSWRL forum to build it up?

[Henson Park Hornets]

P.S.
In other words, this forum is here to stay.

Only because the Jets fans have poo-poo'd the stupid idea in the first place.

How could you compare this Jets forum with a Septic RL forum on an Aussie website?

If you want to get rid of stupid forums, why not get rid of the *ugby *nion forum?

[roopy]

Have you contacted Jim Beam clubs to promote the NSWRL forum to build it up?Just at the moment I'm trying to make sure we have previews, teams, and results for all games of Flegg and Premier League, as well girvie is keeping the tables and stats up to date and doing some articles on Norths.
People have offered to do reports on Wests and Newcastle games (mostly home, some away) and we get regular reports from Norths and Newtown (press releases).
There is still a lot of areas to cover in PL and Flegg - so I'm not thinking about Jim Beam for a while.
One area that people may want to look at is I am trying to get people to do short articles on players who look like future firstgraders. See this article for an example:
http://www.leagueunlimited.com/article/articletemp.asp?num=8267

If anyone wants to do an article on any Newtown player who looks like he has a future - or even if he is just an interesting player - PM them to me and I will see they go into the NSWRL news section of LU.

[Willow]

Far from enjoyed our last convo Willow. But thanks for the re-assurance. Why change what is not broken.

GO THE MIGHTY BLUEBAGS.lol I'm sure we're big enough and ugly enough to get over that 2TB. Hope you're feeling better now.
Cheers.

[roopy]

Only because the Jets fans have poo-poo'd the stupid idea in the first place.

How could you compare this Jets forum with a Septic RL forum on an Aussie website?

If you want to get rid of stupid forums, why not get rid of the *ugby *nion forum?I can see I need to fess up very clearly.

1/ This idea was mine and mine alone.

2/ The owners and admin of this site (read Willow) never agreed with my idea, but respect me enough to let me try things. (if you look at the votes you will see willow voted no - and was one of the first to do so).

3/ I still think it would improve the overall coverage of the NSWRL comps if this change were made - but I fully respect your (collective) right to decide this matter - and have always done so, which is why I put up a poll rather than try to get this done some other way (which wouldn't have worked either).

[Willow]

Well I chose not to answer Henson Park Hornets on the grounds that hot heads only read what they want to read.
HPH, if you take the time to actually read my post, you'll see that you're way off beam.
Cheers.

[Jeffles]

I got the impression of bullying because no other club would be asked to merge into its competition forum to prop up the latter.

Thank goodness that sanity prevailed.

[Jeffles]

And another thing. The people that voted yes represent a group that rarely (if ever) post on the Newtown forum. The ones that do post here voted no.

[Willow]

I got the impression of bullying because no other club would be asked to merge into its competition forum to prop up the latter.

Thank goodness that sanity prevailed.LOL. How do you know no other club forum has been asked to merge Jeffles? I know you only have your own impressions to rely on when forming an opinion and that's OK. But I can't see how you'd know what the site owners' plans are, and what things are being considered.

Other forums have been merged in the past, including the Balmain forum (into Wests Tigers). But that was done at the request of the Balmain moderator.

I don't see this as a 'sanity prevails' situation. That would suggest there was something on the agenda with Newtown. Merging the Newtown forum was never on the agenda. It was just an understandable reaction formulated by a couple of people in this thread.

The Newtown forum has its own members and its own character and will never be merged as long as I'm here... which is for the duration.
Not sure how many different ways I can say it.

Roopy is as free as anyone to post on the forums and express his ideas and opinion. He doesnt have to ask me for permission. However, I will say that if he suggested merging the forums to me, I would have said 'no way' without hesitation.

Now the future reference...

We are not going backwards with PL coverage, we are expanding it with Roopy and Girvie taking on NSWRL management.
We give Bumper's press releases a run on the main site and have a Premier League ladder linked in the side bar.
In addition, we now have all the Newtown news being pumped into the Sharks subdomain (in Leagueunlimited's League Network). A news feed which can only spread the word further afield.
I'd like to see a representative from Newtown on our NSWRL management team.
And if someone wants to put up their hand to maintain it, I'd like to see a Newtown subdomain on Leagueunlimited.

The LU site is not here to be needlessly opposed. On the contrary, the resources of Leagueunlimited are here for you guys to utilise.
You only have to ask and you'll find that we'll be most receptive.

Cheers.

[roopy]

I'd love to see a Newtown guy on the team.
Ideally someone who would be around on the weekends, because girvie doesn't seem to have time on the weekends, and I don't always either.

[Jeffles]

Other forums have been merged in the past, including the Balmain forum (into Wests Tigers). But that was done at the request of the Balmain moderator.

That's a different type of merger to the one I am talking about. But anywayt I see your point. Also, I do not disagrre that LU has been good to Newtown with media coverage.

[roopy]

On precedents for closing down sections - I don't want to sound too precious on this, but I put a hell of a lot of time and effort into the AMNRL section (it was my 'baby') - but when it became obvious to me that it would be more productive to close it down and move the threads to International, I recommended the move to willow immediately.

[Jeffles]

I thought Bluebag was the moiderator here. He hasn't recommeneded anything.

Anyway I'm over this. Let's get back to talking about Australia's first Rugby League club.

[DIEHARD]

Closing the Newtown forum can't happen and it wont.

GO THE BLUEBAGS!

Anyway I'm over this. Let's get back to talking about Australia's first Rugby League club.


:thumb

[Rexxy]

My feeling is that the ABC in NSw would broadcast a lower grade comp instead of union, except there is no strong identity surrounding the comps.

Everyone says "put league on ABC like they do in QLD but lets face it, there are no big cities that would attract a following, only Reserve Grade teams or in the case of the Jim beam Cup, the Central Coast or some Sydney suburbs, some of whom are quiet obscure eg Windsor, Asquith etc which have no resonance to 99.99% of the population.

And not even the ABC is that elitist.

Part of this identity crisis is self interest from some teams who think they are the comp, who play with rebadged players on the payroll of wealthier NRL clubs with higher profiles.

FFS Nathan Merritt holding a record for the most tries ever scored for Australia's oldest club? How dishonest is that?

Newtown are either part of a comp or not.

And I only say my two bobs worth because Roopy has made this a "see all" poll. So obviously he didnt really want to know what people thought after all.

[greg]

Newtown are part of a comp...its called premier league you fool. Merrits record is not dishonest, it was done wearing the royal blue with the big "N" on it. Newtown are the feeder club for Cronulla (nothing difficult there).

Rexxy is that plain enough?

[Jeffles]

Rexxy, the PL is as close to the old Sydney comp as you can get.

There are loads of fans that care about it because their club's 1st grade is there (Norths, Newtown, Wests Balmain), because their club has a side there and they ofllow every team their club fields, and because people like seeing these traditional fixtures.

The ABC would go for that. Look at the SANFL. Still gets great crowds!

I agre with you that JBC clubs wouldn't rtesonate with the community. But to say PL wouldn't is foolish.

[hrundi99]

The Central Coast JBC teams are very much a part of the CC league community.

[2 True Blues]

YAWN !!!!. How good are those bluebags goin boys.

GO THE JETS.....

[Fanny Batter]

u can add me 2 the nay sayers!

now bak 2 the action!

[Booyah]

I like the Newtown forum where it is personally. If we're looking for more people to come in here, maybe put a link in the NSWRL section? Or create an additional Newtown thread in there simply for a trial and see how that goes. If it's sucessful... well then a decision can be made.

[Frenzy.]

hmmmm

I voted no out of respect to Newtown but am really on the fence

I've done some quick figures using the search engine here and without mentioning any names it is apparent that the most prolific posters in the Newtown forum are actually making a significantly higher amount of posts in the Sharks forum.

We now have the Raiders clubhouse as a sub forum of the Raiders main forum so without commenting on whether this stays or goes why not think about having a Jets forum as a sub forum of the Sharks forum?

[Jeffles]

We are not the Sharks! And except for promoting games, I have no desire to go to their forum.

[Frenzy.]

No need to get touchy Jeffles.

Nobody said you are the Sharks but you seem to be in a minority group looking at the amount of posts from Newtown people in the Sharks forum.

I could just as easily tell them we are not the Jets but that would be childish.

Like it or not there is a reciprocal agreement between the clubs and it's actually logical to have a Jets forum as a sub forum of the Sharks forum.

Doesn't mean this forum has to go or that the sub forum even carry the Jets name. It could be simply PL forum for both clubs posters to use.

[greg]

Captain Jack, when you have been around as long as the mighty bluebags you deserve your own forum. If Johnny come latelys like the Melbourne Storm have a forum then logic would say that the oldest club in league who are kicking butt in Premier League should have one also. Yes we don't have supporter numbers like some of the other clubs but we are an integral part of Rugby League in this country. NO! to going to the shraks forum.

[Jeffles]

Not touchy mate. just fiercely independent.

Looking at the Sharks forum there are some Jets posters on there but I don't think that the majority go there for their Jets news.