Thoughts on rleague.com

[Kipper]

It's a funny co-incidence that some of the flawsI've recently noticed on the world's most popular rugby league website mirror some of the major problems the game faces itself. Driven byeveryday people with good intentions, yetpeople's bias towards their own self-interestsis one of its major downfalls. Driven by extremely passionate people, yet captured by a passion thatcan sometimes blind them from logic and reason. Warring with (or patronising) those that should be allies, making impassioned attacks on the outside forces that hold the game back and hastily putting heads onthe guillotine is their form of oxygen, but what does breathing it all in achieve? "Spreading the word" is one of their veryadmirable motives, but how reliable are the words they are spreading? Some of theiraccusations don't have the strength of credibility behind them (or we're kept in the dark if they do), but why let the truth spoil the dream? It's because of this that I'm considering whether it's worth visiting rleague.com any more. I really loved the 'for fans, by fans' feel to it when I first stumbled over it sometime late in '99 and still do today, but if I can't trust what I'm reading to not be slander, is it really worth it? The reason I bring all of this up is that I see all of TeKaha's contributions to the WORL forum have been erased, and I’m just hoping it was of his own doing. TeKaha questioned the veracity of claims in an article written by MattO. I seconded that query, but the thread received no reply. A week or two later Matt claimed his comments had now been validated and demanded an apology from TK and myself, proving he had seen the initial thread. I'd be interested to see your own thoughts on rleague.com -the things you like and don't like about it. Cheers, Kipper

 

This message has been deleted by the author.

 

[imported_EskimoRichy]

I love the rleague website coz it gives you all the latest Rugby League news, scores, results, reports etc and is probably the best in the world for coverage of any sport and I think that ther many other websites linking to the main one are useful too. (a bit what like I am trying to do with my website communities - the main site is www.rjworldsportsnews.cjb.net) They have a huge community and loads of forums and there are some interesting posts but a lot of the new members are just people who come on and cause trouble and argue over who are the best supported team or the hardest players etc or something to do with a member etc when before and many of the good members actually think of ways in hopw to romote Rugby League and talk about real issues in the game. I can remember when there was a post made about me a couple of months ago ove me trying to promote my communities but many supported me and we carried on as normal from there but at that point I was doing some serious posts with posts with over 50 messages but I don't visit very often anymore coz some members, not all but a small minority bag you off and don't reply properrley, like on my forums, I did aposts over how the Aussie media would react and I got a load of stupid replies from one person (who is ok but I thought his reply was not very good) saying that it would never happen so shut up and never answerd properley.

I think that World Of Rugby League communities need to (have to) ban a load of peopmle who are causing bother. There are too many assistant managers for starters, I have only got about 2 or 3 and will not go over the 7 mark I doubt. I currently have 28 members and hope for more but the forum isn't my main priority coz I have other communities etc and my aim is to bring the viewers the best sports coverage as possible as you will see if ya visit but I hope to reach 100 members who visit and post often! I love sports full stop!

 

[LeagueGirl]

Hello all, first time on this forum, and I'm sorta abit upset I found this post. I'm Steven Birchall's (Yakstorm's) girlfriend, and knowing him on a personal basis, as well as before as a referee I find it rather harsh you have had such a hard go at him.

I've read WORL for a while, and most are just fans who want to write their views and opinions and have a general meeting ground to discuss what the fans feel. The guys who run it, get no financial return out of it, they acctually currently run at a loss.

I can understand you don't like some of their views, but so be it, we don't all like what everyone has to say, but understand, you have people like Jason Emery promoting the youth games, you have steven who is about to meet with the Japan RL and hopefully RLIF to work out ways of improving the way fans can voice their opinions to these groups, James stewart who is holding the technical part of the site all together so it can have around 16 articles of news a day, more than any other RL site.

I will agree I hate seeing pathetic slander as seen in some of Heley's and O'Neils articles, but if you wanted to voice your opinion on the site, just email birchall@rleague.com and i'll make sure he lets you write an article.

- Kate Harrison

 

This message has been deleted by the author.

 

[ozbash]

kate, although i,ve never personally met steve , i talk to him quite regularly on icq,(so does my wife). steve would be one of the nicest guys i have had the pleasure of speaking to , since i joined rleague and its forums 3 years ago.in that time i dont think steve has ever copped any abuse and i,m bloody sure he wont here. we may disagree, but abusing steven is out of the question.
he is one of natures gentlemen.
so dont be upset, just post....

T.K.
i think your departure was more "flamboyant" than my paltry effort. i just said goodbye and why.
although when i chucked the job/vocation/huge responsibility of ass manager, i admit it was very public orientated.
i think you made my goodbyes look a bit unprofesional .. )

 

[legend]

Hello Kate. I know Steven is a member of this forum and I also know he is co-webmaster of rleague.com. Personally I think Steven, James and Matt do a fantastic job with their site and it is by far an away the best RL site. All three do a fine job at promoting the great game of RL and I know they all put in huge hours to make the site as successful as it is. rleague.com is a better unoffical site than any offical sporting site I have come across.

I started this site as an alternative and I have chosen to let this thread stand because nothing slanderous has been said about any of the webmasters to date and I think all on this site are mature enough to refrain from such petty actions. People had some issues with WORL and some had not received a response and the ones that did had to wait over a week. Therein lies the perils of a site as big as rleague.com that has only three webmasters. I would imagine it would be very time consuming having to run the site let alone the ninemsn forum which has 3500 members.

I have never personally spoken with Steven and if he has any issues he would like to raise with me i'd be more than happy to discuss them with him as any other member of this site would i'm sure. I have'nt seen anyone criticise Steven on this thread or this site for that matter and I ca'nt see why that criticsim would be warranted.

 

[LeagueGirl]

Sorry I sorta jumped the gun abit, just comparing some of the terrible managers in RL like Chris Casiley to some of the hard work some people do is one of the biggest insults you could give.

I haven't even joined the other forum, just looks like a I love Ryan Girdler fan board, and half the moderators don't even sign the board, so its abit more of a presitige thing.

I've talked to MattO over the net and he seems a very angry and against alot of fans views and likes blaming other people.

 

[Studebaker]

You can tell a hell of a lot by a persons postings (I guess I'm theprime exampleof that), and from what I've seen ofYakstorm on WORL, he seems to be the perfect example of a gentleman.
I've seen posts directed to him, where he has swiftly answered them to the best of his abilities. You can't ask much more from a person. Too bad his other Moderator friend is the complete opposite.
I don't think anyone here wants to hear my thoughts and views on WORL, as I've echoed them more times than I care to remember.
Oh .... and welcome Kipper. New Forum, new Community, new start, huh ?
I'm not here to abuse anyone, because I have a lot of respect for the people here ......... but than again, I have seen The Saint lurking around. Hmmm ..... ?
Studebaker.

 

[imported_Storm]

Well I'm meant to be working, but I can take some time out to respond to this . What Kipper has said, I can fully understand, and to be honest, while most people hate criticism, lets be realistic, without it, would anything be improved??

I'm interested to hear more on how to improve the site from you guys, and well we can see the problems in the communties and trust me I am trying to work out a way of fixing them. To be honest I wouldn't recommend u guy go back much or at all, as I don't think it will really ever revert back to the quality it once had.

Thank you for the compliments some of you have put forward about me, I really appreciate it, and Kate calm down, even these guys criticise me, it will always be constructive and based on a well thought out view of their own, not because they feel like baging someone out.

 

[imported_Reservoir Dog]

I'm new to both sites (LWOS and WORL) and post regularly on both of them, so I can't really comment all that much.
But I do enjoy my time here more, because the threads and posts hereseem to be more on Rugby League and sporting matters, ratherthan the Sexiest player type threads. Those threads can get pretty irratating the more you see them, and they have been popping up pretty frequently of late.
I think it has a lot to do with the maturity facter also, and by that I don't neccessarilymean age, rather maturity of the mind.
Anyhow, I'll surf between both communitiesand throw in my two bobs worth when I see fitting thread.
Go the Doggies.

 

[Willow]

Look, It'll be just fine folks.
Legend is spot on with this alternative forum and IMO, both forums will eventually work well together.
Kipper, you shouldn't worry so much. This is a new platform and you should enjoy it for what it is.
All things deserve time.

 

[imported_EskimoRichy]

Look, I think that everyone connected with rleaghue are fine and do great articles on the main site but it's some of the members doing stupid posts and swearing, apart from that it's fine!

 

This message has been deleted by the author.

 

[Kipper]

Willow - is ityou who's confused or me? I think Legend's community is great because it provideseveryone the best of both worlds. The only problem I have is with the news and information part of rleague.com, not the forums.
I've just readmy initialpostin this thread and I may have gone a bit over the top, but I'd started to feel really disappointed as I recalled all the times I'd read something on rleague.com that painted someone or something as the enemy and now realise it may have been completely unjustified, or the way I'd formed an opinion on so many thingsafter readinginformation on there, only to now have toreconsider whether I'd been led up the garden path by one of the site's contributors. I imagined some kid 12,000 miles away with a newfound hatred for the NZRFU becuase of the probable slander TeKaha identified. Not that I'm the NZRFU's # 1 fan, butI'm a strong believer in the truth being a pillar that you can build great things (like the rleague.com site) around. As others have said on this thread, hopefullythe sort ofarticle TeKahaand I questioned was very much a rarity.

I think I may have made a mistake indirecting my criticism at rleague.com, as Iunintentionally tarred all of those involved withthe site with the same brush. I've heard MattO say many times before that the site is very much a group effort,and I decided to address my "issues" with the site in keeping with that.I'd like to apoligise to the likes ofSteven (Yakstorm) and others because asmany have already said, I also haveso much respect for people like him and the great work they do.

 

[imported_Canterbury]

G'day all,

Thanks for your kind words and support of rleague.com and myself.

Someone said we operate at a loss and whilst I don't like disclosing the figure, it costs well over $200 for my family just to fund it plus plenty of hours of sacrifice from James, Steven and myself.

We are going commercial and I hope you all understand why we have too. It's just chewing up so much time of James, Steven and myself and it's hurting me and my family financially. We've made an 18-month commitment to make it all work.

Over the past few weeks I haven't been around the forums as much due to lots of planning and meetings for the website. You must understand that the website is my primary interest and the forums have always been a side thing.

If the forums were hosted on the rleague.com domain, I would probably be concerned at the breakaway group because ittakesaway hitsbut I'm not as it's good to have more forums talking about Rugby League.

The whole use of going to ninemsn was to boost rleague's profile and it's done just that and at the time we didn't have the server space to accomodate a forum because it takes up loads of space and bandwidth. Now we have the space, it's something we may explore in the future as you can never have too many forums, messageboards and debate pages. We at rleague.com have to ensure we make everyone happy somehow and we haven't been due to lack of resources.

I also take it as a compliment to rleague.com that this is now the 4th website/forum to enimate from its large success. The forums are a monster and it's good to have other mixes as to be honest it was a complete monopoly we were enjoying.

Legend is a good person. He's been into my office a couple of times and we have got along well and I like to think I looked after him as best I could. I'm pretty sure he's a moderator at WORL and if he isn't he should be one.

As for issues regarding the website and forum. You are best off emailing me direct as I don't get the time to read every post. I now don't read the forums on weekends due to the meetings and plannings we have and won't be for the next week as I'm going up to Brisbane for five days.

The good thing about his as the people running it don't have to cater for a large market and it's also a primary interest.

Kipper: I've always offered you a chance to be a part of the site and also email me but never once have you done so mate. In regards to Henry Paul, the rumours were rife in Australia he was offered a big deal from RU and yeah I probably did sensationalise it a little bit. If you live in the same state as the ARU boss, you understand why so many League people hate RU. He's been very quiet lately I must say since Souths won and Alfie stole his thunder.

The door is still open for you mate to write news, reports or editorials on what you fancy and I've always had heaps of respect for what you say on the forums and wish I could get you more involved.

Sorry if I have offended anyone but I do find it hard to communicate with people who I don't knowin a public area. It's an area of myself I have to pick up and learn on.

Good luck with this and I hope it becomes a great asset to the game of Rugby League.

 

[Cronulla_Mania]

Commercial Matt? Come on, there are so many people in here and on the WORL forums that would be more then happy to help out. I wish you luck with it, but please explain what this will do to the site and the discussion boards....
May i suggest, if you want to add more exposure to the rleague.com website, perhaps you should consider entering into deals with leagues club about possibly having signs at the ground. Im not sure how much it would cost, and your budgets, but it could work. The fact is that you need more people, and im sure you could find alot of genuine and reliable league people on these forums....
The Fan.

 

[imported_Canterbury]

MFC:
Thanks for your comments.

Going commercial won't be of a harm to the readers but actually a benefit since we'll have more facilities to setup my.rleague.com portals, which will be a big increase.

We're also going to apply to gain media access to the NRL so myself, Steven and also Michael Murray will be out at the matches every weekend gaining more than just a match report off the TV. We have innovations to enhance the fans appeal of the site.

Finding reliable people is the hardest thing in the world mate. Over the years I've been let down by too many people in life and they all start off with good intentions but fall away. James & Steven are unbelievable and anyone who is talking to me for more than five minutes knows exactly what I think of those two as friends and webmasters.

Also people such as Matthew Lyne and Michael Murray are priceless and so reliable when you need them most.

It won't affect your reading of the site in a bad way but actually make it better since we'll have more innovations and be personalised. When we had the meeting last Saturday night, the one thing I said is that we must retain our grass roots and personal feel to the site. Everyone who reads rleague.com now knows it's a joint production of James, Steven and myself or at least just my name (but I'm trying hard to included James & Steven). Read another site and all you see is the company name.

As for the forums. Well the two on ninemsn will always remain and cater for different markets. I enjoy this one because I'm not obligated to sign this one and will treat it like how I treat aus.sport.rugby-league newsgroup where I'm a fan and website owner - not just the latter.

But I have been looking at bringing back a forum within the domain, just to keep people within and also see if we can benefit from having a discussion within our own site.

Ninemsn and Rleague have essentially gone there different ways but I made sure I had a foot in the door with the Footy Show site, which is the most popular Rugby League website. I in turn get readers flowing into rleague.com through sheer word of mouth. I can't disclose too much but Ninemsn wanted me to be a reporter for their website this year whilst maintaining rleague.com but they were paid by another company to use there reports and have to use LW material since they are owned by the same company. Common sense is you rather get paid than pay.

But I feel if we can expand the options for discussion within the my-rleague portal, it would be good for all.

We welcome anyone who wants to help with news, reports and editorials. We've made the site that it allows fans interaction and fans to jump on the soapbox.

Thankyou for reading this and take care,

Matt.

Emails:
Personal matthew@rleague.com
Website website@rleague.com

 

[mud n blood]

Hi gang

Just thought I'd let you know that I made it !!!! (Wonder if I'll cop the usual tyrade from all the Dragons fans ?)

Anyway .... catcha!

mud n blood

 

[legend]

I was wondering when you would come across Mud. Those bloddy dragons are already here anf you guessed it they are by far the most vocal and outspoken.