Preps needs something

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Preps needs something

Postby footballchicken » Mon Dec 23, 2013 10:41 am

Moderators, you probably know this , but seems preps is pretty dead. Any chance someone promotes or markets this site? I felt this was the place to check 3-4 years ago, but besides the same 6/7 people, doesn't seem like there is much traffic. Nothing negative here, just starting the discussion and would like to see this site get rolling again.

Thanks
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Re: Preps needs something

Postby Hinsa » Mon Dec 23, 2013 11:33 am

Funny you should ask. Balla45 is doing some marketing for us through Twitter which will hopefully drive people to this site.

And in spite of the lack of posts from different people, we still get about the same number or more hits than we always have.

I do understand what you mean with your post. We would love to see a bunch of newbies join the site and offer some different perspectives on issues.
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Re: Preps needs something

Postby NDSportsFan » Thu Dec 26, 2013 2:16 pm

The traffic is the as busy as it has ever been. On a slow to average day it's slightly over 1500 people that come here. Most of those people don't post, they just like to read. During the football playoffs it was up to 4000 people a day. When Basketball season gets busy, and the kids are back in school it will average close to 3000 a day, and tournament time pushes the number up to about 5000. A huge reason that you are not seeing as much posting here is because high school age people have turned to posting on Twitter recently, something that was not as popular 3-4 years ago. Maybe they still read the forum, they just prefer to post over there.

We would get more postings if we just allowed people to rampantly post complaints about everyone and everything, But honestly it's just not worth it. It would be a nightmare to moderate because it gets out of hand and the reasoning behind the whole board to draw positive attention to those people who are putting in a effort.

Right now the site is pretty much self-sustaining. It does not produce enough revenue to add any full-time paid bloggers, or photographers. If you know of a way to sell high paid advertising, and how to implement it, I'd gladly use the profits to add features such as those.

We really do appreciate everyone who visits here and even more, those who take the time to register and share their thoughts. The traffic is as good as it's ever been, even if the number of postings are down.
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Re: Preps needs something

Postby footballchicken » Thu Dec 26, 2013 11:47 pm

good points - twitter is a monster
keep up the good work
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Re: Preps needs something

Postby scoobyx2 » Tue Dec 31, 2013 10:09 am

I really appreciate the effort some do for this site, but I agree that it is a little down. I check the site in hopes of getting some updates and insight on games around the state since much of the news coverage is lacking in high school sports, but I haven't seen too much info lately. It seemed dumbed at the time, but I miss the Century-BHS boys basketball bickering, and discussing which girls bb team is the best in Region 2, and determining why Valley City should stay Class A.
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Re: Preps needs something

Postby NE B-Baller 242 » Sat Jan 11, 2014 11:26 am

I would agree that Preps needs some new life. Back when I was playing high school sports this place was full of energy. I just checked back in about a week ago to check and see how some old high school friends were doing sport wise, and I see almost no news/discussions available. Sad to see this happen to a great sports site. Part of the problem that I can image is happening is just the declining numbers in North Dakota sports in general, thus less individuals available to post.
If winning isn't everything why do we keep score?
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Re: Preps needs something

Postby NDSportsFan » Mon Jan 13, 2014 4:52 am

My hope is to get some updates done in February. I'd like to incorporate some modifications to allow postings to Facebook and Twitter and perhaps to put a twitter feed on the front page. Since I don't have the expertise myself, I'm hoping to get an expert that can do it the right way for us.
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Re: Preps needs something

Postby classB4ever » Mon Jan 13, 2014 10:51 am

1. New topics. Just about everything in North Dakota sports has been discussed at some point on preps. When a new person comes on and wants to discuss a topic, they are directed to a thread where it has been discussed (in some cases, multiple times). They don't get to share their own personal view, Also, many times, the older posters feel, "been there, done that" so they stay away from that debate.
2. Preps is a great place to find out scores, statistics, standings, etc. Everything is already there. Not much to discuss with that. Pretty black and white.
3. Political correctness. Without a doubt over the years, heimer and winner-within got more debates going than anyone else. Get those two involved and everyone "wanted a piece of them". They bring a unique skill set and we need more like them. People need to be comfortable in their own skin and not be afraid to speak their mind.
4. Moderators calling out posters. I don't mean this in a bad way, but let's be honest; When a moderator tells someone "we know who you are because of your IP address", it scares some people away. People like to hide behind their keyboard and that's just how it is. As long as it's not vicious personal attacks, maybe a little more latitude would help.

What does this mean? Not sure. As mentioned earlier, people are still coming onto preps. I for one still come on to find out scores, stats, etc. Would love to hear more individuals come on and write about their team's performances on a nightly basis. How certain match ups went, etc.

Just one person's opinion.
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Re: Preps needs something

Postby Hinsa » Mon Jan 13, 2014 12:22 pm

classB4ever wrote:1. New topics. Just about everything in North Dakota sports has been discussed at some point on preps. When a new person comes on and wants to discuss a topic, they are directed to a thread where it has been discussed (in some cases, multiple times). They don't get to share their own personal view, Also, many times, the older posters feel, "been there, done that" so they stay away from that debate.
2. Preps is a great place to find out scores, statistics, standings, etc. Everything is already there. Not much to discuss with that. Pretty black and white.
3. Political correctness. Without a doubt over the years, heimer and winner-within got more debates going than anyone else. Get those two involved and everyone "wanted a piece of them". They bring a unique skill set and we need more like them. People need to be comfortable in their own skin and not be afraid to speak their mind.
4. Moderators calling out posters. I don't mean this in a bad way, but let's be honest; When a moderator tells someone "we know who you are because of your IP address", it scares some people away. People like to hide behind their keyboard and that's just how it is. As long as it's not vicious personal attacks, maybe a little more latitude would help.

What does this mean? Not sure. As mentioned earlier, people are still coming onto preps. I for one still come on to find out scores, stats, etc. Would love to hear more individuals come on and write about their team's performances on a nightly basis. How certain match ups went, etc.

Just one person's opinion.


Good, sound thoughts. I would like to see more people brave enough to chatter about their teams and/or region as well. There have got to be some great performances that go unnoticed except for Run's High Scorers list where it would be great if someone spoke up and told the forum about how they got their points, what defense was played on them, big time rebound totals, etc.
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Re: Preps needs something

Postby balla45 » Fri Jan 24, 2014 3:45 am

classB4ever wrote: 4. Moderators calling out posters. I don't mean this in a bad way, but let's be honest; When a moderator tells someone "we know who you are because of your IP address", it scares some people away. People like to hide behind their keyboard and that's just how it is. As long as it's not vicious personal attacks, maybe a little more latitude would help.

Just one person's opinion.


I will try to do a better job with this. I was incredibly annoyed with the Radball thing as misrepresenting oneself like that much just bothers me, especially when it is such a blatant lie. I obviously sign my name off on everything I say here, so I just took issue with a person who came on here specifically to lie to try to build credibility.

Before the Radball incident, I think the last time I brought this up was when I was a freshman in college, and a kid from Jamestown posted something to the effect that I was in a relationship with Erron Collins, who was on my Flight Boyz team at that time, and was a freshman in high school. I am incredibly close with the Collins family. I dated Ali in the past and she now works for me, and I played for Eddie in college, and also coached Erron for 3 years, so I am sure you can imagine my issue with a person taking a shot at a freshman in high school when I have a close relationship to the player and that family. I was also unhappy with an individual trying to come on a message board and insinuate that I was in a relationship with a player, and told that poster that I knew exactly who he was and would sue him for libel if he ever posted on this site again. As I run a basketball program featuring boys and girls ranging in ages from 12 to 18, I am sure you can see why I would have no issue suing someone for a comment like that.

Other times I may have brought this up would include times where a poster comes on this website and says that so and so got a minor, or so and so got caught smoking weed, when there is no truth to the rumor.

Since my global announcement, we have not had issues regarding individuals spouting off about potential illegal activity on this website.
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Re: Preps needs something

Postby hockeynut » Mon Feb 24, 2014 8:43 pm

I'm new here and had no idea there was such a site. Just happened to stumble across it while I was googling something else. Really wish I had known about it years ago. I'm a huge hockey guy and it is rather dead in there. Yes the season is over but it's been dead in there for some time. Would love to see it pick up next season.
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Re: Preps needs something

Postby east sider » Tue Feb 25, 2014 9:33 pm

Hinsa wrote:
classB4ever wrote:1. New topics. Just about everything in North Dakota sports has been discussed at some point on preps. When a new person comes on and wants to discuss a topic, they are directed to a thread where it has been discussed (in some cases, multiple times). They don't get to share their own personal view, Also, many times, the older posters feel, "been there, done that" so they stay away from that debate.
2. Preps is a great place to find out scores, statistics, standings, etc. Everything is already there. Not much to discuss with that. Pretty black and white.
3. Political correctness. Without a doubt over the years, heimer and winner-within got more debates going than anyone else. Get those two involved and everyone "wanted a piece of them". They bring a unique skill set and we need more like them. People need to be comfortable in their own skin and not be afraid to speak their mind.
4. Moderators calling out posters. I don't mean this in a bad way, but let's be honest; When a moderator tells someone "we know who you are because of your IP address", it scares some people away. People like to hide behind their keyboard and that's just how it is. As long as it's not vicious personal attacks, maybe a little more latitude would help.

What does this mean? Not sure. As mentioned earlier, people are still coming onto preps. I for one still come on to find out scores, stats, etc. Would love to hear more individuals come on and write about their team's performances on a nightly basis. How certain match ups went, etc.

Just one person's opinion.


Good, sound thoughts. I would like to see more people brave enough to chatter about their teams and/or region as well. There have got to be some great performances that go unnoticed except for Run's High Scorers list where it would be great if someone spoke up and told the forum about how they got their points, what defense was played on them, big time rebound totals, etc.


I agree. A great example is the topic District 3 Boys Basketball where BasketballMind posts scores, stats, type of game, and a few individual performances. I really don't have a lot of interest in District 3, but nonetheless I enjoyed reading his/her comments on each game. Run and balla45 can only provide so much info. balla45 knows and shares info on the best individual players and Run seems to throw out every stat known to man, but I would really like to see more fans/players "beating their chest" on here, of course without putting other teams and players down.
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