WOOF Update

[Eastdog]

Re: WOOF Update

What extra thing possibly Gary would be added to the training reports?

So potentially also we could have a woof app that can be downloaded from the App Store?

[GVGjr]

Re: WOOF Update

Last roll of the dice sort of thing Gazza? I know you mentioned we haven't had much luck into converting new members into contributors. Sightseers don't add much to discussions.

Pretty much, we've had more than 100 new members join since mid November (and about 15 return from March) when the training reports were started and it's only resulted in about 10 genuine contributors. That's not an encouraging endorsement for the site.
We will address some of the functionality features that have been raised and see if that encourages participation.

[GVGjr]

Re: WOOF Update

What extra thing possibly Gary would be added to the training reports?

So potentially also we could have a woof app that can be downloaded from the App Store?

Lets not ruin the potential surprise Easty

There is likely to be a drop down option for members to use a mobile app that is loaded onto the site. There won't be a need to download anything from the App Shop.

[jeemak]

Re: WOOF Update

Pretty much, we've had more than 100 new members join since mid November (and about 15 return from March) when the training reports were started and it's only resulted in about 10 genuine contributors. That's not an encouraging endorsement for the site.
We will address some of the functionality features that have been raised and see if that encourages participation.

It's not a great time to be building participation, so hopefully more momentum can be generated over the coming weeks and a strong showing in the preseason games and first month of footy will help engagement.

Looking forward to seeing how content can be adapted to deliver an enhanced experience, even if it's just an incremental improvement on the excellent content we already have access to.

[GVGjr]

Re: WOOF Update

It's not a great time to be building participation, so hopefully more momentum can be generated over the coming weeks and a strong showing in the preseason games and first month of footy will help engagement.

Looking forward to seeing how content can be adapted to deliver an enhanced experience, even if it's just an incremental improvement on the excellent content we already have access to.

I get that but during all of the footy season we had maybe 7 people join the site. In Jan and Feb of 2023 we had over 100.
In Nov/Dec again more than 100. We are the Rosebud and Lorne of Bulldog sites where the vast majority of new members visit for the summer months and then return again next summer.
Most new members won't even respond to the welcome message that I send them but the ones who do immediately ask for access to the training reports.

So we will try and fix the mobile phone responsiveness and add a few other features and see if that is sufficient.

[jeemak]

Re: WOOF Update

I get that but during all of the footy season we had maybe 7 people join the site. In Jan and Feb of 2023 we had over 100.
In Nov/Dec again more than 100. We are the Rosebud and Lorne of Bulldog sites where the vast majority of new members visit for the summer months and then return again next summer.
Most new members won't even respond to the welcome message that I send them but the ones who do immediately ask for access to the training reports.

So we will try and fix the mobile phone responsiveness and add a few other features and see if that is sufficient.

By engagement I was referring to meaningful contributions from newer members, but it's also a possibility that like other things on the internet people get more pleasure out of posting about negative thoughts than positive ones (and that's OK)!

Better mobile functionality will go a long way, it's a big difference between what we have here and social media platforms. It'll never be the same but any improvement would be a big thing for many readers/ posters.

[Uninformed]

Re: WOOF Update

I get that but during all of the footy season we had maybe 7 people join the site. In Jan and Feb of 2023 we had over 100.
In Nov/Dec again more than 100. We are the Rosebud and Lorne of Bulldog sites where the vast majority of new members visit for the summer months and then return again next summer.
Most new members won't even respond to the welcome message that I send them but the ones who do immediately ask for access to the training reports.

So we will try and fix the mobile phone responsiveness and add a few other features and see if that is sufficient.

Better to be a quality boutique site than a junky mass social media mess.

Can understand the younger demographic wanting mobile functionality, but I find this trad. style desktop version enjoyable to wander around and peruse.

Have noticed some good contributions from new users, one who gave a very good run down of training and some great photos.

I can see the Lorne and Rosebud analogy. My comparison is only to Bigfooty, but they have very little of interest over the Lorne/Rosebud period. They do get better engagement in season and during the drafts and trading period, though, where I find the post game analysis interesting and on both there and WOOF I am happy to speculate forever on draft and trading.

The clear distinction for WOOF is a far more reasonable and polite approach to discussion and disagreement which is a joy to encounter.

[soupman]

Re: WOOF Update

Btw I think this site works really well in an internet browser and is no harder to make posts in on phone than any other social media app, the issue is more to do with the length of typical responses I am trying to write on here vs functionality.

[Go_Dogs]

Re: WOOF Update

Btw I think this site works really well in an internet browser and is no harder to make posts in on phone than any other social media app, the issue is more to do with the length of typical responses I am trying to write on here vs functionality.

I tend to agree. No concerns using my phone (it’s all I ever use) and find navigation and posting easy. The question marks are annoying and sometimes I don’t proof my posts before hitting submit meaning they have a few typos etc but other than that, I’m personally fine with the current iteration.

Re broader engagement, Gary - would there be any merit in setting up a fee for service access to the training reports for those who don’t want to post but want access to the content? I know that goes against how you’ve run the site historically (and would prefer to run it going forward) however if those 100 folks contributed a small fee it could support whatever upgrades you’re planning and an ongoing maintenance of the forum?

I think you’re always going to have a core group of us who’ve been members and posting here for 10+ years and high quality discussion but it’s perhaps realistic to only add a handful (maybe 5-8) who fit into that group each year as most of us have already found the site and younger demographics seem less likely to use discussion forums as a rule. I’m sure some success over the opening rounds (or being utterly humiliated) would drive a lot of discussion too.

[doggies ftw]

Re: WOOF Update

I think there?s a balancing act with keeping things locked down, you don?t want people contributing because they?re forced too - it?s not going to lead to quality posts. It needs to be a naturally occurring thing where people want to contribute.

I think a new refined layout will be super important, it is very clunky on mobile and a lot of people don?t even have or use a laptop anymore. It would definitely turn people away - being a site I know and enjoy you put up with the clunkiness, but if I was a new member whose stumbled upon it then yeah it would be a big factor in probably not coming back. Especially for the younger generation who don?t really use forums, that early 2000s ?forum? vibe doesn?t mean anything to them, they?re used to polished easy to use UIs like Reddit & Social media

I also think the state of our club on field over the past two years, ie piss poor coaching, poor results, losing games the exact same way we have for years - would be contributing. I?d go weeks at a time not reading footy media or forums because it was just not an enjoyable sport for me at times this year and not something I wanted to be reminded of nor waste my time on.

If this year starts in a similar way to last year well I?m genuinely gonna be done until we sack the coach - so I can see why it?s been hard to get solid contributors when we?ve been so underwhelming.

Just my 2c anyway

[GVGjr]

Re: WOOF Update

I think there?s a balancing act with keeping things locked down, you don?t want people contributing because they?re forced too - it?s not going to lead to quality posts. It needs to be a naturally occurring thing where people want to contribute.

In Jan 2023 there were 47 guests logged onto the forum at the same time all reading one thread. The thought was that if you explain why only members who contribute to discussions get access to the report it might turn some passive readers into decent contributors.
And to some extent that did work but people being people most preferred to be readers or viewers than contributors because it's far easier to read the thoughts of the thoughts of others than to make the effort yourself.

I think a new refined layout will be super important, it is very clunky on mobile and a lot of people don?t even have or use a laptop anymore. It would definitely turn people away - being a site I know and enjoy you put up with the clunkiness, but if I was a new member whose stumbled upon it then yeah it would be a big factor in probably not coming back. Especially for the younger generation who don?t really use forums, that early 2000s ?forum? vibe doesn?t mean anything to them, they?re used to polished easy to use UIs like Reddit & Social media

The software really isn't the challenge in that it never stopped anyone from logging on for a read and 100's of non members or non contributors wanted to do that.
It's become more about that it's a convenient reason for non participation so while I have some doubts we will try to address it.

I also think the state of our club on field over the past two years, ie piss poor coaching, poor results, losing games the exact same way we have for years - would be contributing. I?d go weeks at a time not reading footy media or forums because it was just not an enjoyable sport for me at times this year and not something I wanted to be reminded of nor waste my time on.

If this year starts in a similar way to last year well I?m genuinely gonna be done until we sack the coach - so I can see why it?s been hard to get solid contributors when we?ve been so underwhelming.

Just my 2c anyway

I can understand that in terms of coughing up money for a membership but it actually doesn't have a lot to do with participation in a forums discussions. I think the challenge is that for some that they have built up a profile in one site so coming to another as a new member can be challenging.

Thanks for sharing your thoughts.

[Countrydog5]

Re: WOOF Update

As a new member i'd be disappointed if things were shut down because I love the contents and members on the site, however fully understand the frustration of having lurkers who don't contribute. I'm probably a little guilty of that myself, but it's often because I feel that if I don't have anything truly meaningful or insightful to contribute, it's best not to clog threads up. A quick glance on bigfooty shows that posting for the sake of posting can really derail a thread depending on the topic.

Whilst the format of the site is a little difficult to wrap the head around at first, I don't think it's really a limiting factor. If people truly want to post and be involved they'd find a way.

I think my main notes / difficulties when I found the site was navigating the messages (possibly why some don't respond Gary?), replying to posts in a thread and access on mobile. Although I have found that accessing the site just through mobile browser works fine if you know what you're doing.

Keep the faith guys, you've built a fantastic place for true dogs supporters here. Hopefully some of the newer members see that the more they contribute, the more things will grow and develop so there is less downtime between conversations. If not, i'd be happy to do a little recruitment drive on bigfooty etc!

[MrMahatma]

Re: WOOF Update

I struggled a while back when I first started using a mobile more than a laptop to view the site. Working from home has changed that a fair bit : but it used to be OK to read, but a punish to post, so I'd read more than post. That said, I use phone mostly now and post on that mostly - but writing anything longer than a para or 2 is a bit of a drag. That's just phones though.

[hujsh]

Re: WOOF Update

I think the site is super easy to use and I prefer it in almost every way aesthetically to BigFooty (which I do genuinely find hideous). I think some features when posting could maybe use a bit of modernisation (linking to photos/videos being one major example I can think of). Maybe the aesthetic seems fine to me because I grew up with an internet from before everthing was centralised onto 3-5 shitty websites

[D Mitchell]

Re: WOOF Update

I think the site is super easy to use and .....

Agree. I really like the Whats New function. You can get an overview of what's topical quickly and that should encourage contributions across a number of topics.