For the upcoming season.... What would you want in a Web Forum

Mike Olson wrote:

Ok medaille I will definitely look into those items!

Mike, 

I like where this is headed.  I too have the work blockage issues with twitter feeds.  Since I'm doing something different soon, it's not a big deal, but that is a problem.  I think there needs to also be something that puts the site in the headlines in google searches as a way to expand the base or easy ties to ChatGPT which could start conversations.  It's so fun typing in top 10 all time Viking WR's just for the memories and it would stir conversation.  I'm all for a more vibrant site.  A site that could produce a featured discussion topic each day would be cool.  I'm not sure how you make that happen, but even the ideas from people on the board could get more discussion going.  Think of a board where five random Vikes since 1961 were listed and people were asked to spill their memories about that player.  I think that would be so cool.  What do you remember about Buster Rhymes?  I remember machine gun in college and that he was a helluva return threat for the Vikes. There aren't near enough easily accessible options (for my taste) with people that actually know the Vikes, our history and who just know football in general.  

That being said, I'm all for an OT / Political forum.  My opinion is there is sneaky overlap that creeps into the football discussion that is not necessary.  I've seen other sites where this is just understood as something that won't happen without a ban.  It may be hard to unring that bell here as many of our political leanings are very well known, and some habits have been formed.  Those that protest the most that they're not doing it are the exact ones doing it.  Since the NFL takes political stances itself, it can be tough to manage the discussions.  This tells me that a forum that mixes politics, NFL politics, and OT topics could be the answer.  Any threads that turn that direction in the Viking forum (example of some of the end zone messages in the NFL or Colin Kaepernick) could just be automatically transferred to the Political forum.  If it's important enough for people to voice their opinion, then do it outside of the football forum.   I understand the downsides as well, but there should be a hook for people that lose their minds and dub everybody they disagree with as Nazi's and Racists etc. if it's in the main forum.  If they get too heated in the political forum, shut down the threads with a warning.  I think it's a great loss to not hear PurpleFaithful's views.   He and I are polar opposites in our opinions on some things, but there's also mutual respect for our opinions. I think that dialogue helps not hurts.

I would be happy to help do some alpha testing for usability. Not great as an idea guy, but pretty good with testing UI. Good at describing the issue and testing from multiple fronts.

All I want is a place to talk football. I like the forum aspect because it keeps the threads mostly on topic. Get rid of sensitive topics, no need to keep that IMO. I have no interest in debating politics on the internet. Arguing about football is good, we are all fans of the same team and want the same thing. Our approach and opinions differ, but we have the same goal.

Waterboy wrote:

Mike, 

I like where this is headed.  I too have the work blockage issues with twitter feeds.  Since I'm doing something different soon, it's not a big deal, but that is a problem.  I think there needs to also be something that puts the site in the headlines in google searches as a way to expand the base or easy ties to ChatGPT which could start conversations.  It's so fun typing in top 10 all time Viking WR's just for the memories and it would stir conversation.  I'm all for a more vibrant site.  A site that could produce a featured discussion topic each day would be cool.  I'm not sure how you make that happen, but even the ideas from people on the board could get more discussion going.  Think of a board where five random Vikes since 1961 were listed and people were asked to spill their memories about that player.  I think that would be so cool.  What do you remember about Buster Rhymes?  I remember machine gun in college and that he was a helluva return threat for the Vikes. There aren't near enough easily accessible options (for my taste) with people that actually know the Vikes, our history and who just know football in general.  

That being said, I'm all for an OT / Political forum.  My opinion is there is sneaky overlap that creeps into the football discussion that is not necessary.  I've seen other sites where this is just understood as something that won't happen without a ban.  It may be hard to unring that bell here as many of our political leanings are very well known, and some habits have been formed.  Those that protest the most that they're not doing it are the exact ones doing it.  Since the NFL takes political stances itself, it can be tough to manage the discussions.  This tells me that a forum that mixes politics, NFL politics, and OT topics could be the answer.  Any threads that turn that direction in the Viking forum (example of some of the end zone messages in the NFL or Colin Kaepernick) could just be automatically transferred to the Political forum.  If it's important enough for people to voice their opinion, then do it outside of the football forum.   I understand the downsides as well, but there should be a hook for people that lose their minds and dub everybody they disagree with as Nazi's and Racists etc. if it's in the main forum.  If they get too heated in the political forum, shut down the threads with a warning.  I think it's a great loss to not hear PurpleFaithful's views.   He and I are polar opposites in our opinions on some things, but there's also mutual respect for our opinions. I think that dialogue helps not hurts.

I've appreciated those discussions too...Always respectful and with an open ear to an opposing view.

I'm also weary from politics. Cancer has reminded me how short and fleeting life can be. IMO the world is just too callous & angry and its been trending that way a long while now.

Back to the forum: good feed-back from members, glad people are taking the time to give Mike some things to consider. 

Stuff that didnt make my radar!

Oh, lots to get through on this. Sorry if I don't reply to every post, but I am reading them. I like the idea of potentially having ChatGPT seed posts every now and again. That's an interesting idea, and I'm using AI quite a bit for work these days. Currently I'm using Claude Code, but I also have a Codex subscription for GPT stuff too.

Mike Olson wrote:
Oh, lots to get through on this. Sorry if I don't reply to every post, but I am reading them. I like the idea of potentially having ChatGPT seed posts every now and again. That's an interesting idea, and I'm using AI quite a bit for work these days. Currently I'm using Claude Code, but I also have a Codex subscription for GPT stuff too.

Chat GPT never ceases to blow me away....

I for one like the idea of an App for iPhones. There have been times when I am traveling, no access to a desktop or even laptop, and there is news developing affecting the Vikings. That would be a nice add.

Montana Tom wrote:
I for one like the idea of an App for iPhones. There have been times when I am traveling, no access to a desktop or even laptop, and there is news developing affecting the Vikings. That would be a nice add.

Yeah I am using ClaudeCode which is absolutely incredible. I do use the codex gpt model too and cursor is amazing as well

It's a little thing, but we need a larger emoji selection.  For example I'm always wishing there was a facepalm or headbang emoji.

medaille wrote:
• At work, they block twitter stuff and other social media stuff, so when someone posts a tweet, I see an empty post.  I don’t know what’s the best option to solve it, but if there could be a screenshot of the embedded content, hidden behind the preferred embedding, so if the embedding gets blocked, I still get the gist of what the conversation is, that would be great for my use case. • Sometimes, I’ll reply to a post.  Then type a new one in the same thread.  They currently get lumped together.  I guess I’d prefer that they be separate.

Agree!!

Y'all do what you need to do. I have no idea of how to code but I'd be happy to chip in somehow. I actually utilize this site. Its right up there with FB and Reddit for me. I've been a proponent for politics in the past. I frankly don't care anymore. I'd dare say its easier to moderate one board and we don't really have that many people posting here regularly. If you're on any other type of social media unless you sanitized your feed you're getting bombarded with politics already. Those Fkers sure know how to keep us all angry at each other while they spend billions and allegedly fiddle kids on far away islands.

RS_Express wrote:
It's a little thing, but we need a larger emoji selection.  For example I'm always wishing there was a facepalm or headbang emoji.

/facepalm how did we ever forget that one?

RS_Express wrote:
It's a little thing, but we need a larger emoji selection.  For example I'm always wishing there was a facepalm or headbang emoji.

Not a little thing! Emoji reactions to posts, easy to copy and paste social links and gifs that work and appear as intended on web and mobile, and not crashing on draft night are the top 3 things that’d really make this site sing.

This hasn’t been mentioned yet I don’t think but the trending forum topics should be front and center on the homepage. Not pinned topics or links to a bunch of different places, just the hot forum threads that real people are commenting on the most frequently. If brand new Vikings fans stumble onto the forum from Google, what’s the first thing we want them to see? My posts. Kidding! The active, hot threads!

When viewing a thread- more user posts per page shown before having to move to page 2, 3, …. Right now it’s 10 I think? Could easily be twice that. 

I might think of some more stuff but these are top of mind. Thanks for the work you continue to put in, Mike. It’s appreciated! This news of a new build is exciting.

Thanks Pattersaur!

it is really starting to come along guys. I wonder if with your help we can have it up and running in the next week and have it good to go for drat day. I really want a working chat site for the draft

Mike Olson wrote:
it is really starting to come along guys. I wonder if with your help we can have it up and running in the next week and have it good to go for drat day. I really want a working chat site for the draft

Nice!

I was poking around over there earlier

Little less white and more gray? Like here?

Might be early for this but:

How will the current site carry over to the shiny new one? 

• Will login address for the site and our own personal ones be the same?
  
• Will the current and past threads port over?
  
• Post Counts etc...
  

I will need people to test the work situation where they block the social media stuff. I am working on that right now and I have some workarounds for it but I need to know if it is working in your specific situations

pattersaur wrote:

Not a little thing! Emoji reactions to posts, easy to copy and paste social links and gifs that work and appear as intended on web and mobile, and not crashing on draft night are the top 3 things that’d really make this site sing.

This hasn’t been mentioned yet I don’t think but the trending forum topics should be front and center on the homepage. Not pinned topics or links to a bunch of different places, just the hot forum threads that real people are commenting on the most frequently. If brand new Vikings fans stumble onto the forum from Google, what’s the first thing we want them to see? My posts. Kidding! The active, hot threads!

When viewing a thread- more user posts per page shown before having to move to page 2, 3, …. Right now it’s 10 I think? Could easily be twice that. 

I might think of some more stuff but these are top of mind. Thanks for the work you continue to put in, Mike. It’s appreciated! This news of a new build is exciting.

The reason for pinning topics is to keep people from starting a new thread for every single piece of offseason news.  That was pushing threads off the first page in minutes at times and causing many multiple threads on the same topic which just makes the problem worse.  They will be gone in 2 weeks when the draft is over,  but for those that have caught on its really kept the multiple threads to a minimum since they were pinned.

Think about everything that MB and others have shared on FA and the draft,  all those posts would be their own threads if not for compilation threads for them to drop their shares into.  If you can think of a better way to declutter the board I would be willing to give it a try.

Yeah I am interested in brainstorming how we can highlight these things without creating a pinned section. I kn ow what people mean when forums get a lot of pinned items just wonder how we can highlight people's work without taking up too much space.

Some fan sites are overly moderated and you end up with these 100,000 foot topic threads (I.e. offseason, draft etc.)

You start losing content granularity.

But I understand you can't please all either.

man IMO this is getting really good. I actually think we may be migrating soon. and that will give us time to nail things down before draft night

stop me if you've seen this forum before.....