Ladies and Gentlemen,
This site has never been the most endearing to the club or even parts of our own fanbase. A common piece of feedback I receive privately is that some find it too negative or drama-filled, which is why many choose to stay away. At times we clash hard and put each other down, the club, the players, and even Super, who pays for this site out of his own pocket. Some of this could understandably offend players’ families. In conversations I’ve had with people within the club’s hierarchy, the club takes a fairly open-minded view and accepts that it can’t control what others say or think. That’s a mature approach.
That said, I believe the majority of us are good eggs, mean well, even if some are rough around the edges and a small minority hold more extreme views. Over the past decade, I’ve met many wonderful people through this site, some of whom I now count as close friends and have learned a great deal from. You’re a big reason I’m still here and why I care about this community.
If you’re willing, I’d appreciate your thoughts on the direction the site should take. Ultimately, Super will decide, but it’s helpful to understand how people feel, here or privately, on:
- Current affairs and political blogs: Even if personally enjoy them, these often become the most feral and attract extremist views, especially in challenging times. They can flood the site and turn off many who simply want to talk footy, the one thing we all share. Life has enough dramas.
- Moving these blogs to The Cave: Making them members-only may be a win-win, it allows discussions without overwhelming those who’d want to avoid it.
- Any other ideas for improving the site.
Please don’t comment on political, religious or current affairs issues in this blog. This is about improving the site, not saving the world from an apocalypse.
Replies
Mark, I can't filter the blogs by replies, but in terms of views & clicks 96% of the top 100 are all footy related usually R&R.
Finch incoherent on a talk show was no.1 (12,000 plus record views). So footy player dramas are top dog things like signing news, losses and rumours.
The top 37 are all footy related in some form or another.
The highest ranked non-footy blog came in around no.37-38 about some big 3m flatty being caught in the Parramatta River (1 reply). There were three others in the top 100: Folau (588 replies), Eels jokes (13 replies), and Dennis Prittard (15 replies).
It's a quick sweep to get an overall feel.
In your opinion what do you think the majority of members want?
I'm talking about engagement . Replies not clicks . It's not a newspaper, it's supposed to be a forum. I can start a thread tomorrow and call it Sydney Sweeny fingers herself on live cam , and it'll blow the clicks out of the park.
If were to ask you what are the 5 most engaged 1EE threads of all time , would you assume they are football or non football ? Full disclosure I don't know the answer , but I have my theories as I'm sure some other long term members do .
Do you think it's purely due to the non footy threads disrupting the page that supers spine and the other threads have many clicks but bugger all comments , whilst the non footy threads have more replies than and Ethiopian child's annual calorie intake ?
I couldn't tell you the 5 most engaged threads of all time, because I don't have that data either given the site started in 2004 and I've only had analytics for about 5 years.
As the owner, I'm most concerned with views and repeat visitors. The vast majority of visitors since 2022 arrive either directly (i.e. they type 1eyedeel.com into their browser) or access it through Google and land on the home page. So our individual blogs don't often sit high in SEO because they're not designed to.
Occasionally we get a blog pop up but it's usually for some really niche Eels subject like the jersey designs since 1947.
Effectively though, out of the more than 400,000 active users who have visited the site since 2022, 45% enter through the home page.
In terms of the most popular combining views and events tracked, far and away the consistently most popular are recruitment, retention and signing discussions. If I remove the home page clicks and sign in page visits, the most popular page? Signing Rumours.
Of the top 100 most visited and engaged pages on the site, more than 70 are based around signings or releases, the others are match day blogs.
Social blogs seem busy, but they're entirely only available to logged in members. They're not attracting new users, or keeping them.
You could start a social blog that reveals the pyramids were built by lizard people, it won't get indexed on Google and anyone outside the site wouldn't be able to view it.
Social blogs have always been an internal thing. Often driven by the legendary Col Mushroom, but mainly in good humour.
Recent years have changed, especially with Mushie passing on. Social blogs are now a battleground with clear sides setting themselves up.
It's why HoE has started this blog. I will be considering all the feedback supplied in this blog before making a decision.
I'll be weighing it up with what the overall vibe of the site should be. i.e. do we just shift political discussion to The Cave or socials and allow discussion of other sports in Social Blogs?
It's hard to say politics is a no go zone, just about everything in life reverts back to politics somehow.
So if we ban political and religious discussions does that mean that sex, gay, soccer, union, cricket, LGBTQ, fishing, and illegal substance topics and camel 🐪 topics are still ok
Haaha, Cumberland Eel. Looking for loopholes and specifics. Smart. Basically, all non-footy discussions might end up in The Cave. But, if you want to add a blog on lawn bowls, cheese rolling, volcano surfing or a camel story, I doubt you'll get in trouble. It might end up in the cave if it involves Charlotte and Wilbur in the barn.
I'm of the view that, whilst this forum has always had it's fair share of argy bargey, it has in recent times become quite toxic and has led to the departure of several well respected members whose contributions added positively to discussion around our footy team.
My wife and I were discussing a similar topic this evening and we arrived at the view that COVID really messed things up. We now live in a world where we require immediate reassurance and remedy when confronted with adverse circumstances, and if we're unable to apply that salve, must find a scapegoat to blame. This, in contrast to the mindset during previous pandemics and World Wars, where folks may have been of the mind that "life happens" and took a more stoic approach. I think this is a reason why conspiracy theories have become so rampant in recent times and those conspiracy theories have certainly found a home on this forum.
I'm also of the view that this forum is no longer a tent of competing ideas and is instead an echo chamber for the knucle draggers that you typically find in the comments section of any right wing publication - i.e. the Murdoch press. Shit, I'm a subscriber to Code Sports and just today, the comments section was screaming that Pat Cummins and Usman Khwaja should be dropped from the Australian cricket set up for no reason other than their political ideation.
I see similar Neanderthal tendencies on this forum, which has become the most inelegant example of the Dunning-Kruger effect I've experienced on social media. We've lost some seriously good people - and it's no surprise there's only a handful of women that contribute to our forum because it's become an entirely unsafe environment. We should be collectively ashamed of that.
I'm no angel - and acknowledge I've had a crack at folks on here from time to time. I've been trying to self improve over the last few years. And, when we lose footy games, I don't think it unreasonable for folks to get on here and express themselves as demonstrably as they see fit.
I say to my clients all the time - if you wouldn't want something you say to be published in the newspaper or shown on television, that's a good yardstick when deciding whether or not you should say it at all. There's never been anything I've said on this forum that I wouldn't say to someone's face - and, to name just one name, Frank the Tank and I have gone at it from time to time, but I'd trip over myself to have a beer with him, even though we probably would walk away, after a handshake, not necessarily agreeing with each other.
This forum is our space - and it's our responsibility to craft it in a manner for which we can be proud. As it stands, we're below par and HOE rightfully calls us out on it.
I learned a long time ago that everyone has different opinions and views on things. Not everyone will agree with you. For me i won't get into an argument on anything i'll simply change the subject or walk away its not worth it. Things can get heated on here but everyone is entitled to their opinion. All in all i liked reading the banter.... merry xmas to all.
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