Forum Advice & Thoughts

[kompressaur]

As you know i aint got much left to finalise barr the forum links below forum, the sidebar links and the bookmaker review etc. Something i have been thinking about and i have dismissed as being a 'non happener' but it ties in with something else which i have put to slick and co regarding the forum looks.

The bit thats not for discussion here is that i dont like the bookies banner on the forum home page. I dont mind and actively encourage putting banners in the forums as per the poker forum but you cant do that and have the opther banner on the same page as you view. It looks tacky and quite sad really for want of a better way to describe it. Anyhow i am looking at making a nice stylised (??) header, something distint and catching but as you know i have struggled with that in the past. I will sort that and it will look good and yes i will take all advice on that (not on that you think we should keep the banner ) Anyhow to get to my point. What do you reckon on these boys? (i mean what do you think of these bad boys not 'what do you think of these, boys?'

BBWForums.net - Basketball Forums - Powered by vBulletin

The tabs on the forum (NFL Forum etc)

Dont worry i aint expecting us to go with them as it owuld mean a major upheaval to accommodate them. They do look good though dont they? Work well. Could we accommodate them?

I haven't thought about it too hard but it would be great if we somehow could. Let me think here. We had 'Other Sports forum' from that came Tennis forum, Rugby Forum etc. all just places to allow people the freedom of expression. Well a bit of space to move. WW forum works better imo having every godamn possible thread just there in much the same way. It works as they are in the same forum so i dont think splitting WW football up into smaller pieces would work. I do however think quite possibly these tabs could let us expand things where expansion possibly could be healthy. Somethings need room to grow. You have to be wary of dilution thopugh. As i say dont worry i am just barnstorming here. We all know that sometimes change CAN be good. Im away for a coffee to ponder this more.

[kompressaur]

look mick THEYVE got Livescore on THEIR forum home!!!! it looks ok to me. Anyone remember when i had videos on the top of ours? right ill get that coffee

[kompressaur]

Im still finding it hard to think of many things we could do with the tabs but i will have one or 2 suggestions. Im thinking aout this football livescore now up top on the new header. surely football livescore is better than a bookies banner? folks see it every time they click a link or do anything about the forum. Me and mickeypaul have never agreed on the needfullness of it and its an ongoing joke between us in the 'put a livescore on the forum' debate. His 'argument' is that if people want to see livescores then they simply click a button called livescores and they see livescores (he aint really that bothered though i think) Mine is that like chocolate at the checkouts its a temptation that is put in front of people's faces. If you like chocolate you are likely to think 'fcuk it i'll just have some chocolate seeing as its slap bang in front of me' if they weren't in to get chocolate and just went to the potatoe isle then they would be less likely to buy chocolate. Translated as you know to being that i can be not interested in having a bet but if i accidently saw that there was a full midweek coca cola league card starting in half an hour i would be more than likely to pop by the coca cola league threads to see what folks are saying. Whilst i am there i might ask a couple of questions and a new poster might answer some of them for me. I could take a few good tips and hopefully i can get a return and in turn i will pop by the cc league threads to say thanks to the original poster or posters and i might just think 'them cc league chaps are alright arent they?' and maybe look in with interest again. the cc league chaps will be happy of the extra attention on the thread and they in turn will be more motivated to post again next week. everyone is a winner even on losing nights.

Ive got a strong arguement i believe.

I wasn't here to talk about this but you can see how impulsive i am. I just want things to have the chance to run as smoothly and efficiantly as we can and TDP is made for it's members convience and pleasure. To think more on this it would be ideal if our livescore iframe also included Tennis etc and easily selectable. im hoping our existing livescore page has this option up top where folks can click. surely if it's tastefully done (at least better than the example above) then it would be a welcom addition to the forum? Not just all that above it would be handy to actually see livescore on the same browser page as i navigate through the forum. Not everyone is here for football betting komp and you'd be right i supose. Most are mind (im actually starting to think about putting a horse racing one in the horse racing forum - nah thats not a good idea but maybe it could work when we look at the original idea of this thread. The Forum Home Tabs.

Even as we are the now i think they would help. Not essential but helpfull. We could make the place tighter and also easier to navigate (no need to scroll right down to see whats happening in gen chat etc) Not only that it could open up avenues of expansion if expansion is going to be a good thing. Let me run down the forums to try and get a better idea here.

Actually while im here i might as well mention anything thats been nagging at me with the forum set-up (no tthat im suggesting change, just looking for solutions)

This forum needs to be noticed. That said though it needs to be noticed by those that care about TDP. 90%...nope 95% nope lets go for 99% of the people viewing TDP dont really care. they are here for betting tips. Not threads like this which really are only addressed to those that care (even if they don't make themselves heard in here) Idealy with the Tab System i would put this on top of a Tab. Along with...other forums.

The welcome forum. All my doing and no i dont like it. I moved it up here, i put the daft name thing on it. I dont mind moving it. Yes it may get the odd person to pop by and say hello but is it really turning them into posters? Its more like goldfish bowl and i would recommend it being in a Tab with Comm and Sugg probably.

Free bets. always been a tricky one for me. In effect its NOT about me telling you the latest offers so as i can try and get some sign-ups. Its actually just about free bets and bookie offers. Again though i dont think it needs to be in the mainstay of the forum and if i want sign-ups then i should be getting them off google. If you want to know the latest bookie offers etc then you would know where to find them. Ive always been wanting to slip them in about the football forums truth be told. Folks that like free bets like football betting. they wont miss them. Keeping on this 'we have Forum Home Tabs' belief i would put them under the FOOTBALL BETTING tab. Down the bottom of it.

Bookmaker Review forum - well it aint finsihed and it shouldnt really be where it is till it is finished. still it makes life easier for me and slick. maybe i should move it down the now but we might as well get used to it. It though goes hand in hand with the free bets forum though imo and now im starting to see that the free bets couldnt be with football (and that was a daft idea) k so book rev and free bets are homeless for now.

Betting forum - now here's something that doesnt work. again it was my idea to move it up top as i belive that a gambling forum's main forum should be its gambling forums. Diluting this down could well work as i dont think it is at the moment. We would have to disect it a bit to realise its capabilities though. its an enigma. a pig in a poke even. Something aint right about it. I will put it with the free bets etc for now though and that actually does work if the gambling general forum doesnt.

right now we are getting there. Here we are at Football Betting. Footbal betting is a fair tab to have. I think we would have to split it down further but i wouldnt like to make too many empty forums. Even Splitting England and Scotland doesnt seem right. Lets say we did. what would it be like? so we've got a scotttish football betting forum. I see now this is leading me into my old quandries of what should be a thread and what should be a post. Do we ask people to post on a league thread or just in the forum. Ive always been undecided about this. At the moment Punter X turns up in Brit Football to post his thoughts on his weekend thoughts. Is he allowed to post his weekend thoughts? no he isnt. He must post his thoughts on the relevant league thread. He isnt 'allowed' to start a thread called 'Punter X's Weekend Tips' He doesnt know that he IS allowed to do this but he would never gather that as no one else does and everyone is just posting on the threads that someone called Slick or Smelly Kegman has started. Infact its all so confusing that Punter X just decides not to bother posting. Maybe next week he will though. You see what i'm saying? It's restricting. In an ideal world..bah i forgot it just doesnt want to work. Well to begin with. Youve seen me try a 'komps weekend thread' but how can i have that alongside the Scottish 1-2-3 thread that Slick's posted up? We would have to break the habit or do something. If Parksy or others that bet on more than one league (thread) were to start their own multi-leagued threads them maybe it could work. It's scary though. the divisional threads are there even when everything else fails. they are consistant. they are strong (well their mostly not but you get my drift) If we could all learn to break free then maybe it could work but its scary. Anyhow lets see if the Tabs could change anything. This has always puzzled me and i really dont know whats best. Probably jst the way it is. Ok so ive got a scottish football forum to post in. Doesnt seem right does it? I cant have divisional threads in there as there would be 2 a week. Ok so we decide to disband the div threads and its a free for all. Actually hold on. We have MATCHES. We can talk about individual games. Be it celtic v Rangers or elgin v Arbroath. I think that that would suit my style and i would be kept quite busy. I quite like the thought of that. Its not all about whats happening on 2 threads a week it whats happening in the Scottish Football Betting forum. I have to say i like it. I think thats the perfect solution for me. It really frees things up. It lets folks relax and you know it as well as me it will make posters get more involved. the scot's 1-2-3 thread can be a foreboding place to post. Im sure people will find their own quiet corners in there each week and they will be free to relax and chat about the weekends betting without me jumping on them. Would it work ore the Football Betting Tab?

English League
English Non League
Scottish

Welsh and N Ireland we would obviously struggle with and i dunno what we would do with them. Non League your asking. We cant even get 2 posts on our non league thread as we stand i hear you say. I know. I aint convinced myself but hold on. Non League Betting is big in other parts of the net (i dont mean on betting forums) It has its audince. We just need them to turn up. Again the ability to post threads on any game helps and i do believe that in time it could be busier than we even hoped. shit im starting to have all this as happening and as gospel. I am just brainstorming as i said. Maybe i should hurry it up. Ok ill just go for possible structure and add short comments. Actually i will grab a coffee and roll a smoke first

[kompressaur]

just quickly to say that maybe the english non league forum isnt the best idea. English football betting i will leave it as.

[kompressaur]

man my stupid computer. Just lost 20 minutes of me going on. ill make i shorter

POKER - NON BETTING - NEWS - REVIEWS - MEMBERS AREA (oooer)

could all safetly be added as Tabs and it would be a forum enhancement imo. lets keep moving down. Tipster challenge. Well it could be in COMPETITIONS along with the Prediction Leagues and whatever when we get our act together. I dont think there is too much hope of that for a while so i can leave that as it is, this aint about change its about improvement.

I quite like the idea of adding SPORTS BETTING to the list. I havent thought of it but as i look at it i see no reason why not. Better than that lets go to the hilt with it as i do with most things as why not i say. Lets make a forum for EVERY GODAM SPORT THERE IS (shit the use of capitals as emphasis never really worked there did it) My reasoning on this has always been the same and quite simple and also hard to argue against. If someone offers the odds on spomething each week and people bet on it each week why shouldnt it have its own forum? thats it. simple. Lets have look at a bookie that offers the wiset varity of betting events and take it from there

[kompressaur]

SPORTS BETTING - POKER - NON BETTING - NEWS - REVIEWS - MEMBERS AREA

Before i begin i will have to clarify that we can still have the forums as they are on the forum home but extra ones if you clik the SPORTS BETTING tab. As i say i dont want to have folks saying 'oi komp you cnut why have you hidden away my sports forum in a tab' Ill go read and

As far as Search Engine Crawling, it is fully unobtrusive, search engine friendly

good.

no mention of it on that thread so i asked. Ill go investigate more.

[kompressaur]

just gonna see what sports forums we could add. Loads is a lot aint it? some of them wont be touched ever. You have to be in it to win it though. Wont be taking up much space. Actually as a work around all we need to do is make the forum home (as it is) just a tab in itself. Maybe the default tab.

MAIN - OTHER SPORTS - POKER - NEWS - NON BETTING - REVIEWS - MEMBERS

MAIN - As it is (or as good as or maybe just a more slimline version

OTHER SPORTS - The list below probably and ALSO the other sports forums from the MAIN tab

POKER - well we're starting to add a few forums with potential imo and it would be great to embrace it all. It will be like having a poker forum in itself

NEWS - RSS imported sports & bettting news. As with previous incarnations of my RSS to Forum plans any talked on threads could be moved to TALK SPORTS or GEN CHAT etc Always worth a look and of course its good for google

NON BETTING - Probably limitless expansion there especially seeing as we have been described as 'a lifestyle forum' in places Aye well we'll play to our strengths then. Its all just a click away and out of the way. Even i will eventually get around to enjoying these forums myself. Have i mentioned that before? lol

REVIEWS - As it sounds. Maybe move the Tab left or right

MEMBERS - Well we had the com and sug and the Introduce yourself. Maybe we can get rid and have it under NON SPORTS. I dunno

Lets see all these extra SPorts Betting forums. Remember we are primarily a sports Betting forum. I will address the 'dont want to over do it' nagging doubts after i see this list

Soccer

Ice Hockey

Basketball

Tennis

Horse Racing

Baseball

Greyhounds

Motorbikes

Formula 1

Volleyball

Rugby Union

American Football

Cricket

Snooker

Darts

Golf

Rally

Handball

Boxing

Cycling

Athletics

Specials

Rugby League

Speedway

Combat Sports

Gaelic Sports

Water Polo

Softball

Entertainment

Politics

Futsal

Netball

Lacrosse

Ski Jumping

[kompressaur]

Ice Hockey - aye welcome to TDP icehockey forum
Basketball - as above
Tennis - as always and top of the tree on the forum home and in the SPORTS BETTING tab
Baseball - another good forum. Interesting mix of transatlantic cousins
Motorbikes - I cant comment too much as i know nothing. the 'rules' say that we have a Motorbikes forum and who am i to say 'no thats daft'?
Formula 1 - Aye well it could be quiet at times and there's probably only just one thread a fornight or whatever at x times a year. A good case for making up a MOTOR SPORT forum with Motorbikes too
Volleyball - aye well whatevers your fancy
Rugby Union - as we have and nice to see som action down there. I will have to pop by and see whats been happening but im getting a lot of positive vibes comig out of there.
American Football - aye cool. sounds good to me. I'll know where to go if i need a NFL bet. Aye another NFL forum soz to Sponger and others
Cricket - What a great idea. I bet you that will be busy as hell in no time at all
Snooker - add pool too. Snooker is a popular betting medium. Ask Dave
Darts - mmmm maybe we could add Dominoes in here too. Darts it is then step right up to the oche!
Golf - aye
Rally - no. see MOTOR SPORTS
Handball - referee!!!
Boxing - Aye i like the sound of that. again all we need to do is expand our userbase and the only way to do that is to have a forum where there is things to do and see and read and everyting is in it's place
Cycling - fcuk now we're taking the piss now aint we? Rats i cant even put it in Motor Sport can i. WHEELED EVENTS? (i was joking)
Athletics - aye good i like that...and theyre off!
Specials - staying where it is
Rugby League - no comment
Speedway - i hear it's all the rage these days. I will have to check it out. I suewd to love Peter collins. err no i didnt. Motor Sport & Things With Wheels Forum it is.
Combat Sports - add to boxing
Gaelic Sports - aye good i like the sound of this
Water Polo - noooooooooooooo. Maybe have Aquatic Events. I think im being serious too.
Softball - never heard of of it but im game
Entertainment - see special bets
Politics - see special bets
Futsal - I thought it was german football like everyone else. I wont show my ignorance but i will look it up
Netball - lol now this...actually hold on. Netball=women, women=sex We have to have it
Lacrosse - Holy fcuk whats that? Its the thing with a thing that catches a ball isnt it?
Ski Jumping - Now we're talking. Lets have a Ski Jumping Forum

[kompressaur]

onto the imaginatively titled 'Other Betting Forums' Huge improvement here. Lets have a think. We have the forum made frrom possibly many forums BETTING FORUM. Im stuck here guys i need your help. You all like betting dont you? actually hold on nothing is changing. Just a wee bit. If it aint broke...hold on it is...nah i can leave that. too much to think of for now. the tabs only enhance the experience. the forum is staying genrally as it is. I know that i havent discussed this with anyone and it will either go one of two ways. No actually make that 5.

1 you'll all think its a simply splendid idea and onwards and upwards we will go as i think that and you all think we're going nowhere

2 There isnt a two as 1 is so good

3 no one really cares and i can do as i like

4 everyone will say it is shit after my initial tests and we'll all fight like cat and dog before it gets tweaked a bit and in time everyone will agree its actually really quite good and it's just a shame that no-one is talking to anyone anymore

5 I will go to bed and wake up and the whole idea will just seem so stupid and no one will have even bothered to reply and ive just wasted another 6 hours of my life

actually you need a

6 I will love it and think its great. Everyone will think it's shite. I will passionatly brass my case for hours in trying to convince you all of the sublimer aspects of it all to think that i am convincing you all. Sadly i will have been to spar in exactlly 29 minutes to 'get full of it' and about 2:30pm i will start roaring like a bull at someone and calling people scabby names. I will then go into a 2 week huff before coming back with a similar idea and think i do everything around here. I shouldnt laugh really as it's not good but heh lets forget all that and think about Forum Home TABS.

[rcgills]

Originally Posted by kompressaur

At the moment Punter X turns up in Brit Football to post his thoughts on his weekend thoughts. Is he allowed to post his weekend thoughts? no he isnt. He must post his thoughts on the relevant league thread. He isnt 'allowed' to start a thread called 'Punter X's Weekend Tips' He doesnt know that he IS allowed to do this but he would never gather that as no one else does and everyone is just posting on the threads that someone called Slick or Smelly Kegman has started. Infact its all so confusing that Punter X just decides not to bother posting. Maybe next week he will though. You see what i'm saying? It's restricting. In an ideal world..bah i forgot it just doesnt want to work. Well to begin with. Youve seen me try a 'komps weekend thread' but how can i have that alongside the Scottish 1-2-3 thread that Slick's posted up? We would have to break the habit or do something. If Parksy or others that bet on more than one league (thread) were to start their own multi-leagued threads them maybe it could work.

To me, that's an absolute no-goer. Talking purely for myself, but I'd be amazed if at least 90% of the people on TDP weren't the same, I don't care what individual tipsters are betting on (with very, very few exceptions - Martin Gale in the speedway for example being one). I'm looking for information or opinions that can either help me confirm my bets, or do enough to put me off them. On that basis, the only way it can possibly work is with forums broken down by leagues. I can go to the Premier League thread, the League One thread, the Spanish thread (poor example actually, as no fucker posts on that these days) and see if anyone's got any thoughts on those. The way you're proposing doing things, I'd need to go through 20 different threads with "Komp's picks", "Kegman's picks", "Slick's picks", "Diomed's picks", etc. etc. etc. (not to mention all the threads from new posters no-one's heard of before who want to start threads saying "Man Utd to beat Derby, lump on") just to see whether anyone had maybe posted anything on the leagues I was interested in, which would take ages and just lead to me not bothering.

If you really want a way to see picks by each tipster, is there not some way to adapt the feature we've already got where you can see the last posts by any user? If you click on a user's name at the moment, you get the option to see their most recent posts. Could that be filtered down to only include posts in the betting forums (i.e. leaving out general chat, talk sports, etc.)? If that was possible, you could then maybe create a sub-section where all the users were listed and you could just click on their name to see their most recent posts in the sports betting threads.

I certainly don't think though that it's workable to have the main threads broken down by tipster rather than by division.

[kompressaur]

Aye well i would agree with you possibly on the 'no goer' idea RC as it's one to me thats ive never been able to convince myself of either. It's hard to strike a balance between getting some order and letting folks be free. I think your right though. as ytou say if it was a high % of quality expected then aye but there's not gona be is there? I never visit betfair forum but some things get frowned aupon in there although im sure and i know that there are some cracking tipsters who dont mind sharing their knowledgeable thoughts. I'll give up on that 'breaking the divisional thread monopoly' for good then RC. It aint worth bothering about. I might flit about the idea again in 6 months but i suppose all it needs is for the divisional threads to get busy and thats all it takes. Nothing more.

I like your idea in the 2nd paragraph RC and when i get back from Spar i will look into it as it certainly seems possible to me. On a slightly sidenote i was hoping to encourage folks to use the betting record in my sig link. A real bad stop gap for now mind. I was gonna get the spreadsheet put in folks profiles (click the avatar to view) but as mentioned elsewhere with Winrew we really need to sort a seperate Betting Record/Tipster competition thingy out.

What about the Tabbed Forum idea RC? Is there anything i may have missed from that as it all seems pretty positive from what ive made out so far i think. I like it. Click Gen Chat type forums. click loads of sports forums, click oh im in a poker forum. click no im not im still in the same old TDP

[rcgills]

Originally Posted by kompressaur

What about the Tabbed Forum idea RC? Is there anything i may have missed from that as it all seems pretty positive from what ive made out so far i think.

The trouble is, your posts are longer than War and Peace Didn't have time to read it in full (actually, that's a lie, I just couldn't be bothered to read it in full ), so I just scanned through it. I'll have a read up later if I remember.

[Snodser]

Originally Posted by kompressaur

Rugby Union - as we have and nice to see som action down there. I will have to pop by and see whats been happening

You should, when you have a 'mo . Its still small but slowly but surely etc etc .

Having read above I believe you are looking to tighten things up/make the place more user friendly and so on..........

I'm pretty much uni sport, and not the sharpest knife in the drawer but after the few mths in here have got to know who is/isn't talking sh1te in sports and punt accordingly even though i don't post that much.
However "X" who just pops in has zero way of knowing that. I know it exists elsewhere and you don't want to be another version of etc....... but why not have a league?? table showing success rates. Not ness. how much people bet, just based on picks for example. Just a thought. Could be a bad one

[kompressaur]

Im glad you made that point Snodser as it's one ive been trying to make for a few years on here now. The exact point truth be told. This was because a good friend of mine i havent seen for years popped by and it was the first thing he said to me. He said 'banners fcuking everywhere and how do i know who's worth their salt?' Ive been looking at ways to make this happen Snodser and i can assure it will in some form or manner. At the mo the best option i have i a link to my google docs spreadsheet link here
Betting Record | My Hole

anyhow i wont think of that as ive spent about 200hrs thinking about it and i think it will have to be a custom job. Its hard trying to get the interaction with the forum software and database Snodser. Sod it i will leave it for now.

Anyhow just up to hear that they are going daft at work as i left a virus on their computer. I wasnt even supposed to be using it. Long story but i could just give the job up with no computer and now my brother has just told me that me moving in with him on the 30th is just temporary and he wont be getting the internet. Man i really need to sort myself out. I'll leave all this but i will be hoping we can get tabs of sorts. I'll leave it all with folks and see what we think. I need a smoke and a beer. Temp relief

[kompressaur]

This is moving along nicely. Just to mention so far i was looking at

SPORTS BETTING - POKER - NON BETTING - NEWS - REVIEWS - MEMBERS AREA

as being the tabs. we'll have to get our heads together. back in a bit but if anyone has any thoughts etc