Real Agenda Of Thw Weekly Informational Contest

[Converse Kid]

About a week ago, the Admin of the Softball Zone posted the following thread:


Can you write great informative softball articles? Weekly winner will receive a SoftballZone t-shirt, while best article of the month wins a Hoodie.

Just like the title says ... can you write a great informative softball article packed full of great information that's useful and has real value for today's coaches, parents and players?

Weekly Winner will receive one SoftballZone T-shirt.

Monthly Winner will receive one SoftballZone Hoodie.

Winner will be based on the following for both weekly and monthly winners

1.) VIEWS = 1 point
2.) REPLIES = 50 points*

Note: Replies that are less than 3 lines long will not count as a reply. The whole point is to create a thread that will open up discussion on the OP topic not just a lot of members saying I agree.

I immediately thought that they are trying to get more input and interest to the site. What a wonderful idea, we are all softball junkies who are always up for great conversation. I was hoping to read some really great material regarding topics not usually talked about or some of the same old topics discussed from a different point of view. I applaud the Admin's of this page by trying to make the site better, who wouldn't want to see our beloved forum even get better? So I waited all week, checking every day for the wealth of information. and waited, and waited.
Fast forward to this weeks weekly winner, Pacerdad57 and his opinionated article on Recruitment.*Note to Pacerdad57 and all users of this site, I did not start this thread to bash him or his article.* Disappointment is the first thing that I thought when I seen his thread was the weekly winner. Let me elaborate. First, was there any other contenders up for consideration? Second, although opinion articles are welcomed, an opinion is clearly not an informative medium. Its an opinion. How does that add real value for coaches, parents, and players?
If the real meaning of the contest is to increase participation, this new innovative idea clearly was a failure. Example, based on the points system mentioned above, here is three different threads during the week. Pacerdad57-Recruitment thread had 530 views and 6 replies( 3 of which were his replies). My thread- Long Overdue, A Step in The Right Direction has 1.976 views and 36 replies. The third thread, which was posted months ago and popped back up this week due to its "Value"- 14 Year Old College Prospects- has 4,437 views and 24 replies.
The Recruitment article took the comments of those threads and explained his opinions based off all those comments. So I am clearly upset and bashing the site and Pacerdad57, right? Wrong! I was not trying to write an article or enter the contest so I have no ill feelings toward anything. My point is, if you are going to award a thread based off a point system, wouldn't you pick the post that has the most views and participation whether its a 10,000 word essay or a thought provoking 20 word question? A lot of the same topics pop up over and over and I was just looking for something new, a refreshing topic that would peak my interest. While I commend this site, maybe you should just honor the best posts of the week? Your radio show touches on that subject by discussing hot weekly threads,
So what is the true agenda if the contest is not about the most commented on and popular subject? Is there a hidden agenda, or is it to truly benefit the audience? Why not post the weekly participants and let the users vote on what thread had the most value? As I am sitting here counting my words (more than 750 typed which qualifies this as a weekly article) please do not consider this thread for any type of award. Once again, great idea, but it may be time to go back to the drawing board.
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[coachjwb]

Ricky will have to answer this as it's his site and contest, but he and I did talk some before his post and I know his intent was definitely to bring more interesting topics and traffic to the site. I know it's a week to week contest so anything posted before it started wouldn't count. I would say that pacer's dad post was a good one, but will agree that it wasn't a true "article" ... so my guess is that it was as close to one as there was on the site in the last week ... but again, Ricky will have to answer because I haven't talked with him about since before his original post.

 

[Pacerdad57]

You're absolutely correct converse kid, not an article, but an opinion piece. Clearly stated in Ricky's thread as an acceptable format. Not even going to say it was a decent opinion piece, but apparently about the only one that was posted.
Hopefully, this format takes off and we can get more seasoned articles/opinion pieces as it progresses.
I think the idea is a great one.

 

[yossarian]

My brain hurts now.

 

[FastBat]

I think it's a good idea. I assumed it was to bring in more traffic and talk about softball. I really enjoy reading about other softball people's opinions, views, and experiences.

 

[mike_dyer]

I would have to check the original thread, but I think there was something in there about how the moderators can just decide which thread is the best.

Also, his post was his own writing, yours was a link to an article that someone else wrote if I'm not mistaken.