[cite]Posted By: Henry Irving[/cite]Nearly all the most outrageous comments are made by members of staff and board members hiding behind false names which they change every few weeks.
FACT
Usually a divorced male in his Forties who can't get a girlfriend.They often TYPE IN CAPITAL LETTERS TO INTIMIDATE
think its a good question, and bear in mind from my answers that i fully admit that i am of course completely biaised.
Internet forums have certainly changed aspects of supporting your club. Before you only really talked and discussed Charlton with fellow fans either in your small circle in the pub, or on matchdays. Now, everyone has an equal voice to put their opinion to a far wider audience. There are obvious positives and negatives with that, and it needs an appreciation and tolerance that its not just the Bloke Behind You that sees things completely opposite to you and winds you up.
In terms of the Your Views section of the website, i have been strong in the belief for a long time that it should be scrapped. If there were no forums such as this one and others, then it would be a great service. But there are, and the way it is administered means it takes paid Charlton staff time to moderate and upload the comments. That to me is resource time that would be greater served on other things, particularly in the redundancy and cost-cutting environment of the last 24 months. I just don't see the benefit that it offers when weighed up against costs.
Whether forums are a good way of gathering opinions, then it can be construed both ways. If i run a business and new that for example, up to 2,000 of my customers either made comments or read comments about our business on a daily basis, then it would be stupid to ignore. Equally it has to be balanced that a lot of those comments are instant thoughts, and not in all cases, thoughts that have been given wider consideration. However, it depends entirely on whether your outlook is to see things as a potential friend or a potential enemy. My view would always be to view everything as a potential friend, and consider how best i could utilise that to its advantages.
What the downside of the internet forums in my mind is the fact it has created on a wider scale internal splits between supporters. There was a time that if i new someone supported Charlton, then barring them committing serious crimes i would automatically think of them as an ally, someone with a connection to me. Since the internet began, what you are seeing is a sharp rise in 'smaller groups' supporting the same club, with resentment growing towards others who support the same team, but prefer to use a different platform. Its something that appears to have effected this site in the last year, with people on other sites taking a pop at either this site in general, or comments made by individual posters on here, on an almost daily basis. As an example, an occassional poster on here who posts more frequently on another Charlton site said on there the last week he pops on here occassionally 'to wind them up'. That i just simply don't get. We all support the same club, and are all largely cut from similar cloth, but there is nowadays a definative 'them and us' mentality between fans who follow the same club. Equally, resentment can grow between individuals that simply would not happen pre-internet as it is much easier to be rude and obnoxious to a fellow fan when sat anonymously behind your keyboard, than you would in the days when your only contact with fellow fans would be face to face.
Those points are not just specific to Charlton, but i'm sure is repeated throughout every club.
I personally think there are certain types of people that will always look for divides or create them, there is no good reason why there should be such based on what site you log onto - unless there is some underlying political standpoint being advocated. We are all Charlton and want whats best for the club even tho we may express this in different ways.
The loudest noise is made by those annoyed by something, those that agree seem to keep quiet. Those with an axe to grind seem to be very vociferous at the mo and the board should realise the majority, balance their recent errors against past successes. The more level headed realise they never intended the current situation and are doing their best to rectify it.
[cite]Posted By: AFKABartram[/cite]
In terms of the Your Views section of the website, i have been strong in the belief for a long time that it should be scrapped. If there were no forums such as this one and others, then it would be a great service. But there are, and the way it is administered means it takes paid Charlton staff time to moderate and upload the comments. That to me is resource time that would be greater served on other things, particularly in the redundancy and cost-cutting environment of the last 24 months. I just don't see the benefit that it offers when weighed up against costs.
Couldn't you apply the same argument to other aspects of the OS, in particular match reports (well, in the past, anyway!)?
I'd agree that Your Views is not a very satisfactory forum, however it's at least an acknowledgement that other views than the official one exist.
Interesting question. I agree with AFKA's comments, but when it comes to how the Board and executives use it there are some dangers. In marketing, focus groups are used a lot. You could think of these forums as large scale focus groups but what is missing is the moderator. This expert assesses the balance of the views among the group, and among other things balances out the views of the naturally garrulous and those of the shy. Then they present their overall findings to the client, using selected quotes from the groups to illustrate more generally representative opinions. The Board don't have that filter, and so they will have in their heads the most hurtful comments. If I was the CEO I'd employ a professional to regularly monitor the forums and present on a weekly basis the opinions and moods of the 'customer base'. He could even get the moderator to ask questions, either disguised as a fan or even as an open member of the club staff.
[cite]Posted By: AFKABartram[/cite]think its a good question, and bear in mind from my answers that i fully admit that i am of course completely biaised.
Internet forums have certainly changed aspects of supporting your club. Before you only really talked and discussed Charlton with fellow fans either in your small circle in the pub, or on matchdays. Now, everyone has an equal voice to put their opinion to a far wider audience. There are obvious positives and negatives with that, and it needs an appreciation and tolerance that its not just the Bloke Behind You that sees things completely opposite to you and winds you up.
In terms of the Your Views section of the website, i have been strong in the belief for a long time that it should be scrapped. If there were no forums such as this one and others, then it would be a great service. But there are, and the way it is administered means it takes paid Charlton staff time to moderate and upload the comments. That to me is resource time that would be greater served on other things, particularly in the redundancy and cost-cutting environment of the last 24 months. I just don't see the benefit that it offers when weighed up against costs.
Whether forums are a good way of gathering opinions, then it can be construed both ways. If i run a business and new that for example, up to 2,000 of my customers either made comments or read comments about our business on a daily basis, then it would be stupid to ignore. Equally it has to be balanced that a lot of those comments are instant thoughts, and not in all cases, thoughts that have been given wider consideration. However, it depends entirely on whether your outlook is to see things as a potential friend or a potential enemy. My view would always be to view everything as a potential friend, and consider how best i could utilise that to its advantages.
What the downside of the internet forums in my mind is the fact it has created on a wider scale internal splits between supporters. There was a time that if i new someone supported Charlton, then barring them committing serious crimes i would automatically think of them as an ally, someone with a connection to me. Since the internet began, what you are seeing is a sharp rise in 'smaller groups' supporting the same club, with resentment growing towards others who support the same team, but prefer to use a different platform. Its something that appears to have effected this site in the last year, with people on other sites taking a pop at either this site in general, or comments made by individual posters on here, on an almost daily basis. As an example, an occassional poster on here who posts more frequently on another Charlton site said on there the last week he pops on here occassionally 'to wind them up'. That i just simply don't get. We all support the same club, and are all largely cut from similar cloth, but there is nowadays a definative 'them and us' mentality between fans who follow the same club. Equally, resentment can grow between individuals that simply would not happen pre-internet as it is much easier to be rude and obnoxious to a fellow fan when sat anonymously behind your keyboard, than you would in the days when your only contact with fellow fans would be face to face.
Those points are not just specific to Charlton, but i'm sure is repeated throughout every club.
he only wanted to know 1 or 2 not war and peace ;-P
Comments
2 if they agree
:-)
FACT
(just kidding folks)
Usually a divorced male in his Forties who can't get a girlfriend.They often TYPE IN CAPITAL LETTERS TO INTIMIDATE
Internet forums have certainly changed aspects of supporting your club. Before you only really talked and discussed Charlton with fellow fans either in your small circle in the pub, or on matchdays. Now, everyone has an equal voice to put their opinion to a far wider audience. There are obvious positives and negatives with that, and it needs an appreciation and tolerance that its not just the Bloke Behind You that sees things completely opposite to you and winds you up.
In terms of the Your Views section of the website, i have been strong in the belief for a long time that it should be scrapped. If there were no forums such as this one and others, then it would be a great service. But there are, and the way it is administered means it takes paid Charlton staff time to moderate and upload the comments. That to me is resource time that would be greater served on other things, particularly in the redundancy and cost-cutting environment of the last 24 months. I just don't see the benefit that it offers when weighed up against costs.
Whether forums are a good way of gathering opinions, then it can be construed both ways. If i run a business and new that for example, up to 2,000 of my customers either made comments or read comments about our business on a daily basis, then it would be stupid to ignore. Equally it has to be balanced that a lot of those comments are instant thoughts, and not in all cases, thoughts that have been given wider consideration. However, it depends entirely on whether your outlook is to see things as a potential friend or a potential enemy. My view would always be to view everything as a potential friend, and consider how best i could utilise that to its advantages.
What the downside of the internet forums in my mind is the fact it has created on a wider scale internal splits between supporters. There was a time that if i new someone supported Charlton, then barring them committing serious crimes i would automatically think of them as an ally, someone with a connection to me. Since the internet began, what you are seeing is a sharp rise in 'smaller groups' supporting the same club, with resentment growing towards others who support the same team, but prefer to use a different platform. Its something that appears to have effected this site in the last year, with people on other sites taking a pop at either this site in general, or comments made by individual posters on here, on an almost daily basis. As an example, an occassional poster on here who posts more frequently on another Charlton site said on there the last week he pops on here occassionally 'to wind them up'. That i just simply don't get. We all support the same club, and are all largely cut from similar cloth, but there is nowadays a definative 'them and us' mentality between fans who follow the same club. Equally, resentment can grow between individuals that simply would not happen pre-internet as it is much easier to be rude and obnoxious to a fellow fan when sat anonymously behind your keyboard, than you would in the days when your only contact with fellow fans would be face to face.
Those points are not just specific to Charlton, but i'm sure is repeated throughout every club.
oh yeah and what AFKA said, its an opportunity.
Couldn't you apply the same argument to other aspects of the OS, in particular match reports (well, in the past, anyway!)?
I'd agree that Your Views is not a very satisfactory forum, however it's at least an acknowledgement that other views than the official one exist.
he only wanted to know 1 or 2 not war and peace ;-P
2