[NSC] Should NSC just be a football forum?

[Krafty]

Genuine question, what occurred? I ask as I’ve spent a serious amount of time on here but this one totally passed me by (and it hasn’t been mentioned again on this thread)

[Albion] - My Flounce

For the past 13 years, I have been proud, delighted & thoroughly enjoyed running the Score Predictor competition & I fully hoped & expected to be doing this for many more years. We all come to NSC in my opinion in the foremost as we support BHA & to leave the outside world at home. When not...

www.northstandchat.com

The thread has been renamed to My Flounce.

 

[MJsGhost]

There's barely a subject though that they can't turn into a political binfest...... 'Favourite 70s ice lolly?' 'Bloody Tories under Thatcher decimated the Mivvy industry' etc

Mivvi? The old milk-snatcher would 'of' had the claws out for the mini-milk, Shirley?

Also, an NSC pedant would probably point out that reducing an industry by 10% isn't really a hill worth dying on...

Then someone would make a fish pun (yawn).

NSC works perfectly well as it is IMO, but there will always be those who carp on about it for some rudd-y reason or another, kicking up an unnecessary s-tench.

 

[Guinness Boy]

But each thread IS a different area. Once you've opened a thread to swear your undying love for the mighty Twix, you'll not see any criticism of Fannying Around At The Back™ until you intentionally click away and go elsewhere.

By way of some history, in the past I've been an advocate of separate areas, and have polled on it several times over the years. Every single time, without fail, the consensus is exactly the same as the poll here: "leave it alone".

Not to mention that, in hindsight, The Bear Pit was the wrong decision. It just led to arguments on the main board about whether a thread should be put into the pit or not, with agendas driving the pleading.

Where I think you (and the other mods agreed) were spot on was sticking the Covid posts into a sub-forum. God forbid there will be another similar pandemic any time soon, but I'd like to think we'd do the same.

That said, I'm a 100% advocate for leaving things as they are. It's really easy not to open threads with subjects you don't like, really easy to close them again if they are misnamed. Some threads are for helping out specific, often vulnerable groups. The running thread was a real help to me when I was running regularly and I hope that the dog thread is helping someone right now. The MH ones always do. But when it comes to politics / war / criticisms of other teams or discussions of whose fault it is when we take a heavy defeat or go on a bad run people need to have a thick skin or not bother. It's always been the way on here and so many users have stuck with the site for over 20 years I don't think it's broken.

 

[Brovion]

No football forum I’ve ever seen has focused exclusively on football, and I’ve not seen a single person suggesting that this one should do that either. Most football forums however do however have a much clearer division between football topics and the world at large. NSC is more like Mumsnet with all the random bullshit it’s filled with. If people want to argue about Israel vs Hamas, or Twix vs Mars Bars, let them do it — but let them do it in a separate area.

There used to be a forum for that, it was called 'Other Stuff'. No bugger used it. (I think it's gone now). Leaving aside the fact that the vast majority don't want it, having multiple areas/forums always makes more work for the moderators has they have to decide whether "I saw Player X in Restaurant Y" should be in the Football forum or the Food and Drink one, and if there isn't a Food and Drink forum should there be one? And that's before you get onto the subject of threads going off-topic (which is sometimes irritating but is usually quite funny). The reason that people (on the whole) think that this forum is extremely well moderated is because the mods don't have to spend their time making sure everything is in the right place.

But if you want a forum with separate area(s) - go and start one. Others have, including the legendary Safeway Seagull who started NorthStandPolls when Bozza banned stupid polls.

 

[Hamilton]

I've mentioned this on previous threads, but when people talk about the "togetherness" of our fans during the dark days, i can't think of a better example of where it still exists than on NSC. This is a community of fans, who obviously have Albion in common, but we're also linked, by the the day to day things that happen to us and that we then talk about on here. Sometimes we have differing opinions, but mostly we get along and people genuinely help each other out on here. It's more than a forum for just chatting about football, and I think that's why most people come here.

Where else can you lose your coat in an airport in the south of France and then be reunited with it a few days later?

If we just spoke about football, none of those extraordinary feats of human kindness and detective work would ever happen. I think NSC should be protected by the UN.

 

[Greg Bobkin]

I've mentioned this on previous threads, but when people talk about the "togetherness" of our fans during the dark days, i can't think of a better example of where it still exists than on NSC. This is a community of fans, who obviously have Albion in common, but we're also linked, by the the day to day things that happen to us and that we then talk about on here. Sometimes we have differing opinions, but mostly we get along and people genuinely help each other out on here. It's more than a forum for just chatting about football, and I think that's why most people come here.

Just a BIT of an understatement

But seriously, beyond what I'd mentioned in my previous post, threads on topics as varied as mental health help, getting out of parking tickets/legal issues, dealing with lockdown/covid and just general life advice have made NSC even better in the past few years. Life is pretty tough at times for most people and sometimes talking things through with strangers (or people who aren't your nearest and dearest) can be a godsend.

Most people probably came to NSC for the football, but almost certainly stayed for the best crisp debates, TV recommendations and fish puns.

 

[GT49er]

Genuine question, what occurred? I ask as I’ve spent a serious amount of time on here but this one totally passed me by (and it hasn’t been mentioned again on this thread)

Agreed. I was totally baffled by that comment.

Edit: Thanks to post #101 for the explanation.

 

[Neville's Breakfast]

But each thread IS a different area. Once you've opened a thread to swear your undying love for the mighty Twix, you'll not see any criticism of Fannying Around At The Back™ until you intentionally click away and go elsewhere.

By way of some history, in the past I've been an advocate of separate areas, and have polled on it several times over the years. Every single time, without fail, the consensus is exactly the same as the poll here: "leave it alone".

Perhaps that’s because the people who stand to lose their platform are the ones most likely to vote.

 

[El Presidente]

Just a BIT of an understatement

But seriously, beyond what I'd mentioned in my previous post, threads on topics as varied as mental health help, getting out of parking tickets/legal issues, dealing with lockdown/covid and just general life advice have made NSC even better in the past few years. Life is pretty tough at times for most people and sometimes talking things through with strangers (or people who aren't your nearest and dearest) can be a godsend.

Most people probably came to NSC for the football, but almost certainly stayed for the best crisp debates, TV recommendations and fish puns.

Many years ago when I was sleeping in my car at night and having to take a shower and shave in the local swimming pool before turning up to work I can assure you NSC was my nearest and dearest.

God Bless It and all who binfest in it.

A pox on those who try to censor and stifle it, who always tend to be politicians for some reason.

 

[Hamilton]

Perhaps that’s because the people who stand to lose their platform are the ones most likely to vote.

I think that you are being a little disingenuous towards the people who have voted. I'm certainly not looking to build a 'platform' and I very much doubt that I stand out anymore than any other average poster on here. What I think the board benefits from when we discuss both the issues of the day and football in the same space is a blending of perspectives that improves our attitude towards both football and the world at large.

We're a community tied together by a common interest - football. But for me, first and foremost, we're a community and that community gets shaped by all the things we write about and debate. Very often people already have entrenched views on subject matter, and they are unlikely to change their minds or admit that they were wrong on a football forum. But, over time - a long time - views do modify and every little interaction helps. That then affects how we discuss the football topics. I think we're far more likely to talk about the mental health of a player and what we think the best course of action is because of the other debates we have on here.

I've been on some other boards, as have you, and when you look at the quality of the discourse it's depressing. Not all boards I'm sure, but many posters on pure football boards just post short sentences which are as dull as ditch water and often reinforce prejudices e.g. "he's a pussy!" "twat couldn't score in a f***ing brothel." etc.

I think we massively underestimate the way in which NSC does develop the way we look at the world and the way we look at football, and for the better.

 

[SweatyMexican]

What do we do during the off-season together if not talk a load of bllcks?

 

[Questions]

I would be in favour of NSC being a football only forum, but since learning to read as a child it has hugely helped me to distinguish between those topics I want to look at and those that I don’t.

You’ve got influence on here……. Get that dwarf sub forum going.

 

[Bozza]

You’ve got influence on here……. Get that dwarf sub forum going.

Paid option.

 

[Neville's Breakfast]

Many years ago when I was sleeping in my car at night and having to take a shower and shave in the local swimming pool before turning up to work I can assure you NSC was my nearest and dearest.

God Bless It and all who binfest in it.

A pox on those who try to censor and stifle it, who always tend to be politicians for some reason.

Thread ignore solves everything anyway. Job done.

 

[Questions]

Paid option.

What happened to the REMF money?
Yeah goes quiet now.

 

[KZNSeagull]

[Albion] - My Flounce

For the past 13 years, I have been proud, delighted & thoroughly enjoyed running the Score Predictor competition & I fully hoped & expected to be doing this for many more years. We all come to NSC in my opinion in the foremost as we support BHA & to leave the outside world at home. When not...

www.northstandchat.com

The thread has been renamed to My Flounce.

The thread itself appears to have flounced now.
In better news, I am delighted that there really was only one grown man on here with an unhealthy obsession with Duran Duran. Phew.

 

[Hamilton]

What happened to the REMF money?
Yeah goes quiet now.

Pictures of ex-REMF chairman in Brighton emerge online...

 

[AlbionBro]

It's worked as it is for at least the 17-and-a-half years I've been here - if it ain't broke, don't fix it.

You could say that, but Tony Bloom wasn't scared to change things up when removing Mr Hughton for Mr Potter, and the rest is history.
I think if the football was separated from the political threads it might just save a lot of time for all involved and send it on a Ultra sonic boost to a new level.

 

[Thunder Bolt]

You could say that, but Tony Bloom wasn't scared to change things up when removing Mr Hughton for Mr Potter, and the rest is history.
I think if the football was separated from the political threads it might just save a lot of time for all involved and send it on a Ultra sonic boost to a new level.

It is. Look at the top of the threads. Just Albion.

 

[Thunder Bolt]

What do we do during the off-season together if not talk a load of bllcks?

Find out where everybody goes on holiday. Some of us actually tell the truth.