New forums for conferences?

[jimdahl]

In the past we've always just talked about our conferencemates in the forums for the respective sports (e.g. WCHA in the hockey forum, Great West in the football forum, etc...).

There was a proposal here that we add a Big Sky News forum. What do people think? Would that help organize things or foster additional discussion? Would that cover all sports, so the named sports forums would primarily be for discussion of UND and people interested in the conferencemates would go to the conference forum? We haven't done that in the past because we've assumed football fans wanted to read all the conference football talk in one forum, and so forth.

[UNDColorado]

I think a Big Sky News Forum would be a great idea. A good way to consolidate news and topics related to our new conference.

[Hambone]

I think a Big Sky News Forum would be a great idea. A good way to consolidate news and topics related to our new conference.

I second this.

[The Sicatoka]

Where would you slot them in, under "UND Sports" or "Community"?

Are you considering retirement of two of the forums under Community (i.e. Transition to DI and Sioux Name)?

If we're considering a reorg and a remap we should look at everything.

[Goon]

I second this.

I guess I would third it, if we need to.

[Smoggy]

I like the idea of the conference, but I think it should be NCAA as a whole. Notice the conference realignment thread and discussion of Penn St. in hockey forum.

Could a conference category be a subcategory of each UND Sport?

[MoSiouxFan]

I like the idea of the conference, but I think it should be NCAA as a whole. Notice the conference realignment thread and discussion of Penn St. in hockey forum.

Could a conference category be a subcategory of each UND Sport?

I agree with that. Either that or just use the Big Sky Conference for general conference news, and keep everything else the same.

[SiouxFanatic]

I like the idea of the conference, but I think it should be NCAA as a whole. Notice the conference realignment thread and discussion of Penn St. in hockey forum.

Could a conference category be a subcategory of each UND Sport?

I don't see the advantage of that. It'd just be fragmenting discussion in my opinion. There's only so many threads that can be or are worth discussing in regards to conference talk. You'd be looking at maybe 1-10 threads per subforum if that.

[UND Fan]

I don't see the advantage of that. It'd just be fragmenting discussion in my opinion. There's only so many threads that can be or are worth discussing in regards to conference talk. You'd be looking at maybe 1-10 threads per subforum if that.

I fully would agree with this comment. If a new BSC thread would be implemented, I would hope that it only pertain to the conference in general (schools coming or going, etc.). Anything specific to an individual sport (football, basketball, etc.) should be under the appropriate thread.

[zonadub]

... use the Big Sky Conference for general conference news, and keep everything else the same.

... If a new BSC thread would be implemented, I would hope that it only pertain to the conference in general (schools coming or going, etc.). Anything specific to an individual sport (football, basketball, etc.) should be under the appropriate thread.

these make sense ^^^

maybe archive the Reclassification to Division I thread and replace it with a Big Sky (or all conferences) news thread

[siouxforeverbaby]

I fully would agree with this comment. If a new BSC thread would be implemented, I would hope that it only pertain to the conference in general (schools coming or going, etc.). Anything specific to an individual sport (football, basketball, etc.) should be under the appropriate thread.

I like this idea.

[bincitysioux]

I wouldn't mind replacing the "DI Reclassification" forum with a general NCAA or College Athletics forum. My guess is that a Big Sky forum would just be over-run by topics about the Summit, Missouri Valley, etc. Given the separation between hockey fans and "North Dakota-in-general" fans, my guess is that there would need to be separate forums for the NCHC and the Big Sky if you really want to break things down. But, personally, I would be all for a forum where Notre Dame, NDSU, Black Hills St., and Lindenwood could all be fair game for discussion.

[UNDColorado]

I wouldn't mind replacing the "DI Reclassification" forum with a general NCAA or College Athletics forum. My guess is that a Big Sky forum would just be over-run by topics about the Summit, Missouri Valley, etc. Given the separation between hockey fans and "North Dakota-in-general" fans, my guess is that there would need to be separate forums for the NCHC and the Big Sky if you really want to break things down. But, personally, I would be all for a forum where Notre Dame, NDSU, Black Hills St., and Lindenwood could all be fair game for discussion.

Agreed. The conference re-alignment could stay as that stuff is sure to be around for the forseeable future. Maybe that would be the spot to discuss schools from all different levels?

NCAA could be the category, then sub-categories could be conference re-alignments, then something like "other school news"

[Let'sGoHawks!]

I would like a pinned "Big Sky Conference related news" in each of the sports. That way, we won't be talking basketball volleyball and football all in one area.

[Cratter]

Is it time to add basketball to the front page?

[jimdahl]

Agreed. The conference re-alignment could stay as that stuff is sure to be around for the forseeable future. Maybe that would be the spot to discuss schools from all different levels?

NCAA could be the category, then sub-categories could be conference re-alignments, then something like "other school news"

That's what the "Non-UND sports" was supposed to capture -- everything but UND and its peers (conferencemates and NDSU have generally been discussed in the sport appropriate forum).

[jimdahl]

Ok, at a minimum we really need to do something with the Sioux Name and D-I reclassification forums, as neither quite apply anymore. Based on the feedback so far, and my own thinking about it, here's my current leaning:

Sioux Name => UND Nickname (since it's increasingly more about future names than Sioux)

UND's Reclassification to D-I => NCAA News (I could see this capturing both realignment and other interesting moves by the NCAA, will soak up some of the Non-UND Sports threads allowing us to refocus that forum)

Non-UND Sports => Non-Collegiate Sports (collegiate sports go to either the relevant sport forum, e.g. NDSU football talk will undoubtedly be in the football forum, Penn St. sanctions would likely be in NCAA news, etc...)

The question, then, is there still a need for conference forums as discussed above? My guess it that the sports results would be captured in the sports forums, while the structure conversations would be captured in NCAA News, so I don't yet see a need. But, that question is what launched this thread, so I don't want to ignore it.

I know it's not quite what anyone proposed, so... thoughts?

[Goon]

Sioux Name => UND Nickname (since it's increasingly more about future names than Sioux)

So do you just rename the messageboard UNDsports or something like that?

[jimdahl]

So do you just rename the messageboard UNDsports or something like that?

Well, that's a whole different can of worms

Renaming "Sioux name" to "UND nickname" isn't some attempt at political correctness, but just acknowledging that the discussion in that forum has shifted from discussing the name "Sioux" to discussing future nicknames.

I'm still a little torn what to do about the site name. I don't want to change names just to change again in 4 years if/when UND chooses a new nickname. But, at some point new fans won't associate "Sioux" with the school anymore, and I want the site to be obviously associated with UND sports.

[bincitysioux]

Ok, at a minimum we really need to do something with the Sioux Name and D-I reclassification forums, as neither quite apply anymore. Based on the feedback so far, and my own thinking about it, here's my current leaning:

Sioux Name => UND Nickname (since it's increasingly more about future names than Sioux)

UND's Reclassification to D-I => NCAA News (I could see this capturing both realignment and other interesting moves by the NCAA, will soak up some of the Non-UND Sports threads allowing us to refocus that forum)

Non-UND Sports => Non-Collegiate Sports (collegiate sports go to either the relevant sport forum, e.g. NDSU football talk will undoubtedly be in the football forum, Penn St. sanctions would likely be in NCAA news, etc...)

The question, then, is there still a need for conference forums as discussed above? My guess it that the sports results would be captured in the sports forums, while the structure conversations would be captured in NCAA News, so I don't yet see a need. But, that question is what launched this thread, so I don't want to ignore it.

I know it's not quite what anyone proposed, so... thoughts?

Ya, sounds good to me..................

[Goon]

Well, that's a whole different can of worms

Renaming "Sioux name" to "UND nickname" isn't some attempt at political correctness, but just acknowledging that the discussion in that forum has shifted from discussing the name "Sioux" to discussing future nicknames.

I'm still a little torn what to do about the site name. I don't want to change names just to change again in 4 years if/when UND chooses a new nickname. But, at some point new fans won't associate "Sioux" with the school anymore, and I want the site to be obviously associated with UND sports.

You know I never thought about that one - that is an whole another can of worms.

[dmksioux]

Ok, at a minimum we really need to do something with the Sioux Name and D-I reclassification forums, as neither quite apply anymore. Based on the feedback so far, and my own thinking about it, here's my current leaning:

Sioux Name => UND Nickname (since it's increasingly more about future names than Sioux)

UND's Reclassification to D-I => NCAA News (I could see this capturing both realignment and other interesting moves by the NCAA, will soak up some of the Non-UND Sports threads allowing us to refocus that forum)

Non-UND Sports => Non-Collegiate Sports (collegiate sports go to either the relevant sport forum, e.g. NDSU football talk will undoubtedly be in the football forum, Penn St. sanctions would likely be in NCAA news, etc...)

The question, then, is there still a need for conference forums as discussed above? My guess it that the sports results would be captured in the sports forums, while the structure conversations would be captured in NCAA News, so I don't yet see a need. But, that question is what launched this thread, so I don't want to ignore it.

I know it's not quite what anyone proposed, so... thoughts?

Yeah, the new line up seems fine. I do think it would be nice to see the conference names though, especially for opponent's fans who visit the site. Maybe Big Sky Football, Big Sky Basketball, NCHC Hockey, etc...No big deal though. This works too.

[jimdahl]

I do think it would be nice to see the conference names though, especially for opponent's fans who visit the site. Maybe Big Sky Football, Big Sky Basketball, NCHC Hockey, etc...No big deal though. This works too.

I'm quite sympathetic to that point, that's what led me to start this thread to begin with. Would adding "subtitles" (e.g. the lighter grey text thats under all the forum names in the community section) to the sports saying "Discuss UND and NCHC hockey", etc... help?

[jimdahl]

One more thought. It's immediately obvious that the now "NCAA News" forum contained a lot of general UND discussion that we thought pertinent to the D-I move but not to a specific sport. I wonder if we also need a "UND News", or if that should get sucked into "Community".

[dmksioux]

I'm quite sympathetic to that point, that's what led me to start this thread to begin with. Would adding "subtitles" (e.g. the lighter grey text thats under all the forum names in the community section) to the sports saying "Discuss UND and NCHC hockey", etc... help?

I could live with that.

EDIT: On second thought, I'm not so sure. There will still be people posting non-conference news in the specific sport forum. For example, I'm thinking people will still start threads on Big 10 hockey in the hockey forum. Maybe the subheading could read "Home of UND and NCHC Hockey or Home of UND and Big Sky football, instead of "discuss" UND and NCHC hockey....