This place used to be the bomb.

blakcherry329

Well-Known Member
Definitely fell way off.
I thinks some of the rule changes and the way they were enforced, a few years ago, turned some people off.
People getting older, starting families, etc. changes priorities, so softball isn't as important to some.
 

dunkky

Well-Known Member
it's all about contents. facebook don't cover mechanics nor any learning opportunities. back in the days, this is the place to share the wisdom and knowledge. Now, that has diminished. thus no different than facebook or youtube.

i learned so much from here.. none from facebook. people ask for help on their swing mechanics, he would be lucky if he gets one or two responses. if more responses, they are mostly country, froggy, or their gang's remarks of how bad your post is... so... that's what it comes down to..
 

jbo911

Super Moderator
Staff member
Definitely fell way off.
I thinks some of the rule changes and the way they were enforced, a few years ago, turned some people off.
People getting older, starting families, etc. changes priorities, so softball isn't as important to some.
I think the old heads ran off too much young blood. The rules came too late imo. Social media landscapes change fast, and they never cared to choose an identity. The older members policed this place in the 03s, but when the next generation came along they just **** on new members and ran them off, then called them soft.

Getting rid of the shaved bat section was the one choice mgt made that had an immediate and large enough to notice effect, but people want to pretend that's not true. They'd have to admit how much cheating is in this game if they did.
 

Steve Butler

Addicted to Softballfans
in 2011 I was an American Airlines top 100 abuser of Internet from being on this site 8 hours a day. Then 2012 I was in Kabul for 11 months with 52kbs internet so that was it for me.
 

Redsfan

Well-Known Member
I didn't join until 2018, so I didn't get to see the good old days, but I've seen a big difference just since I joined. It has declined quite a bit in that time. As you know, people come in and out of the game. I've done it. I took 16 years off and became a golfer. Haha. Maybe we are in one of those decline phases now. I'm sure Facebook hasn't helped things either. I don't do FB but every team I've played on since I've got back in the game use that to communicate with the team. Another thing, is it possible players just don't know about this forum? I only found it by accident looking for bats one day. Maybe some advertising could help.
Lastly, certain members will only bother you if you let them bother you. It's the internet so leave your feelings at the door. I haven't had the first problem with Joker, Country, etc. Country actually has answered a few questions I've had about some of the changes in the games since the last time I've played. Was very helpful and nice. I've noticed if you don't start a best bat thread, ask stupid questions or answer a post from 10 years ago, they leave you alone.
 

dunkky

Well-Known Member
I didn't join until 2018, so I didn't get to see the good old days, but I've seen a big difference just since I joined. It has declined quite a bit in that time. As you know, people come in and out of the game. I've done it. I took 16 years off and became a golfer. Haha. Maybe we are in one of those decline phases now. I'm sure Facebook hasn't helped things either. I don't do FB but every team I've played on since I've got back in the game use that to communicate with the team. Another thing, is it possible players just don't know about this forum? I only found it by accident looking for bats one day. Maybe some advertising could help.
Lastly, certain members will only bother you if you let them bother you. It's the internet so leave your feelings at the door. I haven't had the first problem with Joker, Country, etc. Country actually has answered a few questions I've had about some of the changes in the games since the last time I've played. Was very helpful and nice. I've noticed if you don't start a best bat thread, ask stupid questions or answer a post from 10 years ago, they leave you alone.

There's no such thing as stupid question. a question is question. even a simplest thing, if you don't know, you don't know, you are in a darkroom.

Also, repeated question is part of nature. That cycle happens every forum. knowledge evolves, updates are made. Same question can yield different answer, or same answer with different perspective by different people. if you remove all that aspects, then it becomes not much different than facebook, just bat trading site.

you can search, you can fish for 30 min. but why, when you can ask. more contents you have better for this forum even for the same topics.
 

Redsfan

Well-Known Member
Dunkky you and I know there are some stupid questions. So the guy that ask's if a bat is still available from a thread in 2009 isn't stupid? I think it is when it's 13 years later? lol. Searching for something really isn't that hard either. I've found several answers to things just by scrolling through a few pages of threads. To me that's better than starting a new thread for something that was discussed say 3 weeks ago for example. I'm not getting on you to be mean or anything. You do things different than I do and that is fine.
 

dunkky

Well-Known Member
Dunkky you and I know there are some stupid questions. So the guy that ask's if a bat is still available from a thread in 2009 isn't stupid? I think it is when it's 13 years later? lol. Searching for something really isn't that hard either. I've found several answers to things just by scrolling through a few pages of threads. To me that's better than starting a new thread for something that was discussed say 3 weeks ago for example. I'm not getting on you to be mean or anything. You do things different than I do and that is fine.
Yeah dude, there's no hard feeling :) , just exchanging thoughts. those are not stupid questions. the thing is its the end result that matters. if he get some response, that's great. maybe some other dude has same bat can offer him, who knows. I've seen that number of times. just look at that post as he is looking for that specific bat. Bottom line is there's no harm done to anyone from that post made. The purpose of the forum is to exchange the knowledge and info. that's basically what people are doing. I personally don't get it why people are butt hurt over nothing. Life is as hard as it can be, no need to make it any worse.. lol this is damn softball. if people are talking about softball related within the hard ruleset, let it be is all i am saying.
 

blakcherry329

Well-Known Member
Yeah dude, there's no hard feeling :) , just exchanging thoughts. those are not stupid questions. the thing is its the end result that matters. if he get some response, that's great. maybe some other dude has same bat can offer him, who knows. I've seen that number of times. just look at that post as he is looking for that specific bat. Bottom line is there's no harm done to anyone from that post made. The purpose of the forum is to exchange the knowledge and info. that's basically what people are doing. I personally don't get it why people are butt hurt over nothing. Life is as hard as it can be, no need to make it any worse.. lol this is damn softball. if people are talking about softball related within the hard ruleset, let it be is all i am saying.
That's just it. Why would anyone care what someone says on a softball site? That's what I meant by Joker, Country, etc being the gate keepers.
Seriously, if you ask a question about a bat from 5+ years ago, you deserve what happens. Plus, they usually knew what they were talking about, obscure rules, bat info, etc.
I do think they did go overboard on a few people. The guy with the slow pitch slider comes to mind. (he actually posted some good info, imo. I use some of his suggestions when I play, sometimes). But they only bother you if you let them. Anyone that plays competitive sports hears 10x's worse stuff from friends/teammates on the regular. Man-Up, damnit. 😁
 

ImminentDanger

Up and Over
The forum should not be a clique, although there will always be leaders & followers.

The forum should PROMOTE exchange of ideas and specifically help new members.

Joining the forum should not require running a gauntlet of abusive attacks.

The attitude of forum members should be:
to IGNORE UNINTENTIONALLY STUPID questions or comments.
to DISDAIN those who INTENTIONALLY BERATE others.
to PROMOTE more of the interactions that benefit each other rather than divides.

Needling good fun & kidding each other is a part of any team, but doing that
to strangers, or the opposition in an intense game, is asking for trouble.
That applies to forums. The same comment can be fun if you know the person
or offensive if you don't.

It's important to keep the commentary directed at the softball issue and not be
bickering back & forth on others style of posting, punctuation or spelling. A lot
of wasted words have been posted on bickering instead of helping.

Some folks will, by their character, try to take advantage of others, including
the Store that hosts this forum. That abuse & the deliberate promotion of
cheating (shaved bats - still a major problem) needed to be removed.

The long-ago Superdrafts and local SBF teams were a great experience and
it's that kind of camaraderie that the forum should create.

The EGOs that generated INANE commentary should have been mostly ignored
but the abusiveness was allowed to get way out of hand before addressed.

Moderators have a tough job and should be appreciated, but they too can
abuse their discretion when members get under their skin.

I've been here a long time. I've seen many good and bad examples of all
the things I've mentioned. I'm still here.

It's up to everyone to play nice when you're on the same playground.
So we need to look ourselves in the mirror to see if we helped the demise
of what was once THE GREATEST SOFTBALL FORUM.

This place might still be able to recover some of those benefits. Maybe!?!

%%%
 
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D-ROCK13

Well-Known Member
Survival of the fittest imho, if you cant handle some entertaining keyboard wars, then stay off the interwebs. Not saying I agree or disagree with everything Joker, Country, or the likes say, but, they almost always know what they're talking about, and are usually helpful around here, so long as its not a dumb question, or statement. Some people's kids need a little harsh lesson now and then 😂... Everyone has their place here. Learned alot from the site and members, only joined in 17 but i've lurked around since the late 00s early 2010s.
 

jbo911

Super Moderator
Staff member
Survival of the fittest imho, if you cant handle some entertaining keyboard wars, then stay off the interwebs. Not saying I agree or disagree with everything Joker, Country, or the likes say, but, they almost always know what they're talking about, and are usually helpful around here, so long as its not a dumb question, or statement. Some people's kids need a little harsh lesson now and then 😂... Everyone has their place here. Learned alot from the site and members, only joined in 17 but i've lurked around since the late 00s early 2010s.
They really don't. They did at a time, but those years are long gone.

The boards, all of them, blew up in the early 00's because of the ultra. It was a literal game changer, and they were impossible to find so people turned to the Internet to search for them. That led to searches that brought up various forums, and the rest is history. A boom like that probably won't happen again with social media being what it is even if a new rule breaking bat is designed.
 

D-ROCK13

Well-Known Member
I'll agree it was excessive at times and very few members help people constructively like they once did. But i seriously doubt that a handful of harsh members has slow the site to the current pace its at. Younger generations just aren't the same for the most part and softball participation is down just about everywhere in the country. That and equipment is so similar performance wise now days. Plus everyone is on tiktok or the gram etc watching videos all day instead of board lurking
 

jbo911

Super Moderator
Staff member
I'll agree it was excessive at times and very few members help people constructively like they once did. But i seriously doubt that a handful of harsh members has slow the site to the current pace its at. Younger generations just aren't the same for the most part and softball participation is down just about everywhere in the country. That and equipment is so similar performance wise now days. Plus everyone is on tiktok or the gram etc watching videos all day instead of board lurking
Those are all also true, but I was mostly talking about 7-10 years ago. The main reason I feel this way is I see the number of members, and there are a ton of just lurkers. I used to get the reports from people complaining and I watched them leave. I've also been a mod for over 16 years and that's probably too long. Lol
 
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