Silvertails Site in danger

[Dan]

Hi Guys,

I apologise for the click bait, kind of.

I wanted to reach out to start a discussion on a few things here. Silvertails has seen a decline in members and page visits over the past year. Forums are starting to go out of flavour and we lose more and more people to Facebook. Whilst I understand the ease of using Facebook to have discussions, it really does not create the sense of community and good will that we have here.

Whilst I am happy to run Silvertails as long as I possibly can, it would be great to see it thrive like it used to. The way that I see this happening is using vehicles like Facebook to attract new members, there are thousands of people that love The Sea Eagles out there, and I would love to have them join our community and discuss the club that has given us all so much joy, heartache and frustrations over the year.

If you look at the bottom of this thread you will see social media icons, this is true of every thread, what these do is provide you the ability to share the post directly on those platforms, what I would ask is this:

If you see a post that is really good, that you enjoy discussing within, smash those social media share buttons and share the post with Facebook (particularly share that post inside the Facebook Supporter groups), share it with Twitter, share it wherever. Tell a friend, tell their friend. Lets work together to make this site great.

I am about to dedicate a good week or more of my time off from work to purely coding a whole lot of features, I was up until 2am last night working on them, in the background I am doing a lot of things trying to make the site great for all of us, and the small thing I ask is that you guys share posts and help drive people to the same joy we find from the site as well.

Thank you so much

Dan

 

[Brisbane Tragic]

Well for me - I love reading about what is happening and people's views but I would say as someone outside the clique that this site and the forums are very very cliquey and people like myself and others who might be new or not friends with people on here - your views or posts are generally ignored as the clique set about just responding to each other. Now I am sure I will receive smart a??? and disparaging comments for holding this view and again that is part of the reason for the decline - alternate views are ridiculed and sometimes with vitriol and so people give up and find alternate mediums to discuss Manly issues.

 

[NYEagle]

Click bait indeed - I though the site had coronavirus fears!.

But anyway, yes, happy to help support exposure (pardon the pun) to keep the site awash with activity and members.

I agree the last year was a bit flat in terms of activity, but I think over the last few years there has been a lot of change in social interaction globally, particularly online. The rise of fake news is part of this problem. People just don't take anything seriously any more, and because of that we don't believe anything that is said. This takes away the desire to have intelligent debate, construct meaningful posts and respect each others efforts. It's a pandemic worse that coronavirus.

There are some really knowledgeable, resourceful and clever people here. We need to appreciate each other more, and that includes firing up when a controversial view is put forward, and get into it when someone shows they are truly upset with a performance or player. It's important that we all hear each other, and respond to genuine effort and passionate support.

NYEagle

 

[manly al]

Well for me - I love reading about what is happening and people's views but I would say as someone outside the clique that this site and the forums are very very cliquey and people like myself and others who might be new or not friends with people on here - your views or posts are generally ignored as the clique set about just responding to each other. Now I am sure I will receive smart a??? and disparaging comments for holding this view and again that is part of the reason for the decline - alternate views are ridiculed and sometimes with vitriol and so people give up and find alternate mediums to discuss Manly issues.

I am sure that plenty of people or virtually everyone on here still respect your views and take on things Agree that there is a fine line sometimes with respectful disagreement and a touch of agro inclination . But who really cares , not much different to life in general really and not to take most things too seriously if really does not seem warranted . .In your case in particular , you have had a specifically fairly long and worthwhile footy career and i am sure will always have plenty of interesting and relevant input to contribute on here without feeling too inhibited.

 

[winnyason]

Hi Guys,

I apologise for the click bait, kind of.

I wanted to reach out to start a discussion on a few things here. Silvertails has seen a decline in members and page visits over the past year. Forums are starting to go out of flavour and we lose more and more people to Facebook. Whilst I understand the ease of using Facebook to have discussions, it really does not create the sense of community and good will that we have here.

Whilst I am happy to run Silvertails as long as I possibly can, it would be great to see it thrive like it used to. The way that I see this happening is using vehicles like Facebook to attract new members, there are thousands of people that love The Sea Eagles out there, and I would love to have them join our community and discuss the club that has given us all so much joy, heartache and frustrations over the year.

If you look at the bottom of this thread you will see social media icons, this is true of every thread, what these do is provide you the ability to share the post directly on those platforms, what I would ask is this:

If you see a post that is really good, that you enjoy discussing within, smash those social media share buttons and share the post with Facebook (particularly share that post inside the Facebook Supporter groups), share it with Twitter, share it wherever. Tell a friend, tell their friend. Lets work together to make this site great.

I am about to dedicate a good week or more of my time off from work to purely coding a whole lot of features, I was up until 2am last night working on them, in the background I am doing a lot of things trying to make the site great for all of us, and the small thing I ask is that you guys share posts and help drive people to the same joy we find from the site as well.

Thank you so much

Dan

I share everything m8 best forum going around.

 

[Shoe1]

Well for me - I love reading about what is happening and people's views but I would say as someone outside the clique that this site and the forums are very very cliquey and people like myself and others who might be new or not friends with people on here - your views or posts are generally ignored as the clique set about just responding to each other. Now I am sure I will receive smart a??? and disparaging comments for holding this view and again that is part of the reason for the decline - alternate views are ridiculed and sometimes with vitriol and so people give up and find alternate mediums to discuss Manly issues.

Mate I encourage you to weigh in with your opinion at any time. I don’t know anyone else on silvertails and have never met any of them, but I comment regularly.

 

[Shoe1]

Ps I prefer silvertails to Facebook for manly stuff, because I’m anonymous here!

on facebook or Twitter I’d scare my friends, family and colleagues with my fanaticism

 

[Dan]

Well for me - I love reading about what is happening and people's views but I would say as someone outside the clique that this site and the forums are very very cliquey and people like myself and others who might be new or not friends with people on here - your views or posts are generally ignored as the clique set about just responding to each other. Now I am sure I will receive smart a??? and disparaging comments for holding this view and again that is part of the reason for the decline - alternate views are ridiculed and sometimes with vitriol and so people give up and find alternate mediums to discuss Manly issues.

Shane,

I agree it can seem like that at times, I remember in the early Days @Mark from Brisbane had the same complaint in a big way, he and i shared some messages about it and he started to really understand the dynamic better and realise that about everything said on here has a hint of tongue in cheek and not to take it too seriously.

Every member is valued here, some people are more known as they have been around longer but that doesnt mean their opinion and posts are any more valuable or hold anymore weight.

It is an important thing that you bring up and I guess that leads me to one additional ask for the forum members, try to be inclusive try to make sure we don't exclude others, the sense of community Silvertails has had since day one and the evolving and revolving members that have come through are all an important part of our story...

Also if anyone is looking for a Sales Engineer, let me know, I will eventually need to find a job in the next 6 months

 

[Budgie]

Sorry to hear that Dan. I love the forum and hope it continues. No point me sharing because my friends don’t even like footy, which is why this is such a haven for me.
Not sure why there’s a decline. Could be that some are a little nasty to others?

 

[globaleagle]

Well for me - I love reading about what is happening and people's views but I would say as someone outside the clique that this site and the forums are very very cliquey and people like myself and others who might be new or not friends with people on here - your views or posts are generally ignored as the clique set about just responding to each other. Now I am sure I will receive smart a??? and disparaging comments for holding this view and again that is part of the reason for the decline - alternate views are ridiculed and sometimes with vitriol and so people give up and find alternate mediums to discuss Manly issues.

We've all felt that way at times...!

The problem with being a newbie....

In the weeks wasted slowly finding out the characters of the forum. Seems there are board members through to time wasters. So to make my life easier, please list who's who and who needs to be known and who's worth listening too. Me? I was in the dugout when we played Auckland the first time...

silvertails.net

Plus I'm not sure facebook, twitter, instagram, tik tok are the bastions of less vitriol.

 

[Dan]

Sorry to hear that Dan. I love the forum and hope it continues. No point me sharing because my friends don’t even like footy, which is why this is such a haven for me.
Not sure why there’s a decline. Could be that some are a little nasty to others?

Its general across all forums, people find it easier to join a facebook group and it comes in-line in their social feed. I dont really use facebook so that doesn't suit me, its easily fixed by us sharing on those platforms and driving people towards the site. It just takes a concerted effort.

I may invest in some FB advertising too

Also Trent Barrett, he is also to blame

 

[globaleagle]

My friend is a high school teacher and she decided to set a project involving facebook and the whole class said "Ugh, facebook is just for mums!"

lol

 

[Brisbane Tragic]

Shane,

I agree it can seem like that at times, I remember in the early Days @Mark from Brisbane had the same complaint in a big way, he and i shared some messages about it and he started to really understand the dynamic better and realise that about everything said on here has a hint of tongue in cheek and not to take it too seriously.

Every member is valued here, some people are more known as they have been around longer but that doesnt mean their opinion and posts are any more valuable or hold anymore weight.

It is an important thing that you bring up and I guess that leads me to one additional ask for the forum members, try to be inclusive try to make sure we don't exclude others, the sense of community Silvertails has had since day one and the evolving and revolving members that have come through are all an important part of our story...

Also if anyone is looking for a Sales Engineer, let me know, I will eventually need to find a job in the next 6 months

Yes that was my point exactly if you want more members on here then it is about embracing others - disagreeing but having respect. Pretty simple to agree to disagree without insults. Also not hard to go out of your way to make newbies feel welcomed and part of the discussions.

 

[Brisbane Tragic]

Its general across all forums, people find it easier to join a facebook group and it comes in-line in their social feed. I dont really use facebook so that doesn't suit me, its easily fixed by us sharing on those platforms and driving people towards the site. It just takes a concerted effort.

I may invest in some FB advertising too

Also Trent Barrett, he is also to blame

Trent Barrett is to blame for lots of Manly related ills lol

 

[Brisbane Tragic]

I am sure that plenty of people or virtually everyone on here still respect your views and take on things Agree that there is a fine line sometimes with respectful disagreement and a touch of agro inclination . But who really cares , not much different to life in general really and not to take most things too seriously if really does not seem warranted . .In your case in particular , you have had a specifically fairly long and worthwhile footy career and i am sure will always have plenty of interesting and relevant input to contribute on here without feeling too inhibited.

Just despise the nastiness at times on here I suppose. In my playing day I was as nasty as anyone - probably more so and I can certainly give as good as I can get but everyone just needs to show some respect and if they don't - boot them off for a day, a week - a month etc.

 

[Budgie]

Well for me - I love reading about what is happening and people's views but I would say as someone outside the clique that this site and the forums are very very cliquey and people like myself and others who might be new or not friends with people on here - your views or posts are generally ignored as the clique set about just responding to each other. Now I am sure I will receive smart a??? and disparaging comments for holding this view and again that is part of the reason for the decline - alternate views are ridiculed and sometimes with vitriol and so people give up and find alternate mediums to discuss Manly issues.

Keep contributing! I’ve never met a single person on here yet I feel, like in life, there are some I’d really like in person and others I’d run a mile from!

 

[The better Robbo]

Alot of the supporters i see on Facebook are not real fans. Ive seen them ask questions like Is Dylan Walker playing this year or who is Josh Schuster. Maybe getting them over to silvertails might actually educate them into becoming a real and genuine supporter. I definitely dont do any of my comments or get any info from Facebook.

 

[Mark from Brisbane]

@Shane4500 As Dan mentioned above I shared your views but then realised much ( most) is very tongue in cheek on here and and since then I’ve had a ball of fun.

Funnily enough I’m currently very very pissed off with social media for much the same reasons you mention in your post.

I have three interests in life ( apart from my family) , Footy, Cricket and in retirement Caravanning and my social media is linked to all three.

But ( and especially in the last two months) every part of social media has become terribly political.

I couldn’t give a **** if you voted for Pauline , ScoMo, or Albo just don’t load up my social media feed with Climate Change or your view on politics because I love Footy, Cricket and Caravans ( by the way this isn’t aimed at you it’s just a general comment).

Whereas I know coming in here it’s Footy and nothing else.

Long live Silvertails!!

 

[DUFFMAN]

Hopefully, this site continues for many more years.

There is probably a Manly supporters group on Facebook but I haven't gone looking and have no interest in searching one out.

Too many SJW on Facebook who go out of their way to be offended on there.
Make a comment on Facebook like "I don't like Honey Chicken" there will be a 100 replies calling you a racist for it. How would it be if you bagged a player out for playing poorly in a game on there, you would be attacked because he is from Fiji or his brother is gay and you are just being a racist or a homophobe.

On here people will still disagree with your point of view but you rarely get attacked for it.

I think the game as a whole is losing supporters, a lot of that blame can be laid at the people running the game.
One player can get stood down for months grabbing, yelling and screaming at his partner and a week later a different player can get pissed and belt 3 or 4 people at a pub and doesn't miss a game.
The salary cap is meant to even things out and 95% of fans can see it doesn't even go close to achieving that.

The everyday fan has had enough and is walking away from the game while those in the ivory tower keep patting themselves on the back convinced they are doing a great job.

 

[ALinda]

Whilst I am happy to run Silvertails as long as I possibly can, it would be great to see it thrive like it used to.

I am about to dedicate a good week or more of my time off from work to purely coding a whole lot of features, I was up until 2am last night working on them, in the background I am doing a lot of things trying to make the site great for all of us, and the small thing I ask is that you guys share posts and help drive people to the same joy we find from the site as well.

Thank you so much

Dan

Very much appreciate all that you've done and continue to do @Dan

For the record I wouldn't know 99.9% of silvertailers on here if I fell over them. I really enjoy reading others' views on all things Manly and participating on the forum and just ignore anything I don't agree with. To lose the Silvertails site would be devastating and I'll do my best to continue supporting it.

Thank YOU @Dan.