A thought

A thought crossed my mind the other day. I was thinking about the forum, and how, in effect, it has failed to serve its purpose as the acting website for the archery club. Though this may seem harsh, it is underlined by the fact that it does not serve as a reliable source of info to all club members. A large proportion of the club's members for some reason or other have decided not to attempt to use the forum, so if information is posted up here, it will go unnoticed by a lot of the members. It is necessary to also send round emails, txt ppl, etc. Which means the purpose of the forum is defeated. I have even had people come up to me and complain at the fact that they were unaware of something or other... When I told them that it had been posted well in advance on the forum they shrugged angrily and considered that a weak argument. I swear I could have ---

All this negative news aside though, it just prompted me to attempt a change to the forum. Given all the loyal ex-archers we've got still hanging out with us and supporting this community (that's right Paul and Markus, I'm looking at you two, you legends ^^) along with a strong fraction of the club, rather than giving up on the whole idea I was thinking that it'd be much more appropriate to convert this forum into a think-tank.

Why is this a more appropriate approach? It means that those of us dedicated enough, interested and experienced, can drop information, brainstorm on it with the other people who are around, and then come to successful solutions and answers for the club. Along with that, it simply is a fantastic way for us all to keep in touch, even once some of us are gone abroad and away from uni. I really wouldn't give up on that.

... so in conclusion, what effects does this have on the forum as a whole? - pretty much none what so ever ^^ I just wanted to share a train of thought I had. I will be making some modifications to certain sections of the forum though, like an area where I'll be dropping info and putting new and old concepts up for debate, on how to effectively run and manage the club. The gaming section will most likely stay the same, cause for all the neediness that runs through are veins we are also damn lazy. Innovation & Change, meet Inertia. Inertia these are Innovation & Change ^^

I have to agree with you Flo, that the forum did not turn out to be quite as popular and useful for the archery club as a whole, as it was intented at the start.
However it was and as it seems still is the first place to go for planning things like lan parties, doing some sport (shame on all of you who are not going to well-being anymore), or organise other things.
I guess in a way this is to be expected, although it wouldn't be much of a problem to check the forum at the same time you check your email/blackboard/facebook/... , it still is mostly used by those who use their computer for a bit more than just that.
Nevertheless I think you should keep the forum just the way it is, those people interested enough to join for social activities outside archery (like swimmng, lan parties, volleyball, barbeque, well-being, Magic, climbing, ...) will still have a look here first for possible future events and there is enough room to have a chat, have a discussion, or work as a think-tank.

I see what you mean Flo, but at the same time I think it would be useful to try the systems employed by other sports clubs, etc.

From my own experience of other clubs and other people's experiences, whenever information has to be put out regarding upcoming events or organising things such as a night out or an exercise sesh, what is usually done is a newsletter is sent via e-mail to everyone on the mailing list for bigger events (e.g. fundraisers and upcoming competitions). For smaller events or social get-togethers announcements are usually put on Facebook and "events" put up. This means people are notified more efficiently.

I think the Forum is valuable for those in the club who wish to organise and attend LAN parties, or just for chatting about certain topics online, but it can sometimes be difficult for people to find bits of information in all the chat that takes up space in the Forum. It sounds a bit harsh, but I think if you want to raise awareness about an even that is going to happen or things that are being organised, Facebook is probably your best bet. Of course there are people who don't have Facebook (i.e. Kelvin the Awkward One) but for the majority (and hopefully the entire group at some stage or another, KELVIN!!) everyone would be accessible.

What do you think? I don't want to be picking holes in the Forum or anything, because don't get me wrong, I like it for random bits of banter and stuff, but I think it's more of a chatroom and think-tank, as you both said.

Hopefully we can get something on the go soon! xx

As my learned friend future Dr. Ross said, the forum has uses but since it has gone widely unnoticed some other channel of information must be established. Majority of the club are not members of the forum, and even I rarely check it out.

Therefore I have no other options but to second the motion of publishing events on Facebook, and at the same time breathing some life in to the DUAC Facebook group! Not only would this make news travel faster that further than before, but it my also make the club itself and its social events more accessible for the majority of the club.

Kelvin is a big boy now, he should be able to take care of himself.

There's a Facebook group?!

Now that my works are sorta done, I shall response to this false accusation of me being anti-social.

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Fine, I am anti-social. However, while I do propose using other methods of communication I do not agree when people discount the forum for being inefficient as a notice board. I don't see a problem in searching for information as that is what the search function is for. As for how to make notices more clear and not be engulfed in all the useless chat in the same thread there are many ways to solve it, from creating alternate chat threads, to editing a single post instead of posting new ones.

The major setback to forums are emergancy announcements, as creation of threads would not notify forum users, but it can be compensated by other means, ranging from e-mails, to texts, to phones etc. Forums also provide a better platform for sharing information. I find it very difficult to read off facebook when it comes to some serious chatting, it's just like trying to make some serious arguments in youtube comments which is irritating. Reading off a forum is ten times more comfortable especially when you are putting a lot of effort into it and want people to read it carefully and thoroughly. I may be saying this for my own benifit because my posts are usually very long (and I expect this to be as well) and no one would probably read it anyways (trust me, I got used to people saying 'too long, won't read'), but you should realize that in the end it would be benificial to you as well.

The fact that people consider the forum to be 'boring' and 'inconvenient' (I do not think that way, but I certainly acknowledge that the majority of people do) is actually a plus point as well as you can monitor people's dedication to the club. Forums are always exclusive to the members who joins it, it provides an ideal ground for members of the club to communicate and share information. Those who feel a sense of belonging to the club would visit it frequently and have chats with all those like minded (like the LAN party forum and certainly the history one to a certain extent). A good forum can be more addictive to facebook I assure you. Those who are active in the forums are always active in the proper activies as well, and from that you can know better about the people in the club. This function of the forum as a test of devotion may not be particularly important one may consider, but our club is suffering in a lack of intermediate shooters, and while this year we have many novices (some of them quite promising), in order to secure a strong base of archers in the future we need to know who is in and who isn't. The easily accessable Facebook cannot perform such functions. There is no point in placing hope or effort in those who are doing it just for fun and would 'try out' another sport and abandon archery the next year (I believe it is neccessary to be elitist in this situation). If you can't make the effort to even check the forum 'once in a while', than I cannot see how you are really 'keen' on say going to a competition or joining social events when most of the time the forum is not the only method of communication used (most of them are mentioned during practice sessions or through emails). 'Oh is it on the forum?' is one of the worst excuses of all time. I cannot see how people can say they don't read the forum in such a proud manner as if it is the organizers' fault in even considering the forum as a method of communication.

A combination of different methods of communications and the forum can be as efficient as facebook as a noticeboard, and it also provides a perfect place for discussion in contrary to most other social networking sites. By all means use the Facebook, but the forum should be promoted as well. The function of a noticeboard is to notify EVERYONE and not the majotiy only, failing to do that is failing its purpose. While the organizers have the responsibility to make the notices better spoted that does not discount the duty of members to read it frequently and be awere of what is happening.

In particular I think all committee members should be using the forum more often as it is incredibly useful for discussions.

Okay, it seems I have gone a bit too serious, apologies for anyone who may be be offended by potentially strong languages, and forgive me if I have made any grammar mistakes, as English is not my first language (and it is fivein the morning when I started this), but heck, this is the forum, and such is the way of a forum user.

KC The Greater

^^ Passionate argument there Kelvin, I liked it

I agree with you on the fact that the forum is a much more open and accessible way to generate discussions. I think the problem there is that people are still stuck with a traditional view of a 'sports club'. Sports Clubs as such are still viewed as an organization where there is a head, or a team of leaders who simply dictate what the club does and what will happen. In that context a 'pin board' method of informing the members would seem appropriate: the information is simply stated, and there is no discussion about it. Unfortunately though, in a club where the level of interest varies from 'dedicated & interested' to 'just in it for the lols' such a method no longer works effectively.

I have tired on multiple occasions to run the club in a more serious manner, but as it turned out, I lack the character for it. It seems that because I generally smile and joke around I have been labelled 'a joker', so that any and all attempts I make at being serious are just considered jokes, and are not taken seriously. It is a fact that has saddened me on multiple occasions, but in the end seems irreversible, given that I just don't want to achieve it at the expense of distancing myself from the members. All of you count as incredibly important and appreciated friends to me.

This along with the before mentioned fact that this way of running clubs is becoming outdated leads to the idea of the second model of 'The Club'. This new model is one where decisions on running the club and where it is leading is done by the entire club, obviously chaired and monitored by the committee. As this suggests, this can only work effectively when discussion and arguing points is made possible. For that purpose the forum is an invaluable platform. Discussion thread, incorporating graphics, polls... all of these are available to use, with evidence of these being used, evident throughout this very forum. As mentioned though, in order for discussions and decisions to work on the forum, the club as a whole needs to be present on it, otherwise we end up with the 'but I wasn't aware of this' situation.

So, what I'm saying in the above paragraphs is that our club simply cannot function on a model where we, the committee, simply bring out announcements that dictate our decisions. Instead I find it way more beneficial to have the club run on the decisions and input of everyone who is interested... and in order to do this, I just don't see any other platform as successful as the forum.

Now, the Facebook issue. Firstly, I am not against facebook, and yes we will be using it more often and extensively than before. I hope my recent actions reflect that determination. There are just two factors that sustain my reservation about facebook:
1. Our facebook group is, what you could consider 'too public'. When members from other clubs want to stay in touch with us, they request to be part of that group. That's always been the case. What this leads to though is that we cannot hold serious discussions about club proceedings in that group, otherwise all the other clubs are listening in on that. And rather than that being a whole 'secrecy' issue, it just doesn't seem right. Decisions and arguments about running the club should be made solely within the club. Along the same lines, when I set up that event yesterday, I was about to click 'invite everyone in the group'... realizing that a lot of the members int hat group are simply not within the club. So I had to go hand picking who to invite. So there's my concern: The facebook group is an open platform with too many outside people within it. Making a second more 'closed' group just seems silly. Are there any ideas out there as to how to go about solving this?
2. My second reservation is a little less important and rather technical: As I mentioned before, the forum has many capabilities such as polls, announcements, etc. Facebook lacks these. Markus was a brilliant person for supporting the forum too. This man is so picky and concerned about privacy that he made me run through the security settings of the forum so many times, that I would literally hide dirty little secrets in here and not worry The forum is exclusive, as you noticed you need to be accepted in, and even then, according to your interests and involvement you get access or not to certain areas of it. While i realize this isn't really a major concern, considering the material we are handling, it is still a concern none the less.

So from my point of view Facebook will be a very effective way of organizing the social aspect of the club. But for more serious matters such as the running of the club, the forum just beats any other means, hands down.

I am glad all of you are putting this much thought into this though, and that a proper discussion has come out of this ^^ In response to probably all of the above statements:

It seems that we can all agree that Facebook is a more effective form of organizing the social events. But it seems to me (and in a way that saddens me) that no one is able to see past the organizing of the social events, through to the organizing and hard work it takes to run this club.

There is a huge amount of effort that goes into organizing the club, making sure it is there, available for you, running smoothly every single time. And given the lack of any substantial other input, all that has had to come out of rp and me. The energy that goes into making the club available and interesting for everyone goes, I'm afraid to say, unnoticed. The amount of times I get to hear "..but your shooting is shit" or "I never see you shoot"... Not a single time has an archer set down their bow, sacrificed their own shooting time, come up to me and offered to organize the club a little, maybe think about where the club is leading, where we see ourselves in the future... I know they're all boring adult things to be thinking about, but they need to be considered, otherwise we wouldn't be a proper sports club!

So, so, so... to round things up:

Yes we will be using the facebook group to promote our presence and social events
Yes the forum is staying here the way it is.
And while it is too late to do much about it by now, I hope that by next year people in the club realise that there is more to the club than just showing up, shooting well and then running off to the pub. There is a vast process that takes place behind the scenes, and it's one that we should not take for granted, preferably even involve ourselves in to strive towards a truly great sports club.