POLL: Separate "Other Sports" into two forum categories ?

[BevoBeef]

Do you favor splitting the "Other Sports" forum category into "Other Women's Sports" and "Other Men's Sports"?
The historical threads would also be separated if this happens.

The idea has been floated to split this category into a men's version and a women's version. This means that softball, volleyball, and women's soccer would find its own home where it belongs. Sporting events for tennis, golf, and swimming/diving are naturally scheduled as different sports according to gender. Rowing appears to be predominantly a women's sport. Sports such as Relays or Track & Field/Cross Country have their events separated.

This allows those people with special interests to have better use of their time. Currently this sports category is a conglomeration that tends to lower interest and activity. By splitting it into gender, it is hoped to increase the number of readers and newer posters. This would also help to measure more easily the activity in each category. This is in the spirit of Title IX and would give each gender the opportunity to voice their opinions in their own way. "Men are from Mars; Women are from Venus" was one of the most popular non-fiction books in the 1990's and indicative of the tone by which the world is viewed.

Posters have the freedom to choose the particular forum to post their thread. Quidditch is the only example of a sport (which UT has had great success) that has rules that foster a coed experience. Discussion here can rightfully go into either split category.

 

[Vol Horn 4 Life]

I think if you split it into two boards you'll just have two that few visit instead of one.

 

[BevoJoe]

One board is good...

 

[BabHorn]

If the capability is there, why not use it? Personally, I would visit the women's board more as it would make it easier to follow the sports I am interested in. While I follow all Longhorn sports, I tend to follow the women's sports more and a separate board would be easier to follow, simply like separate MBB and WBB board make it easier to follow the program I am most interested in.

 

[Bill in Sinton]

What about Quidditch?

 

[mb227]

If the capability is there, why not use it? Personally, I would visit the women's board more as it would make it easier to follow the sports I am interested in. While I follow all Longhorn sports, I tend to follow the women's sports more and a separate board would be easier to follow, simply like separate MBB and WBB board make it easier to follow the program I am most interested in.

The proposal to split would make more sense if there was a huge volume of traffic...but there isn't. Let's face reality, even the sport-specific women's board doesn't generate a lot of traffic or posting volume. Splitting, even though the capability exists, just creates more space for tumbleweeds to roll around in.

Just looking at the index for this forum, the first page covers nearly two and a half months of threads. Between that and the new-posts listing on the right side of the page, it isn't that challenging to figure out if there is new content. This is even more true for those of us who check in on HornFans more than once a day...

 

[majorwhiteapples]

I just like to exercise my right to vote, no nothing or even care about the subject.....

 

[Statalyzer]

I don't understand the point when there are 2 months of threads still on the front page - same reason we don't need the In The Stands board, too, really.

This is in the spirit of Title IX and would give each gender the opportunity to voice their opinions in their own way

Only if the proposal is to split into "other sports - male posters" and "other sports - female posters", or if you think only guys like men's sports and only gals like women's sports.

 

[stanhin]

With only 17 votes in 10 days, I think it's pretty safe to assume that you can do whatever you want to without worrying about it.

 

[Vol Horn 4 Life]

18 votes. After mulling spices, I think a breakdown of sports could help. Looking at other ambiguous forums like quacks and cactus cafe I see folks can't figure out where to post what. Maybe a better division of everything might help.

 

[BevoBeef]

My initial post was to stimulate interest in the poll. I will now express more my opinion and address some comments above.

if you split it into two boards you'll just have two that few visit instead of one.

The amount of computer resources is minimal for this change. The purpose for the split is not for computer efficiency but to make the experience for the members easier and more meaningful.

One board is good...

The change would not be with the present condition in mind. It is for the future and to attract the initial readers to become attracted to Hornfans and to encourage new posters to express their opinion.

If the capability is there, why not use it?

After the initial work is done, it is just software doing its thing. I will be the one doing the change to split the one board into two. The functionality is there to make this not difficult. The hardest part is trying to understand what the Hornfans members really would like and what would make the board more useful. Thus, the reason for the poll.

The proposal to split would make more sense if there was a huge volume of traffic...but there isn't. Let's face reality, even the sport-specific women's board doesn't generate a lot of traffic or posting volume.

Again, computer efficiency should not be the goal here. If we could gain more knowledgeable posters in the future in order to increase the number of interesting threads, the more the board would be more useful for more people. I went back one year and counted the threads that would go into each of the split "other sports" category. Not counting the threads that do not deal with Longhorn sports nor the ones like track & field that apply to both, I calculated that the ratio of women to men threads would be 4:1. This tells you that the interest in this category is more in the women's sports. Also, if you count the threads in the women's vs men's basketball threads during this period, you will find out that, in these developed categories, the ratio of WBB to MBB threads was 2:1. This would tell me that the interest in the "Other Women's Sports" category wouild grow at least twice as fast as the other split category.

If you look at the thread subjects that dominate, I concluded that the new "women's sports" category would become mostly the home for volleyball and softball threads. The con that would arise would be that the reporting on the Tx Relays and Track/Field threads would be that results reported are usually for both genders. In the end, splitting "other sports" would be a compromise approach for giving volleyball and softball their own forum category.

I will allow about 3 more days for this poll to be active, and then I will lock this thread. Dionysus and I will be discussing what to do in the near future.

 

[NBHorn7]

What about Quidditch?

Indeed, Quidditch goes both ways, there's certainly nothing wrong with that. Will it get it's own special forum?

 

[BevoBeef]

Indeed, Quidditch goes both ways, there's certainly nothing wrong with that. Will it get it's own special forum?

I checked on that already. We would have to get special permission from some shop with an address on Diagon Alley in London. I tried to get the right form on the internet, but it turned out to be a blind alley. If you want me to forward the address to you, I would be glad to do it. At this point I give up on understanding what is going on in that sport.

 

[BevoBeef]

This poll has been closed after two weeks of collecting comments.