Do we really need a new thread for every player who signs a contract?

[cephasjames]

There's a 2023 MLB thread right here: https://forums.ootpdevelopments.com/...d.php?t=342504. All of these signings fall under the 2023 MLB season.

[kq76]

But it's the off-season.

[Amazin69]

So add a subtitle.

(Includes 2022-2023 Free Agency) should do it, I'd think.

[zappa1]

Not for every player. But the big name guys anyway. I only mentioned Walker cuz I thought Amazin would get a kick out of it.

[thehef]

The Dodgers signed Jason Heyward to a minor-league deal. Was tempted to start a thread...

[cephasjames]

[knightdreamer2k]

Originally Posted by cephasjames

There's a 2023 MLB thread right here: https://forums.ootpdevelopments.com/...d.php?t=342504. All of these signings fall under the 2023 MLB season.

Yes.

[kq76]

I'm not a fan of big random threads and I have to imagine I'm not the only one. I usually lose interest after half a dozen posts, if not less. I'd much rather see a thread title and decide to either click on it and read it or pass on it. With those random threads you have to read countless posts about stuff you're not interested in to maybe find something worth reading. Maybe one of you can explain the appeal?

[cephasjames]

I'd rather have my clutter contained in fewer threads.

[Déjà Bru]

Originally Posted by kq76

I'm not a fan of big random threads and I have to imagine I'm not the only one. I usually lose interest after half a dozen posts, if not less. I'd much rather see a thread title and decide to either click on it and read it or pass on it. With those random threads you have to read countless posts about stuff you're not interested in to maybe find something worth reading. Maybe one of you can explain the appeal?

Here is my thinking. As usual, it is muddled.

First, I like to see any activity in this forum. I came here originally as an offshoot of my interest in OOTPB. It became my "go-to" for sports talk, outlasting my long patronage of OOTPB. I am not starting over anywhere else.

So, additional threads are welcome in that manner.

But, to approach the subject from another direction, extra zero-, one-, and two-reply threads can be cluttering if and when there is a great deal of activity, as there has been here recently.

That is why "Random Sports Talk" threads can be useful, for those things that you just want to throw out there in case anybody else is interested but really don't deserve a separate thread.

Latest instance: the retrieval of Brittney Griner. I dug up the latest random talk thread and used it for that. A few guys responded and now it's over.

However, the problem with "Random Sports Talk" threads, it seems, is that they are conducive to too much randomness. I violated protocol by being too whimsical with the previous iteration, nearly bringing it down, and guys seem to think that it's okay to really veer off into politics and other non-sports discussion which ultimately led to its demise.

I told you my thinking was muddled.

[kq76]

Originally Posted by cephasjames

I'd rather have my clutter contained in fewer threads.

I could see this if threads were like physical toys and we wanted them in their place after they were played with, but no matter how many threads are started in the next week there's still going to be a full page of threads showing on the front page.

If someone frequently references old posts I could see maybe wanting to just want to search the one thread, like a specific stack of paperwork on their desk instead of the entire desk, but we can search threads by keywords when we can't with paperwork so it doesn't help that much.

Originally Posted by Déjà Bru

...

First, I like to see any activity in this forum. I came here originally as an offshoot of my interest in OOTPB. It became my "go-to" for sports talk, outlasting my long patronage of OOTPB. I am not starting over anywhere else.

So, additional threads are welcome in that manner.

I didn't think about that, but I agree with you on that as well. More threads does make it seem like this place is more active. If a newcomer shows up and sees only 1 really big thread with recent posts in it they're probably going to feel like this place is dead and they're not likely to start reading it or post their own thread.

Originally Posted by Déjà Bru

But, to approach the subject from another direction, extra zero-, one-, and two-reply threads can be cluttering if and when there is a great deal of activity, as there has been here recently.

I thought this is the direction someone might go and I can understand if this was the online league boards where you don't want topics to fall off the top of the page like a rock in the ocean, but other than the stickies is there really anything on the TS board that's so important we want it to stay near the top of the page for awhile? I don't think so. If it's good enough / interesting enough, it'll float, if it's not, it's probably no big loss.

Originally Posted by Déjà Bru

That is why "Random Sports Talk" threads can be useful, for those things that you just want to throw out there in case anybody else is interested but really don't deserve a separate thread.

I can kind of see that, but if you're doing that then you're reducing, maybe drastically, the likelihood of people reading it who might be interested which might have made it a longer thread than you thought it could be.

Originally Posted by Déjà Bru

Latest instance: the retrieval of Brittney Griner. I dug up the latest random talk thread and used it for that. A few guys responded and now it's over.

Well that's politics and we don't have a spot for that anymore. As some have probably already figured out, long threads are good for hiding stuff from the mods because if someone doesn't report it we probably won't read it.

Originally Posted by Déjà Bru

However, the problem with "Random Sports Talk" threads, it seems, is that they are conducive to too much randomness. I violated protocol by being too whimsical with the previous iteration, nearly bringing it down, and guys seem to think that it's okay to really veer off into politics and other non-sports discussion which ultimately led to its demise.

Small threads can veer too, but yeah people probably feel more free to do it in long threads.

Anyway, post how each of you like. Unless I need to separate posts that don't belong, I'm not going to break down long threads, but I'm also probably not going to merge a bunch of short threads either, unless they start coming off like spam that no one wants to read.

[dsvitak]

If a thread has "legs", then it will be added to.

Personally, I think a thread about Jason Heyward would be AWESOME!

I will start. Jason Heyward, when he signed with the Cubs, was one of the best things to happen to the Cardinals in the last ten years. It CRIPPLED the Cubs, for years.

[thehef]

Perhaps this has been alluded to here already...

For forums that are about OOTP (like the Historical forum), I think specific threads are the way to go, usually... In the Talk Sports forum, however, I think a very generic thread like the World Cup one is the way to go. It allows us to chat or spout off about anything WC related... And if anything re the WC in particular warrants its own thread - like some major controversy or scandal or whatever, then a new, separate thread could be started...

[cephasjames]

IMO it's silly to create individual threads for a bunch of individual players when they sign contracts. YMMV. Particularly when those threads will probably only get a few replies. There is a dedicated MLB 2023 thread, where, again, IMO, I think they would better belong. Again, YMMV.

I'm not a mod. I have zero sway over what anyone does or does not do here. But I do have opinions. And this thread is me sharing one of them.