Dwindling HB Discussion Participation

[Battle]

DFP is a good site but they don't have a very good "view active topics". I think they have "What's New" and it doesn't get you where you want to go like HB does but now I get this error message when accessed:

This page can’t be displayed


Turn on TLS 1.0, TLS 1.1, and TLS 1.2 in Advanced settings and try connecting to https://www.discussfastpitch.com again. If this error persists, it is possible that this site uses an unsupported protocol or cipher suite such as RC4 (link for the details), which is not considered secure. Please contact your site administrator.


Makes me think DFP is not secure from Phishing and Malware and I like the fact HB looks similar to what it was in 2012. As a matter of fact, I really liked the old HB layout. I don't come here for the purty scenery.

[Schmick]

DFP doesn't have all the tryouts and friendlies listed like HB does. The little section in the "regional" on DFP that will have some tryouts will list tryouts 1500 miles away.
The overwhelming majority of people that I know that come on here do so for information on tryouts and friendlies,

[Marriard]

DFP doesn't have all the tryouts and friendlies listed like HB does. The little section in the "regional" on DFP that will have some tryouts will list tryouts 1500 miles away.
The overwhelming majority of people that I know that come on here do so for information on tryouts and friendlies,

Right... and that is why I said you need to understand and define who is - and who you want as your audience. Tryout notices and friendly requests does not lead to people staying to participate and discuss. People will come on, get the info they need and then move on assuming HB is active posting this for their area. I am in Florida - tryouts and posting for their are on a specific Facebook group and on a different website.. Once you get past CA, TX and IN the Regional forums on HB are basically dead.

DFP doesn't even pretend to be a place for people to post tryouts or look for friendlies. It is why it is down their list of forums and very inactive. On the other hand, if you post 'Hey I am moving to X, anyone help me out' or similar you get a bunch of PM's there helping you out.

If you want to the place to go for tryouts & friendlies for CA/TX/IN then great and from my personal discussions with people I know in CA it sounds like you are successful with that. But that is not going to generate discussion on other forums. The site in Florida that covers that for Florida (Pitch2Fast) generates almost zero discussion - it is basically a big notice board of teams needing players.

[eclipse09]

DFP doesn't have all the tryouts and friendlies listed like HB does. The little section in the "regional" on DFP that will have some tryouts will list tryouts 1500 miles away.
The overwhelming majority of people that I know that come on here do so for information on tryouts and friendlies,

Right... and that is why I said you need to understand and define who is - and who you want as your audience. Tryout notices and friendly requests does not lead to people staying to participate and discuss. People will come on, get the info they need and then move on assuming HB is active posting this for their area. I am in Florida - tryouts and posting for their are on a specific Facebook group and on a different website.. Once you get past CA, TX and IN the Regional forums on HB are basically dead.

DFP doesn't even pretend to be a place for people to post tryouts or look for friendlies. It is why it is down their list of forums and very inactive. On the other hand, if you post 'Hey I am moving to X, anyone help me out' or similar you get a bunch of PM's there helping you out.

If you want to the place to go for tryouts & friendlies for CA/TX/IN then great and from my personal discussions with people I know in CA it sounds like you are successful with that. But that is not going to generate discussion on other forums. The site in Florida that covers that for Florida (Pitch2Fast) generates almost zero discussion - it is basically a big notice board of teams needing players.

And that is the problem. HB doesn't try to define anything. It is open to all. Today's world from tv (especially news) to radio to the internet, etc narrowcasts and it gets very boring to hear the same crap spewed over and over again. I guess I am putting on my old guy hat on, but I long for a news channel that presents the news from both sides and lets me decide, I loved the radio stations that played all types of music and I want my softball forum to not only discuss what new bats are out there, but also discuss hot topics without watering things down.

[Schmick]

OAN One America News is good at that, it does have a few talk shows on the channel that are right leaning but the news is just the news.

There are over 30,000 topics in the tryouts threads for here, I'm not concerned with teams or topics from elsewhere, everything that matters to me happens here.

Some of the discussion topics are entertaining though

[dusty]

Here's a sample reply on a current DFP pitching forum thread where the parent of a first year 12u parent is asking about increasing the pitching speed of his dd:

"My DD pitched in the SEC with a top speed of 70+ and she will be the first to tell you that speed is of least concern when compared with movement and location."

While this may blow away the DFP 12u dads (and possibly derail the OP's thread) the only mention of this poster's dd I've read on UCS was when a follower of the above mentioned SEC school cited her as a reason to "not get too exited about Juco transfers." I don't mean to dis this guy's dd as she sounds like the kind of player I'd root for but there were regular posters on this site back in the day who's dd's were PAC and SEC All-Americans but you wouldn't know it from their posts. This poster and the DFP mod are engaged in a long running bromance which I believe adversely effects the culture of that forum. I'm fine with lightly moderated forums as long as the mods don't interject too much of their personality on the place.

Most of the DFP posters are fine folks like Marriard and there is a lot of good stuff there. I recently volunteered to be the pitching coach for a 10u travel team in my area so even though I no longer post there I've been going back to re-read Boardmember's posts about pitching mechanics to get some ideas to use with this team. Oh and as far as posting video's of your kid pitching on DFP to get feedback, I would consider the source of the replies you get and take a lot of it with a grain of salt. I did that once with my older dd and engaged with posters offline afterwards only to realize that they were well meaning but clueless. I've found over the years in softball that there is a lot of ignorance that passes as knowledge because it's delivered with a lot of conviction.

[Marriard]

I'll have to defend this though it is unnecessary really...

While this may blow away the DFP 12u dads (and possibly derail the OP's thread) the only mention of this poster's dd I've read on UCS was when a follower of the above mentioned SEC school cited her as a reason to "not get too exited about Juco transfers."

She went 34-19 with a 2.78 ERA in the SEC in her two years. Won a JC National Championship. Played professionally overseas. That is pretty damn good. He coaches locally and his pitchers always have outstanding mechanics. So.. yeah.he does know his stuff and people should be listening.

Most of the DFP posters are fine folks like Marriard and there is a lot of good stuff there. I recently volunteered to be the pitching coach for a 10u travel team in my area so even though I no longer post there I've been going back to re-read Boardmember's posts about pitching mechanics to get some ideas to use with this team.

Thanks. Pitching wise there is some outstanding people who contribute at DFP. There is no doubt my DD is a better pitcher from the people there. If we go back to the original purpose of this post this is why conversation and forums are more active at DFP - there is good and bad as you say = but there is a wealth of easily accessible and organized info there. A lot of people don't have access to any good info where they live.

Oh and as far as posting video's of your kid pitching on DFP to get feedback, I would consider the source of the replies you get and take a lot of it with a grain of salt. I did that once with my older dd and engaged with posters offline afterwards only to realize that they were well meaning but clueless. I've found over the years in softball that there is a lot of ignorance that passes as knowledge because it's delivered with a lot of conviction.

You should take ALL advice with a grain of salt and also do your research to make sure the sources are good. In any open forum there is going to be good and bad and you need to decide which is which. You learn who the good ones are over time. Frankly the worst advice my DD has gotten has come from various college coaches at camps. One in particular stood out - D1 coach that lives solely on talent versus any sort of actual softball kowledge.

[Hinky]

hmmm appears DFP now has a thread on HB

[dusty]

I'll have to defend this though it is unnecessary really...

He coaches locally and his pitchers always have outstanding mechanics. So.. yeah.he does know his stuff and people should be listening.

I've seen this same poster advocating on DFP that pitchers should practice every day all year around so based on that I would have to disagree that people should be listening. Sounds like you know the guy personally so not going to get any further into it than that.

[dusty]

:roll: hmmm appears DFP now has a thread on HB

Maybe thats what HB needed to pump up the discussion participation...