Chubz.Do you see the forums regaining strength within this rebirth or ns adapting with social media? Or neither lol
I see the forums being dramatically different from what people remember as the 'glory days'. For one, shitty trolls have to go. They completely overran the site, spilling out of NSG to everywhere as the quality members/pros pulled out of the forums and migrated to other forms of social media. People got sick of reading the bullshit - hell many (if not most) of today's crop of pros grew up on NS. Once they became a lighting rod for the trolls, they got sick of reading it.
Culling the fucksticks is going to hurt NSG bad. It will never be the same. I think for those who love NSG, that was a special time and that time has come to a close. NSG will become a place where there's off-topic discussion, some ridiculous behavior, but overall a shadow of its former self.
The other forum categories will pick up in quality, though I imagine not speed. The simple fact with speed is people don't hang around on their keyboards all day/night using newschoolers anymore. Its a mobile world and this is only increasing. Mobile is much more about content consumption than it is participation.
The quality will be a good thing though. We can beef up the conversations in the ski-related categories, and those who post will adhere to a higher level of quality. You're already seeing good members come back, and industry/athletes pick up their posting behavior. Though there will be a lot less discussion, the discussion that happens will be much better.
Content also will detract from the forums - the story you would have told in a post will now go in news. That edit you want to highlight will be in the video gallery, and the discussion around it in the comments. The nature of the forums will be only about discussion, not blended into every other aspect of what is here.
AlsoKnownAsFor sure. Facebook really started picking up steam mid 08. By mid 09 it was ridiculous. I agree as far as the smart phone too. I love to type)obviously based on my retardedly long responses) and am always going to be the guy hammering away on my laptop.(only had a desktop this time last year too lol)
For me, one of my favorite things was the cults. And I feel it's unlikely to get anything like that going again. So some of my favorite things were in the past, but you guys have done a great job with updating the site. The news section is bumping now to the point where some days you almost get pissed because there's too much good news and nobody will read it all because it's a lot at once. Things like that. Also the what's hot page in general. NS seems to have a solid presence on facebook. I don't fuck with twitter or instragram so idk about them angles.
Idk, seems like you've done a good job to stay relevant. For a site that's 16? or whatever years old, and with so many radical changes in technology in that time period, as well as the sport itself, that's pretty cool.
I was a member of a few snowboard forums that were dead by 06-07. NS has gone through some major changes/phases over the years, but it has always landed on it's feet, and managed to keep growing/becoming increasingly legitimate.
*I was just making sure my keyboard still worked.
Cults is a tricky one. We had HUGE plans for cults, and loved the idea that we were providing private groups since well before any other social media did it. The problem was the technology behind them was extremely complicated, and as people got into facebook groups it laid waste to the cults very rapidly. We'll simplify them dramatically, and perhaps just leave in place private forums which you can create. Whether or not this will ever bring life back I don't know - though I'm suspect cults are simply a thing of the past. Facebook groups are too good, and its hard to have a compelling reason to visit a site like newschoolers to have a private discussion with your friends.
The tie in with the rise of mainstream social media is spot on. Its been extremely difficult to figure out exactly where we should fit as all of that came to play. Hell, those companies didn't even have to make any money while having development budgets in the hundreds of millions funded solely by Venture Capital. Its like being a small business when Walmart shows up in town.... most of them are just going to get annihilated except the few that get nimble as fuck real fast.
I'm like you - I'm on a keyboard all day and can't stand typing on a phone. So I love forums, and I love having discussion in them. I'm kind of happy that all the quick-posting shitheads are getting lost in snapchat or giving up on typing their quips into our mobile interface. As each one of them leaves, it opens up more opportunity for quality discourse about the sport we are all so passionate about.
And yeah, NS is sweet 16 this year. Fucking crazy if you ask me. That means that if you started on this site as a 16 year old shithead, you're probably a 32 year old lawyer who is married with 1-2 kids.
Whatever the challenges of the future are, I'm excited to see what it brings. This community is amazing. The absolute best time to be a newschool skier was at the beginning... when there was like 2-3 of you in the park and you were instant homies just because you had twins on. Fuck everyone else, and fuck the part-timers - we're the core of skiing and that is rad as fuck.
I see a huge future for events. What's better than the latest fanciest online community technology?
Fucking skiing together.