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... the definition of most European leagues can explain this post dropping.
In my case however, there are other points. I am not very much interested in tennis, horse racing and other sports. And as there are a lot of threads on these subjects, my interest in posting comments on these issues is very small. Maybe this can apply to other people, too.
Typically I visit the site twice or three times a day and each day I found less postings that appeal me.
Nevertheless, I keep enjoying the site and consider it one of the best.
Interesting stuff, we are already thinking about setting up a separate Horse Racing and Sports Forum if that is what visitors want.
I agree that the football content has been diluted somewhat, and maybe the sports need separating in order that football can establish growth in posts again.
is it maybe because we are nearing the end of the football seasons and quite a lot of the games are meaningless for now..i think when it hits summer months posts do dip maybe you can correct me on that though..like Zoccer folks might not post on things they don't bet on..through the winter when the shutdown is on in Scotland and most of the posts are on American sports i tend to leave it alone as most of those sports don't interest me..perhaps its a seasonal thing.
from my point of view, there is less and less legitamite football talk here. If you look down the daily posts you see contests, tennis, horse racing, fixed games, and a number of posts with unexplained picks.
Since I don't play contests, generally avoid tennis, and never bet horses, that leaves me with opening threads on fixed games (which I have no knowledge of), and people's unexplained trebles systems and american sports...neither which are really threads that will generate a lot of discussion.
personally I think the forum has quietened because the season is coming to a close,this is me first season here so don't know what happened last season,and also with no offence intended there are a few inconsistencies on the site like you(Mark) have stopped putting up your tips and Jhim has stopped doing his daily double and the crib league came to a halt,maybe has nothin to do with anythin but they all generate an added interest within the forum,but don't get me wrong, I think the site is sound and will continue to visit.
Injury T, both myself and Jhim will take all comments and decide a course of action to improve matters.
I think that Football has just been swamped by other sports and as a consequence, people are deterred from posting.
If we split the two into separate forums, there is no reason why matters cannot return to how they were here, with excellent information on all games around the globe.
Give us an interesting,stimulating competition and you'll see punters back ,Mark.
May I make a suggestion?You open an account on a bookie of your choice.We each send you a small amount of money ,say 5 Euro,and thus a nice little amount is gathered.Then,you and Jhim create a competition like PICK THREE which consists of Scandinavian or other soccer,MLB,and NBA which are more understandable as sports by the majority of the members here.You create 3 award sums for 1,2,3 places.That's it.
That will rekindle the interest due to the ending of most European Soccer Leagues.
A lot of the people who were posting on here regularly and with some success are now @ the Toptipsters forum.
However it is application / invite only on there and you really have to keep a good success rate up for your specialist area otherwise your membership is revoked.
A fair few of those that Z ( or someone ) listed earlier are def there...and I recognise many of the old names who used to be very respected tipsters on here posting there.
The loss of such tipsters not only means less posts on here but less ppl following good profitable tipsters...having said that Toptipsters is merely a forum and the selection criteria is very tight.
In truth, most are respected tipsters, but there are others out there with new ideas and concepts and they have to start somewhere ..... let's hope it is here.
I think that a closed forum is a little elitist though albeit safe from bookmaker intrusion, but most decent punters ensure that they are already on before posting their information or bets.
I agree with Injury Time that here is more other sports than soccer,that is also more threads of betting picks without explanations.I visit this forum over 2 years and I must notice whith regreting that this is not any more the buisiest forum on net.Some other forums have more posting,cover more ligues.Many tipseters from this forum has gone(I don't know where).Maybe owners of this forum should make efforts to find more tipsters specialists for some specific ligue (like Belgophil,Phunter....)
are now either on their own e-mail groups or on closed forums where their information can be protected.
Due to persoanl circumstances, for both myself and Jhim, this season has been a particularly tough one. But it is certainly our intention from the start of next season to liven this forum up with all sorts of features.
I think that a separate sports forum is definitely the way to go, and I'll try and get that up soon, so that the Football chat can get back to where it was.
Maybe one reason is that rather than discussing matches so many people prefer to post their tips here. Personally i dont see much point in responding to people who have already decided on their bets. Im sure they have their reasons but i dont think it helps when almost everyone is starting threads with their tips.
with Bluekoba and anyone who knows me long enough knows my views on that, and its good to highlight the word "discussion" in "discussion forum" . For poeple who just want to write a list of teams they are betting on they can join many of the competitions available on the net, the forum really should be for discussing our opinions on the likely outcomes of whatever games we choose to talk about, the pros and cons for each possible results, rumours, incentive, team news and also as important for those who wish to post the bets they are going to take with the reasons they have decided and then people can comment or discuss those reasons.
Times do change and the comments about other sports confuse me as most people and even some who will complain have actively taken part in a string about another sport at some time or another (not referring to anything recently but previous discussions on this subject) and in the past when we have asked for visitor opinion on having seperate forums for sports and soccer there has been an overwhelming majority of people said no don't do that keep sports and soccer together, so it looks like maybe or maybe not things have changed now. Its never stopped people posting before and also visitors have welcomed it especially in the summer when soccer is quiet. Tennis has always been discussed at some point or another and Horse Racing to a certain extent. But I am not advers to having a seperate form for Sports if thats what people want, I woudl definatelyt post there on Motor Racing but thats about as far as my following of sport goes except for I like Wimbledon Mark and I are thinking on ideas for a summer sports competition, maybe we could make an additional forum and kick it off with a sports competition? Wimbledon or something who knows?
One thing that does confuse me is the amount of poeple who apply for membership and then don't post, we are still continually getting membership applications and are up over 1500 full members, but the new ones don't post hardly, you don't need a membership to read so why get one then don't post, maybe a new member who has not posted can tell us why they applied.
Also the thing about competitions and other sports getting in the way, that confuses me also, its like poeple think the forum is three blocks long and they need to walk to get to the next soccer string, they are not that far apart and you get to one from the other using your mouse ad your finger, I think thats a lame excuse for not posting? If you have something to say then people will read it, the fact there are competitions and other sports is not stopping you from posting and discussing soccer, the majortiyt by a long way of posts in this forum is on soccer.
I'll come back to this more later , got to go do something first.......
i think the lack of posts may be due to the fact of the petty arguements earlier in the season.
People were attacking others, and i guess people dont have to put up with it and so dont post anymore.
thats a good point too. It did resemble a soap opera for a while earlier this season, but a bit of banter has to be expected and the atmosphere has been excellent in the last few months.
I know at least a couple of people on this forum which have been mailed by that owner and asked to post there and not here, which I think is pretty shocking considering I thought I once had a good relationship with that person, very underhand!
There is certainly no rule in "that" forum asking to keep from posting elsewhere. In fact, footy4cast posts here and "there" and I am sure the owner of that forum does not feel slighted. The only real rules of "that" forum is that we do not spread picks to others, and each pick must come with some sort of analysis. Basically, it would be wrong of me to cut and paste footy4cast's picks, and post them on to forums he has not consented to....just as it is wrong for me to suggest a tip if I cannot provide a reason for such a selection.
But, members have the right to post THEIR OWN picks anywhere they feel is appropriate. The question should be why do they not post here? I can only answer my reasons, which I stated above. A year ago there was good football talk, and now a lot of wasted threads.
I still think this is a great site, and I still have a look at least a couple of times a day. This is my first year at betting and I have learned so much especially from this forum.
Probably the biggest reason the posts have dropped, is due to the fact a lot of leagues are finished or close to it.
Another reason is ( for me personally ) the lack of discussion about forthcoming games. I have been one of the biggest offenders in the past of just putting up a selection or two with no reasons why I feel it is a good bet.
As I say, I am learning all the time, and am sorting out a complete review of my research in the close season which hopefully will mean I can add more constructive analysis next year.
I think it would be a really good idea if you had a football forum, and then possibly an other sports forum.
There must be a lot of visitors to the site that don’t feel confident about posting views on games in case they end up getting it wrong. I still feel like that with every post I make.
One way that might help this, is to make the forum more user friendly. I would like to see a ban on all bets, apart from a midweek bets, and weekend thread, leaving the way open for discussion about forthcoming games on all the other threads.
I also feel a separate section on the site for those wanting to post their record would be a good idea as well.
The forum needs to get back to discussion of possible forthcoming bets. If you haven’t posted before, but feel you have something to add, give it a go. It really doesn’t matter if another poster disagrees with your thoughts. Between us all we can try to get an edge over the bookies.
I am sure Mark and Jhim put so much effort into this site, so I hope I haven’t offended with my comments.
thanks for your comments they are welcome and in no way offensive, honest and to the point. One thing we don't want to do is become too restrictive and ban this and that, I think more discussion is needed and more strings with good analysis and and discussion on that analysis, constructive of course, but I think we can all talk to each other and work towards that rather than saying this or that is banned if you know what I mean.
The main reasons are the end of the football season in most European leagues,and the fact that this has been the toughest season bettingwise.Punters in Greece have dropped soccer bets in the last 2 months remarkably and as a result,TV ads promoting soccer betting from our local bookie ,OPAP,have increased to a bothersome extent.
As to the anaysis or not of a game.I love reading it ,especially from some of our people here in the forum because it’s lucid and to the point but even if they hadn’t posted it but had a regularly posted proven profitable record,I would still follow their tips ,because, after all,what counts most is being successful and making money not reading literature.There are some other sites that people write remarkably good analysis and are also remarkably wrong most of the time.What good are they apart from being windbags?
I have been reading for example,Jhim’s or Mark’s posts for more than a year and they are both good and effective. On the other hand ,there is a certain Greek site that gives me tips on Primera and Segunda without any analysis and their stats are very good.Also, some older members may remember Kallithea, a Greek punter who had been posting tips without analysis that were indeed highly profitable even if he didn’t give anaysis.Unfortunately he was harassed by some people who insisted on explanation of his tips ,doing him down with deprecatory comments for not analysing,while they were doing really bad,despite boring us with lengthy ,superficial and statistical texts devoid of essence.What good is quoting stats?My cat can do that!Only thing you need to do is find one of the 2 or 3 good sites that offer them and copy paste adding a few words.
A good punter picks games according to keen judgement and understanding of the game and sometimes gives picks against stats,for example ,and he is right.
To cut a long story short.The success of a forum,is measured by how many punters ,people who trust us and place money on our tips,read the posts and appreciate them .I’m sure the read rate of this forum is the best in the net,at least that’s my impression and I read a lot of forums.(And that's why Jhim you get a lot of subscription.)
When i 1st came on the net the ffo site was my 1st port of call as i started posting picks..this was the old FFO and i think it is fair to say that not many people from then are around things change from time to time and folk move on and they come back..Jhim and Mark took on a big job trying to maintain a succesful site which in my opinion thehave not only maintained that but went one better and taken it to another level..when i look around other sites now concerning football and sports betting it is interesting to see the names of guys who used to post here..and i don't mean interesting as in why don't they post here i mean it in as the majority of them who are all pretty successful tipsters all started off here whe originally giving there picks and asking for advice and to me that shows that this place is a breeding ground for top tipsters and a great place where novices have cut here teeth so to speak including myself at one time or another although 4 years was a long time ago thinking back now..we have had guys like Zodiac ,Zybba,Sioux ,Cruiser,Bigo,Daz and guys like Hansi ..someone i personally wish would post more...these guys have been around since the begining of football fixed odds ..guys have went like Tedy who was a laugh if nothing else but the point is all these great tipsters had to start somewhere and where did the majority of them start off they started off here..they have all progressed to running there own sites which has to be a testament to themselves and also to the fact we were all in here helping each other at one timeor another..i take my hat off to everyone who gives out great picks on there own sites and i have personally made loads of friends through this site and i have also personally met a couple of members and i have also had invites to other countries through meeting friends through here..in th main when you look at the roll call of guys who have posted here in the past and went on to pastures new the one factor is they all started off here..which has to mean something..this is where we do our apprenticeship so to speak and a better place you couldn't ask to do i..there is one thing when you go to other sites ask them where they 1st started out betting on the net there won't be many who say it wasn' FFO..apologies for the long winded post before i head to the airport but i think th above neded saying tis is a great forum and the majority who are dong great elsewere started off here..so something must be right in the make up of the site if this is what has been happening..apologies also to anyone i havn't mentioned i have made so many good friends on here..i better mention Pens or he won't talk to me..also a mention to Golfball and Monty and someone who doesn't visit much now Skipper the Miller man..lol..i am heading now guy's but just remember this is theplace to be.
Who for the majority of time just read the forum, but once in a while I have been writing as well.
The thing that strikes me the most is the fact that for a thread to get any action, it seems as though it needs to be "approved" by some of the people who posts a lot (Mark, Jhim, phunter, Zland to name the ones who spring to mind) or the ones who doesn't write as often, but when they do it's real quality posts (Footy4cast and Joe fx.)
If none of these responds to a thread, more often than not, the thread just slips down the page and vanishes, sometimes achieves to get one or two comments along the way.
Mark...your point to Mike about Bigo ( I presume ) asking ppl to post on his forum and not FFO was not true in my case...he asked me to be a an English specialist on his site but always accepted that I would post at other forums....basically his forum of only approx 40 members comprised of ppl he has monitored at various sites over a period time who provided good records...If he actually asked other ppl not to post at FFO then yes that is out of order.
To me both forums have their merits...Toptipsters is better for tips ( as many of the people there are pro's or established tipsters ).
However if you are looking for ratings / articles / a diversity of different views / chats about systems then FFO is top drawer...it also has some excellent tipsters...finally it is more fun.
Ruskeren the reason why I do not post or respond to many posts is that I am very selective over my bets, often not even taking more than a dozen on a week.
Also on the occasion I have started up English Lower League threads, I have been disappointed with the response. i.e I write two picks with full analysis, including team news / form / hth's etc etc. In response I got back some good well thought out tips from a few ( Kenny ) especially. However the remainder were all of the nature of listing 7/8 teams ( sometimes in an accie ) and saying I "think these will win".
I didn't say that you don't post enough. What I DID say was that whenever you (and for exampel Joe) do post, it's always absolut top quality posts.
My point is that for a thread to get comments from a lot of different members, it often seems to me that it has to be "approved" first, meaning that when the people I mentioned in my post above, replies to lets say my post, a lot of the other members are suddenly interested, while if none of the above mentioned members replies, the posts often just vanish without any comments at all.
Kind of a messy explanation, but I hope you got it.
I like this site and although I dont post that often I have found the same thing as Ruskeren. This is not a critcism but an observation that it can be hard to receive any feedback so sometimes its easier just to read. FFO is still a place I visit 2/3 times a day. Keep up the good work Mark/Jhim.
I remember I aso got an invitation to the forum, just needing to fill out the membership application back in september. (If you accept our invitaion and apply at http://www.network54.com/Hide/Forum/189363 we will be happy to see you among us. Just drop a few notes to the application form.) Well that sounded to me like I just had to fill out the form and was ready to go in.
I remember there was a question about specialisms and performance as well I think. I mentioned that my yield had not been positive in the first 2 years of my betting "career". After applying "suprisingly" I never heard anything from Mr. Bigo anymore.
This message has been edited by Mark_Hodson on May 9, 2003 2:50 PM
of this site called the "Inner Circle", whereby each month say 5 new members are elected to join, on account of their fantastic tipping record or good analysis and advice.
However I am not sure what the benefits would be apart from protecting picks from bookmakers, but this would deprive most visitors the chance of cashing in.
...sorry m8 got the names wrong...as for the inner circle TT style. Its all very well inasmuch that you have to keep performing to be kept in the forum. What this does do is ensure that you make money month in month out.
However it does accomodate those wanting to improve, those starting out, or those wishing to learn about betting...you have to be good and stay good. Sometimes it takes the fun out of it all.
Personally from a selfish point of view the fact that there are the two different styles of forum suits me fine.
.......from a personal perspective though, I prefer an open style of forum.
Gambling is a pastime and is meant to be fun, I am fortunate that I don't need to gamble for a living and would not really consider it (my wife told me to say that ). I feel that it would change considerably if this was to become a full time job rather than a serious hobby.
This does not mean to say that I take winning any less seriously. Anyone that sets out to make losses for this sort of entertainment needs their heads examining.
At Top Tipsters a fair percentage do actually bet for their livelihood and it is fair to assume that divulging their information on every open message board will affect their profits and earnings long term. I do respect that board and the reasons behind it, but sometimes it puzzles me why some do not go elsewhere for the craic and general chit chat. They could do this without divulging any of their trade secrets I am sure.
more people to post if the chat was opened again. This is a more private place where u can interact much better with others, than simply posting some picks up. I never really understood why the chatroom stopped, surely it would be easier to ask questions to each other live, than to keep posting and posting
Mr Bet, the chat room is still here its on the top right of the menu bar, but i dont think you will be able to see if anyone is in there like you use to. That became a regular thing as well on here with live scores being posted as well.
Maybe set up a weekend meet up in the chat room to discuss the results of th footy or something?
I personally lost interest when the forum had all its downtime. I then visited another forum and have stayed there since whilst only popping in here occasionally to see whats happening.
Basically, lack of reliability and problems in getting 'in here' have made me not post as much.
about this chatroom, but im talking about the mirc one, it started for a few weeks, jhim used to go in there, and then it just stopped, i think others may have gone to other chatrooms because of this, i know that i did
i think it really is as simple as the footie season is ending......and it,s dreaded one in four "summer of no football " this year as well.
i personally love all the posts on other sports and gambling opportuniys (i,m about re post on the eurovision one after this message). but lets not forget how i and most of you others eneded up here...........FOOTBALL BETTING.....first and foremost i am a football betting man and only dable a little bit in horses ect. anyway as footie betting man i say
TENNER SEZ THE POSTS WILL GO BACK UP TO WHERE THEY WERE WHEN NEW SEASON KICKS OFF.
I personally haven't posted as much as I would like because in the Leagues I consider that I know most about, the English ones, have been a disappointment for me this year. I have had better success in betting in other leagues after reading information that is posted here and also in other forums.
I also think the tendancy has been to put Team A to beat Team B, without any even a short reason why.
I have also been spending far too much time working out American Sport statistics because I hope that more success can be achieved through these than in football. And maybe when I feel more confident I might even post a thought or two.
This forum is still the place I check first of all when logging on to the net, so thanks for all you hard work. Although I must confess my starting up homepage is royalscore.com !
Think every forum has its ups and downs, my personal opinion is that things could get more lively here though. Recently (like last Weekend) i looked at the activity at this forum and - noticing nearly nobody wrote threads and/or reacted to existing threads or wrote about racing and other sports i'm not interested in - I thought what the bother to write something and then to see nobody reacts, like is happening recently a lot with for example the Dutch predictions, the Italian serie A-thread and so on. What we see more and more is people just writing their choice: "i took this bet and this bet and this bet, with one line or even no information at all". Not very stimulating is also threads like "I want to take X winning against Y. Any opinions please". Dunno, but if people want to choose a game to bet on i expect them first to have thought about it and at least to have looked up THEMSELVES some info about the game..." And yes, because of all tipsters competitions going on everywhere (i'm doing that also, yes) it's normal people spend their precious time to do this as good as possible. And finally, yes the season end approaching i think it's normal that there is no such a big offer in interesting games as in midseason...
Personally i think this is the most popular betting forum on the net but not the most informative one. Recently the only reasons i have been visting is because of the competitons. I find the information is lacking on betting topics even though its the end of the season there is still oppotunities which go unoticed. There is other forums which are still very active at this time of the season and i have found decent info. I find too many posts on a personal level like congratulating a winning bet rather than recommeding, agreeing or adding info on it. I'm probbally just as much to blame as anyone else in not posting info as much as i'd like as i've been following this site almost everyday for 3 years I've been a keen follower of Belgo Phill and Hobbit so i hope they will continue to support this forum...What happened to Superfly with his Bundeliga 1and 2 info??? There is a solid fanbase here on which to build on....so long live it
for your comments, I agree there is too many wasted threads.
ONe thing we will definately go ahead with is a trial of a new forum joined to this one for all sports, and we are thinking of kicking it off with a prize competition as we do have 125 quid left for the summer, and after that the competition will be back to soccer for next season, so very soon this forum will become ONLY for soccer (hurrah some will say) some may not like it but we would appreciate it if people give it a chance and try it, the one good thing about it is those who say they no longer bet soccer, know some mentioned above and also like Danny Boy and Zodiac who like Horses, Tennis and other and maybe Zoustos and others who like American sports will take part. Its a trial and we can see how it goes.
MY tipping services are going to be more concentrated next season, I have been messing with other things on the net over the last couple of seasons but I am giving everything else up to concentrate on supplying fixed odds and asian picks of real quality next season, I already know I can stay in profit, but I am disappointed in my performance this season, i have thought lots about my reasons, I am struggling to hit a 5% yield and I know I can do a lot better, I set my standards high and betting all year for 5% yield is not worth it for me. Next seasonI am setting myself a minimum target of 15% yield for the season and I am determined to exceed that by using all my experience and being even more disciplined, this may result in me shortening the maount of bets I do, or they may even increase, but I will work on my strategy all summer, and use Norway and other things to test a few ideas.
More articles will be forthcoming and tips on betting in general for those who like to learn, both me and MArk will have more time to write our own stuff in the summer and I woudl like to see a packed jouranl of betting advice, theories and strategies on the main site.
Once this work is done and settled I am still planning to implement a tip submission feature for those who just want to enter their tips each week and have them instantly recorded and their performance shown, I am looking at ideas similar to the asianbookie.com handicap competition, but ours will be for record only and competitive fun, but at some point an award for the best record may be applied.
So will be very busy over summer. Personally though for me its the quality of the people who are here and the atmosphere between us that is most important to me, not the amount of people or the amount of picks, and it shoudl not be a problem keeping that
As for me, I am so busy with my career resently as a Web marketer / SEO specialit. I have to take my spare time to do my soccer analysis then generate my soccer tips. I really busy with my works and have no time to write my comments on each team I selected. My gf always said I have no time for her.
I mostly doing Asian Handicap which is getting less popular in FFO forum. I can say lately only Jhim and I doing that. And sometime, Jhim lazy to copy and past his tips from his Asian Pick Page to my post in the forum.
To be honest, I feel not good about doing it when no one share their though. But I always keep doing my Asian handicap post weekly. The result was the same, only Jhim and I posted it.
Mark and Jhim, you run the forum. It means everyone join this forum is under your supervision.
I don't know if you would consider my suggestions:
1. Spend 1 more hour go to each post and follow up their pick's result. If good, say Good Job! If not then say, Hey what's up today? Drink too much while doing tips....and Hope you will do it better next time man....Common do it again one more try... Well, say something that's encourage users to keep posting and make someone who did their jobs well happy with FFO.
Don't worry much about tips accuracy at this point. All other soccer betting people known who to follow and who not to. Instead, train a youngster to become a big player in the future.
Think like forum is your biz. Customer satifaction is the main point to success. I know you already know about it, but just to say one more time.
Based on Commer Report mag. AT&T lost customer's satifaction to Verizon...
2. Keep runing forum competition.
3. Strongly monitor all posts. Just to make sure that No spamming...No word attacking on each other. You can creat a lock function to lock the threat in case you don't want it blows bigger and bigger. Before your lock the threat provide reasons and solutions.
4. I highly recommend you to creat and Newsletter. Send to everyone in your forum member list weekly. Don't send to often it make less value and users might consider as spamming. In your Newsletter, carefully select one or two good tips. Write it short and straight to the point. At the bottom of the Newsletter, write somethign like if you want the detail information, Click Here to go to (whatever you want), but I recommend to go to where the picks analysis are in your web site.
I believe you might understand about this kind of newsletter advantages to your web site. You both are smart.
It is cost almost nothing to do a Newsletter. Email me if you dont know which one to start with.
Yep, that's shit. I have to go back and finish my job. I almost done with my reports. As a FFO member, I will post my tips again when the next season start.
From a personal perspective, I think FFO is the best forum on the internet.
However, earlier this season I was at the stage, where I was confident enough to post some suggested bets, then all the negativity started flowing. Don't get me wrong, I am all for constructive criticism and detailed comment, however I felt people putting their "cock on the block" were being shot at, so I was really put off from posting any picks.
In an ideal world, this shouldn't be the case, but it usually is.
I have continued (and will continue) to value many opinions on the site, whether to confirm my own thoughts or bring my attention to other picks, but as stated, any willingness to post is nullified by the thought of your picks being ridiculed 'after the event'.
BUT - the forum is still great and I will continue to visit daily!
We have a newsletter already which will be expanded next year, I did mention this above. I need to find a better one as the one I have is not compatible with many peoples email accounts as it is treated like spam.
I also take your point about going into every post, this is sometimes impossible especially in the busiest part of the season and to do that I'd need to give up tipping, I assure you it takes much more than an hour because when I really need to talk about something I usually write a lot and then write again because I forgot something the first time. I am also busy with a job and family and also I consider myself a visitor and if I had to go into every single post then it woudl be a labour and I would probably give the forum up. We all should be able to congratulate each other and it shouldn't be down to one person to see to everybody, it would be no fun, but saying that I do try as much as possible to get into most.
Network54 are working on a mailing system where we can mail all members at once but have not got it ready yet. Other mailing lists have a maximum amount of people you can have on it which is a pain in the ass, if you know any better ones I'd be glad to hear about it.
Like a few of the boys further up the thread, it's the lack of discussion on the picks that have made me shy away from posting.
I mean on matchdays, i will surf the net for 2-3 hours gathering information, then i spend 20-30 mins typing out my thoughts.
By doing this, i was hoping to get others' views on my thoughts and then make a more 'educated' bet. However there was always a lack of interest from other members to participate in this type of discussion and i am talking about the EPL, La liga, ISA and the Champions League and major Cup competitions so how can there be any lack of interest in these games.
So if there's some way that Mark and Jhim can encourage people to take part in discussion about the game rather than just post their picks without any reasons, then the forum should be buzzing again.
Anyway both Mark and Jhim have done a good job so far and i will keep come back here, post or not.
I think part of that problem is since we went to member only a lot of the people who have signed up are readers rather than posters, and maybe don't write good in english, but many who are able to post are coming in and just wanting to see someone tell them what to bet rather than wanting to discuss things, which is a shame, of courese there are always going to be many people who can read english but not write it very well I understand that. Perhaps making the forum closed for members only with an encouragement to post when signing up may be the answer, but that woudl be only stipulation and you wouldn't need to turn profit to be a member, just be a good talker Or post at least onece a week or something, but there is no way to tell.
"Perhaps making the forum closed for members only with an encouragement to post when signing up may be the answer, but that woudl be only stipulation and you wouldn't need to turn profit to be a member, just be a good talker"
I think that's on the right way and could bring many old members back in action..
I think it's quite easy to make this forum great again but it depents on your... priorities
QUALITY or QYANTITY ? The answer is both,but it's not that easy...
Hello Mark, Jhim!
A very important thread this is and a lot of responce as I can see, so how can you all got worried about the future of FFO.
I think this is a healthy forum and I consider it as my home forum, even if I post on several others, too.
Well, this would be my proposals:
*Separate Football and other sports, I think we will get more concentrated discusions about football then.
*Dont be afraid of any kind of posts (picks, discussions, specials...) but encourage discussions of as many members as possible.
*I agree that it would be nice if Jhim or Mark would read every post, so that they know exatctly whats going on, they could encourage people from time to time (they are experts and have a lot of expirience).
*Competitions are good thing and if people would follow top tipsters in Pick3 Comp, they could make nice profits. And a competition like that showed, how excellent we can get if we are motivated and study our picks.
we are not worried about the future, not sure what made you think that?
We are seperating to sports and soccer, it is likely the forum will be closed to members only who post and I will probably be able to get around to every post then so we should be able to cover that, and we will always have competitions because they are great fun and a good way to get money out of the bookies
Thanks Macoti, and don't worry the forum ain't closing down
thepensioner (Login thepensioner) Fixed Odds Member
Right ....
May 11 2003, 8:31 PM
Hi all,
Guilty as charged. I am one of these people that are just reading and not posting much. Why you might ask? Good question … I’m not betting as much or as frequently as I used to. I think its like Bhoops. I use to specialize in doing Goal Supremacies etc. for England & Scotland. However I became totoally disillusioned with the leagues this year and eventually w/o the year. This is this is the first place I ever wrote and consider it home. I visit frequently but post very occasionally as I have little to contribute.
Yea the number of posts are down. But as others have said it always happens this time of year. What is missing however is the infighting that normally happens at this time of year. Last year it wasn’t too bad as the World Cup was there to keep us all happy so it’s a credit and a joy to see little bickering despite the leagues ceasing.
So what can be done ?
One thing that I am especially looking forward to this year is Jhims Norweigan League tips. I understand that you’re obviously very busy getting things set up for you & your family but I think its essential for some football to be successfully tipped during the summer and over the past 2 years you have proved yourself very profitable at this league.
One thing that I am against is yet another forum. We have the Chill Out Zone ( a nice idea but in itself is dying with maybe 1 post a day ) … we had USA Sports Betting Forum ( this had to be combined with the FFO forum cos no one was posting there and it looked bad, the lack of posting I mean not the site ) …. We also had the FitbaPunter Forum which surprise surprise also eventually died or sorry was introduced to the FFO family. I don’t mean to be flippant but I’m trying to make an important point. If more and more forums appear then eventually one of them dies. If theres a horse racing forum & a Chill Out Zone & a Horsie Forum then they won’t all survive and I would hate it to be the FFO forum.
So whats the solution …. Well I’m willing to eat humble pie at this stage. I was against this idea when Jhim first aired it a while ago … I thought that by changing the format you’d kill the forum but perhaps its now the only way to help it prosper again. I think that the way forward is ONE forum sectioned off into categories … eg Football , Horse Racing , General , Motor Racing etc… as few categories as possible. I never saw the trial version that you had made Jhim but I believe I was wrong when I advised against change. Perhaps I still am … but I would prefer to see ONE strong forum than 3 or 4 weak forums.
Another thing … I am strongly against making this forum even more exclusive. IE you can’t even read let alone post without membership. As was said there is a degree of fun here … its my opinion that you’d get less and less members by becoming more exclusive not more. I was against the idea of membership for posting however I agree that it’s the only real weapon you have of dealing with personal attacks etc. and I believe overall to your credit the ban has been used sparingly.
I also agree with Mr Bet … lets use the chatroom more setting a time etc. in the present one or even getting a MIRC one again.
Finally I think Phunter is completely right we NEED a Tedy. The man was a legend. I hope he occasionally stops buy and reads. If you do mate … hope you are well … and thanks for ups & downs & especially the laughs
Finally I am to blame myself. I will hopefully get back to football analysis etc soon. In the mean time I’ll post my horse racing comments here also. For fun BTW good to hear from all of you … enjoy the holiday Phunter
I was one who was afraid another forum woudln't work, the purpose of the chill out zone was in effect to avoid people posting stuff we don't ned on the betting forum and it is used for that when people need to speak, I think the fact is many people don't know it exists and we could maybe make it more obvious. I think if we went full memebrs only and all were posting, we woudl all use two forums as it is only the flick of one page, each woudl look and feel the same but one for sport and one for soccer.
Also I hear that N54 are changing the face of their chatrooms and they will become more IRC like, we could bring the mIRC back but need moderators from different parts of the world so someone can almost always be in, I cannot stay in there and sometimes there is people wandering in and causing trouble who aren't even bettors, and the banning system is not too good as its easy to get around it.
kenny, I think I have said it at least five times in three strings now, the posting once a week was a loose example to get opinions going, nobody said this is a set rule but problem is strings are getting very long now and some of my comments are being missed.
Well when I first started reading and after a while posting in this forum smehow I imagined it as FFO but mostly GB soccer. So I thought, OK great site to pick some British soccer...Than we had some excelent German, Austrian, Dutch, Belgian, Italian.......tipsters which gradualy disapiered. My luck in British soccer was catastrophical....so slowly started to loose interes. British soccerno luck, other nations not much on the menue.
So that is part of the reason.....
Second part of the story is sports that mayority of EU countrys do not have, like Horses, Dogs, golf, snooker...
My sugestion would be to separate, sort out sports by by name (as mentioned), as well as make a note of diferent origin of sport, as...Scandinavian soccer, Serie A, Turkish socer, Spain, French and so on....
I am sure we can find blokes that know their hometeams so for us would be easier to know where to look !
Competition is another mayor thing to look for. Sure if some good tipsters are showing ability that might create some trafic.
Some time ago you 'promised' to bring in sort of a poolls where we would be able to have our say.
Just as an exsample have a look at a betguru virtual beting competition....So if you make a Tenis section, well one could look for some tips there. There is lots of people that specialise in only one kind of sport, so why not give everybody a chance to create some corner of interes. There is Wimbledon, Roland Gaross coming, Formula one, Bikes 250-500, V. Rossi is doing wonders....
Make sort ocf'contents'...so everybody can look for thing of his interess.
GL whatever you do decide to do, this is a great site and I will be member here as long as you blokes let me ...
The greatest pleasure in life is to win !!!
SHARAN
Sharan, this is exactly what you probably know from the other forum, don't you. Well, I'd be all four if it didn't mean absolutely zero traffic in other than footy forums at times which leads to less and less postings etc. Being a member of these two forums I really appreciate the difference and I guess it's only due to the diversion into too many forums that we don't get as much traffic as we would like to. I guess it would be best to separate a bit if most people think it will help, but let's make it just Footy and Other as if there are say five forums, I'm afraid there will be no traffic in at least three of them. Let's face it, footy is the attraction and if you separate the UK from the rest, you get zero traffic in each of them at different times. And what to do with tipsters like Macoti who ranges across several countries. And one more thing -- who would bet on that ski jumper @ 200/1 had he appeared in the Skiing forum. I had several posting re my NHL picks on the other forum saying well bad luck I wasn't on as I rarely visit this exotic forum. So my suggestion is to make it two if necessary but I'm quite content with the state it's in. The thing I don't post very often is that I often don't have anything to say and whenever I posted my specialty (NHL) nobody seemed to be interested so I quit.
People, you dont need to be afraid if you dont have responce, a lot of people are still reading your posts and it surely helps them.
I was thinking a lot these days and perhaps we expect to much of the forum. We all have other duties in our lives, so some simply dont have enough time to do a lot of postings.
Some people already pointed out, there are some people, who dont post much but when they have some interesting info, they can help a lot, so, yes to closed forum and yes to some kind of motivation for as many posts as possible, but also respect for people who dont post much but help temporarily.
I am sure Jhim and Mark will find a solution that will suit all of us at hte end of the day, no doubt about that!!
These threads show that a lot of people care!
Tulenos wrote:
...... The thing I don't post very often is that I often don't have anything to say and whenever I posted my specialty (NHL) nobody seemed to be interested so I quit......
May be that is what I had in mind by making a 'content' and under NHL one would look what Tulenos has to say about his speciality, and for that matter one other would probably disagree....There was a bloke from zousTos site posting some picks ....once went' bust' than came back.....Point I am trying to make is that some'experts' like to have its ovn corner where they feel home and easy to spot if they are good at it.....
Talking about MACOTi, I know him well enough, he is versatile, and he would not mind anyone having his speciality corner, I think.....
The greatest pleasure in life is to win !!!
SHARAN
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Mark and I are thinking on ideas for a summer sports competition, maybe we could make an additional forum and kick it off with a sports competition? Wimbledon or something who knows?
). I feel that it would change considerably if this was to become a full time job rather than a serious hobby. 
