D3soccer.com traffic

[PaulNewman]

A few questions for those who have insight...and to clarify these are NOT exactly the same questions about whether traffic/participation is up or down or what non-D3soccer.com factors (like rise of social media platforms, increase in gravitation towards isolation and social detachment, Covid, etc, etc) might be at play.  And again, I personally don't distinguish between the site and the board here.

Given how long this site has been around, why are there not at least a few regular participating posters from at least most of the usual prominent schools?  I thought about this while posting overviews of the bracket quads in another thread.  How can there not be a few associated with Montclair, Oneonta, Cortland, Lynchburg, F&M, Amherst, Calvin, OWU, Redlands, more from Kenyon, Wash U, Chicago, etc, etc?  Are they here but just lurk and don't post, or is the vast majority of the D3 soccer community oblivious to the site's existence?

When there are like 35 "members" online and 250 "guests" who are the guests made up of mostly?  Parents?  Ex-players?  Current players?  Coaches?

And among the members and guests online at any given time, during the soccer season specifically, what percentage are soccer folks (perhaps some who also follow other D3 sports here) and what percentage aren't here for soccer at all and are following/posting about football, bball, etc?

I assume most D3 coaches are aware of the site.  Do some or many follow and read what's written?

Do coaches before seasons formalize a rule about players not posting?

Do most coaches impose an edict about staying off of sites like this and social media in general?

[jknezek]

A few questions for those who have insight...and to clarify these are NOT exactly the same questions about whether traffic/participation is up or down or what non-D3soccer.com factors (like rise of social media platforms, increase in gravitation towards isolation and social detachment, Covid, etc, etc) might be at play.  And again, I personally don't distinguish between the site and the board here.

Given how long this site has been around, why are there not at least a few regular participating posters from at least most of the usual prominent schools?  I thought about this while posting overviews of the bracket quads in another thread.  How can there not be a few associated with Montclair, Oneonta, Cortland, Lynchburg, F&M, Amherst, Calvin, OWU, Redlands, more from Kenyon, Wash U, Chicago, etc, etc?  Are they here but just lurk and don't post, or is the vast majority of the D3 soccer community oblivious to the site's existence?

When there are like 35 "members" online and 250 "guests" who are the guests made up of mostly?  Parents?  Ex-players?  Current players?  Coaches?

And among the members and guests online at any given time, during the soccer season specifically, what percentage are soccer folks (perhaps some who also follow other D3 sports here) and what percentage aren't here for soccer at all and are following/posting about football, bball, etc?

I assume most D3 coaches are aware of the site.  Do some or many follow and read what's written?

Do coaches before seasons formalize a rule about players not posting?

Do most coaches impose an edict about staying off of sites like this and social media in general?

Pat could probably answer many of these questions better, but the bulletin boards bread and butter has always been football and basketball. The number of posts and views is a bit tricky to aggregate without admin level privileges, but they far outstrip what the soccer and other boards provide. Percentage wise, it makes sense that most guests are here for football as well this time of year, though basketball is obviously getting started.

[Centennial1]

I do know that coaches frequent these forums, but most are probably reticent. Insofar as social media policies, that's a good question: I haven't heard of any. I was wondering just that this morning while watching a D2 soccer vlogger (from Drury U.) do travel/game highlight vlogs. He uses footage which looks like the school feeds in the content. I was wondering if he and others do this 'under the radar' or whether they have official permission. If he doesn't, here's hoping that I haven't outed him: he's actually benefitting the program--I hadn't heard of Drury before finding his vlog.

I don't know how this platform counts guests, but many may be bots of sorts, and not interested lurkers. The forum format is probably a bit antiquated for college kids today: they're busy posting noods on SnapTok and not arguing here with geezers. I'll stick with the geezers.

[PaulNewman]

I do know that coaches frequent these forums, but most are probably reticent. Insofar as social media policies, that's a good question: I haven't heard of any. I was wondering just that this morning while watching a D2 soccer vlogger (from Drury U.) do travel/game highlight vlogs. He uses footage which looks like the school feeds in the content. I was wondering if he and others do this 'under the radar' or whether they have official permission. If he doesn't, here's hoping that I haven't outed him: he's actually benefitting the program--I hadn't heard of Drury before finding his vlog.

I don't know how this platform counts guests, but many may be bots of sorts, and not interested lurkers. The forum format is probably a bit antiquated for college kids today: they're busy posting noods on SnapTok and not arguing here with geezers. I'll stick with the geezers.

Thanks...I don't want this to devolve into what's coll or not cool now for 18-22 year olds.

Here's another way of putting it.  If there is a detailed and/or interesting post here about Mt St Vincent, Redlands, or W&L, will the coaches and players end up seeing it?  Is the site generally known across the community or any many coaches/players oblivious (which is different than whether they value it or not)?

[College Soccer Observer]

I know that players at Middlebury follow the site and the discussions, although they do not post. 

[Another Mom]

Not aware of any W&L players reading this site. I do know of parents at W&L, Amherst and Kenyon that read this board, but I've never seen them post.

I think that the more discussion/posts/conversation  there is, the more there will be. That's one reason I post even though I don't know nearly as much about soccer as many other posters.

[blooter442]

This doesn't address the greater points made by PN, but I had to chuckle in realizing that the NRSC is running ads on these forums. I see one every time I forget to use adblocker/am incognito. 🤣

[Buck O.]

A few years ago, when one of the Tufts players was making a series of videos, a player in one of the videos specifically referred to something Mr. Right said on the board.  So they were reading it.

[PaulNewman]

A few years ago, when one of the Tufts players was making a series of videos, a player in one of the videos specifically referred to something Mr. Right said on the board.  So they were reading it.

Tufts has the most extensive operation going...text alerts about new material on the site to 50 or more ex-players, burner accounts, secret tunnels, mentions on ESPN's PTI...and that's just the little we know about.

[PaulNewman]

I know that players at Middlebury follow the site and the discussions, although they do not post.

Are they instructed not to post?

[WUPHF]

I do agree with the point about forums being antiquated.

Possibly if the discussion was held on Reddit.

I do know years ago, there were players posting in the basketball threads.  And definitely reading the threads.  There were fans from multiple schools posting.

[Hopkins92]

I'm just going to push back a little on the idea that younger folks won't post or will avoid message boards. College football has a TON of message board activity, as do a lot of other niche gamer, DnD, hunting, etc.

There's just not a lot of other places to have an in-depth, long-running conversation like this.

I think it's more "I've moved on with my life" type of deal. And, possibly, by the time they might circle back to being more of an active alum, they don't really know where to go other than whatever mailing list might be available from the AD.

I will say this: Hopkins has a soccer alumni group of Facebook with over 100 members. I've been posting updates throughout the season and the traffic/interactions has gone up steadily over the course of the season. I doubt many of those folks are aware of d3soccer, BUT they seem very willing to engage once they've been pulled into the Fb discussion.

/ramble

[Ron Boerger]

I think if we had threading capability where it was easier to find discussions of interest that you might see more participation all around.  Yes, it's possible to start new topics (as shown by this one) but the UI doesn't make it easy to create and navigate around. 

[PaulNewman]

I'm just going to push back a little on the idea that younger folks won't post or will avoid message boards. College football has a TON of message board activity, as do a lot of other niche gamer, DnD, hunting, etc.

There's just not a lot of other places to have an in-depth, long-running conversation like this.

I think it's more "I've moved on with my life" type of deal. And, possibly, by the time they might circle back to being more of an active alum, they don't really know where to go other than whatever mailing list might be available from the AD.

I will say this: Hopkins has a soccer alumni group of Facebook with over 100 members. I've been posting updates throughout the season and the traffic/interactions has gone up steadily over the course of the season. I doubt many of those folks are aware of d3soccer, BUT they seem very willing to engage once they've been pulled into the Fb discussion.

/ramble

Agree...which is why I took pains to not have this new thread turn into the millennials or Gen X or whatever the case may be vs geezers.

For better or worse, this is the place to be for D3soccer.  I happen to think it's great and the people who have kept it going all these years are superb adn we're all indebted to them for the massive amount of hours that go into it....even stuff like the scoreboard and links to games, school team websites, all the available historical info, etc. 

D4_Pace was part of Tufts' first national title and another one, and was an assistant for yet another, and all recently.  He wouldn't be hanging here on a daily basis, monitoring what gets said, and frequently posting if the medium was too antiquated.  He wouldn't waste his time in the middle of medical school.

Let's leave aside why there aren't more posters and more active posters.

I want to know if some, many, or most coaches follow along, whether parents (who we know are rabid and obsessed because what can possibly be more engrossing than spending all those years with you kid growing up and then watching him or her play college soccer even if it's D3) follow along, and whether players follow along.

is it possible to play (or be a parent of a player) for 4 years at Oneonta or Lynchburg, or JHU, or Redlands and be completely oblivious to the site?

[OldNed]

Parent of an ex-player here, and I got interested in the site primarily as an extension of my son's soccer career (2015-2018).  I find now that I'm probably at least as interested in the teams outside of New England as the teams I originally came on here to find out about and talk about.   My son has moved on and is an assistant coach at a D1 school, but I still find myself watching probably more D3 games than D1 games at this point.