There is a lot of writing on this site and I think that is its most distinguishing feature in compared to the other boards-that I know of at least. What I have noticed, though, is that the connection between the forum and articles is not as strong as it could or should be. Feedback is definitely to be encouraged, but I wonder if under this current format it is too hidden and marginalized? For instance, I and perhaps others just thought this was for minor commentary about the board interface etc rather than the articles and ignored it entirely. Right now, I often log onto the board directly and am not aware of all the content on the main site and I think conjoining the forum discussions with the content would be desireable and conducive for better discussions.

There are many ways that might be facillitated. Here are a few suggestions.

1. Have the moderators link the articles in the main Lions' forum rather than here. The moderator could introduce and synopsize the article by highlighting points for discussion?

2. Perhaps include a secret ballot feedback button for the benefit of writers. Anonymity could provide a cloak for forthrightness. Also a grading scale or evaluation scale could be used or elected if the writer so desired it.

3. TLF had a hidden writer forum where the staff could bump around ideas. It never really lived up to its potential but it might help coordinate content and over a process for review.

4. There should be a copy editor by a volunteer or a committee.


As to other matters:

1. I think the the newsletter idea is highly original and should be developed. It provides another outlet for all that content you generate.

2. In terms of other novel things, I have yet to see a BB develop a chalk board where you can diagram plays.

3. A chatroom might be created.

4. You could appoint certain of your staff members to cover the media in the NFC central or scout our opponents.

5. I think the board mock draft is a good idea and that format of a rendez vous could be expanded for other occasions, like the post game hour at 6 PM or something like that.

Anyway, these are just a few random thoughts I had.

Yorrick - a lot of great thoughts, let me start with some of the easier ones.

Chat Room - we have a chat room, you can link to it from the front page (right under the LB Forum Lion) or by going to:

http://www.lionbacker.com/chat/

Hidden Writer Forum - actually we have a hidden staff forum much like you suggest, we could bounce more article ideas off each though like you suggest.

Newsletter - this time last year, there was no Lionbacker and simply a newsletter that I sent around to some buddies. I had hoped to get this feature up last season but have been too busy keeping everything else up and running.

Scouting - we run scouting reports for each opponent during the regular season. I hope to expand that this offseason to a scouting report on every team in the NFL.

Board Mock expansion - being a relatively new site (launched last August), word about LB and the forum is just getting out. We are now getting enough members to do more things like this.

Chalk Board - very cool idea - I'll leave that one for Alpha!

Editing - actually I have a strong Senior Editor - the issue has been more of timing. Having a day job (and a wife), I usually don't get started on the articles until about 11 est. Many times I don't get the articles until the day of publication and editing it so late can be rough. We do need to work to improve this process and have a developer working on a content management system that will automate some of the process and hopefully allow our editor more access to the articles.

Article/Board connection - you bring up some good thoughts here, let me put some thought into how best to accomplish this. Any other ideas would be welcome.

The main page was designed to be the starting point for the site. Not only does it have our feature articles (generally updated each weekday), but we pull in multiple RSS feeds that include articles from the Detroit News, FREEP, Scout Inc., Yahoo and many other newspapers every hour. The goal was to have the most comprehensive Lions news source on the web from one page.

Yorrick - thanks for the toughtful feedback. Many of the features on Lionbacker (Videos, Chat Room, Stats, etc.) come from forum members.

Keep it coming!
Paul

I was just mumbling out loud thinking about various ideas relative to various sites.

No its a very good idea. There has to be some way of doing it...(the chalk board that is)