Can We Please Revive Modified?

[Derek]

I'm sick of FB and it's bootsy-ness, but yet that is where all the freestyle action is these days. I know I haven't really been around long enough to complain, but cummon. This is suppose to be the "footbag community", and it's becoming the MySpace of social networks. I get it's probably due to the fact that only the "legends" of footbag seem to be around, and rarely does it seem that noobies post. Is it because all that you have wanted to talk about has been said and done? Just don't want this site to die.

[Phoenix]

I check modified frequently and don't have any interest in using FB for this purpose.

I just thought the sport had slowed down...

[Derek]

I'm the same way. Am I the only one who doesn't think the sport has slowed down? I honestly feel like we are at the start of it getting even bigger. Which is why I don't think Footbag should be in the Olympics, it is still being perfected all together(Totally off topic, but yeah).

[g00d33]

Unfortunately for modified, facebook acts as a one-stop shop of sorts. When someone posts on the facebook page, we all get the notification, and therefore see it. We aren't getting notifications from modified while we're on different sites. Facebook is simply convenient.

And for the record, I'm not sure I've ever made a post on the facebook page, but it's hard to argue with a post that gets 80-something comments. It definitely sucks that modified is slow, but I guess it's just another victim of the progress of social media.

[Derek]

Yeah, I do get the convenience of using FB, especially seeing as a majority of people do have one. Just wish more people would post anything on here. Everyone that I get into footbag, I tell them modified.in is the place to be to learn shizz. Which it still is. Just they never seem to stick around for long, they troll around scoping stuff out till they overload on footbag information. But after that, they hop on maybe once a week, and still stay updated(4 peeps that I know do this). Maybe once all these newcomers start to break out in skill, they will bring this site back.

[Muffinman]

Can someone post a link to this Facebook Footbag group? I've seen a bunch of people talking about it on Modified.

[MathieuGM]

So far, the only way i found to keep modified kinda alive is to post myself...
I also try to convince some ppl to post like,. once a week or something.
But i can'T see muuuuch we can do.
Expect making it more interesting.
also, when i post on FB, i simply put the link to modified and ask ppl to comment on modified instaed of FB....
I prefer modified to FB too .
Mat

[Max Power]

If people post interesting material people will be more interested. I think a lot of the community has heard it all before and that is a big part of the problem. Their hasn't been a large amount of young blood in the game for a very long time. I'm not sure who is to blame for this or if their is anyone to blame. You can't force people to like the sport but you can try and maybe we're not trying hard enough anymore. I think the problem is more in the sport then modified.

[rjadamson]

If people post interesting material people will be more interested. I think a lot of the community has heard it all before and that is a big part of the problem. Their hasn't been a large amount of young blood in the game for a very long time. I'm not sure who is to blame for this or if their is anyone to blame. You can't force people to like the sport but you can try and maybe we're not trying hard enough anymore. I think the problem is more in the sport then modified.

I don't necessarily agree. To be honest I think the old web forum format is going the way of the dinosaur. A modern vBulletin (the leading developer of forums like these) setup looks way different than it would have a few years ago before Facebook had a pretty safe monopoly on social networking or "tweeting" became a secondary source in the news world. The most recent version, now going on three years old, has a built in blogging module. A newer version is coming out with all kinds of other bells and whistles. I've been a regular on many forums like these over the years (mostly for computer gaming and the like) and my interest in such communities always runs its course after a while. You can always count on certain general topics of conversation showing up as threads. I don't think I've ever seen an online forum without the quintessential "post your picture" thread. After a few years as a user you see all of these topics and know peoples' opinions on things. Ironically even when new generations of users show up to inquire about common topics they often get shut down by senior users who point them to a dead thread from two years ago. For this reason I am not very annoyed by duplicate threads asking the same questions (to a certain degree) -- even if we know this or that doesn't get an extra add the ensuing dialogue might be something new.

Because this is also not meant to be an anonymous forum, and many of the users here consider each other friends, a more established social networking site like Facebook is naturally going to be used to a great degree. Facebook is also going to accommodate non-English speakers more than this forum (if there's a Russian footbag group on Facebook I bet it's quite active). I really like this place, and think that the format is better for discussing our sport as a whole. That recent huge Facebook conversation on tournaments, routines, and judging was amazing, but now it's dead and will just get lost... and maybe nothing will come of that discussion because of it. I hope that someone steps up at some point to give modified.in the remodel it really needs. If I were more savvy I'd love to. Rory Dawson posted a link to this hooping community in a recent thread. That may not be exactly what we want, but I think we should keep an open mind.

When I talked to Sunny Freeman-Genz at the U.S. Open a couple weeks ago I actually brought up the health of footbag. She voiced that she doesn't think the sport itself is dying, but rather the focal points of activity -- in North America -- just move around as time passes. I hope she's right. So long as Freedom Footbags and other major equipment sellers are still getting lots of business I don't think there is a problem.

Erik: here's the Freestyle Footbag group on Facebook.

[Jorden]

I can think of 5 reasons why modified is dead.

1) Worldwide interest in footbag is the lowest it's been in at least a decade, according to Google Trends: http://www.google.com/trends/?q=footbag
2) Everything has been talked about already. How many more clipper advice/stitching/shoe modding tutorials do we really need?
3) There is now competition that connects with people better such as Facebook.
4) People are rebelling against the redesign that nobody asked for. Seriously, was there a member survey beforehand? If there was, I definitely missed it.
5) There are too many and too many useless/stagnant sections of modified. In this day and age, and the amount of daily subject matter on footbag, vBulletin does make way more sense.

Jorden

P.S. what's with these "Bots" as registered users on this forum? Just noticed that now. Yikes.

[cd]

Allan definitely asked for input and had a poll before making the upgrade. Essentially everyone was enthusiastically behind it. Personally, I would have been fine with him making the change unilaterally since it was all benefit and no drawbacks.

On switching to a different format entirely such as vBulletin:

There is a lot that could be said about moving to a whole different type of system, but I do think that that's a bit beyond the scope of this discussion; it has political ramifications and should probably be a separate thread. In this particular instance, I would just like to gather support for a simple course of action that doesn't require too much thought.

In any case, we'd be in a much better position to transition to any other type of system from phpBB3; being on 2 only limits our options in that respect. Baby steps, yes?

[Swizzle]

Speaking only for myself I suppose, i've just checked out of the competitive aspect entirely. I've subscribed to my favorite players or good friends on youtube. Like to watch their video's and see them improve or hit new things. And i've lost the motivation to play other than when I feel like it for fun. I play twice weekly or so right now, so it's a okay amount I suppose. But I competitively don't desire to be challenged, or record stephen barn one-shots or post a new fearless run enough to get on as regularly. And I know how to modify lavers and have bought enough bags so yeah, other sites and my ambitions have taken me away from modified some.

=/

[isirc10]

Sometimes I post here and wonder if anyone has even seen the post, its so quiet. I have been on modified for about half a year and the activity on this forum is definitely pretty low compared to the other forums I frequent (remote controlled hobby stuff). However, I refuse to believe that this sport is dying. I am one of 6-7 "new" recruits for the psu footbag club and we re getting more interested members almost every time we kick - so in fact, the sport is exploding on the psu campus. After a year of our existence, the club has 8-10 consistent members and a few others who are on the fringe. We are all improving and intend to stick around kicking for the next few years (at least!) The only problem with modified is that it takes dedication to post on here, and sometimes it is pretty intimidating posting that you hit your first legover-mirage drill when the person in the blog above yours just hit 10 fearless. Once you get over that, it is all fun.

On the other hand, as someone who posts videos... posting a link on modified gets about 60-90 views. A post on FB gets 100-300 views. Sometimes it just isn't worth it.

[Psilocybe]

It seems to me that there used to be just a lot more charismatic big names posting here. It was all sorts of fun:

Tom Mosher
PengPeng
Clavens
Eli Plitz
Suderman
Ian Pritchard
Zeke
Matt Cross
Penske
Holly
Will Digges
Ben Skaggs
Rieferman
Waylon Lew
Ners
shredzilla
Moxie
James Randall
Cale McCoy
Ben Rae
Nathan Anderson
Tsiangkun
LEGOMAN

Just go back and look, many of these people had over 2000 posts!!! ALL those people were posting from '06 to '08 ish. Relative to now, this place was freakin' active! SO many good players, too. None of those people post anymore. They probably don't play much anymore either. Modified, or maybe even footbag, will NEVER see the likes of a community like that ever again. To me, at least, this board IS footbag. If this board flounders, the sport dies. Its quite sad.

I remember that at one point in time myself, Mosher, Penske, Holly, and one other person were actually in FOOTBAG CHAT at the same time! Can you believe it? I really doubt anyone uses footbag chat anymore, hell nobody ever really did, but that had to be a unique moment in footbag history.

Even the trolls like LEGOMAN brought some excitement into this board that is just utterly lacking now. I miss those days.

I haven't been here too terribly long, ~6 years, but the contrast to how I perceived this board to how I perceive it now is disturbing. I don't know if it was me that changed, or the board/sport, but I'm thinking the latter.

Its been a good time. I'm getting nostalgic. I'm missing people who never even knew I existed. lol

Well, that was my post for the year. Take care!

[Asmus]

Alot of those people where just charismatic big names on the forum, never actually too the sport.

There are still charismatic big name players who post here:
Ken and Erik has been posting interesting stuff since I started playing and still post alot.
Mads Hole still releases great videos. Anz, Aleksi, Milan and Jay of the top tier players post here.
Luis Monhollon is charismatic and posts alot, both videos and text. Kevin Crowleys blog is better than ever. Etc.

The forum is not dead just slower.

Instead of talking about how great things used to be, why not try to post interesting content yourself? (not directed at anybody specifically)

[Derek]

I think between Jorden's and Reilley's posts, it pretty much covers it up. It would definitely help if some more noobs would post, it's cool to see the legends still posting around, but you need to some fresh meat to continue the process. The video of the 3 children playing at school, or what not, was freakin' amazing. I actually do enjoy seein' kids half my age shreddin' harder than me.

Well, that was my post for the year. Take care!

Glad you chose a thread of mine to post in


Asmus: Someone give the forum some crack then. I swear it's mainly the big names who do most of the postin', but I'll definitely try to post more interesting shizz more often.

[Allan]

4) People are rebelling against the redesign that nobody asked for. Seriously, was there a member survey beforehand? If there was, I definitely missed it.

You definitely missed that.

Can you please elaborate on how you think the "redesign" is making people rebel?

A

[PoisonTaffy]

It would definitely help if some more noobs would post

There is no Freestyle footbag scene for noobs, or rather, for casual players. Modified is a mirror of that, and therefore it's intimidating to post when you're a beginner or a hobbyist. When the forum was more active, it gave you the feeling that it's unthinkable to be anything less than guiltless. And even then, what's with all the bops and bails, man?
Remember there was a thread called "newbies unite - tripless links"? I'm sure a lot of freestyle players hit their first tripless link within a year, and that's the problem - They set the tone, but most other humans are not as talented and don't want to be as involved, and they certainly don't want to be less-than-newbies for life, when there are many other, much more forgiving hobbies where they can feel that their achievements count.

[abstract]

youtube / reddit / facebook > modified.

http://www.youtube.com/results?search_t ... aded&uni=3

http://www.reddit.com/r/footbag

i would link to the freestyle footbag group, but facebook is blocked at work.

if we keep up with current social media, growth will be higher. if we alternatively choose to spend a lot of our time & energy bringing modified back, that will not serve the sport's best interests i feel, it will only serve our nostalgia & cost us momentum.

"I have to go where the people are. They will not come to my house." - George Carlin

modified is our house. it's a great house with a terrific library, but it's also nestled in the middle of a forest.

[Jeremy]

A few quick thoughts;

1. I really like the new version of modified, although I sometimes get confused due to the changing of the order of the sub-forums

2. As I think others have mentioned, php forums are generally dying, and footbag is also declining. So reviving Modified is a challenge.

3. A big problem lots of forums have is that they get confused about purpose, and create systems or cultures that lead to inactivity. Modified is no exception. Php forums are terrible as resources. The search engine sucks, and reading old topics without new input gives you outdated information. "Forum" should be a place for conversation, not for storing information. If you want to revive modified, I'd say get rid of resource topics, let people post the same questions over and over, and try your best to answer those questions without complaining about answering those questions - but also feel free to ask questions you remember being asked before - bump old topics, see if people have new ideas on old topics. The key I guess is that the forum should be used for people talking to each other, not for storing lots and lots of information in hard to read and hard to search formats. If you want a footbag resource, contribute to the .org wiki! Conversations is why social media is so successful, and I know this is something I've been pushing for half a decade now, but persisting with the current unworking formula doesn't seem like a strategy that will help.

4. If you want to revive the forum, the best thing to do is just post lots. On the internet activity generates activity. The more everybody posts, the more it will encourage others to post.

5. Another thing I've been going on and on about - get rid of footblogs. They discourage conversation. They are just places where people talk about themselves, and then others come in and talk about that person too. Footblogs mean people post a lot less in topics about footbag. They'll post event reports in their blog instead of the topic about the event. They'll post new moves and videos in their blog instead in those topics/forums. This is why Myspace died, and why Twitter is growing faster than Facebook - conversation and activity generates more activity, while talking about yourself in a topic dedicated to yourself often doesn't give other people much to talk about. Think about the posts that make up most of footblogs and ways of creating more inclusive topics of the same nature - a topic where people discuss their latest training session, improvements they made etc. for example - with everybody posting in the same topic more posts would get read, and there'd be more interaction. It's my personal opinion that footblogs is the subforum (which I introduced) that has led to the decline of modified more than anything else (which is why I stopped posting in mine). Getting rid of footblogs will no doubt cause outrage, so if agreement can't be reached, at least stop posting in the footblogs, and anything you would have put their, think of a way of posting the same thing somewhere else!