New Subforum Idea - National Associations Forum

Jeremy · Post by **Jeremy** » 02 Nov 2005 02:44

I was thinking it would be great if we had a national associations forum where all the varioua national footbag associations and organisations could have a thread (a bit like the blogs) with all the contact details and latest updates etc. There could also be general discussion topics related to national associations and issues involved with that.

I think modified is not the best place for this forum to occur but I have neither the time or energy to follow up this suggestion at other places (where I've suggested it but obviously wasn't successful).

sniikeri · Post by **sniikeri** » 02 Nov 2005 08:32

Sounds like a great idea - you're the mod, use the power.

NotHisRealName · Post by **NotHisRealName** » 02 Nov 2005 14:00

I don't really see the point.
Ausfootbag (for example) has it's own forum that is governed and moderated by the Australian footbag scene. It's based at the Ausfootbag site and is completely independant.

I don't think Ausfootbag needs another forum location, however I cannot speak for everyone else.

Jeremy · Post by **Jeremy** » 02 Nov 2005 18:28

I think one of the really important usages is that it would mean you'd know who to contact from other associations. It would also be nice to find out how other organisations are going and a good chance to get ideas etc although I guess the main point would just be interest in other scenes rather than using it as a useful place for organising stuff - a good notice board for associations etc.

dyalander · Post by **dyalander** » 02 Nov 2005 18:36

It could be useful to share tips and contacts as well as gloat about achievements but you'd only need one on-going thread for this rather than a thread for each national association - specific updates etc can already be found on some homepages and in some blogs, but i guess if it does no harm...

Blackend · Post by **Blackend** » 03 Nov 2005 07:28

NO!!!!!!!!!!!!

Wouldn't it be just as easy to make a sticky that has important contacts? You could make a little mini-forum for it here or something and have it be just the contact info. I see no reason to waste time and effort (not to mention a valued portion of said person's life) in this little project. It's a good idea, but it doesn't seem feasable.

footbinc · Post by **footbinc** » 03 Nov 2005 17:37

Why even that, you have contacts for htose that are serious about it anyways at .org. Why duplicate the effort.

Jeremy · Post by **Jeremy** » 03 Nov 2005 21:11

Ok here's an example. I'm in the middle of organising a big promotion with Nestle - a multi national company paying footbaggers to promote footbag with a budget of over $100,000. Due to some concerns we were considering flying a person from NZ to Australia (although that's now been sorted). Unfortuantly I had no idea who to contact in NZ. I know that they used to have an association but I don't know who the right people are anymore. I ended up sending one email to a particular NZ person (Johnny Murphey) but having a specific contact would have been much more helpful.

Also as I said - it's nice to know what other associations are doing and to ask for tips advice etc. - for example right now at the ausfootbag assoc. we're discussing demo payments and how much of that money should go back to the association. It would nice to be able to know what other associations do etc.

Regarding footbag.org - obviously that place would be much more appropriate and when I emailed them about the two people who replied thought it was a good idea in theory. I also volunteered to do all the work neccessary. That was 2 months ago and I don't have the time or energy to follow up on them.

sniikeri · Post by **sniikeri** » 04 Nov 2005 10:26

It would be nice to know which countries have an active association without google-ing it, and I'd really appreciate just a small description about the association.

There could be a "Visitor-info" for those who are planning to visit the country but don't really know anyone from there. There could be information about the shred scenes (training times, places etc...); hotels/hostels/etc; the public transport and of course, how to contact the players.

I'm 100% behind Jeremy's idea. The others ask "Why?" - I ask "Why NOT?". *I* don't see the point why it shouldn't get even a chance, when we can always take it off if it turns out to be a fiasko (which I doubt).

Post by **Allan** » 05 Nov 2005 15:14

I don't see how the functionality you're looking for isn't already present using the club listing:

http://www.footbag.org/clubs/index

Everything is organized by the country, right down to the local level. There are many clubs listed in New Zealand.

What functionality are you looking for that isn't already there?

Another reason why I'm not entusiatic about this is that you're proposal is really trying to bend the concept of what a forum is supposed to be -- which is, specifically, for discussion -- not a simple contact list (which we already have).

I'm really not trying to be negative or condescending or anything other than inquistive here ...

Bander87 · Post by **Bander87** » 05 Nov 2005 22:35

Why don't you guys have a little place on .org?

Post by **Allan** » 06 Nov 2005 00:38

From my perspective (read my post above) we already have a place on footbag.org specifically for this purpose. Any National Association can list their club for their given country or area.

I guess it is a little known fact that clubs can have either IFPA "Sanctioned" or "National Governing Body" status given to them and be listed at the top (and in bold) of their given area. I don't think there is an advertised way for clubs for apply for this status, but at this point, all anyone has to do is ask and it gets done within a reasonable amount of time.

As far as updates and such, anyone with a club listing can update their information at any time with as much detail as they like. They also have complete control over who is listed as primary contacts with any other interested party having the option to include themselves under the "Related Members" section.

As for general discussion related specifically to the associations, I guess I just don't see a real need to create a whole new sub-forum just for this purpose as most discussion of this nature really doesn't need to be public as it is largely irrelevant to anyone other that those within the association. However, using the Groups mechanism ( http://www.footbag.org/groups/ ) it's really quite easy for associations (or any group of players) to set up private, ad hoc mailing lists to facilitate organizational goals.

In short, it really wouldn't be any work at all to set up a sub-forum for this purpose (see below), but I (not necessarily speaking in my official role as an IFPA Board member or .org administrator) think that doing so would be redundant. I think the club listing has been performing this service very well for years already.

All that being said, just to demonstrate that I'm not trying to block anything here just for the sake of blocking it, here: http://www.footbag.org/forum/index.php?c=7

If you're a member of a national association and feel that you're club would benefit from having their own subforum, by all means, drop me a line (allan [at] footbag [dot] org) and I'll give you one. (EDIT: Please don't PM me via this forum)

Am I totally missing something about this concept? Does the Club Listing not do enough to accomplish exactly what Jeremy is looking for?

ptaku · Post by **ptaku** » 06 Nov 2005 02:34

Hey... just if somebody would like to know in the future...

On our Polish Footbag Forum

We have a sub-forum for english speaking people, if somebody would like to ask about something, get some info, contact infro or something.

Here is the direct link http://forum.footbag.com.pl/viewforum.php?f=23

You can post there as a guest, or you can just register. The default forum language is Polish, so you will see everything in polish, but after registration, if you will set your language to english, everything will be in english (except polish posts ;P )...

So if you want to ask about something related to polish footbag, go there and feel free to do it.

Best Regards,
Pawel

Post by **Allan** » 06 Nov 2005 02:41

And all I had to do was to click three links from the .org home page to get to:

http://www.footbag.org/clubs/show/988620638

Another two clicks and I would've found your forum

sniikeri · Post by **sniikeri** » 06 Nov 2005 03:37

AllanHaggett wrote:And all I had to do was to click three links from the .org home page to get to:

http://www.footbag.org/clubs/show/988620638

Another two clicks and I would've found your forum

That's four clicks too much.

Jeremy · Post by **Jeremy** » 06 Nov 2005 15:54

The clubs system at .org isn't really what I wanted at all. For example the Aus footbag assoc. is made up of members from lots of clubs. You can't really find the right person to contact in Australia through the .org clubs. Obviously we have a dedicated club for our association but NZ doesn't so that wouldn't have helped.

--

jeremy wrote:I guess the main point would just be interest in other scenes rather than using it as a useful place for organising stuff - a good notice board for associations etc.

edit:
Because .org only lets each individual be a member of 1 club and only create 1 club at any one time, it's impossible for an organisation of representatives of clubs to create a listing without losing a club listing. I talked to Allan about this a few years ago and I'm presuming nothing has changed since then...

dyalander · Post by **dyalander** » 06 Nov 2005 17:47

added to this is the fact that there are alot clubs listed that dont exist anymore.

Post by **Allan** » 06 Nov 2005 20:59

It's impossible to design a system to cover every scenario and it's obviously impossible to make people even attempt to use the ample resources available to their potential. It's never good enough I guess.

Use the sub-forum I set up on .org or don't.

Peace.

- A

EDIT: PS The Groups functionality ( http://www.footbag.org/groups/ )allows any arbitrary group of people to band together and have many organizational tools available to them (mailing lists, uploading files etc). This is exactly what you're looking for Jeremy. If it's really not good enough, then go ahead and force your idea into the forum format and run with it.

Jeremy · Post by **Jeremy** » 07 Nov 2005 06:06

Yeah thanks Allan. That's not exactly what I was looking for and certainly isn't needed for Australia but hopefully some other countries (ie. NZ) could put it to more significant usage. Certainly I see no harm in trying it out.

edit: The idea behind this is that there can be a greater degree of communication between associations - I am sure that associations already have good communication amongst themselves. It's also so that people can find out what associations are doing and can see the benifits etc. leading to a greater level of organisation in footbag as we learn from each other. So having things public is definitely vital in this idea. - the national associations forum at .org that you've just created is great - I think that's very close to what I wanted and I hope it gets used by many associations - even if it's just to advertise the official place to go like I did. Thanks.