Today’s post is about Oscar Taveras. You can find it here.
If you’ve signed up for an SBN account and don’t want to wait 2 days, leave a comment in this thread with your SBN user name and I’ll manually activate it.
Another note on the move after the jump.
I understand your trepidation. Really, I do. Before I knew about the new SBN, I’d considered the future of this site on several occasions. I’ve almost walked away from blogging altogether on two separate occasions in the last 6 months. I had posts written to just hang up my cleats without warning, without notice. I thought about paying someone out of pocket to manage the blog while I stuck on the content editorial side. I tried to gauge the community’s reaction in a poll. I tried to gauge the other writer’s reactions in e-mails. I anguished over this decision.
Part of this move is, unquestionably, for my benefit. I make no bones about that. Writing anywhere from 5-8 posts a week between two sites can at times feel more obligation than calling. Despite that, there’s still a part of me that enjoys it.
What I do not enjoy, in any capacity, is running a blog. I detest the upkeep. I detest the e-mails from people wanting to advertise. I detest the site upgrades from WordPress. I detest the ambient stress of needing to do these tedious, unrewarding tasks or procrastinating.
But Future Redbirds is important to me. You are important to me. I can’t guarantee that things are going to be perfect at VEB but I truly think that this is the right decision for the blog to continue. I think that the commenting platform at SBN is the best bar none and that, if you give it a chance, you’ll find yourself more engaged in the conversation, not less engaged.
I will not allow you to be overrun by “regulars” at VEB. I will not allow the threads to be filled with comments about TV shows or movies or food. I like those conversations at VEB. I like participating at VEB but I understand that VEB is not FR and that you come here for something different. I have every intention of preserving that.
Moderating conversations on the SBN platform is a million times easier than doing it on a wordpress blog. The software technology is simply superior.
I understand that you’re concerned or, in some cases, upset. All I’m asking for is a chance. If you don’t want to sign up for an SBN account right now, just come and read the articles. Those aren’t changing. Take a look at the comments and see if I keep my promises. If I do, I hope you’ll decide to engage in the conversation. Ultimately, however, that decision is yours and it’s independent of the decision to move Future Redbirds onto SBN.
Again, all I’m asking for is a chance. After 4 years here, I think I’ve earned that.
Entries (RSS)
OT was #2 on John Sickel’s preliminary top 50 hitters list for 2013. Kolten Wong was #26.
As for his preliminary top 50 pitchers list, the Cardinals were well-represented: Shelby Miller #4; Carlos Martinez #10; Trevor Rosenthal #21; and Michael Wacha #50
Links are below.
http://www.minorleagueball.com/2012/10/8/3474442/preliminary-top-50-hitting-prospects-for-2013
http://www.minorleagueball.com/2012/10/8/3474586/preliminary-top-50-pitching-prospects-list-for-2013
I would like my account activated. zuke354.
Thanks.
Done
If Future Redbirds was simply becoming a separate SBN blog, then I would have no worries. But there’s very little distinguishing FR posts from VEB posts, and the commenting environment is vastly different from here, and it has little to do with tangents and meanderings.
I’ve discussed prospects before with the VEB crowd, back when they used to do fanpost voting on prospects. It’s not fun, and it’s nothing that rules will change, because it’s more attitude and interaction than anything to do with content. That’s why I came here in the first place. And that’s the part that sucks.
I understand your need to change it, and it is better than closing down the blog altogether. And I hope it continues, because the articles really are the point of all this. But I’ve seen this show before in the same place (the other day I mentioned other blogs being absorbed–they were Capitals blogs absorbed by Japers Rink, the Capitals SBN blog). The commenting enviroment is what it is because of the people in it, and enforcing a different set of commenting rules for the same blog is extremely difficult. Japers Rink has a “hockey discussion only” rule in its threads, and even after 5 years on SBN, they still have to be draconian with it. And that’s why I’m worried. Having two separate, vibrant online Cardinals fan communities was a good thing.
Well said. And i agree completely. The VEB discussion isn’t nearly as enjoyable as FR with most of it just inside joking and goofyness.
Please activate me. Wachto
Thanks
You’re live.
I’ll stay over also. Would like Andrew again.
I’ve been a VEB regular for a long time (under a different handle) and enjoy the atmosphere, even though it’s less — I guess I’d say “contemplative” than here. However, I must say that the new SBN shell brings my fairly modern computer to its knees once individual threads get beyond a certain size. I don’t like that shell at all, and AZ, while I acknowledge your desire to streamline the mechanics of the site, I wish this move had waited until all the SBN bugs are worked out. Oh, well.