Please Read Eddie

[Mike]

The internet is still relatively new to most of us, and our conditioning means that we still view sites in isolation. The best analogy for a web site is probably to compare it to a magazine. Magazines cost money and we tend to look for the one that best meets most of our needs and buy that one - and our inclination is to do the same with web sites. But the internet makes it so easy to jump from one location to another that there is no longer a need for one site to be all things to all people, an impossibility anyway. The internet enables us to take the best from each according to our needs and our taste.

The official site must take a conservative middle line. The Club is made up of a great diversity of people with all their diverse tastes and beliefs and its site, in representing the Club, must represent us all or, at least, go as close as it can to doing that. The unofficial sites fill the gaps by providing their various interpretations of the passion and they do it well.

We have always maintained that there should be no competition between Collingwood sites, because we are all motivated by our love of the Collingwood Football Club and the varied personalities of the sites means that, together, we can cater to a much wider variety of taste. Magpies Net was formed for that reason, a common gateway to allow Magpie sites to be complementary rather than competitive.

This has never been the flashiest site on the internet, nor is it the most innovative. There are footy sites, Collingwood sites, that are better designed, carry more news and graphics and fit much better than this one into the current 'in your face' fashion. We have never been interested in attracting traffic for the sake of traffic - the site has never generated any revenue so there is no point. Our initial motivation was to create something that would enable Nick and I to feel a little closer the the Club. That motivation has changed over time and the site is now driven by the desire to provide a place where the devout can gather and share their passion, although the fact that it provides a connection to the Club for people like us who, for whatever reason, are unable to take part physically remains as one of its most important functions.

There are no ulterior motives attached to this site, there is no empire building - it's not a stepping stone. People are not attracted by its appearance they are attracted by its community. The Bulletin Board has become the heart and soul of Nick's Collingwood Page and the Bulletin Board is nothing more than the people who use it. You are what makes this site - and you are Collingwood and this has been your meeting place.

The loss of Nick's Page is not great when you take sentimentality out of the equation, most of it is already duplicated in other sites, but the Bulletin Board can never be replaced because it is a living thing. There are also other forums on other sites and each of them is a just as alive as this one and because of that each of them is unique - none of them could ever replace any of the others.

The history of a site means nothing in the grand scheme of things, it must continue to meet current needs if it is to survive. Whether or not this Bulletin Board is still relevant and is worth saving will be seen over the next few days as we try to move to the next stage in its evolution - by the fans for the fans...


[This message has been edited by Mike (edited 04 February 2002).]

[Greg J]

Well said Sly.

I rarely visit the official sites, and when I do, it is normally because of something mentioned at this site. I consider the official sites to be rather soulless.

I resent the fact that a group of sites all look the same, and that includes our club's site. This is probably the root cause of why I think the official site is soulless. It used to be fairly obvious in the old days, that the Collingwood page was just a copy of the Carlton page. By memory, you could see the word Carlton in the HTML code, giving me the impression that they had done the Carlton site first, and then cut and pasted mass bits of code from one site to the other (and not bothering to remove all traces of Carlscum). From that point on, I have viewed the official website as tainted, or unclean.



Greg J