Has SEOPS Jumped the Shark?

[BigChuck]

Not much action on here anymore....

[Omega]

Only Mattash would know the website visit counts, but if SEOP traffic is down I would say it is because the contangion has eliminated some marque high school matchups like the Burg, Blazer, and Russel against Ironton which would generate many pages of comments.

[formerfcfan]

I don't think SEOPS has necessarily "jumped the shark." It's still a decently vibrant message board compared to other high school sports forums in the state. That said,

- HS sports message boards are, in a sense, generational. I hazard there are not too many "younger" people, other than myself, that care enough about high school sports to join a board and post about it... let alone longer than one or two seasons. Generally takes more than a fleeting interest in the activity to make a poster involved and consistent. Almost like a tradition. Factor in that many posters are dads (and sometimes moms) of current players, it stands to reason the interest in their community's sports gradually dwindles as their kids graduate and are tasked into adulthood. That, and the fact many great posters on here from all-time are no longer with us on this earth. It's sad, definitely nothing to make light of - but it is what it is.

- It's been opined that outlets like Facebook and Twitter have taken some of the "appeal" to a message board. While they definitely don't replace the value in terms of HS sports discussion that SEOPs has to offer, it does have the mobility and convenience of 'I can speak my mind on [x, y, and z].' That's not a fault of Preps or the work mattash & company does, but it's also just not something that I think any one can even the ground on so to speak.

- This isn't a criticism of any school in particular, but consider this: for a bunch of schools in SEOPreps territory, what is there to talk about? For, like, 5 of the 9 (now 7, or 6... whatever we consider Fed Hock to be as a football-playing school) TVC-Hocking schools, there's been virtually no posters and nothing of any discussion to be had. "Who will finish second or third behind Trimble?" becomes pretty mundane and not interesting over the years. Same can be said for this year and the OVC, with Ironton's ascent. Could also apply to the FAC, too. Not many posters outside of Jackson there. No more SEOAL. And at the small school side of things, it's become bone dry. I can think back to when there were posters from East, ND, Green, South Gallia, Symmes Valley (haven't forgotten about you mattash, but do wonder whatever happened to guys like s.v.vikinglinex2), Belpre, Rock Hill and Alex. Now, those are all basically blank spaces. Outside of SEOPs theatre from the hamlets of Tupper Plains, Syracuse and points nearby, there's also nothing out of Eastern and Southern. Additionally, there's just not a lot of talk coming out of the "stretch" areas of SEOPs territory - Perry County is silent as a nun, a difference compared to previous times. MSL territory is... bman & TravisHill22 (lol). And me!

None of this should be considered as attacks or criticisms of Matt and the crew - certainly not the intention. They do a great job with the site and have done so for years. I just simply think what we're seeing is a product of many different things. Individually, it's possible they may be fixable with concentration and effort by dedicated posters. But when they're summed up, even the best of efforts may be futile due to the inertia (so to speak) of getting a new swath of posters interested in a sports landscape that seems to - in many ways - be changing and less interesting.

[MasterOfNone]

At least for the football forum, I think it may not be as active this year because people can’t go to games. I know they can watch the streams. But for the more casual fan who may not be as dedicated to watching online, they may just not be as invested into the season this year.

[LICKING COUNTY FAN]

I agree post seem to be way down.
I still try and post on many of topics and create new ones.
It be cool if the regulars would post on more than one forum.
The more post and topics the better.

[se-alum]

I think one issue is, many of us that would usually go to games and be able to comment on the action, are unable to attend due to ticket guidelines. Not much to post about when you aren't seeing the games.

[3sUp]

Twitter and Facebook have just killed message boards like this. If you have a hot take about a local team or your own you just tweet it. If you want a group of people that all want to talk area high school football you make a group on Facebook. But also people not being able to attend games this year has definitely made the discussion less since the fans don’t really know their team as well.

[Omega]

Twitter and Facebook have just killed message boards like this. If you have a hot take about a local team or your own you just tweet it. If you want a group of people that all want to talk area high school football you make a group on Facebook. But also people not being able to attend games this year has definitely made the discussion less since the fans don’t really know their team as well.

@formerfcfan , you folks are correct about Facebook and Twitter. I guess message board's hey day was 15-20 years ago. I know SEOP has a Facebook presence, but I rarely darken its door. So I guess it is a generational thing.

[GRFan]

I don’t blame anyone for not having Pickems contest but it generated a lot of traffic.

[efarns]

The fad is over. It fills a niche.

[dilligaf]

Maybe a playoff pickem

[Orange and Brown]

I don’t blame anyone for not having Pickems contest but it generated a lot of traffic.

The problem is that it takes a lot of time and effort to do each week.

Someone is always unhappy and someone always says they can do it better but then when it comes time, they don't want anything to do with it.

[EasternDspy]

I don’t blame anyone for not having Pickems contest but it generated a lot of traffic.

The problem is that it takes a lot of time and effort to do each week.

Someone is always unhappy and someone always says they can do it better but then when it comes time, they don't want anything to do with it.

Yea I use to run it. It takes awhile to score.

[Raider6309]

Hard to comment when we can't go to games