What kind of site changs would you like to see?

[terrell]

i'm not really a moderator, mark just keeps me around because i'm fascinated by techie questions, but i love giving opinions. back in the beginning of time, when mark updated lspn to look as it does today, i suggested it would be a good time for mark to cater to a particular niche of player, e.g. v1.06 only. i told him i thought the site could be far more successful if he didn't try to be all things to all people. but of course, mark never listens to any of my suggestions. as he's always done for as long as i've 'known' him, he goes far and away above and beyond what anyone should reasonably expect of him. i remember days dave would disappear, mark was always available at linkscorner to answer any question. and then when take-two dumped us, mark was there to pick up the pieces, and here we sit.

so would i like a tighter run ship? yes. but mark will do what's always made mark successful, and that's to do exactly the opposite of what i suggest. (8

[Bruce Bo]

as a moderator i see opinions.
and all pretty civil. that's my primary concern. LINKS is a hobby, something we do for fun. Opinions can lead to righteous indignation sometime, but it can also lead to new ideas/improvements.
but decisions like these being discussed are Mark's domain.

for my $$ or 2cents, which ever comes first, i have been involved with other sims that branch out and inevitably get 'watered-down' not a good thing. personally (not as a moderator) i'd like to see more names on fewer leaderboards. but~ there are so many personal interests, or approaches to the game that i would fear eliminating some of the Tours would turn as many people off as we hope to gain

so maybe what we need to start is a simple poll... the question would be:
do you prefer:
more Tours/fewer players on each or
less Tours / more players on each

and keep in mind.. i am only offering my personal views, yet because it was asked what moderators views might be, i am commenting.

the only comment i read with a negative overtone (and maybe i am mis-reading) is Mr.Jensen saying "no loss then"... for me, any member that would leave because of being 'forced out' would be a huge loss and likely to cause others to wonder 'what rule change will be made next that forces me out?' ....

i'm anxious as all of you to read what Mark has to say of all this

[PopEye]

Both excellent comments T and Bruce. How many tourneys are casual players allowed to play anyhow?

[Michael Jensen]

With "no loss" I mean that losing casual players would not be a loss. You can't lose a non-member can you? It wasn't aimed at anyone in this thread.
I believe casual players can play infinite arcade events, so the more arcade events there are the less incentive to become an actual member of the tour. I wasn't suggesting ditching the arcade, but more curtailing it.

I wish there was more discussion about my suggestion about dividing the course list into two tiers using the links corner user rating. Using the top (say 150) courses more often than the rest might increase tournament participation. Perhaps give the top courses twice the appearances than the rest? Just throwing out numbers here.

[Bruce Bo]

all good Michael ~
for what its worth, i like a lot of your ideas, but as T commented its Mark's show. we can only make suggestions.
i have written to Mark asking him to have a look here as it was April '10 when the thread was started.

bruce

[gibby]

Agree with MJ about the courses, need to filter out some of the lower end ones.
And need to find a way to get the juices flowing again, but how?
2nd rd cut maybe but something else needs to be removed, can't keep adding events without dropping some.
Make the PLSA or CLSC the handicap or 2nd rd cut event.
Maybe offer a 3-6 month free membership so more will try other events besides the 2 free/arcade events.
Limit the # of arcade events per week. Can also try and have leagues limit there events per week, based on there membership.
One thing we don't have is EA's money for promotion.
And one question? How are the other Links sites doing? Are their numbers down also.

[Colin_Rommel]

There are several reasons why I set up challenging arcade events.

1. I can play in the arcade for my first round of the day and (try) to get my snap working.

2. It encourages more people to play challenging conditions.

3. It means I can play courses that I haven't played for a long time, or try out new or different courses.

4. I can use an arcade event I've set up to test out custom chall pins I've found.

5. More people play in arcade events, because it's free. Arcade events can be very interesting, because more people play.

Having said all that, I would be happy with either limiting the number of arcade events per Michael's suggestion or even dumping the arcade altogether, if it would help the main tour prosper. I would also be happy with having limits on league events, for the same reason. The reality is though that although we can all discuss these things until the cows come home, as T suggested the only person who can make all these things happen is Mark and if he doesn't like these ideas, they won't happen.

all good Michael ~
for what its worth, i like a lot of your ideas, but as T commented its Mark's show. we can only make suggestions.
i have written to Mark asking him to have a look here as it was April '10 when the thread was started.

bruce

Thanks Bruce. So we will see what Mark has to say.

[FixAmer1st]

GIbby.

To answer your query my KISS Tours, http://www.kisstours.com/ , has been fairly stable but with a low participation over the past years. We dropped seven of the Tours at the beginning of the 2010 Season and are running with only five. The PGA, KISS, CPU, Stableford+ and the LWT to try to get more participation in these as the others drew away players.

Have signed on three new members this Season and the Tours all have their loyal players. I do not see a big interest in new members or old ones (we have 852 registered players but probably only 50 regulars) coming back (lost to Links probably).

Sad as Links is a great Golf Game.

Jerry

[lstouradmin]

Hey guys,

I just wanted to give a few thoughts about this thread.

I’m actually leaning towards lean and mean. Meaning fewer tours and events to help beef up the number of players in each event. I would leave league play for more specialized stuff. For instance, if someone wanted to create a stableford or handicap league or something like that and keep maybe PLSA, CLSC and RAW for official events. Maybe even get rid of very low turnout official events like Elite and any specialized swing events. All the while introducing some new cool stuff like achievements, a much easier to navigate site, easier to see and compare stats, a good ranking system, etc.

I want to have some new tools available for Tour Directors including the ability to add new courses to the site. I also want to have a course rating/difficulty system in place with a tool that will allow players to submit pin positions for various conditions along with the ability to rate those conditions. Those conditions could then be used in any event if so desired. These will help tour directors - and me - decide on courses to use, have good pins, etc.

As for the casual players, I'd like to go back to where I originally intended and have two free events for casual members and the arcade strictly as a fun place for Tour Players. Although I was thinking about letting Tour Players invite some casual members to play in an event they create. Sort of a best of both world so to speak.

And as for not getting much done since April...I haven’t taken the time recently to work on this like I should have. I took a full time job back in May 2010 and I haven’t been making much time for the new site. Previously I was working as an independent contractor and had much more time on my hands. As the economy grew worse so did my contract prospects so I was lucky enough to find a full time job. The big reason for me wanting to find a full time job was due to my wife and I expecting our first child. Baby Hulka is on the way for March!! Just in time for the Masters

Mark

[BruceWallace]

[snip]

The big reason for me wanting to find a full time job was due to my wife and I expecting our first child. Baby Hulka is on the way for March!! Just in time for the Masters

Mark

Congratulations to you, and your wife, Mark! The other things, that you had in your post, are good too, but having your first child far surpasses that!

[rwoodworkr]

...Baby Hulka is on the way for March!! Just in time for the Masters

Mark

Congrats. Better get that mini-HDTV installed in the cradle.

[Michael Jensen]

What they said, congratulations to you and your wife Mark. From my own experience nothing is like having your first child... I know it blew my mind

I like your 'lean and mean' thoughts about the tour. If you don't find time to follow through on any of it, then we know it is because of more important things.

[terrell]

...The big reason for me wanting to find a full time job was due to my wife and I expecting our first child. Baby Hulka is on the way for March!! Just in time for the Masters

congrats, mark! my sister has been trying to get me to get a dog (i take her dogs for long runs) for years, and then work my way up to a wife/kids. baby hulka can provide personalized tech support for roy. (8

[stvn6165]

...Baby Hulka is on the way for March!! Just in time for the Masters

Mark

Congrats. Better get that mini-HDTV installed in the cradle.

CONGRATULATIONS, MARK!

thank you for your input. and your ideas sound great!
right now, your plate's full to begin with (with lspn), and life threw a big heaping dose of reality right on top of that.
we'll get along just fine, the way things are going now. taking care of mom (remember, she's eating for two ) right now, is JOB ONE...

and just a thought, to go along with the cradle HDTV: make the babie's area GREEN themed (like augusta green), not the 'pink for a girl', 'blue for a boy' s.o.s.,. -be original, man...

[fescue]

Thanks for the update Mark. All of that sounds exciting and the site plans are cool too. Good Luck now and in the future. Well wishes to your wife.