PDGA Forum now limited to members.

[krusen]

What do you think? Good/bad? I left the moderator a message.....................

I just found out that message boards are now restricted to PDGA members. I understand that this website is paid for by member funds, but believe this action is detrimental to the future of the PDGA.

A year ago I did not have any knowledge of the PDGA. I found out about it by browsing other disc golf sites and using the message boards there. In that time my game and my knowledge of the game has improved immensely through advice I have gotten from others that read and post on these boards. I have not joined the PDGA because I have just started playing tournaments, and thought that 60$ was a pretty hefty fee for a disc and a magazine.

I will probably end up joining the PDGA in the future since I have gotten more involved in the sport and will most likely play some sanctioned tournaments next year. If I had not been able to post on this board in the past year I'm not sure I could say the same right now.

How many prospective members are you keeping away by limiting posts on your boards to members only?

Sincerely,
Shane Kruse

[Blake_T]

heh. i'm not current and can't post there.

basically, imo, they killed the #1 meeting spot. i foresee many people now retreating to smaller boards, which is good and bad. good in that other neglected places get traffic. bad in that it will not reach the widest audience.

i understand their reasoning, but rue and lament their shortsightedness.

[Solty]

funny thing that this came up. i'm debating on becoming a pdga member as i cannot think of much that i need for christmas....being that i just bought a house and such. I was going to get my parents to hook me up with a membership. Honestly, this deters me somewhat because like it was stated, this is where i got alot of the information about disc golf when i started.

hrm....

mike

[Blake_T]

i wouldn't let this deter you from joining. if you wish to play in any tournaments in the near future it is something worth having.

[krusen]

[quote="Blake_T"]heh. i'm not current and can't post there.
quote]

That right there is gonna dissapoint a lot of the people looking for advice. At least most of them know where to find you. Your site use should jump quite a bit.

[garublador]

From what I can tell, the two main reasons were to deter those "grunionites" from posting stuff on the PDGA board, which won't work because some of them are PDGA members and to stop anonomyous accounts from causing trouble. Ironically, most of the people causing problems with multiple accounts are probably already PDGA members. They'll just have to use more passive-agressive and more subtle troll like tactics to cause trouble.

While I'm not sure it will have much of an effect on membership, I also don't think it will cure any of the problems they're having. Either forum participation will decrease significantly, greatly reducing the usefulness of the board or the problems won't go away.

A better solution would have been to use volunteer moderators to help monitor the boards. I doubt they would have been all that difficult to find and with enough of them, it woudln't be too much work for any one of them.

[grunion]

Everyone needs a scapegoat. Its quite alright, I understand. I still support all who want to be a part of discgolf. I have made a board that is dedicated to discers globaly and extend the invitation out to EVERYONE to be a part of it. Thanks for reading, I'm out!

http://www.uniteddiscgolf.com

On a side note many people did voluteer for many things and the PDGA never responded. This was a heated topic for awhile and why I called them the circle. You are correct about the members, I never once responded in away that was'nt promoted in the first place by, you guessed it, a MEMBER. Nice board Blake, spread your knowledge out and extend your charity. You are an insightfull poster.

[TexasOutlaw]

You know each time I posted a question on the pdga site, I was thinking, "I hope Blake or My_hero answer." Most constructive advice I have received came from these two posters.

Imagine my delight when I figured out Blake has his own board! Although I have no aspirations to play tournaments, I was in the process of joining the pdga (to get the mini mainly). However, I have rethought that decision (good thing I didn't mail that check). My communications with non-members have been as rewarding as the contrary.

[Solty]

TXoutlaw,

i've agree with you. Blake knows his jazz and the people on this board seem to care about golf and not the politics behind the organization! Kudos to Blake!


mike

[TexasOutlaw]

TXoutlaw,

i've agree with you. Blake knows his jazz and the people on this board seem to care about golf and not the politics behind the organization! Kudos to Blake!


mike

I can't find the reply button. Well, I was bummed out about the pdga, and I did intend to join. But, they are not presenting a good image of themselves at the moment. I DO NOT believe that they should expect casual players to pay dues even if they do not participate in tournaments. I believe you can love the sport without doing tournaments.

I don't remember who posted it (I wanna say Blake, but I do not want to misquote someone), but I agree with whomever said that there are better places to budget your money. If I have a choice between joining and taking my gf out to dinner, guess who wins?

Someone presented a good case to me saying that it was only the price of a few discs to join. I think they are right, but the more I think about it, the more I think I'd rather have those few discs...

I actually still have the check I was about to send off for membership. The more I think about it, the more I think the money could be better spent on gasoline to drive up to either Austin or Live Oak to play a round.

Am I supporting the sport? I'm not sure. I know I'm not supporting members so that THEY can play tournaments.

When I was trying to decide whether to spend some money on an item I wanted, someone on the board e-mailed me and told me that if I was a serious player, it was money well-spent. I asked, "how do I know if I'm a serious player?" He said that if I'm traveling to play, I am a serious player.

One of the roles that their board served was as follows: I cannot play as much as I'd like to, so I make up for it by participating in an asynchronous discussion.

[Blake_T]

thanks for the comments.

looks like my work is going to pay for my renewal (but i have no idea when).

as for taking the gf out to dinner, that's higher on my priority list than being able to post a message board.

for me, i have tons of available credit... but i'm already up to my eyes in debt...

i was glad that Rob posted my thoughts on it... it didn't do much to sway any opinion, but it was just kind of silly. i have a feeling my "this will prevent more new members from joining than it will draw more members to renew each year" theory just missed their entire basis of reasoning. the downside is... if their basis of reasoning didn't tread there, i have no clue where they were.

i wandered to the pdga board as a non-member am with a passion for plastic. i joined after people there helped me and were willing to share info and i saw it as a great place to connect. it has helped me grow into what i am now. i've noticed over the past two years or so that the quality of info that circulates when i'm not posting has taken quite a decline. seems everyone's answer is "throw <insert hottest driver on the market>" to every question about discs or throwing.

i'm rather disheartened by all of it.

on a side note, i did exchange email with Steve Dodge about getting a pw as i am a non-current member but i have received no reply from the pdga.

[krusen]

Outlaw,
I'm in about the same position as you. I was planning on joining, but now I'm not sure. Disregarding the disc and other bennies, you need to play 8 PDGA sanctioned tournaments to get your money back. I played in 2 weekly minis and one weekend tourney last year. I think I might just use that cash to try out some new star plastic discs when the snow melts.

[Blake_T]

you do get a 4 issue subscription to DGWN as well which would be $20 otherwise.

[krusen]

OK.....4 sanctioned tourneys. That's not too bad. I kinda got caught up in the moment. I'll probably join in the spring. I joined the Minnesota Frisbee Association this year, and never really put that membership to use. Still, that's the most I've ever heard of for a quad-monthly magaazine subscription.

[TexasOutlaw]

I don't have available credit, unfortunately; however, I do a decent job of budgeting to get certain items/memberships. People think I have money because I have a Revolution bag. I don't have the heart to tell them that it took 6 months of no lunch and bologna sandwiches for dinner to save for it.

Blake is right about answers being, just throw this... It gets annoying, that and people trying to sell you things.

Still, I think the mini you get is cool looking. I am finding that the people that gave me great advice and with whom I enjoyed interacting were NOT PDGA members.