Questions for Brian

No problem...and thanks for starting a new topic for this stuff :)

1) The new Fantasy League shouldn't be much different than the old one. Yes, there will be some visual changes and some new things added but the core concept of the game won't change. Right now, the biggest change planned are player entry, which will be comprised of players selecting cars based on preference and actual entry order being determined by performance from week to week. But that's all just a plan/thought right now...once I start rebuilding the game, I'm sure things will change and tweak. And there will be a testing/preview period for the game so people can try it out and provide feedback before things go live.

And I plan on copying over all the data so everyone's stats and achievement should remain intact. Same with cars and track data as well. The racing stats is the most valuable part of the Fantasy League so I'm going to do all I can to save it.

2) No, the old site is not coming back. But obviously the new site will continue to change and improve based on everyone's feedback. If there are parts of the site you don't like, just let me know what your concerns are with it. I consider every piece of input I get. That doesn't mean I can do everything that everyone wants but I will never ignore feedback.

I want this site to work and evolve...and it will but I need specific feedback rather than just general dissatisfaction.

And just to clarify, this relates to the design, organization and functions of the web site - the things you see and click. If you don't like certain management choices (or behavior), that's another issue. When someone says "I don't like this," it's often difficult to determine what they actually mean. Do they mean it's broken? Or do they just not like how it looks? Is something breaking on their computer? Or is something just not doing what they expect? I need to sift through all those types of questions before I can act on or fix anything...so that being said, the more detailed feedback is the better I will be able change things and do so in a manner that keeps people happy.

3) For those that haven't read the other article, I've been editing topic titles to better communicate their content and to increase their Google-ability in search engines. In light of the recent discussion I've been thinking about how to better deal with it all.

Headlines need to communicate key points in the article, just like any headline you'd see in the newspaper or media web site. Imagine opening the newspaper and seeing the headline "Something happened today," that's not very descriptive or helpful.

In light of the reaction to my editing of headlines, what I can/may start doing is just PMing authors if the article headline needs improved. I would include suggestions and you could choose how to change it yourself as the author. I guess I just figured rather than guide/train people on how to better their headlines, I'd just do it myself and save everyone the hassle and time...but that was clearly a misguided decision. We can try it a different way.

However, the fact remains that headlines will need to be edited as long as they don't communicate well. Whether I do it or the author does it, I really have no preference. All I know is that those headlines have a direct impact on the growth of the web site and thus I need to make sure they're doing their job the best they can.

Good questions, thanks for asking them out in the open. I have a feeling this thread will grow very quickly.

Thank you for answering my questions. I appreciate your idea of editing topic titles with the author's permission instead.

Brian is ultimately responsible for the site... if he feels that a more detailed title fits his idea for the site, and that it makes finding how- to's and topics easier for surfers, that is ok by me...I am not a journalist and don't use the best titles... let's race !

...and Smitty seems to represent the other half :) ...those that don't have a problem with unannounced editing, primarily because they trust that what I'm doing is not bad, nor harmful to anyone. They trust it's done for a reason and they're cool with it. They're not here to worry about headlines, they're here to share photos and race cars. My misstep was thinking most people fell into this group.

So what I'll do is start PMing people when their headline could use a little touch up. If that person doesn't care if I make the edit for them (like Smitty), then they just need to let me know and I'll make the edits on their behalf. I'll work up a little link that lets people opt-out and we'll manage topics that way.

We'll see how it goes and if it's up being a cluster then we'll try to find something else. 

I absolutely have no problem with my posts/threads being edited in the interest of BEING HELPFUL TO OTHERS, regulars or not. I've never been so partial to my thread titles, especially if others are looking for information. Brian, edit away! Other than that I'd just like to keep building, racing, improving, and helping.

I truly don't understand the attacks on Brian? I mean without him this site does not exist... 

Not sure about you guys, but I don't have or belong to a local club...I have you guys and this community. I enjoy building, racing, and collecting die cast and sharing that hobby with you all. If this site goes away so does my regular racing...that would be very disappointing for me personally. 

Brian gives us a place to gather and discuss our hobby. I'm pretty sure he started the site to share the hobby...NO OTHER REASON.  And to be honest I'm pretty sure he started it for the fantasy league, not for us mail in racers....we just ended up here. He accepted us and continues to support our activity. Keep it up, Brian will get tired of all this and close up shop. 

Sometimes in life you need to choose what hill to charge, and which ones to let go... Of all the issues in this world, I'm amazed this is where the line is drawn... Editing titles, or posts about toy cars. 

Enough is enough... Let's race! I'm here to share my hobby, and race. 

Rant over... Back to our regularly scheduled program....hopefully. 

Thanks for the feedback and support. To be fair, though, I am going to add a little feature that will let those that do care about the editing opt-in to be notified by PM if their headlines need improved.

I'll be putting up a post with details once it is added to the site. It will be nothing major - no major changes to any of the site. Just a link that adds you to a list and then I'll know not to edit your headline myself. It's not a big deal for me and an easy addition to make.

Brian, I think it is a great idea, I like the idea of being notified to edit it myself, rather than it automatically happening.

Here's info on receiving notifications for title edits...

http://www.redlinederby.com/topic/new-alert-for-title-edit-requests/1838