12/18/24
April 11, 2003
Can we have some more sporting categories please? (more inside)...
posted by BigCalm to feature requests at 06:49 AM - 24 comments
Cheerleading. Just kidding!
posted by jasonspaceman at 07:33 AM on April 11, 2003
Cheerleading! Broadcast, Movies, Performance, Attitude, On-Line Actually, I like that mefi has no categories, and I think it's fine that way too.
posted by djacobs at 07:55 AM on April 11, 2003
Speaking solely for myself, I wouldn't support the addition of a category unless it was averaging at least seven posts a month. Right now, the only excluded category I can think of that's getting any kind of regular posts is auto racing.
posted by rcade at 08:29 AM on April 11, 2003
(Incidentally, if any fans of auto racing or another sport take my post as an invitation to hit that goal, that would be great.)
posted by rcade at 08:31 AM on April 11, 2003
rcade, if we're using that criteria then shouldn't the category list be reduced? There's no way all the sports already on the list are getting seven posts a month.
posted by squealy at 08:33 AM on April 11, 2003
I personally pledge to post at least seven baseball-related items a month to keep it from going the way of the quarter hamburger and the friendly telephone operator. I would also agree that auto racing is a good choice for addition. Any candidates for contraction?
posted by wfrazerjr at 09:01 AM on April 11, 2003
Ok, stats for March: Basketball: 25 Soccer: 22 Baseball: 16 Hockey: 11 General and Culture: 9 US Football: 8 Golf: 4 Boxing: 2 Tennis: 1 Olympics: 1 (Figure skating) Others: 6, comprising - Running - Cycling - Cricket - Rugby - Disc Golf (Thanks Ufez!) - Motor Sport
posted by BigCalm at 09:02 AM on April 11, 2003
Figure skating?! I thought this was Sportsfilter?! Not PranceAroundInTightsFilter!
posted by StarFucker at 09:49 AM on April 11, 2003
I love figure skating. I can't put my finger on why, but there's something about svelte and athletic women in bikini-bottom outfits being held aloft by their groins ... wait, I can put my finger on it.
posted by rcade at 12:04 PM on April 11, 2003
Thanks for counting those topics, BigCalm. I wouldn't be opposed to dumping tennis or boxing as categories if they really have performed that poorly overall. I don't know how the other founders feel, but I think if we are Darwinist about categories, demoting unsuccessful ones and promoting successful new ones, we'll help kickstart a few more communities. As the soccer (err, football) posts show, once you get enough fans of a particular sport here, they go nuts.
posted by rcade at 12:14 PM on April 11, 2003
I'd offer to do seven disc golf threads a month, but I don't know how many people here have any clue who the hell Ken Climo is. That said, Olympic categories aren't really applicable except for maybe three months every two years. Golf will get a boost from the Masters and the season going into full swing (Zing!), Hockey and Basketball won't have much going on after June, and boxing bores the hell out of me. Wait, my point? A lot of them are cyclical or seasonal. Frankly, I don't see anything wrong with a slew of categories, but if they're not being used, there's really no point in having them. Listing every sport under the sun would be a pain in the ass for those doing FPP's. Ah, shit, I don't really have a point. Oh yeah, ditch Boxing! (sorry, I'm pissed right now about losing in the Fantasy NBA finals to whoever "the Show" is. If it's jasonbondshow, then damn you for now. I'm not done fighting. If it's someone else, then, um, damn you for now, I'm still not done fighting!)
posted by Ufez Jones at 12:47 PM on April 11, 2003
BigCalm: You nerd. Thanks for doing that post count. Nice to have some stats to back up the punditry. I think we should raise the bar to 10 posts/month and drop Football. Hoohoohoo. And go ahead and drop golf, tennis (even tho I'd miss it and the Anna Kournikova posts - hee hee), etc. Fewer categories would be better. But definitely add Cheerleading. And Ms. Fitness contests (Aerobidance? Jazzersports?). Definitely. Oh yeah. SF and rcade: LOL. Your comments pretty much sum up every ice skating thread and comment that has been and ever will be. Hahahahahahahaha.
posted by worldcup2002 at 12:58 PM on April 11, 2003
Just out of curiosity, what does it hurt having a few extra links that aren't as well-used? Too much clutter? Is this becoming AnalRetenFi?
posted by wfrazerjr at 04:31 PM on April 11, 2003
Where it hurts is pretty easy to figure out: It makes the category choice drop-down menu a pain in the ass. The fewer categories, the more likely each one will be used. Put too many in, and everyone will just post to General and ignore categories.
posted by rcade at 11:17 PM on April 11, 2003
TUSK!
posted by StarFucker at 01:45 AM on April 12, 2003
I'm all for a category meritocracy. Woohoo for basketball. Who would have thunk it? I suppose the NCAA tourney and NBA playoff race explains it. BigCalm, you're next challenge is to give us the monthly average since the beginning of SportsFilter. Even better, a visual graph that shows the rise and fall of certain categories throughout the year.** Also, a pony. **It would be important to see the pattern of a category throughout the year if we were going to dump categories that were hardly used. For example, tennis may be having a bad month, but in the summer with the French Open, Wimbledon, and U.S. Open, postings would most likely be higher.
posted by jacknose at 10:01 AM on April 12, 2003
Seriously, tho, I don't think there's any reason to add more categories. rcade's point about scrolling the drop-down menu is my main reason. Based on the March figures, and a 7 posts/month cutoff, none of the "Other" sports would qualify for their own category. I'd push the cutoff to five, and still most of the categories below football would probably not justify a category. I would, however, be interested to see the monthly count from the beginning of SpoFi until today, per jacknose's request. And a nice graph. And a pony.
posted by worldcup2002 at 11:44 AM on April 12, 2003
I'm not counting them all! It took long enough to do just one month. Tsk, send me an unload of the database tables and I'll be happy to do it.
posted by BigCalm at 12:56 PM on April 12, 2003
You want an Unload... of the Database Tables... ? I got no idea what's going on here.
posted by Samsonov14 at 01:25 PM on April 12, 2003
I believe this is what you meant to say Samsonov14.
posted by grum@work at 02:12 PM on April 12, 2003
Grum, sir, that is EXACTLY what I wanted to say. Me fail SAP DB loader commands? That's unpossible. Or some such.
posted by Samsonov14 at 05:03 PM on April 13, 2003
Are long pull-down menus really that difficult a concept to navigate? With the teeming mass of intellect that swarms about SpoFi, I would think 8-10 would be acceptable. So some sports aren't so popular as others? Is it a better solution to have everything posted under General if it doesn't fit the constraints of a tiny menu?
posted by wfrazerjr at 02:42 PM on April 15, 2003
As long as you throw in a pony.
posted by worldcup2002 at 04:03 PM on April 15, 2003
We've currently got the following categories for posts: Football ; Baseball ; Basketball ; Hockey ; Tennis ; Golf ; Olympics ; Soccer ; Boxing ; Extreme ; Other ; Culture ; General. Can I request a couple more? Rugby Athletics Motorsport ..and I'm sure others can add to these three...