I floated an idea for a new feature for the website by Kevin Jackson when we were in Florida. He seemed to think that it was a good idea. Let me know what you think. The website would have a directory of services provided by our member players and coaches. The directory would be like a yellow pages of where to go if you are buying a car, or insurance, or real estate, etc. It would be a way for those providing services to get a little free advertising and for those in need of the services to find someone that they could trust would give them the best deal possible. I think all we would need to do is make sure that all the managers poll their teams for the entries and gather them together for the winter league meetings. By the time the season rolls around you would be able to find the best deal for your kitchen appliances by hitting the website, looking under "A" and finding out that Mike Girard sells appliances for Charette Brothers and call the number listed on the directory. Let me know if you think that this is a worthwhile venture.
Kevin, A lot of people looked at the entry for website services, but I got no responses. Could you try a Poll of the Week on the subject and see what we get back? Thanks, Mike
I'm a fan of that expression from the Midwest: "You've got to line up your ducks."
Right now, our website needs a fair amount of work -- some of which is currently going on, largely through the volunteer efforts of Pete Zamory. We need directions to fields, the league rules, a list of award winners, our Hall of Fame, etcetera. We've done a good job in some areas: The bulletin board, the standings, the scores. But right now if you click on the "Awards" icon on the homepage, you'll see a line that says something like, "2004 winners updated soon!" That's a shame. We should celebrate our history, our past; this is a great league, it's been around for 15 years or so, and a lot of great players have come and gone. Maybe that old coot at second base was once a league MVP, back a dozen years ago.
So, yeah, I think it's a good idea, Mike. There are many things we could do with this site. If you spend time looking at other sites around the country, you can come up with a list (and we have) and 20-25 different things/services you can typically find in the more elaborate sites. Should we have a directory of all players? The list goes on and on. Right now, I'd like to see us take care of basics, upgrade the site across the board, AND THEN look at future steps. In my view, while your idea is nice, there are more immediate concerns.
At the same time, the real work will be in gathering this list of services. Reaching out to all the players and teams. Typing it all out. Delivering a copyproofed file to our webmaster. My guess is that if you are willing to take on that job, it wouldn't be that difficult to create a page for it. In short: Every new idea of things we ought to do inevitably ends up creating more work for somebody. And the few people who do that work -- I'd say less than 5% of league members -- aren't exactly clamoring for new tasks.
I'm not in a position of authority here, but if I were I'd say, "Great idea -- have at it!"
