Where has all the speculation and information gone?

Submitted by NashvilleBLUE on

When I joined the board a few years ago, it was overflowing with information. I was subscribed to 247 at the time and any "insider" info on that board was talked in depth on here.

Maybe it's just the off-season, but other than the few UMBIG11 posts, there is no real discussion on football speculation here. And I feel like it was that way during last season as well.

i find we are now an Ann Arbor city board(obviously from my username I don't live in Michigan anymore), a food board, and a drink-of-choice board. I enjoy those posts, but as filler between my football content. The football content now seems to be filler between those posts instead. 

For instance, right now Sam Webb is talking about pre-camp position switches and I don't see any chatter here. That's just one of dozens of recent examples.

Were the majority of those detailed threads started by folks that don't post much anymore or has the general board interest just shifted a bit?

evenyoubrutus

July 29th, 2018 at 9:37 PM ^

I've already paid and joined 247. I'm sure their accountants are loving the newest edition of mgoblog. 

Btw, I can state a fact, and you can call it complaining. It is what it is. I've never been a fan of people whining about things that are free but I also think it's fair to the proprietors for there to be some kind of discussion as to why people feel things are going south.

bronxblue

July 29th, 2018 at 9:38 PM ^

I agree about the drop in inside info, but personally I'm happy it's less common.  To me, I'd rather hear about a guy's personal issues when they become official versus the number of really unsubstantiated BS you see on a lot of message boards.  There is little to gain from being first and a lot to lose for being wrong, and I can see why Brian would tread lightly.

I still remember a poster around here who claimed to have a number of insights into the program due to his connection with a current player, and would sometimes vent "insider" talk about who wasn't getting enough touches and why certain guys on defense were pissed at guys on offense.  And even if some of them were true, a bunch clearly weren't or were, at best, embellishments, and ultimately it turned out that the information was being further filtered through other family and it was just a lot of telephone in the end.  So what was left was a board post with 100+ comments where some yahoo vented some laundry for upvotes and, I assume, it was a bad look for the site.

Bones032

July 29th, 2018 at 10:45 PM ^

This is really depressing me right now. I hope whatever news there is about Vilain is not bad. Was very excited about him as a recruit  and it was bummer when he missed last year with injury. Would hate to see his career get off to such a bad start. Also another 5 star flame out would just sting. 

MGlobules

July 30th, 2018 at 8:58 AM ^

All true. I've been wondering whether Brian has been frozen out a little by Camp Harbaugh, or just has some great source that dried up in time? As with the politics, the stance toward management has always been ambiguous, sometimes fawning, sometimes critical. As with the politics, you with Brian were just a little more candid about the editorial stance and its rationale.

Michigasling

July 29th, 2018 at 7:07 PM ^

Interesting.  Here I was dreading the new website design because I assumed it would follow the pattern of most website revisions, which I assumed were designed for mobile use: way too much white space, everything spread out and requiring constant cursoring, making it way too difficult to find things with ease... And here it is.  (Along with pale, muted fonts.)  So you're telling me it's NOT designed for phones AND hard to navigate?  So what's the rationale?  

Sincerely,

Luddite who reads on computer screens and loves lots of text per square inch and clear, simple menus/links, and didn't want to complain because Luddite.

trueblueintexas

July 29th, 2018 at 7:14 PM ^

Or, and I’m just spitballing here, Ace has been going through a lot of difficult health issues this whole year and Seth was having a health issue for a good chunk of the year also. That basically left Brian as the only person working full time this year and his focus was on a new site roll out, being a good employer for his ailing employees, and fighting his general malaise from how last season ended. Oh yeah, and his kid is roughly one year old now which means he’s into everything and requires much more support around the house. Oh oh yeah, and they still did get Hail to the Victors published. But your probably right, it’s the new site.

Mr Miggle

July 29th, 2018 at 6:16 PM ^

I'm not a subscriber, but Webb's position switch news doesn't look like it holds any surprises. Paea and Barrett are pictured. We've already heard that Paea was moving to OL and Barrett tweeted that he was going to practice on both sides of the ball.

If it's about someone else, kudos to TMI for being tricky.

bluepow

July 29th, 2018 at 6:18 PM ^

We are 1-7 in meaningful games since Iowa 2016.  That was an extraordinary team that got nada and last year was ugly.  We love our Wolverines, but my projection is right now we are all looking forward to seeing it on the field; talk is cheap.  

BornInA2

July 29th, 2018 at 7:47 PM ^

"Shut up and prove it on the field of play"

This. My optimism has finally been extinguished after years of camp hype talk about how much better things look. And then the season and losing to rivals over and over and over and over. Who'd have thought that between M and WMU, the Broncos would have the most exciting season in the last decade?

The site redesign at least seems to correspond with a decrease in meaningful topics in the board, even if it didn't directly contribute.

Mack Tandonio

July 30th, 2018 at 7:40 AM ^

Wow. You took a break from listening to Hawthorne Heights in your basement to post THIS take?

While it has never been more difficult to win this conference I can still say with confidence that the worst years in UofM football history are behind us. Live in the past and fear defeat or embrace the challenge and believe in the team.

CLion

July 29th, 2018 at 6:18 PM ^

The only person it seems with a lick of credibility on the board in terms of insider information is umbig11. Brian may have some information but chooses not to divulge it, likely because the costs outweigh the benefits of sharing dubious information. There is also the question of whether paid "insider" information should be shared here. If you want it, pay for it. Or visit the victors board, if you can stomach a bunch of middle-aged men primarily trolling each other and giving half-baked opinions on politics.

Larry Appleton

July 29th, 2018 at 6:22 PM ^

So we’re complaining that we’re not getting enough free insider imformation from people that pay for it now?

Bambi

July 29th, 2018 at 6:25 PM ^

Instead of making a thread complaining about the lack of threads with football news, why not make a thread with the football news?

Bambi

July 29th, 2018 at 6:29 PM ^

Relatedly I think a main reason for the lack of board related football content is how last season went. We haven't won a B1G title in 14 years, we've beaten OSU once in that time period, and just ended an 8-5 season where we had the worst QB/OL of recent Michigan memory. I think after that a lot of people have lost interest in whether Phil Paea is practicing at OL or DL. Once we actually start winning big games that will change.

MichiganTeacher

July 29th, 2018 at 8:59 PM ^

Yep. I still can't decide if it's a) super impressive that we managed to win 8 games with that passing offense, b) super depressing that we had that passing offense, c) a credit to the coaches because of a), or d) a shame on the coaches because of b). 

I suspect that it's some combination of all four. 

But yes, my pre-season thirst for news is way down even just from last year. Just want to see them play, then we'll see.

 

East Quad

July 29th, 2018 at 6:38 PM ^

One issue is the continuing minor but bothersome issues with the new board. 

Another is that Brian has a little one on the way. 

Finally, I think that only a few of us like change.  We'd prefer to banter about and complain about the old Mgoblog site instead of learning the new one.  

That being said, we still hunger and thirst for all things Michigan football and Jim Harbaugh canceled our one early window in - the Spring Game and since has locked down the information like the submarine voyage he was known for in his first year.  I take it as a refocusing of his frame of reference toward improvement post end of season collapse.  That word and concept permeated his demeanor at B10 Media Days.  He disclosed little information without any bravado.  Jim had no sniping comments for Sparty media to use.  I guess it may be time for us to take it to heart and refocus ourselves.

Steve Breaston…

July 29th, 2018 at 6:42 PM ^

This site is now LOST Season 4. What was once an addiction that I couldn’t escape, despite the confusion, has now jumped the shark. I used to visit 20 times a day, and now I barely stop by to see a bunch of people yelling “stay off my lawn” when we, the people, comment about the lack of content, the overflow of social, political and USMT content, the fact that we shouldn’t complain because this is “free” and the fact that a multi-year site design is worse than Hoke’s O-line recruiting. 

Brian and team owe me nothing, and they’ve given me glorious years of laughs. But they should just give us the collective shoulder shrug and say yea, this is now a TBS original and no longer HBO-level can’t miss content.

Football Capitalist

July 29th, 2018 at 6:47 PM ^

I've lurked for quite a while before I started an account(like since the end of Carr) and mgoblog has the distinct feel of a thing that is dying. Even ignoring the fact that there's more political content than football content, it's  not hard to see that this site has moved from a labor of love to just...labor. Maybe Brian doesn't even consciously realize it yet, but I expect within a year or two Brian will realize it's time to move onto the next phase of his life(whatever that may be).

aaamichfan

July 29th, 2018 at 7:07 PM ^

I'm guessing there's a run for Ann Arbor City Council in Brian's future next 5 years or so). That's actually a perfect supplemental job for him, because he could still maintain the site and that at the same time.

I honestly don't think the site is dying. They just have a lot of bugs to work out and it's typically the slowest time of year. From the owner's standpoint, it doesn't make sense to shoot your wad now when traffic is 30% of what it will be in 45  days.

HenneGivenSunday

July 29th, 2018 at 7:38 PM ^

You hit it right on the head.  It seems somewhat obvious that the passion is no longer there.  We all grow up, move on, etc.  

It’s a huge bummer that this place is falling away, because the other alternatives for Michigan related blogs and message boards are just terrible.  The pay sites all whore themselves out for subscribers while becoming mouthpieces for the program, and their boards are terribly moderated.  This used to be different.  

Perhaps it’d be healthy for this to go away.. idk.. f^*%