My Plea For The Fanatics
While my opinion doesn't matter any more or any less (hopefully) than anybody else's, I want to take a minute to try and help bridge the gap between how CF has functioned in the past and how it has grown into something bigger.
As most of you will know after spending years on the site and seeing me introduce new features or design changes, nothing goes without a hitch and nothing ever pleases every single member. With that said, the idea has always been to make changes or introduce features that are 100% directed towards increasing the end-user's experience. What I did in the past is no different than what Chris and his partners have undertaken for taking CF to a new level, albeit in a tad bit different direction - meaning introducing content, interviews & articles to help enrich & inform Cyclones the world over rather than being strictly a member generated forum.
Any change, even the smallest ones, are risky to some degree. Not everybody is going to like the new look of the site & not everybody cares about the articles - but overall the majority of the fans are going to enjoy the changes and the many doors they open that were previously never even unlocked before. A new level of access is being granted to CF to Iowa State Athletics - something that is unheard of for a grass-roots, non-corporate fansite. Chris and his crew are simply looking to capitalize on that by giving more information and more content to the regular fans without charging for any of it - except to advertisers
While I didn't have input on the new design since it's always better to have a clearly defined line of responsibilities with an ownership change, I can honestly say that whatever you don't like today, can be evaluated & possibly changed tomorrow. The guys in charge aren't looking to force every change on the users, they just need to know what you the users want and how that fits into what they envision. Constructive feedback is all they're looking for - that and a chance to earn your respect & loyalty.
All I ask is that everybody gives the new site design, functionality and ownership team a chance. If you don't like something about the "new" site, let Chris know in a constructive and meaningful way. If you simply cannot accept that CF has to be more than a forum to really provide everything users want; that is something each member will have to determine themselves. Adding a content driven frontpage isn't a fundamental change, it's just yet another feature to provide what people have asked for for years. Other than that, the only other thing that has changed is the basic design of the site - and I'm certain that can and will change as needed based on feedback. Certainly some features may be more hidden than before or otherwise might have been broken with the changes, but those are just little quirks that they can tweak and fix based on constructive feedback.
Again, thanks for everything over the years. It has been a truly remarkable experience and I hope everybody is as open and understanding towards the new crew as they were for me. I didn't get everything perfect on the first try each time I did something and they won't either. But that's where we learn, grow and develop. Just remember to go easy on Chris, he's working his *** off to relay the problems to the new tech admin while also providing the content that everybody has asked for.
Go Cyclones!
Thanks,
Jeremy Lind
CF Founder
While my opinion doesn't matter any more or any less (hopefully) than anybody else's, I want to take a minute to try and help bridge the gap between how CF has functioned in the past and how it has grown into something bigger.
As most of you will know after spending years on the site and seeing me introduce new features or design changes, nothing goes without a hitch and nothing ever pleases every single member. With that said, the idea has always been to make changes or introduce features that are 100% directed towards increasing the end-user's experience. What I did in the past is no different than what Chris and his partners have undertaken for taking CF to a new level, albeit in a tad bit different direction - meaning introducing content, interviews & articles to help enrich & inform Cyclones the world over rather than being strictly a member generated forum.
Any change, even the smallest ones, are risky to some degree. Not everybody is going to like the new look of the site & not everybody cares about the articles - but overall the majority of the fans are going to enjoy the changes and the many doors they open that were previously never even unlocked before. A new level of access is being granted to CF to Iowa State Athletics - something that is unheard of for a grass-roots, non-corporate fansite. Chris and his crew are simply looking to capitalize on that by giving more information and more content to the regular fans without charging for any of it - except to advertisers
While I didn't have input on the new design since it's always better to have a clearly defined line of responsibilities with an ownership change, I can honestly say that whatever you don't like today, can be evaluated & possibly changed tomorrow. The guys in charge aren't looking to force every change on the users, they just need to know what you the users want and how that fits into what they envision. Constructive feedback is all they're looking for - that and a chance to earn your respect & loyalty.
All I ask is that everybody gives the new site design, functionality and ownership team a chance. If you don't like something about the "new" site, let Chris know in a constructive and meaningful way. If you simply cannot accept that CF has to be more than a forum to really provide everything users want; that is something each member will have to determine themselves. Adding a content driven frontpage isn't a fundamental change, it's just yet another feature to provide what people have asked for for years. Other than that, the only other thing that has changed is the basic design of the site - and I'm certain that can and will change as needed based on feedback. Certainly some features may be more hidden than before or otherwise might have been broken with the changes, but those are just little quirks that they can tweak and fix based on constructive feedback.
Again, thanks for everything over the years. It has been a truly remarkable experience and I hope everybody is as open and understanding towards the new crew as they were for me. I didn't get everything perfect on the first try each time I did something and they won't either. But that's where we learn, grow and develop. Just remember to go easy on Chris, he's working his *** off to relay the problems to the new tech admin while also providing the content that everybody has asked for.
Go Cyclones!
Thanks,
Jeremy Lind
CF Founder
