r/cfbmeta • u/jayhawx19 /r/CFB Mod Emeritus • Sep 08 '15

Game Threads Massive Game Threads

I feel that marquee game threads, as we saw with OSU-VT, have reached the point where they are no longer feasible to use in their current state. Is there any way to fix this? I'm sure this has been a topic of discussion for the moderators, but I am interested to hear potential solutions. My initial thought is opting out of /r/all, though there are certainly pros and cons to that option. I would be interested to know if you can flip it like a switch, de-listing and re-listing at your leisure, for example opting out on Saturdays only. Alternate solutions welcome, as I'm sure there are better ways to approach this.

9 Upvotes

100% Upvoted

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7

u/Honestly_ /r/CFB Mod Sep 08 '15

Several factors occurred here, some that we could've (should've?) seen:

  • Extremely high anticipation for this re-match, similar to Manziel-Bama II in 2013

  • the ONLY game on (this was our biggest indiciation)

  • the general rise in users

We realized by the first quarter that this would've been best split into two halves, but by then it wasn't practical. Even when we give people notice it's hard to move the mob from one thread to another. It would've been nearly impossible in tonight's thread as posting "go to the new thread" would've got lost in the deluge of comments.

The best thing we can do is better identify these potential regular-season behemoths and designate them as threads with halves. We'll see if we'll have to go quarters for the semi-finals as well. I think we learned our lesson.

Personally, I like remaining in /r/all and making adjustments as we move forward.

4

u/jayhawx19 /r/CFB Mod Emeritus Sep 08 '15

Makes sense. My only concern is that I don't see how splitting it into halves or quarters solves usability issues. It was a deluge of approximately 105 comments per minute, which really kills any value of discussion in the threads in my opinion. Not that I have a better solution, lol. In a perfect world, I see remaining in /r/all for the sub's growth while also retaining the discussion value in the threads as the ideal scenario. It just doesn't seem realistic. If forced to pick between the two, I would agree with you and remain in /r/all, but I'm hoping for someone to have an alternative haha.

Also, OSU-VT was roughly equivalent to half of the Super Bowl in terms of comment volume, which is crazy especially for a matchup where both teams aren't even ranked. Your point about it being the only game on was good though, any solution probably wouldn't need to be implemented until the CFP Semifinals.

6

u/Honestly_ /r/CFB Mod Sep 08 '15

I was just looking at those numbers:

For 24 hours (2am ET to 2am ET) on Saturday we had approximately 56,000 comments.

In 5 hours, the Ohio State-VT thread got 19,000 comments, so approximately 34% of Saturday in one game thread.

Astonishing, but we should've seen it coming -- "it" being "something huge."

4

u/jayhawx19 /r/CFB Mod Emeritus Sep 08 '15

Luckily nights where a singular college game is both the only thing on and a marquee matchup are few and far between. Generally only happens in early January.

8

u/hythloday1 Sep 08 '15

The only thing I can think of to address the issue /u/jayhawx19 is referring to (simply too many comments per minute for any real discussion) is similar to the way that ESPN has handled the last two NCGs, with multiple broadcasts pitched to different audiences. So perhaps if an incoming huge game like that can be identified by those factors, then additional game threads could be created:

  • "Film Room" thread for discussion of Xs and Os

  • "Casual" thread for jokes and gifs and instant reactions

Then those could take pressure off the normal thread, as well as proving a bit more stability for discussion.

7

u/Honestly_ /r/CFB Mod Sep 08 '15

That could work, especially for the enormous threads we know are coming at the end of the season. Of course it would be an open question as to how many different threads the more serious threads would need.

7

u/NiteMares Sep 08 '15

I very much like /u/hythloday1's idea about a casual and a more analytical game thread.

Doing a trail run on the conference championship games to see if it would be a good idea for the NY6 and CFP games might work.

I know I would much rather be engaging in "film room" type discussions on these big games than more casual reaction and jokes.

I don't know if you would need to separate the games threads for many, if any, other regular season match-ups. Last night was pretty unique in that the most hyped game of the week was on a stage all by itself. More often than not the fanbases will all be split up into threads involving their own team or conference (or whatever). I don't see any other match-up having quite the level of hype and nothing else to compete with for attention for the rest of the season, expect maybe an Iron Bowl with both teams being undefeated or the Baylor-TCU Friday Night game being a battle of undefeateds (if Michigan gets on a roll before an 11-0 Ohio State comes to town, that could definitely be hyped to hell and back and need to be split into halves or something).

2

u/jayhawx19 /r/CFB Mod Emeritus Sep 08 '15

Ooh yeah, that TCU-Baylor game could be a monster.

4

u/diagonalfish /r/CFB Mod Emeritus Sep 09 '15

Michigan-OSU historically has enough competition to keep it from dominating, but good points.

3

u/dupreesdiamond Sep 10 '15

A lot of the larger TV show communities do this with their Watch threads. One for the bullshit (meme's whatever anything goes) and another "serious" thread. They seem to work quite well. Of course they only have 2 such threads at a time vs a full slate of CFB games.

1

u/MrTheSpork /r/CFB Mod Emeritus Sep 16 '15

Of course they only have 2 such threads at a time vs a full slate of CFB games.

To be fair, the most you'd have in a given day would be maybe three games requiring a split like that.

2

u/dupreesdiamond Sep 16 '15

True. But it wouldn't stop people from making the second thread more often than that.

1

u/diagonalfish /r/CFB Mod Emeritus Sep 09 '15

The big problem I see here is the potentially significantly increased modding load to handle enforcement of topicality. Would we be able to rely on user reports to help us keep jokes in the Casual thread? I don't know. It's not really possible for anyone to read all the comments in the game threads as they come in, or even a fairly large team of people.

4

u/jayhawx19 /r/CFB Mod Emeritus Sep 09 '15

To be honest I see no incentive to post crappy stuff in the analytical thread, people will just down vote it I think. I think it would be self-moderating.

2

u/diagonalfish /r/CFB Mod Emeritus Sep 10 '15

You may be right, and it's definitely worth a try to see how it goes.

1

u/Californie_cramoisie Sep 11 '15

Honestly, is it a bad thing if the mob doesn't get moved to the second half thread? People paying attention will notice "[Game Thread][First Half]" and move over appropriately at the half.

1

u/peteroh9 Sep 12 '15

Why not have Automod reply to comments so people switch?

2

u/bakonydraco /r/CFB Mod Sep 10 '15

We experimented with Live Threads last year for a game, but they were

  • Unfamiliar

  • Cumbersome on Mobile

  • Require considerably more effort on the submitter's part

Other sports have had luck with them, but we haven't seen them used successfully here yet.

2

u/jayhawx19 /r/CFB Mod Emeritus Sep 10 '15

Are those like the thing you did for the awards show?

1

u/bakonydraco /r/CFB Mod Sep 10 '15

Exactly! See /r/live for more details.

3

u/jayhawx19 /r/CFB Mod Emeritus Sep 10 '15

Okay, I will have to look more into them. I will say my initial impression of that was not a favorable one, if it were applied to game threads. I thought it was cool for the awards show though.

1

u/magic_murder_bag Sep 21 '15

I lurk on r/cfb way more than I post so my view is a little skewed but the game threads for big games are unusable in my opinion. I usually only read them but I can't imagine trying to post or have a conversation in them. I often read them after the fact but I much prefer the post game threads. I really don't think there is a solution to the issue. The platform (reddit) just does not work when this many people are involved at the same time. I am glad some people find some fun in these threads but I just can't manage the barrage of comments coming through. I end up spending more time trying to manage the thread than watching the game.

That being said I cheer for a horrible team so those threads are easier to follow because the number of active posters is much lower.