Free Spirits Rowing

Just a line or two would be useful to confirm/deny a few ideas I'm thinking about.

No obligation, but I'd be interested.

Initially, because you invited me to join the team, Graham.

I remain a member because of the sense of community and because of the support and encouragement I've received from teammates over the years, particularly when things going badly, or when they're going particularly well. And because it's nice to be part of a team that has such diverse interests but is united by a common goal.

Initially, because I when I searched for a virtual club, FS seemed to be the only one with a pukka website that was divided into different sections that dealt with different subjects so it was easy to search for specifics.

The outstanding support became apparent once I posed a few questions. =D>

Bill

I was attracted by the notion of "Free Spirits", since joining I am continually impressed with the camaraderie and wicked humour of the members.

I also like the fact that everyone is respected and given a voice no matter what their fitness or level is, we have some very good rowers and some not so good rowers, people who go on a bit like me and quieter types who lurk in the background.

Its all good and the word belong says it all, I feel I belong here and have made some very good friends too

I think Alan has hit the nail on the head with "belong". I feel I belong here and could not begin to contemplate being anywhere else.
The mutual support and friendship and a few laughs. What more could you ask for from a group of like minded individuals who are all a little bit mad

I wanted a team to join so i could participate in the CTC. Once here I was happy to read and contribute to the wolverine plan thread, and now the Pete plan thread.

What I did not expect, and I now care way to much about is the meterboard!

I very much appreciate the positive attitude and support shown on the forum. When you have a bad day, it's good to have a team to turn to for a kind word.

Oh, and I almost forgot! The awesome PB signature generator.

Because of the Forum.

I was searching for articles/videos about proper erg technique when I stumbled across the Free Spirits forum. I was struck by the camaraderie, openness, and friendliness displayed on the board and became hooked. (The C2 board, at that time, seemed to have a number of how-great-am-I posters that turned me off.)

I am constantly struck by the respect and tolerance exhibited here, especially considering the wide range of interest/ability of the Free Spirits members. Without this there is nothing else.

With that said, I have to say it's the format of the Forum that keeps me coming back. I suspect that Facebook (and other social media) signal the death of 'forums' and 'bulletin boards' but I really like the Forum format -- I can easily look back over the posts for the past 6 months and read what I'm interested and skip the rest.

My thanks to all who have contributed to this thread and its sister in the main forum.

My purpose was to understand a bit about why people joined but more importantly, why they stay.

In any club of close on 400 with no entry criteria or minimum standard, it's inevitable that it will have some who are very good [insert own definition here] at rowing, some who don't want to be "good" but just want to row and others who are looking for support, have questions that they feel are too "simple" for the C2 website, etc.

It's also inevitable I think that some people are active on the website and others less so.

Does it "hurt" the club if the forum is dominated by a couple of dozen regular posters?
Does the forum start to become stale if it's the same people posting all the time?
Is a table based solely on distance the only or best means of keeping interest going?
Why do our challenges not attract more participants (and does it matter if they don't)?

These are the sort of questions that I set out to understand.

Further, I and others have ideas about how to increase participation in the belief that if more of the team join in, the team becomes a more vibrant and interesting entity.

These include some form of equalised (for age, weight, gender, etc) table, some form of table which measures individual performance against a personal benchmark over a season and perhaps something similar to a squash ladder with different divisions and promotion/relegation.

All of these are possible with the right IT support and some initial effort.

My view of the responses so far is that I'm not convinced that any of the above ideas would increase the number of people using the forum etc but equally the low number of replies is a concern. Clearly this needs more consideration and I'll return to it after Christmas.

In the meantime a more important issue has arisen.

The metreboard (which is an unqualified success) needs somebody to take it on in terms of IT.

THIS IS URGENT AND GOES TO THE VERY HEART OF OUR CLUB- MAKES IT UNIQUE EVEN.

I would urge anybody with the requisite skills and time to step forward - PLEASE.

I just entered the club and the forum.

could quote directly bill

Initially, because I when I searched for a virtual club, FS seemed to be the only one with a pukka website that was divided into different sections that dealt with different subjects so it was easy to search for specifics.

that's it

Introduction will follow in the right section

Hi Nervetoeter, and welcome to the forum.
Sorry about the delay with approving your initial post, we get plagued by spam so new posters have to be approved first. You should be ok after 2 or 3 posts I think. Feel free to ask anything
Do you have another you would prefer us to use?

I'm Markus, the nickname is a special German one, what I'm using in all forums, otherwise I'm getting crazy