I think we have a winner in the King Ute Message Board contest

[leftyjace]

Note – this isn’t meant to belittle other boards at all – it’s just making an observation.

I went and looked at SaltyUtes. Yes, looks like a decent format, but… no activity. Like, none. Hardly anything going on over there.

I went and looked at Utahby5. 91,000 posts in 4 years. That’s an average of 22,750 a year. And what’s been going on here? Oh, only over 25,000 posts – in its FIRST year.

I think it’s safe to say that as far as free message boards go, this place has become the new King.

Does anyone disagree? I’m curious if there’s something I’m missing.

[Milton Vanderslice]

The death of UFN changed the game.  This message board blew up over the last 3 months.  I’m curious what the comparison over the last 3 months is between here and Utahby5.

[sweetgrass]

isn’t there a couple of other boards:

Scout, Rivals and 1 other

[Milton Vanderslice]

There are no other boards, only Zuul.

[Tony (admin)]

I’m too busy here to look at other places. But I think post numbers alone do not make the best site. There are other criteria. May post some of my thoughts when I get home in a wee bit.

[Milton Vanderslice]

quit trying to post your thoughts to make the post numbers go higher.  I’m on to you.

[sweetgrass]

I’m staying where Vanderslice and Turk post, cause they make me laugh

[Milton Vanderslice]

I’m going to have that etched on my tombstone.

(Now I just need to figure out how to take Turk to my grave)

[Newbomb Turk]

I’m guessing you will have to dig me up from somewhere else first.

[PorterRockwell]

you really wanna be buried in Idaho?  I’m going to be cremated and have my ashes scattered a variety of places

[Tony (admin)]

As long as your ex-wife doesn’t steal them I suppose.

[PorterRockwell]

she won’t know I’m dead

[Newbomb Turk]

I will probably be cremated as well. My ashes will probably end up blowing back in someone’s face when they try to scatter them (ala the Big Lebowsky)

[PorterRockwell]

exactly

[Milton Vanderslice]

[PorterRockwell]

yeah but you are easily entertained

[PlainsUte]

Key stat: How many loyters are registered?

[Skywalker11]

As an outsider (living in SLC) I use to frequent UFN, mostly to read. I hardly ever post unless I feel like talking smack before matchups like last night.

I actually follow a lot of boards through out the pac-12 and of all 12 teams, Utah is the most intriguing. Having lived in utah for several years now, I have been able to study utah fans closely, and its shocking how divided the fan base is, while united at the same time. most teams dont have 20 different free message boards, IMO, it’d be better to gather them all together instead of comparing and contrasting and trying to outdo the others. obviously religion plays a huge part in that contrast and division.

from what I have gathered between UFN, UH, ,UB5, etc… is that each have their own style of fans. UFN was littered with politics and it looks like since UFN’s shipwreck, a lot of that has transferred over here. Of the 12 pac-12 teams, Utah is by far where I see the most politics discussed.

[utefansince79]

Crazy how many want to discuss politics on the Utah sports boards.  I just quietly uncheck the politics category (out of sight out of mind).  With a fan base fairly evenly divided between non-drinkers and drinkers, Mormons and non-Mormons, Republicans and Democrats, etc, any politics threads just have the potential to get too unfriendly and I want to like and enjoy the company of all UTAH FANS no matter what their background.

[PorterRockwell]

product of the times we live in. 

[Stradlater]

I don’t mind a little political back-and-forth. It helps make a community. Lately it’s been a little overwhelming. Fortunately Tony makes it easy to opt in and out when I feel like it.

[RedRocks]

This is why I recommend that this board allows all the different kinds of opinions and posts, but only shows these posts if the user explicitly selects the categories.  If we want to unify the Utah fanboard fanbase, everything about this site to visitors and newcomers needs to be University of Utah related content only.  Then, we can select new categories as we see fit and get used to the platform.  Instead of ‘unchecking’ categories we should need to ‘check’ them to see the content.  I think this is the biggest reason why the fanbase is split.  Some sites air all their dirty laundry to the world (Utefans, Utehub) and this turns some people off.  Others are too general and impersonal.  I like the combo approach where we lead with Utah athletics content and serve the rest a-la-carte opt-in style.

[Tony (admin)]

I’m still going back and forth on that one @hypodactylus with regards to showing or not showing politics or whatever categories to visitors.

[SkinyUte]

One of the things I really like is that if you uncheck a category here (i.e. politics), you won’t see entire pages of posts disappear. That always bugged me at UFN.

[Tony (admin)]

RIGHT! I employed a “smart” way of filtering the query of the database so the filter happens before the data is read. That way you don’t have pages of blanks etc. If I get the ignore user function working on the home page it would probably be the same.

One of the things I really like is that if you uncheck a category here (i.e. politics), you won’t see entire pages of posts disappear. That always bugged me at UFN.

[Tony (admin)]

Thanks for participating @skywalker11 it’s nice to have a (rational) fan from another fanbase jump into the conversation.

[PorterRockwell]

that’s a reasonable approach.

[Tony (admin)]

My drive-by first thoughts of the “competition” for Ute Hub below. I’ve never visited ANY of these sites until just now. Seriously.

Scout

Went to Scout, but it isn’t free. I couldn’t read anything. $10/month. It’s more like a giant board with subcategories for different fan bases? Cool model. Not as home grown though perhaps. If I could get every Ute Hub member to pay $10 a month I could quit my day job. LOL

Rivals

It says Rivals but the logo says Ute Nation. So not sure what that means. I went to the basketball forum. There’s been one thread there in all of 2016 with no replies. No posts in 2017. Maybe I’m missing something or in the wrong place?

Utahby5

I used to run some phpbb and vbulletin boards. That’s the look and feel of this one. Mobile deployment works, but not to my tastes. Categories include The Hinckley Institute, The Institute of Religion, Emigration Canyon-THIS IS THE PLACE. Really? Um, kay. I think I’d be a cultural non-fit there.

Salty Utes

Home grown, which is nice. Pay to opt out of ads. Good idea. Seems a little outdated design wise but I’m so used to UH I have UH colored glasses. It’s fine. I know a UH member runs it so that’s cool. The cesspool category is fitting.

Conclusion

I’m too biased but I have to agree with the assessment in the OP. I think feature and look and feel wise nothing can touch this site, not to mention the user profiles and all the extra fun stuff like pick em games and such.

[Tony (admin)]

One small correction on the numbers. We reached 25K in about 1.25 years. But I think post numbers will continue to increase.

[SkinyUte]

EDIT: I was going to try and do multiple one-word posts and say “Here, maybe this will help the post count”. Apparently that’s not allowed…good to know.

[PorterRockwell]

gadzooks outsmarted by The Admin again!!

[Utahute72]

Scout and Rivals sites are both pay sites, primarily devoted to recruiting, but with decent off season content. Last year the Rivals team moved, less Alex and a couple more, to scout and merged with Swinney’s team over there. Most of the content from Rivals went there. But Alex did a smart thing and brought on a lot of ex-players to provide their insight. I think those moves improved both of those sites.