I've read a couple of comments about how people are "not getting anything" out of our posts. Can you elaborate?

It would help us a great deal.


thanks,
TD

I find that you guys have a very good site, but I guess we want to know stuff that we haven't heard already. Do you have sources or connections?

if i didnt already nkow about Ultimateknicks.com (which blog rolls every blog) then it might be more useful, but you have to have some sort of contact with the team it seems to be more interesting than just another forum poster.....

Oppinion pieces are good.... but if u dont have some sort of source/inside info/exclusive interview.. you guys are just ogranized forum posters

I guess I'll have to take your word for it, with the Balkman and Z-Bo stories, but Walsh denied everything about what was said Z-Bo, other than there were just initial talks.

Chad Ford, however, said a few weeks before hand, that the Knicks were picking Gallo. He's probably the King of the draft though, in terms of coverage, so that's not a knock on you.

oh well in that case ill keep checkin it out..... I wish some of these blog sites would actually ask the players REAL questions that fans would ask.. like "Hey Eddy, how could you come to camp out of shape again when you knew D'Antoni's system?" or jerome"how can you justify still being on this team" **** like that... How about giving Donnie some real tough questions on this Ewing move.... I feel like reporters always beat around the bush... thats jus wat i want to see :)

but i dont mind the site, i read it.. I'd like to be able to post comments tho it never lets me

Posted by tommydee21:

we're working on that stuff with the posting...and thanks again for paying attention.

The problem with what fans really want to hear is that it can't be asked or else access will never be allowed again.

They have Knicks staff right there, not as bad as last year, but still present.

Bloggers need to be professional too.

Martin, understood. If you want feel free to use restraint on posting those, sometimes that is news worthy to people who come to our site first. We did have a following before UK.

TD

Understood about this, but here is the thing: the users who go to your site first for their Knicks news is gonna be small in comparison to the larger Knicks fan base who read all different kind of sites and treat yours as one amongst the many. If you want to get to the next level with hits and readers and repeat readers, you may find that you have to change your style and focus.

Also, we pick up all articles from different sites, we don't review and add/remove articles (for the most part) based on if we think they are important or not.

Sources we do have...we broke the first round pick/ Zbo story before hahn did. That was the reason the deal died at the table and were the first site to break the balkman trade when it happened. We beat ESPN to it by 10 minutes.

Not sure how to react to this, but as a non article/news producing site, and as just a reader of info, I really don't care who gets the news 10 minutes before the next author. I just care if it is accurate, informative, insightful. After you got the Balk trade there might be 5 other articles on the same subject, what is making your site and info stand out?

Ha-

Well I was just noting that we're not a glorified forum...the balkman trade is a poor example. We did a pretty lengthy post on the financial ramification on 2010 Free agency, how it related to the Nets/ Lebron etc. Now news today that Ratner tried to sell somewhat validates that effort.


and in fairness, we've followed a similar model to metsblog.com.

Thanks Martin, your thoughts are greatly appreciated.

TD

[Edited by - tommydee21 on 10-28-2008 5:01 PM]

In fairness, I was harsh with my earlier comments, and that's my own biases about sports coverage, and some of what SNY does in its coverage (also papers like the NY Post, and sometimes the Daily News), one example being 'Loud|Mouths.' I appreciate your willingness to ask us, which cannot be easy.

I think you do a good job of consistently updating, which I suspect has partially helped someone like Hahn to have earned a good following. I generally like updates, but with the over saturated NYC market, it seems that we too often get the same story re-hashed without much new info or perspective, which I am guessing for beat writers is hard enough to come by given Dolan's history of control, and the pressure the Knicks face as an organization.

You guys did well with the starters info in the second to last pre-season game, and there are good questions that I suspect Knick fans are thinking about. For people on this forum who read/post, there may be a few factors that some have said what they did.

1) Flooding and the quality vs. quantity debate. Many, I suspect, depend on the front page of this site for blog info. Posters here have beefs, even with posters here, who engage in similar behavior. UK even has a policy, that is enforced by everyone in different ways, that causes threads to be locked if you create new post on a topic already addressed recently. With several blog posts some are not as easily seeing other bloggers they may want to read.

2) I think folks like to look at sports blogs, primarily sources of new info, rather than just second hand reports of what someone already reported without any new insights. I think it's great to use these as secondary sources to support a unique insights. You've done this in posts, but some don't seem to do much of that, and honestly some seem like ads for SNY, which I'm cool with if it is adding something.

Just to review some recent posts I had issues with...

- The post of video of the Walsh-Marbury quotes...not sure what we heard that we didn't expect them to say. If there is nothing to report interesting, do we need to get a blog post?

- The 'Galinari to start on the road?' post...That seems misleading because it soundd like it was about him being a starter but instead it was that he might see action tonight, and might start playing with the team on the road.

A hostile garden? Some liked how he looked in the short time he played in SL. I guess I'm just questioning the need for a post that says we have no word yet on if he'll play tonight, and that he may start on the road based on, what read like a guess. I am more than happy to be wrong here, it just seemed that way.

- The 'Roster Reaction on SNY' video, again part of this is my bias, they don't have to be "homers," but saying all of the things we already know and in such a mean spirited way is not my cup of tea although I know it's common in East Coast markets/sports talk radio-style journalism. I just think it lacked much insight.

- The fan post of his review of the season. Not badly written, but nothing terribly new.

3) Lastly, I think some of the bad rap because of seeming to be "the new" blog, and with all of the posts, some folks response to some of the content of posts, is going to draw attention.

I hope I didn't come across too harsh, but I felt willing to chime in, especially after what I wrote in the post that started this discussion.

If you can just post what Jerome James had for dinner every night, I'd find that kind of info most entertaining.

Thanks BigC.

TD

Tommydee,

Metsblog is one the best Sports sites on the net. It's largely due to the fine relationship SNY has with the blog. The Knicks and MSG don't have that. If Knick games were on SNY, you guys would have much more readers. My suggestion is not to use Metsblog as a benchmark and just be a little humble.

Most Knick fans are critical of the team, and I think you have to realize that also. After all we have been through, it just makes sense that we as fans are pissed off with this franchise. Share that sentiment with us and make it known. Use satire more, and work on building an online community. Also, the leaving comment process is a setback. Wordpress has too many checks on passwords and registration names. Most of us don't keep track of that. On the web, little things like that will cost you