WHERE IS THE COMMUNICATION ?

[Dr Strangelove]

OK – time to put on my flame proof suit

I'm with a few others on this forum. WHERE IS THE COMMUNICATION ?

We were promised a new website and everything would be different, but I'm afraid it's not. Was it really worth the wait. Can't we just have information ? The new website is better , cleaner and seems to be better constructed. But, a website is only a communication tool. What has happened to putting content on it. Where the hell has the highlights disappeared to ?When & how did we find out about Brads ban. In fact what the hell is happening about the ban ? We have to wait for other websites or “media types” to leak the info The Panthers this week have put us to shame with their swift and efficient passage of news and information. Mostly to play mind games and politics with us which seems to have worked! we weren't told of anything until Thursday by the club on their website. Surely a small statement saying things are in hand is better than just hoping no-one is going to ask ? Even now, we have a leak to youtube :? about brads ban. Info on the panthers website, nothing on the Elite league site (no shock), but nothing at all on the devils site , WHY ? I personally don't find the clubs silence as professional at all. It was way too little way too late. All of this should have been done by Tuesday and efficiently updated via the website along the way. Sport is a service industry and the customers are very fickle. They also crave information, so why don't the club communicate ?

They're not exactly using the website to effect, who turned up to the Halloween party, the Christmas party, did anyone really know about them. Yes they were in the news section but buried away with other announcements. Too little , too late! There just doesn't seem to be any concerted effort to keep the momentum, just news items along the lines of the “game still on” article posted on Saturday. Who the hell is responsible for the communication via the website? , anyone ? Whoever it is they don't seem to be able to finish anything satisfactorily. This has been a pivotal weekend for information, yet the Devils PR has been non existent It's quite comical that we get most “official” news on this forum via partisan posters saying such things as “I've contacted the club”, “I've just noticed this on twitter”, “I've just seen this in the echo” or “a friend told me” or indeed “it's just been released on Facebook”. (Facebook is normally 2 days behind :roll ) Strangely a few of the posts that materialise from these posters are in advance of the links they mention or certainly within a few seconds

WHY.

Why can't the club use their own website correctly instead of crawling over this one in a surreptitious manner. In fact I would be very surprised if the guy who is supposed to update the website doesn't have an account on here anyway. Or at very least leaking info for others to post. Why can't the club get an account ? Seems logical to me as long as the ground rules are set for a debate with such an account, what would be the problem ?

Why do we have to come to an independent forum for NEWS, chat yes, but NEWS ? And now we have some sort of marketing towards season ticket holders, yet it only appears to be for a select few. Why. Surely they realise that people talk, season ticket holders talk. Wouldn't it be a good idea to release a story about it and prevent the conjecture and the hard done to feelings?. The club must have most season ticket holders email addresses, Why couldn't they let them know of a “new and exciting initiative” before they started so as not to alienate the one's they don't get around to speaking to? They could have potentially wasted a great marketing coup. I'm not a season ticket holder, but it makes me want to ask, “are there different levels of Season tickets”, those who get informed and those who don't ? Apart from the website itself, things don't seem to have improved since they 2 great debates of last season, the “just who is allowed to go to the farewell to players evening” and the “Poppy appeal slating of fans press releases.” Please tell me the same person isn't still responsible for this

cue people with multiple usernames to attack the poster and not to debate the content. I'm more worried about the way a certain person uses other people on this forum to get stories out rather than proper and meaningful communication or debate. I would love to see the Devils website stats against the Inferno stats for this weekend. As for me, the person or persons responsible for this forum is way superior at providing quality info than the club. Maybe they should hire this guy



Morning Dr. I've read through your post carefully and think there are points in there that deserve to be made.

I'd like to encourage restraint as this thread develops, particularly having seen the recent 'New Website' thread.

I would also like to stress the independence of the Inferno - in such a small community it would be impossible to operate without links to the club. Despite these links i would like to think that we (mods) have each been prepared to criticise the club as required - as i said, some of your points deserve an airing.

Lets not get carried away...

Steve

 

[Koop11]

Merry Christmas one and all!

 

[osh]

Wow, what a good post! I agree with probably 95% of what you say, but I have a feeling that you will incur the wrath of those who will have absolutely nothing bad said about the Devils for daring to be so constructive. Its early days for the new website, but no doubt they have made very basic errors in what they are producing. There is also a failure to respond to genuine requests from the organisation and that can be so frustrating.

 

[TheStub]

Not taking anything from your post, as I substantially agree with what you have said. The website is a tool the club (and most of the league) seems to have failed to master fully.

I hope whoever put images up with text instead of actual content reads up on the medium and educates themselves.

In terms of the forum/inferno website there was a decision made to distance both parties from each other. The club explicitly avoid making releases on here. We would (and believe have) put information up here at request of the club. But if we are honest it should be as easy for the club to just put something on their site. A link would no doubt arrive on here quickly enough.

 

[TheStub]

Also, if you look they have extra information about the Voth ban being upheld. They made the school boy error of updating the original article.

They fail to realise people wont re-read the post, and it should have been a new one.

They need to head over to sitepoint.com, boagworld.com and read up on web content and editorial design.

 

[Scott]

Agree in part.

New website is much better than the older one, the fixtures/standings etc are displayed in a much better way.

My main issue is the lack of videos/highlights. As for Devils news breaking on other teams sites (eg, Voth ban), well they probably know before the Devils

 

[ASHIPP]

Fair play to the Panthers organisation. The Giants game was called off but the Panthers still continued pushing the fact that the team would be attending the 'meet the Team' event at the NIC yesterday evening. (This was scheduled to take place anyway after the Giants game if it had gone ahead)

BUT - the signing session/meet the players had been advertised on the website for some time.
800 fans turned up to meet the players, have their shirts signed etc for 2 hours - well beyond Nottingham's expectations. That's what I would call a successful evening.

 

[Finny]

cue people with multiple usernames to attack the poster and not to debate the content.

Oh the irony. I reckon this is about the 2nd alternate account you have used since you stopped posting on your original one? Though I may have missed a couple.

Firstly, can I ask what your reasoning behind posting this on here is? You seem to be asking several questions which would suggest you want answers. Yet this is clearly not the place to expect answers as we all know the club don't post on here as a matter of policy.

If you want answers then the obvious place to get them would be the Devils offices. Have you rung them? Emailed them? Why not pop in and ask them face to face?

I'm guessing you have done none of those as you prefer to be an anonymous keyboard warrior shouting out to anyone who is unfortunate enough to hear you. Though I am quite curious as to whether your problem is with particular individuals in the office/management team or whether you just like picking up on the smallest problems as a hobby.

 

[Finny]

Secondly, I do think you are being overly harsh on the website.

We have debated the 'delay' in an official statement over Brad's ban in other threads. Some of us feel that it was handled the right way, some people feel there should have been several announcements.
However, your accusation that there is still no official verdict is wrong. The original article was updated that morning with the verdict.
The Stub raised a good point that perhaps a separate article should have been necessary. This is again a point which will split opinions - as there is another belief that for consistency purposes the same article should be updated wherever possible to avoid repetition and conflicting information. The BBC seem to subscribe to this action on their website. A webpage containinh a football match preview will then be updated during the match with live stats, and then afterwards changed to contain the match report.
If the club had not updated the original article - should they then have deleted it and added a new one? Or had two similar articles online at the same time.
Just because you disagree with something doesn't mean everyone will agree with you.

I'm at a loss to wonder why you feel the Christmas Party was 'buried within other news'. It had it's own news article:
http://www.cardiffdevils.com/news/devils-christmas-party/

But you are right. Since the new website went live we haven't had any highlights at all. Yes we have only had one game since then and it's probably quite obvious why those highlights were delayed whilst the appeal went ahead. But that's hardly any excuse is it!

 

[steve]

I aksed for restraint on this thread, and now were on the verge of a very old and very tired debate.

This thread is from an individual who feels there is not enough official communication from the club. That is not an unreasonable position. If you wish to disagree, feel free. However lets not question the fact that the poster has an entitlement to raise the issue - becasue they do. If its not something anyone agrees with, it'll get ignored - simple.

Finny - just seen your 2nd post. Good constructive points.

 

[Devils advocate]

How about the club charge everybody double price on tickets for the rest of the year and then use the money to get someone to update every second of the day.

Or raise the money by getting rid of Matzka, Pelle, Voth, Max, Tylor, Finnerty, Weller, Three Smiths, Stu, etc etc and play a bunch of enl'ers ?

Would that make you all happy???

Have you seen the weather outside? Is it possible that some people are having trouble getting where they need to be?

If you read this forum, on Saturday it was wrong that the game was still on, and then it was wrong that they called it off and no doubt when the fixtures build up later in the season, it will be wrong AGAIN that they called it off because then we'll have to play too many games in a short space of time.


Getting really tired of how people are here sometimes....


If the website ran everything within minutes of it happening, I wonder how long it would be before you complained there was too much information on there.

DA

 

[osh]

The following announcement was posted and the Scarlets rugby website. Forget the amount of free tickets etc, what they have actually done is inform their ST holders as to what is actually going on. this makes everyone aware and rewards those who wish to make good use of such an offer. I think this is how we should have dealt with things.

I repeat there is nothing wrong in the Devils offer to those ST holders fortunate to receiove a call from players, but it wasn't the best way to do things i don't think. Summary, Good intentions,bad delivery.
SCARLETS RUGBY
I would like to say a massive thank you for your patience and loyal support so far this season. It is so encouraging for me and the boys to see you being such a significant part of heart and soul rugby country.
Share We really appreciate the effort, the pride and the passion you show as a Scarlet. Your season ticket investment has really helped us to develop an exciting group of players and build on a positive and exciting future.
We would like to show our appreciation at this special time of the year by offering you the chance to celebrate with friends or family through providing 4 complimentary tickets for our battle with the Dragons on New Year's Day.

I am sure like us you want others to share the special experience at the Parc and with your help we can grow the family. All you need to do is fill in the application form online (
click here
) with your details and friends and family details and then join us in the biggest clubhouse in the world pre match, alternatively hand out the vouchers you received in the post to your friends and family.

 

[Soundwave1]

My thoughts on the cheap tickets for the Hull game as it's relevent to both threads I guess - viewtopic.php?f=4&t=3533&p=56325#p56325

Just to add that IMO the excellent new website could be used to communicate more efficiently and effectively with fans (as the old website should have been)

 

[Finny]

Surely that is different to this though osh?

The main thing about the Devils offer was that the players were ringing you up. I think G rang me up a couple of seasons ago and asked how I was enjoying the season so far etc. There may have been an offer too - but all I can remember was that I got a surprise phone call from a Devils player. Had I been told in advance they would be ringing me it wouldn't have been as nice a surprise.

If the Devils were going to offer free tickets to every season ticket holder then yes - that should be on the website. But in my opinion this is different - though I'm sure we will have to agree to disagree on that.

Plus after all this argument with the snow that has fell today it's quite likely the game might be postponed. And we can then argue about how there was still no announcement on it two days in advance. Or should that be 4?

 

[osh]

Finny, I am just showing how it could - and should - have been handled. I am not alone in suggesting that it hasn't been handled in the best way, although no one is critical of the good intention.
As others have pointed out, had it been posted on the website or the ECHO, perhaps all ST could have applied for the offer on a first come first served basis (e.g if the club had made 200, 300 or whatever ratio available) that would have been fair don't you think. what about ST holders who may not have a phone or contact number, they miss out don't they.

As for your response to me, You almost made a decent post, but had to spoil it with unecessary sarcasm in your last paragraph but that is to be expected.

 

[Clare]

Who the hell is responsible for the communication via the website?

That would be Paul Sullivan then. Why don't you arrange to meet with him and discuss your issues? From previous experience he seems to like inviting people to come and "resolve" their issues over the desk during games.

 

[Soundwave1]

Who the hell is responsible for the communication via the website?

That would be Paul Sullivan then. Why don't you arrange to meet with him and discuss your issues? From previous experience he seems to like inviting people to come and "resolve" their issues over the desk during games.

Is he responsible for writing the press releases to put on the website though? His bio on the Devils website just says he's in charge of the development of the new website and Devils TV.

 

[Finny]

I think there are several people within the office who have access to add news articles to the website.

 

[Clare]

Aah yeah.... I remember now... He got demoted to "Match Night Experience Manager" did he? Which apparently just includes whats on the screens, and the appaulling choice of music. How on earth he fills a 37 hour full time working week I'll never know.

 

[James]

Hey he played Motley Crue - Knock Em Dead Kid at the Sheffield game. I can put up with a lot of (IMO) dross for the occasional bit of Crue at the hockey