Brad

Okay, now that I have your attention....

Whose logo this is?  And what would you rate it on a scale of 1-10, 10 being the highest rating, all things considered?  What's the connection, if any, to USF?

Okay, now that I have your attention....and I have refocused... 

Without cheating, can you name whose logo this is?  And what would you rate it on a scale of 1-10, 10 being the highest rating, all things considered?  What's the connection, if any, to USF?

The Austin Peay Governors...a team the Bulls have played once in football (2000) - won 59-0 and Bill Gramatica kicked the 63 yard field goal:

Was also our first Seniors' Day, when we watched some OGs, like Anthony Henry, play their final game in a Bulls uniform.

BullsGallery.com Austin Peay at USF

Wrong on both.

Okay, now that I have your attention....

As a "POWER6" program, it's possible to lose sight of the "non-P6".  Without cheating (that means looking it up on internet) whose logo is this?  And what would you rate it on a scale of 1-10, 10 being the highest rating, all things considered?  

It's late but I did put together a chat log...

Going forward, I'll publish each game's chat log within 24 hours.

On 7/9/2016 at 7:36 PM, JTrue said:

Can we drop the auto smiley thing when you're trying to list stuff... a)  and c)? The b kills me every time.

Fixed

On 7/1/2016 at 9:09 AM, Ionbull said:

MOAR EMOTICONS!!!

On 7/1/2016 at 7:32 AM, slick1ru2 said:

2. Since this is the largest USF fan board is there a way to reach out to the athletic department for a periodic Q&A of TBP submitted questions.  That could be handled many different ways as to who is asked, how often, how questions are approved to be submitted, etc..

 

We have a Q and A coming up with USF's Jim Louk....stay tuned.

I have entered some email addresses into the system.

Please take the time and invite Bulls fans you know.

Thanks,

Brad

Ok, we are set up with a test subscription and a couple different payment options.  I have emailed JimUSFSig and JTrue and gave them access to store.  If anyone else wants to be in the beta, feel free to send me an IM or post here...thanks.

Thanks slick.  I'll see what I can arrange with the gang on Fowler.  About the only contact I have left there is the great one - the magnificent Jim Louk. 

There are two problems with that

a) b is often used after a, and

there is little I can do about that

Just kidding, I can change the alphabetical representation of

In some cases yes.  I will keep a Bulls gear page that one would voluntarily visit to see those ads and other USF related sales

On 7/1/2016 at 8:48 PM, Bull-Hornz said:

Along the lines of point 1. I like the chat seasons during the games as it provides more of a real time interaction.

I think it would be beneficial for it to be post to a thread afterwards as there is some fun banter live.

The system does keep a chat log....the problem with posting it is I have to edit before posting.  I used to post chat transcripts with the old service, but with the free flow of word choice, it adds a lot of editorial time that there must be some return on.  If I can get a hand in the process it could be done.

On 7/1/2016 at 8:45 PM, Bull-Hornz said:

But that means Trip gets more power...YIKES! 

We're keeping an eye on that situation...

On 7/1/2016 at 5:25 PM, HOTbull19 said:

More social media presence to increase readership. I had to google "USF Blogs" before I stumbled upon this one last year and I wish I had found it earlier! 

This is where I need help.  I am not a big social media user and aren't even sure how best to use it to increase awareness of the site.  I'd appreciate it if those more familiar extended this conversation thread with some recommendations on how best to get in front of more (and newer) Bulls fans.  I typically spend 3-4K a year on advertisements and I know there's a cheaper way to draw in more fans!  I feel once we get them engaged on the site talking BULL, they can become a year round fan like many of us and become more engaged with USF Athletics.

On 7/1/2016 at 3:27 PM, raptorcj said:

1. Just interacting with other alumni is key. We all love the Bulls, and everyone brings a slightly different perspective.

2. Personally, I'd like to see some sort of voip interactive system during games, if it could be done right or if we can leverage a good app that's not slammed full of RPG'ers. Might be weird to get over putting a voice with online characters for a while, but I often just can't get to the games, and I see in the chat room I'm not alone. Also might be great to have top-banner links to gousfbulls.com athletics/football/basketball. Most of us probably already have links on the favorites bar, but we have visitors come by a lot...just a thought.

3. trolls. 

I can get some links to USF sites up there.  We use to have the schedule and links to USF and other sites right under the main navigation bar, but I have not taken time to make it responsive, and hence there are no links.  It's on the improvements by game day.  Thanks.

On 7/1/2016 at 9:09 AM, Ionbull said:

MOAR EMOTICONS!!! I think TBP runs fairly well, the only thing would be some kind of game thread that updates in real time; but not sure if that would be popular or not. Football is hard to game thread since so much action happens. The best thing about TBP more than any other USF run site is the traffic. Right now this is the only site that has frequent commentors day in and day out. 

We can do an emoticon review, but keep in mind when you click on the smiley face in the tool bar, click the Categories arrow and select the core_emoticon_group_default.  That will render all the emoticons in the system.  Also, if you any you want uploaded, it's a snap to do.  Just let me know.

For football games we'll continue to run the live chat as well as set up the game day thread on the board.  I have one other option I am looking into that would give us a better game day experience whether in the stadium, bar, watch party or at home.

Thanks for your feedback.

On 7/1/2016 at 7:32 AM, slick1ru2 said:

1. Chat room during games. Relevant info in a timely manner. 

2. Since this is the largest USF fan board is there a way to reach out to the athletic department for a periodic Q&A of TBP submitted questions.  That could be handled many different ways as to who is asked, how often, how questions are approved to be submitted, etc..

3. The removal of the politically incorrect section. I haven't seen it on any other school fan boards and there's probably a reason. I just don't think it's the right venue for it.

Thanks for the feedback slick.  We will continue to have chats.  In fact, the built in chat room holds up to 250 chatters at one time.  We need help getting the word out and fill that up.  Before we had the integrated chat, I hosted chats on the Perseus platform (i think they went under).  We got up over 50 chatters many times.  The good thing about the chat integrated into the site is it's pretty easy to do mobile as well.

To your second point, with our old chat software we did preseason chats with writers and Athletic Department people.  Even Seth Greenberg one evening.  I will reach out to their AD about a Q&A and a chat.  This chat software is not as robust, but we can give it a shot.

Not a big fan of what the mad cow became either, but it's sort of like other "off boards", it keeps the main board easier to moderate.  Right now, it's only visible to those that ask to enter.  It can not be seen by the public.

Any further ideas or thoughts are welcome.  Thanks!