I've noticed that BF is getting on average, new user signups at a rate of 5-15 new users per day. That's amazing Congrats Kwun
Yeah I've noticed that too, we're broke through 6000 members just last week I think. I've had a look at some of the other badminton boards, and there's no where near the amount of activity we have here on BF on a daily basis. Also the expertise available here is of a very high standard. I mean where else can you talk one on one with people like JR! GREAT JOB Kwun!
great moderation, intuitive layout helps a lot to enhance the forum experience. over the past few months, i have recommended to members of a climate change committee to look at our BF forum as a successful forum example and for them to learn from. one of the climate change members is also an avid badminton player, and she was quite keen to learn more about BF.
thanks guys. credit shouldn't go to me, but instead to everybody who comes here and contribute and making BC into a great place for badminton fans. it is an awesome thing to see people who comes here to share their knowledge and experience in such a selfless manner. knowledge (esp badminton related knowledge) is too a wonderful thing not to share with others. perhaps as importantly, everybody here does it in such a friendly and welcoming way, it totally reflects my experience that badminton players are all friendly people. the only thing i did was to supply the website.
Yonex should sponsor this site. All badminton courts should have a PC using this as home page with free use by any badders. Well done Kwun and the Admin in BC.
Though I agree that the virtues of this site should be told to badders world wide, having a corporate sponsor of this site really would detract away from its value and independence. One of the most valuable things we do here is present an arm-length assessment of the benefits, and more importantly, problems with any number of badminton products or services. Having a prominent sponsor such as Yonex on board, our views would be seen in the light of a corporate advertising campaign, instead of true good intentioned advice from a worldwide collection of badminton fans. Also there is potential pressure (and note I do say only potential) to censor comments deemed unfavourable to whoever our sponsor is. The moment this happens, the pupose of this site as an open forum where badminton lovers worldwide can talk about their passion for this sport becomes diminished. I believe, and correct me if I'm wrong, this is one of the reasons Kwun only has been using google ads to support the hosting on this site. Keeping us independent is one of the most valuable assets BF can have. Besides, we don't have any other major expense that would require a large infusion of money. Certainly nothing that would be worth loosing our independent credibility.
So all/most badminton products should together sponser this to diffuse any potential conflict of interests. May be this site go public.
You actually see that happen in one large community of interest, and that is digital photography. A very famous site called dpreview.com started as a single guy creating a website out of his interest for digital photography. That grew and grew until it turned into the definitive site for people to get news, reviews, and advice on digital photography. Now many camera manufacturers probably pay, and at least for sure beg him to review their latest creations on the site simply because of the credibility this guy has. But my point here is that this simple link between the manufacturer and this site makes me think twice everytime I read an article there..... Is this review telling me everything I need to know? Are they telling me everything (such as how the battery life on my Canon s30 sucks) ? Anyway, don't read too much into this redkingjoe. Just my 2 cents on a very philosophical interpretation of what we are here at badmintoncentral. At the end of the day, not everything is about money. I have begun to see this as I grow older. Coming from an asian environment in HK, I see all too often people see things in dollars and cents, and not in terms of what really matters at the end of the day. Doing things for the greater good of all. More often than not, the reward from that is good enough.
i dun think making this site commercial is a good idea.Just click those ads will do.i think 1 click is $0.10 USD rite? ::clicking::
604badder is right. it is a good idea to decouple BC from any commercial influence. BC's ideal/philosophy has always been the love, passion and promotion of badminton. we will stay away from anything that leads us from doing that in a genuine manner. however, that is not to say sponsorship is bad. it is good if done properly. in fact there are ppl who have contacted me about it and one of the condition that i always state is that sponsorship is purely sponsorship. there will be no influence on the content of the site. as BC grows and we introduce more and more features to it, it will be inevitable to have to deal with money. but we always see money as the means and not the end. if more influx of money means we can offer the badminton community more features and content without violating our philosophy, that's probably not a bad thing. the key is, let our passion, and not the money, leads the way.
i just hope this forum will have as much members as http://forums.narutofan.com/. they have about 5 times as much members as this forum which really makes me angry since this sport is old enough to be the cartoon's grandfather.
may i also suggest that new members should be automatically private messaged, containing instructions on the search method and should be used before posting new threads?
i was surprised when member count broke through the 400 mark. who will be the lucky member to be #10,000
