A fair representation?

[SO16_Saint]

Is this site, and the members who post on it, a fair representation of the supporters of the club?

 

Only reason I ask is that the vast majority seem to have a downer on most aspects of the club, be it from car parking through to kit design and every other minor detail in between - yet a lot of people buy the kit (last seasons was the most popular ever) and the fan base seems to be growing (success brings new fans, I know)

 

What I'm getting at, is does this site attract so called nut jobs and whingers who are not representative of the 'general' fan?

[Saint Garrett]

Probably not. Plus the Internet forum is a place to moan in general.

[Batman]

Probably not. Just look at the Nigel Adkins dismissal situation. You would expected a mass revolt had you took this place as gospel.

[pap]

Put it this way; most Saints fans I know in real life have never heard of this place.

[CB Fry]

Season ticket holders aren't representative either. I'd say this forum is more representative off all Saints fans than them.

[Fan The Flames]

This board is to the Southampton fan base what TOWIE is to Essex, however our case the situations are real but the characters are not.

[CB Fry]

Probably not. Just look at the Nigel Adkins dismissal situation. You would expected a mass revolt had you took this place as gospel.

 

 

...only total farking idiots take this forum as gospel. Hello Brett.

[Batman]

...only total farking idiots take this forum as gospel. Hello Brett.

 

Innit. CB

[pap]

...only total farking idiots take this forum as gospel. Hello Brett.

 

True that. There was this fella who suggested that Stoke were the team to emulate.

[trousers]

does this site attract so called nut jobs and whingers who are not representative of the 'general' fan?

Yes

[Saint Garrett]

Although there isn't many actual active members (relatively) I'm pretty certain there are an awful lot of people that just come on here to have a read and a good way of catching up on any news.

[David Strover]

Of the people I know that support Saints one posts regularly but is a loon (still trying to be a 70s football hooligan and should really grow up), four are members but lurk and hardly ever post, if at all, some others have heard of it but never been near it and my brother who has supported Saints since the early sixties hasn't heard of it, couldn't care less and thinks a lot of fans are a bit mental having watched a 'supporter' going apoplectic with bulging eyes and head veins at St Mary's [like he was going to attack and murder people] because Saints 'weren't gettin' into them..' whilst they were comfortably leading 2-0.

 

He doesn't go so much these days.

 

I am hoping that this forum in no way represents the average Southampton supporter.

[hutch]

Is this site, and the members who post on it, a fair representation of the supporters of the club?

 

Only reason I ask is that the vast majority seem to have a downer on most aspects of the club, be it from car parking through to kit design and every other minor detail in between - yet a lot of people buy the kit (last seasons was the most popular ever) and the fan base seems to be growing (success brings new fans, I know)

 

What I'm getting at, is does this site attract so called nut jobs and whingers who are not representative of the 'general' fan?

Not at all. When you go to St. Mary's and meet the real fans, half of them are drunk and talk nonsense.

[CB Fry]

True that. There was this fella who suggested that Stoke were the team to emulate.

 

Where's the blood, Bazza?

[Sour Mash]

Is this site, and the members who post on it, a fair representation of the supporters of the club?

 

Only reason I ask is that the vast majority seem to have a downer on most aspects of the club, be it from car parking through to kit design and every other minor detail in between - yet a lot of people buy the kit (last seasons was the most popular ever) and the fan base seems to be growing (success brings new fans, I know)

 

What I'm getting at, is does this site attract so called nut jobs and whingers who are not representative of the 'general' fan?

It's what forums are for and it's justhuman nature. Look at most clubs forums.

[pap]

Where's the blood, Bazza?

 

I've still got a way to go to be the ultimate conspiracy theorist, CB Fry.

 

My theories are small-scale rubbish about networks within governments acting against the interests of the populace at large. I'd hope that one day, I'd have both the chutzpah and the balls to suggest that Stoke City are a model football team ( or even a football team ), but I'm just not that far gone yet.

 

One of the reasons I keep visiting this site is to see the master at work.

[Golden Balls]

Is this site, and the members who post on it, a fair representation of the supporters of the club?

 

Only reason I ask is that the vast majority seem to have a downer on most aspects of the club, be it from car parking through to kit design and every other minor detail in between - yet a lot of people buy the kit (last seasons was the most popular ever) and the fan base seems to be growing (success brings new fans, I know)

 

What I'm getting at, is does this site attract so called nut jobs and whingers who are not representative of the 'general' fan?

 

I think you'll find that's a minority on here too but they just shout the loudest. Pompey mentality that if they ram their opinion down everyone's throat enough times, someone might believe it.

[georgeweahscousin]

The internet as a whole is not a fair representation.

 

None of the Saints fans I know in 'real life' react the way forum posters/twitter users do to new kits/transfer news etc.

[Miltonaggro]

No, it's not a representation. Most rank and file that have heard of it see this site as prawn sandwich. How rude...

[Turkish]

Yes, the vast majority of people on here are cocks and so are most of our fans that go to games.

Edited 21 June, 2013 by Turkish

[Katalinic]

Yes, the vast majority of people on here are cocks and so are most of our fans that go to games.

 

Some even put on face paint and jester hats before posting.

[dellboypete]

Put it this way; most Saints fans I know in real life have never heard of this place.

 

Agree with this.

 

Definitely not a fair representation of the views of your average saints fan, but I come on here everyday as its a one of the best ways of getting the latest news, rumours and gossip etc. I have found this forum and it's predecessor a really useful way of keeping in touch especially when we were living abroad.

 

I don't agree with a lot of what many posters have to say but then again I don't have to read them.

 

Always amazes me that there are such diametric opposite views on many topics that raise peoples hackles so much - great fun!

 

And where would I have been with the PTS for the last few years?

[richardc]

My theory is that this site has been hacked and taken over by the Chinese state to disseminate negative propaganda to the west, leading us to believe we are all inferior and with the ultimate aim of creating a revolution.

 

I believe its called the Alpine Spring

[Colinjb]

A forum like this will always have a tendency to attract the more extreme and fanatical members of the fanbase. It is however one of the largest snapshots of fan opinion that can be found anywhere.

 

The main contributors here may not represent the majority of fans but recent polls (such as the one on the kit style that would be prefered) attracted over 900 votes.

 

Not all of those 900 will be regular forum contributors, there is a large amount of 'lurkers' who use the forum for information and leave the posting to others. As such it can be considered a reasonable port of call for fan views.... just you have to scratch beneath the surface to get the reality of the situation.

Edited 21 June, 2013 by Colinjb

[pap]

Agree with this.

 

Definitely not a fair representation of the views of your average saints fan, but I come on here everyday as its a one of the best ways of getting the latest news, rumours and gossip etc. I have found this forum and it's predecessor a really useful way of keeping in touch especially when we were living abroad.

 

I don't agree with a lot of what many posters have to say but then again I don't have to read them.

 

Always amazes me that there are such diametric opposite views on many topics that raise peoples hackles so much - great fun!

 

And where would I have been with the PTS for the last few years?

 

The other thing I'd mention is that when I have a chat with people I know on here and in real life, one of the first SaintsWeb topics that comes up is "how mental are those people on SaintsWeb?"

[stevegrant]

The other thing I'd mention is that when I have a chat with people I know on here and in real life, one of the first SaintsWeb topics that comes up is "how mental are those people on SaintsWeb?"

Perception of a group of people is always based on the extremities, so despite the fact there are clearly many people who post (or just lurk) whose views are moderate and very sensible (and, realistically, they are the majority), the perception of "internet forum users" will always be that of the utter mentalist. That's life.

[LostBoys]

It is if you block all of the repetitive knobs on here. Eventually you will get there

[Saint Mikey]

A forum like this will always have a tendency to attract the more extreme and fanatical members of the fanbase.

 

Agreed. It's like fan phone-ins, or self-appointed media whores from redundant supporters groups. Would people say they are representative?

 

He who shouts loudest (or, in the case of this site - the most).

[Giordano]

Yes

Exactly.

Some people here are well informed and there are genuine ITK people amongst them. But a number have personality disorders of varying degrees. (I know I do lol- supporting saints already betrays us..)

 

Many you would not sit down in a pub with and have that online conversation with face to face because, well you just would not, but online, its safe and its fine. The forum offers some safe anonymity and from that perspective its the ultimate democracy.

 

Typical in any forum group thread are those who have ulterior motives. Often (but not always) those are not getting attention elsewhere in their lives so the forum is like therapy. The participation in the forum thread is more important than any actual content of what they post, indeed, it sometimes appears like posting for the sake of posting ( I liken it to dogs ****ing everywhere they see a nice spot - they do it on instinct not because they particularly want to pee on that tree - they have no interest really in the tree or the consequences of peeing on it, its just what they need/want to do). That can be a bit frustrating if you genuinely have got an interest in discussing the implications of say Victor Wanyama joining but its the price you pay.

 

Ultimately if you don't enjoy the experience, then get off and get out. For me there are sufficient intelligent posters out there to make it worthwhile, and even the "funny" guys sometimes get it right with the humour, sarcasm and sardonic asides.

[Didcot Saint]

I consider myself to be a 'general' fan who has supported Saints and had a season ticket since 1981. I dont consider myself to be a whinger or 'nut job'. I like reading everyone elses view on here. I am absolutely overjoyed at the progress weve made under Nicola's leadership and am grateful for all the support from the Lieberr family.

I just wish as a fan that we could be consulted on things like kit design and just made to feel a little bit more welcome than just 'customers' who are constantly being asked to pay more and more for everything, ticket tax, over inflated season ticket prices, car park charges etc. I realize if we want to be the best this costs, but sometimes it just gets my back up.

My season ticket has gone up nearly £300 when the club is getting £80 Million extra revenue. This is, quite frankly, taking the ****ing ****. Some of my friends who support other PL clubs have been showed some loyalty by their clubs in not hiking prices for long standing ST holders. SFC, it seems do not care about their fan base.

Anyway, love the Club still, onwards and upwards. UTS.

[Saint Mikey]

I consider myself to be a 'general' fan who has supported Saints and had a season ticket since 1981. I dont consider myself to be a whinger or 'nut job'. I like reading everyone elses view on here. I am absolutely overjoyed at the progress weve made under Nicola's leadership and am grateful for all the support from the Lieberr family.

I just wish as a fan that we could be consulted on things like kit design and just made to feel a little bit more welcome than just 'customers' who are constantly being asked to pay more and more for everything, ticket tax, over inflated season ticket prices, car park charges etc. I realize if we want to be the best this costs, but sometimes it just gets my back up.

My season ticket has gone up nearly £300 when the club is getting £80 Million extra revenue. This is, quite frankly, taking the ****ing ****. Some of my friends who support other PL clubs have been showed some loyalty by their clubs in not hiking prices for long standing ST holders. SFC, it seems do not care about their fan base.

Anyway, love the Club still, onwards and upwards. UTS.

 

Off topic, but this is why prices will continue to go up. As people (myself included) will continue to bend over and take it, as it's ingrained in you. Until people stop going to games, prices will continue to rise. Football must be one of the most Price Inelastic businesses around, along with petrol, alcohol and smokes.

[ericofarabia]

Probably not. Plus the Internet forum is a place to moan in general.

 

It certainly is a "Wet Fanny" magnet.

 

But it is also as SG and Dellboy Pete have said, a great way of getting up to date news and info, even if it does come with the extra baggage of views!!

Most of my friends do not come on here at all, but it is a great way for me to keep in touch with those who do.

[Turkish]

I consider myself to be a 'general' fan who has supported Saints and had a season ticket since 1981. I dont consider myself to be a whinger or 'nut job'. I like reading everyone elses view on here. I am absolutely overjoyed at the progress weve made under Nicola's leadership and am grateful for all the support from the Lieberr family.

I just wish as a fan that we could be consulted on things like kit design and just made to feel a little bit more welcome than just 'customers' who are constantly being asked to pay more and more for everything, ticket tax, over inflated season ticket prices, car park charges etc. I realize if we want to be the best this costs, but sometimes it just gets my back up.

My season ticket has gone up nearly £300 when the club is getting £80 Million extra revenue. This is, quite frankly, taking the ****ing ****. Some of my friends who support other PL clubs have been showed some loyalty by their clubs in not hiking prices for long standing ST holders. SFC, it seems do not care about their fan base.

Anyway, love the Club still, onwards and upwards. UTS.

 

Look what happened when the club consulted the fans over the ted bates statue. It was an embarassment. I'm glad we don't have fans forums anymore or power crazed, media whore fans like Um Pahars trying to position themselves as the voice of the fans and potential FOTBers. The best thing about corteses closed door the media approach is we don't have any of there helmets piping up all the time. Let the people running the club run it they haven't done too much wrong so far.

[pap]

Perception of a group of people is always based on the extremities, so despite the fact there are clearly many people who post (or just lurk) whose views are moderate and very sensible (and, realistically, they are the majority), the perception of "internet forum users" will always be that of the utter mentalist. That's life.

 

That's something I bear in mind when dealing with spicier topics and the slings and arrows of outrageous antagonists. View counts are orders of magnitude bigger than post counts. The vocal minority represent those brave or anonymous enough to make their feelings known.

 

Speaking as someone who posts a bit myself, I read pretty much every thread, but only post on a few. Normally, someone has made my exact point, or a much better one, and I don't really see the point in me-tooism.

 

I'm sure if everyone banged in a me-too comment we'd see the near uniformity of moderate opinion. That'd be a bit crap to read though.

 

On a related note, when are you boys going to stop dragging your heels over post(er) reputation? On other sites, the community gets to decide what's extreme, or indeed, a good post.

[hutch]

I consider myself to be a 'general' fan who has supported Saints and had a season ticket since 1981. I dont consider myself to be a whinger or 'nut job'. I like reading everyone elses view on here. I am absolutely overjoyed at the progress weve made under Nicola's leadership and am grateful for all the support from the Lieberr family.

I just wish as a fan that we could be consulted on things like kit design and just made to feel a little bit more welcome than just 'customers' who are constantly being asked to pay more and more for everything, ticket tax, over inflated season ticket prices, car park charges etc. I realize if we want to be the best this costs, but sometimes it just gets my back up.

My season ticket has gone up nearly £300 when the club is getting £80 Million extra revenue. This is, quite frankly, taking the ****ing ****. Some of my friends who support other PL clubs have been showed some loyalty by their clubs in not hiking prices for long standing ST holders. SFC, it seems do not care about their fan base.

Anyway, love the Club still, onwards and upwards. UTS.

I expect you could still get a ST to watch League 1 football for "nearly £300" less than you pay now to watch PL football, so you're not really comparing apples with apples, are you?

[Wes Tender]

That's something I bear in mind when dealing with spicier topics and the slings and arrows of outrageous antagonists. View counts are orders of magnitude bigger than post counts. The vocal minority represent those brave or anonymous enough to make their feelings known.

 

Speaking as someone who posts a bit myself, I read pretty much every thread, but only post on a few. Normally, someone has made my exact point, or a much better one, and I don't really see the point in me-tooism.

 

I'm sure if everyone banged in a me-too comment we'd see the near uniformity of moderate opinion. That'd be a bit crap to read though.

 

On a related note, when are you boys going to stop dragging your heels over post(er) reputation? On other sites, the community gets to decide what's extreme, or indeed, a good post.

 

Me too.

[Bearsy]

That's something I bear in mind when dealing with spicier topics and the slings and arrows of outrageous antagonists. View counts are orders of magnitude bigger than post counts. The vocal minority represent those brave or anonymous enough to make their feelings known.

 

Speaking as someone who posts a bit myself, I read pretty much every thread, but only post on a few. Normally, someone has made my exact point, or a much better one, and I don't really see the point in me-tooism.

 

I'm sure if everyone banged in a me-too comment we'd see the near uniformity of moderate opinion. That'd be a bit crap to read though.

 

On a related note, when are you boys going to stop dragging your heels over post(er) reputation? On other sites, the community gets to decide what's extreme, or indeed, a good post.

 

+1 reputations points to pap please, spudders

[Colinjb]

On a related note, when are you boys going to stop dragging your heels over post(er) reputation? On other sites, the community gets to decide what's extreme, or indeed, a good post.

 

What do you mean?

[Didcot Saint]

I expect you could still get a ST to watch League 1 football for "nearly £300" less than you pay now to watch PL football, so you're not really comparing apples with apples, are you?

 

Its not that at all. I dont expect to pay just £300 for a season ticket, the point i was trying to make is the EXTRA £300 that i have to shell out when the clubs income has gone up £80 Million. Yes wages, transfers etc will be much higher, but this is an increase,in my view, cannot be justified when other PL clubs have cheaper tickets and not hiked up prices.

Edited 21 June, 2013 by Didcot Saint

[stevegrant]

On a related note, when are you boys going to stop dragging your heels over post(er) reputation? On other sites, the community gets to decide what's extreme, or indeed, a good post.

I don't really see any value in user reputation scores or anything like that - they're far too easy to manipulate (and, yes, people are sad enough to want to do so) and even if someone's got a high reputation there's always the chance that they'll say something absolutely bat**** mental, and vice versa.

[Secret Site Agent]

I think you will find that the members themselves are probably a fair representatation of the club and are a good cross section of Saints supporters.

 

But I think you will find it isn't the vast majority, but a minority who have some reservations as such, and are vocal in representing them on here. Plus those that feel hard done by, and wish to vent their anger to, hopefully, like minded people.

 

Generally the squeeky wheel gets the grease.

 

Perhaps there needs to be a survey of those who are always the second poster to a thread, or who are always present to post at certain times, to see who is the most and least prolific posters.

 

Or just assume we are all mad nut jobs and wingers or general fans based on if we are for it or ag'in it, what ever 'it' is.

[dinger]

I don't think this forum is even representative of the people who post on it. There are about a dozen people on here with consistently extreme, debate provoking views, which skews the picture a bit in terms of representation. And you also have to look at how often people come straight here to react to news. The Adkins sacking was a prime example. I was pretty angry about that immediately, and I don't often do angry. But I posted about it in the heat of that reaction. Then I went home and thought about it and by the time I was in the pub talking about it the next day, my opinions were a lot more measured. I would imagine that sort of scenario is true for a lot of people on a lot of the subjects discussed on here.

[pap]

I don't really see any value in user reputation scores or anything like that - they're far too easy to manipulate (and, yes, people are sad enough to want to do so) and even if someone's got a high reputation there's always the chance that they'll say something absolutely bat**** mental, and vice versa.

 

That's why I think post rating is a good alternative.

 

Even poster reputation is better than the current system.

 

We've established that people who don't post are the majority of the users. The current system gives them no means of interaction unless they post, and many of them don't want to post because they've seen what happens to those that do.

 

How many other organisations do you know that don't solicit the views of the lion's share of their customers?

[Lazlo78]

Some even put on face paint and jester hats before posting.

 

It is really tricky to write while wearing this giant foam hand...

[Turkish]

It is really tricky to write while wearing this giant foam hand...

 

I fully expect there to be some people who do put their saints shirts on to post on here. The same ones who go to the club shirt to by the new kit, whilst wearing a saints shirt.

[Lazlo78]

"Ooooooh, gotta hurry back to that tasty summer quiz"

 

[Miffy]

As with most populations if you exclude the extreme 10% at either end (in this case unhappy/antogonistic and super happy clappy) the 80% in the middle represent the general view and I think that is true on this forum.

 

The problem is the middle 80% only contribute about 20% of the posts.