Why Does GCA Suck So Bad Lately?

[Adam_F_Collins]

I come here every day. Sometimes several times. Yet I'm not inspired to engage they way I have been in the past. Why is that? Is anyone else feeling this way?

More and more, I find this forum to be just like other golf forums, only with a lot fewer participants, which makes it worse, because you hear too much of the same crap from the same few. There seems to be more and more OT, and less and less really thoughtful, considered dialogue about the one thing that this site is supposed to focus on.

And when things do take off, half the time, the threads devolve into some kind of familiar banter bullshit between buddies. Threadjack/threadkill, bummer, bummer, bummer.

It's sucked for a while now - like months. Will it pass?

[cary lichtenstein]

Adam

I feel the same way

Cary

[CHrisB]

My advice is to get more aggressive in starting the kinds of threads you would like to see in this Discussion Group. And then be more aggressive in keeping those threads from slipping to the second page.

If everyone who feels like you do were to do that, then the feel of the DG would change. There are still plenty of people on here who enjoy discussing golf course architecture.

But sitting around waiting for it to change, or complaining in the hope that others will change it, probably won't work as well.

[noonan]

We need an OT forum to keep discussion lively.

[Steve_Roths]

I just figured it was summer and everyone was off playing golf....

[John Foley]

Adam & Cary,

What specifically are you not getting that you wish you we're?

We just had a great outing inSo Cal and discussed in detail (w/ the architect) one of the new highly anticpated golf courses. IMHO that was pretty tough to beat.

There have been alot people who come & go & interesting topics rise & fall. Some days are better than others, sometime we're in a rut. But you guys think it sucks?

[ed_getka]

Start a new thread Adam. These same complaints surface every year, and there is inevitable turnover. There are few, if any topics of interest that haven't been explored in the 5 years I have been on this site. Interesting threads have the potential to be an informative dialogue, but the distractions you noted often occur and the interesting part is lost in the "banter" part you noted. However, if you aren't part of the solution then you are part of the problem.

[Joe Hancock]

Because GCA is no different than church or school or an association. Many people who partake are waiting for someone to do something for them instead of finding a way to serve.

Joe

p.s. I don't think it sucks...I see it as Ed sees it.

[Mike_Cirba]

Adam,

As others have suggested, we seem to go through periodic periods of self-examination (self-flaggelation is more like it, sometimes) and that's probably healthy in some ways.  Lord knows I've started a thread or two in my time questioning the direction and content of this board.

It's not that you don't have a good point.   Sometimes the discussion here just ebbs and flows for better or worse and sometimes it does suck and other times I'm totally amazed at the depth of knowledge, insight, and passion by this collective group.  And although there have been times when I've gone AWOL for a stretch, I'm always happy to come back and see what the gang is up to, even if it's just another argument about Merion's bunkers, or Reeses Pieces, or "bias", or conditioning, or Jakab's stirring the pot.  This is a place we can meet with others who have the same interests and love for the game, and even if we fight like cats and dogs, most of us end up shaking hands and moving on like gentlemen.  

Heck, some of my most vociferous battles on here have been with fellows I played golf with later, or shared a meal and bottle with.

It's a great place.

If I were to be truly honest with myself, most of the times I've come to the conclusion that this place "sucks" are those when real life intervenes and when I have neither the time, nor the patience, nor the personal drive to read the reams of opinion here, or to argue a controversial opinion, or to even have golf as a real priority in my life.   The kids might be sick, or I might be having job woes, or I might have an anniversary forthcoming and my heart isn't in it.

At those times, one can easily look at the debating over picaune (sp?) details, or trite backbiting, or even arguments over golf course aesthetics as not worth a hill of beans, and you'd be right.  However, at those times in life when the anticipation of the smell of fresh cut grass in the morning, or having just played a new course that stirred something inside of you, or just wanting to get together with friends who understand what you mean when you talk about a redan hole, or the thrill of a blind shot, or even to debate for 27 pages whether Michelle Wie should have been given a chance to qualify, then this is the place to be.

[Tommy_Naccarato]

Adam,
Why don't you make it better?

[Jim Nugent]

I like GCA fine.  Only thing I've missed lately is that Tom Paul and Patrick Mucci haven't posted as much.  

[Adam_F_Collins]

Adam,
Why don't you make it better?

That's why I posted this question, Tommy.

I've also posted other threads in the past, which were designed to help. Such as suggesting an OT section to the forum. I'm happy to make more suggestions, and perhaps I will, but I'd like to get the conversation going.

I have had several private conversations over the last few months, in which others have expressed that they've found the site in a sort of "decline" in terms of the quality of conversation.

As I said, I visit this forum every day and have for some time. I care about it and hope that it continues to generate interesting conversation for people to enjoy and learn from.

However, there are some aspects of this forum that may be hurting that. So I'd like to talk about them. If they exist, people can see them and describe them from their own varying perspectives.

There's no need for people to puff up their chests and get all senti-mental, this is a critique which is meant to get things into the forum for discussion, and the point is to continue to foster healthy conversation. It's not a personal attack on anyone and there's no need for it to become one.

"Why does GCA suck so bad lately?"

The question may appear a bit harsh, but I have asked it to get you thinking. If you've thought it, why?

[Adam_F_Collins]

I like GCA fine.  Only thing I've missed lately is that Tom Paul and Patrick Mucci haven't posted as much.  

You're kidding right?

I agree that both Tom Paul and Pat Mucci are intelligent and important contributors, but with 35,000+ posts between them, this forum most certainly does not suffer from a lack of their contributions.

[PThomas]

I think it's fine

I will second the suggestion someone made:  starting threads....whenever I get an ide afor one, I post it...sometimes they generate a lot of discussion, sometimes they don't, which is fine...but I keep trying!

[Andrew Thomson]

just wait for the Open and the inevitable discussion of the course setup.

if you're patient you can wait till the masters and there'll be plenty of threads about ANGC!

[Lou_Duran]

Adam,

How long have you been around?

Perhaps you've been here for a full cycle.  Many of the interesting subjects have been rehashed ad naseum.  If it is a bit stale for you, take a sabbatical.  I recently did, and may be ready for another shortly.

In addition to the reasons already noted, I'll add that normal group dynamics come into play.  Cliques form, and unless one of the Names start a thread or post a reply, it is as likely to die on the vine as not.  

Lastly, the site has adopeted some pet causes, positions, and preferences.  The body of active participants, in my opinion, has not been very receptive to entertaining thoughts and inquiries which may be incongruent with the party line.    

[Nick Church]

I see where some of the posts would be a better fit under OT (Off Topic / Other Topic, etc).  I notice some of the same "general" golf discussions (ie TOUR talk, etc) that run rampant on other golf-related forums.  

Like you, I am excited about GCA because it fulfills my need for an "armchair architect's" sensibility.  Waiting on the sideline, it's taken 2 years for me to join GCA.

I am still excited about GCA.  This site fulfills my need to play armchair architect.  Now into my 30's, it's been 20 years since I sent a golf course "routing" on 18 sheets of typing paper to Ron Whitten.  For most of that time, I kept my fascination pretty quiet.  Who knew so many other guys enjoyed discussing, studying, and arguing architecture style as much as myself?  The internet finally supplied a method for bringing us together.

Can some of the discussions be split up, thereby preserving the purity of the "golf architecture" core?  I'm all for it, but I'm a rookie.  I trust the hiearchy to do what is best --- which, in fact, may just be Darwinian.  The best of what GCA has to offer each of us will survive.

[Kyle Harris]

I try to avoid this stuff online, but I'd like to clarify one opinion of mine.

O/T stuff does not belong on GCA.

Period.

There should not be an O/T forum simply because such a forum does not mesh with the stated vision and mission of this discussion group.

Posting/Reading O/T threads takes time away from on-topic discussions, this is what annoys me. We all only have so much time on this board, let us please keep focus on the stated objectives and keep things friendly and jovial in on-topic discussion.

I have no problem with sidetracks that reveal personality within an on-topic thread, but the "non-architecture issues of golf" threads of late have been extremely ponderous and unfitting.