Surly Horns State of Things End 2023

[Foosters 17858]

Couple ideas:

1) we can sell pieces of surly. Like, you could donate $100 and for a week, you get to pick the slogan on the front page for that week. For $500, you have mod privileges for a few days. Things like that.

2) Idea #1 was the only real idea I had, but what about hiring a consulting firm to come kick the tires and tell us what to do better? Not a big one like Mckinsey, or anything, just a local shop (preferably no brick and mortar bc that's where the upcharge comes from) that doesn't charge too much

[G650 14263]

2 hours ago, Pancho said:

But you’re from the “other schools”

 

Why TF you think I'm here and not on the Rant. Trust me, you want no parts of them people.

[G650 14263]

37 minutes ago, Foosters said:

For $500, you have mod privileges for a few days

What could possibly go wrong

[Foosters 17858]

Why do you think I suggested a consulting firm? 

[thunderlounge 7866]

2 hours ago, Foosters said:

Couple ideas:

1) we can sell pieces of surly. Like, you could donate $100 and for a week, you get to pick the slogan on the front page for that week. For $500, you have mod privileges for a few days. Things like that.

2) Idea #1 was the only real idea I had, but what about hiring a consulting firm to come kick the tires and tell us what to do better? Not a big one like Mckinsey, or anything, just a local shop (preferably no brick and mortar bc that's where the upcharge comes from) that doesn't charge too much

 

 

[Sgt Hulk 13786]

We could donate money to reset the rep count to zero of certain CR posters.  That’ would be fun 

[Snake Diggity 4625]

Find someone to create a weekly <2 min video collating the best of surly content for that week, get it on Tik Tok insta Twitter and YouTube.  Content generation may be down but there’s enough to make a great weekly video that algorithms would filter to the young demo and get more of them to engage.

[tokamak 6431]

Same story for me as pretty much everyone else here - I discovered HornFans as a freshman and here I am 20ish years later. I was just a kid that fucking loved Longhorn sports, especially football, and wanted to discuss them with other people that felt the same way. From there, as I got older, I grew to appreciate being able to discuss other stuff like pro sports, travel, entertainment, and even news/business/politics with people who I’ve always assumed are a lot like me - Texans, college (UT) educated, 30+, sports fanatics.

I understand that 18 year olds don’t read message boards anymore, and I’ve actually been thinking about that for a while. What I can’t understand - and I’m definitely showing my age here - is where the conversations that drew me in 20 years ago are happening now? Are people really having lengthy, in-depth conversations about sports in the comments of Instagram posts and YouTube videos? I can’t wrap my head around that. Even if that’s true, you’re at the mercy of whatever topic the content creator feels like covering that day. It’s a one way street. How does that build community?

[BurntOrange&White 39934]

7 hours ago, tokamak said:

I understand that 18 year olds don’t read message boards anymore, and I’ve actually been thinking about that for a while. What I can’t understand - and I’m definitely showing my age here - is where the conversations that drew me in 20 years ago are happening now? Are people really having lengthy, in-depth conversations about sports in the comments of Instagram posts and YouTube videos? I can’t wrap my head around that. Even if that’s true, you’re at the mercy of whatever topic the content creator feels like covering that day. It’s a one way street. How does that build community?

Nobody has in depth conversations on those....there may be some debates on YT videos but instagram and twitter are basically just back and forth bickering of fan bases. 

[Reynolds Woodcock 4758]

10 hours ago, Snake Diggity said:

Find someone to create a weekly <2 min video collating the best of surly content for that week, get it on Tik Tok insta Twitter and YouTube.  Content generation may be down but there’s enough to make a great weekly video that algorithms would filter to the young demo and get more of them to engage.

Personally I think you guys are off with this goal. This site is full of middle aged dads making middle aged dad “content”. That shit isn’t funny or compelling to young people regardless of the format. Best bet is to siphon off other middle aged dads from IT, 247, OB, etc.

[BurntOrange&White 39934]

24 minutes ago, Reynolds Woodcock said:

Personally I think you guys are off with this goal. This site is full of middle aged dads making middle aged dad “content”. That shit isn’t funny or compelling to young people regardless of the format. Best bet is to siphon off other middle aged dads from IT, 247, OB, etc.

Bingo.

[Richter 2261]

I just hope we get this thing turned around before some rich guy that owns a small chain of popsicle stands buys the place out from under us all and turns it into a scat porn site.

[darkfluid 29]

On 12/27/2023 at 12:11 PM, immamac said:

The podcast is hard with wives and 2 young children each. By the time we are able to do it it’s usually so late that one of us is just exhausted or beat or already passed out. 

 

Having tried to do my own podcast before…I can attest to this, kids suck up all that extra time, even if you have the content it’s tough to find time to record and edit.

[darkfluid 29]

On 12/27/2023 at 11:03 PM, immamac said:

I will bring back the discord to thread integration. Bidirectional. 

We will also tie in live casts with our voiceovers or something. It’ll be fun 

 All chats and thread update in real time. 

Wait….we have a discord……where is the link to that?

[immamac 42865]

2 minutes ago, darkfluid said:

Wait….we have a discord……where is the link to that?

it is treefiddy only - the widget shows up when you sign up with an auto integrated code. You can also sign in using discord etc. 

I can open that up but we haven't leveraged discord much this year I used to do it for every game thread etc and it was actually really cool. With the new casting thing we have the opportunity to make it a whole viewing experience similar to twitch, but with permanency of threads. 

[EastHorn 281]

4 minutes ago, immamac said:

it is treefiddy only - the widget shows up when you sign up with an auto integrated code. You can also sign in using discord etc. 

I can open that up but we haven't leveraged discord much this year I used to do it for every game thread etc and it was actually really cool. With the new casting thing we have the opportunity to make it a whole viewing experience similar to twitch, but with permanency of threads. 

I only understood about one word in this sentence.  And I skew younger on the demographics of this site.  

[BurntOrange&White 39934]

8 minutes ago, immamac said:

it is treefiddy only - the widget shows up when you sign up with an auto integrated code. You can also sign in using discord etc. 

I can open that up but we haven't leveraged discord much this year I used to do it for every game thread etc and it was actually really cool. With the new casting thing we have the opportunity to make it a whole viewing experience similar to twitch, but with permanency of threads. 

Opening it up to all could create a LARGE online community for us that is integrated with this website. Once you make it a "community" you can have a discord version of tree fiddy and tie that into being able to watch live streams of the games.

 

 

My friends who live in different parts of the country all get together on discord and just stream games we want to watch together. If you have enough server boosters as well you can stream in 4k(it kind of sucks) but you can get 1080p 60fps.

[Pancho 44858]

21 minutes ago, BurntOrange&amp;White said:.

 

My friends who live in different parts of the country all get together on discord and just stream games we want to watch together. If you have enough server boosters as well you can stream in 4k(it kind of sucks) but you can get 1080p 60fps.

[BornAndRaised 12292]

22 minutes ago, BurntOrange&amp;White said:

Opening it up to all could create a LARGE online community for us that is integrated with this website. Once you make it a "community" you can have a discord version of tree fiddy and tie that into being able to watch live streams of the games.

 

 

My friends who live in different parts of the country all get together on discord and just stream games we want to watch together. If you have enough server boosters as well you can stream in 4k(it kind of sucks) but you can get 1080p 60fps.

Hyperbeam. It currently caps at 12.

[nineliveslost 2782]

2 hours ago, EastHorn said:

I only understood about one word in this sentence.  And I skew younger on the demographics of this site.  

 

2 hours ago, immamac said:

it is treefiddy only - the widget shows up when you sign up with an auto integrated code. You can also sign in using discord etc. 

I can open that up but we haven't leveraged discord much this year I used to do it for every game thread etc and it was actually really cool. With the new casting thing we have the opportunity to make it a whole viewing experience similar to twitch, but with permanency of threads. 

Yea, I am slow also. I don't see anything 

[Neonmoon 38129]

More ideas for future podcasts

1. Hot Takes: Interviewing Futureman

2. The Rainey Street Killer: Breaking Nicole

3. The 40 Yard Dash: Breaking the 5 barrier with CTJ

4. Thujone: The Picasso of Dick

5. "They all look the same to me": The Katfid Story

6. First Hand Stories from the American Revolution: Armybrat

[Sgt Hulk 13786]

1 hour ago, Neonmoon said:

More ideas for future podcasts

1. Hot Takes: Interviewing Futureman

2. The Rainey Street Killer: Breaking Nicole

3. The 40 Yard Dash: Breaking the 5 barrier with CTJ

4. Thujone: The Picasso of Dick

5. "They all look the same to me": The Katfid Story

6. First Hand Stories from the American Revolution: Armybrat

[BigOrange1 6442]

5 hours ago, EastHorn said:

I only understood about one word in this sentence.  And I skew younger on the demographics of this site.  

i'm 40 and i'm right there with you.

[Hornlover 8830]

3 hours ago, Neonmoon said:

More ideas for future podcasts

1. Hot Takes: Interviewing Futureman

2. The Rainey Street Killer: Breaking Nicole

3. The 40 Yard Dash: Breaking the 5 barrier with CTJ

4. Thujone: The Picasso of Dick

5. "They all look the same to me": The Katfid Story

6. First Hand Stories from the American Revolution: Armybrat

7. The Houston 500, but every night: South Austin's Mom

[Teamdirtyleg 1060]

My oldest son and longhorn grad and I used to bond over Shaggy when he was a teen but he mostly is on Reddit or twitter now.  I don’t know the remedy, but I do think a big part of the problem is lack of youthful energy we all had much more of 10-15 years ago.  

[thunderlounge 7866]

30 minutes ago, Teamdirtyleg said:

I don’t know the remedy, but I do think a big part of the problem is lack of youthful energy we all had much more of 10-15 years ago.  

 

 

[ChickenNuggets 1629]

On 12/28/2023 at 7:17 PM, Sgt Hulk said:

We could donate money to reset the rep count to zero of certain CR posters.  That’ would be fun 

how about jettison the whole CR board. That thing is probably the cause of a lot of problems. It's an insufferable pit of self-congratulating, echo chambering flatulence.

[BurntOrange&White 39934]

5 minutes ago, ChickenNuggets said:

how about jettison the whole CR board. That thing is probably the cause of a lot of problems. It's an insufferable pit of self-congratulating, echo chambering flatulence.

I second this motion.

[Pancho 44858]

15 minutes ago, ChickenNuggets said:

how about jettison the whole CR board. That thing is probably the cause of a lot of problems. It's an insufferable pit of self-congratulating, echo chambering flatulence.

But what problems though? CR doesn’t spill out into the other parts of the board. That one “poster” made shit up. 

I don’t think he said the CR is the cause of a lack of engagement. If people don’t like the topics or can’t handle what’s being thrown at them in CR, then a.) why are you even on this board but b.) don’t go in there. That seems so simple that most of the alcoholic here can understand that, right? 

[runthebone 8013]

Uh, no.  The purpose of CR is precisely to keep them there, jerking each other off.  

[nineliveslost 2782]

5 minutes ago, Pancho said:

But what problems though? CR doesn’t spill out into the other parts of the board. 

 

Oh bullshit

It constantly spills out into Dail Texan and 6th street and needs clean up by the moderators. 

 

[ChickenNuggets 1629]

11 minutes ago, Pancho said:

But what problems though? CR doesn’t spill out into the other parts of the board. That one “poster” made shit up. 

I don’t think he said the CR is the cause of a lack of engagement. If people don’t like the topics or can’t handle what’s being thrown at them in CR, then a.) why are you even on this board but b.) don’t go in there. That seems so simple that most of the alcoholic here can understand that, right? 

While we're at it, why not have a religious board so we can fling shit at each other talking about who's God is more powerful? I know what you're saying... And in the world we group up in, I would be fine with it. But not now. Too many (on both sides) take it way too seriously and like it or not, this message board is left of center, which is finally starting to alienate a lot of conservative longhorns (yes those do exist). It's guilt by association, whatever your political stripe. And it does bleed over.

I have no idea how to attract the youth. I do think Surly needs a better social media presence so that people see it on Twitter/X and travel back to the board to contribute. Maybe take funny posts and tweet them? Maybe get "influencers" to tweet out Surly stuff? Idk.

[Pancho 44858]

8 minutes ago, nineliveslost said:

Oh bullshit

It constantly spills out into Dail Texan and 6th street and needs clean up by the moderators. 

 

 

Well that’s different. I don’t consider DT what it was originally intended to be. I just consider it another arm of the CR, and it’s been that way for a few years now. Yes, that needs to be addressed. 

I don’t go into the 6th street forum so you could be right.

 

5 minutes ago, ChickenNuggets said:

While we're at it, why not have a religious board so we can fling shit at each other talking about who's God is more powerful? I know what you're saying... And in the world we group up in, I would be fine with it. But not now. Too many (on both sides) take it way too seriously and like it or not, this message board is left of center, which is finally starting to alienate a lot of conservative longhorns (yes those do exist). It's guilt by association, whatever your political stripe. And it does bleed over.

I have no idea how to attract the youth. I do think Surly needs a better social media presence so that people see it on Twitter/X and travel back to the board to contribute. Maybe take funny posts and tweet them? Maybe get "influencers" to tweet out Surly stuff? Idk.

 

I mean, would you want a board that alienated liberal Longhorns a la TexAgs?  It sounds like some are saying the board needs a more conservative slant because that’s what *most* Longhorns are. If that’s the case, then how is that different from the aggy, tech, or Baylor message boards? Were there complaints about the political forums on HF or Shaggy? I doubt there were because HF leaned right to far right and Shaggy was right of center. Did people complain about the politics board then? 

 

And I think it needs to be thought about that maybe younger folks just aren’t into college message boards, especially with the progression of social media outlets. I just don’t think creating social media platforms for Surly is going to drive people to this board. If anything it will just drive up the number of followers on that account meaning more content on those accounts will need to be generated. It’s highly possible the “message board generation” of the late 90s, 2000s, and 2010s is just for that generation? Just a quick glance at message boards for random colleges across the country, and Jesus some of those threads haven’t seen new posts in a long time. A few forums have threads on the first page of the football board from August. 

[Bodacious Bevo 3584]

Read the first page before Christmas and just caught up. Apologies in advance for the length and multi-quote.

Background: I joined surly when the new site started. I was never on shaggy, HF, etc. I used to be more active on the LonghornNation subreddit and am still friends with some of their mods but I rarely go there much anymore. My internet consumption is mostly surly, youtube, some reddit, and a little bit of twitter (mostly Longhornfrenzy when those sweet, sweet aggy tears are flowing). I was on a Texas podcast for a couple years 

Anyways here's a couple ideas I've liked in the thread and also some stuff that I'm willing to take the mantle on at the end

On 12/24/2023 at 2:54 PM, JBJ said:

Somewhat the same.  I come here because anything Texas worth knowing.gets posted here.

I do however miss "talking shop" with other football heads.  A lot of what those content guys brought was at least ensuing football discussion.  I don't have the time really to string together gifs.

I'd love to have a dedicated chalk talk thread. No spam or mundane shit. Maybe restricted posting access to only people that have demonstrated some knowledge. I think that earned flair for well-known members and some threads or a board where they can post would be a good idea on a larger scale. Hell, maybe some of the TEs could join for some video chalk talk content in lieu of podcast appearances

Somewhat related - I'd love a game thread restricted to good posters or maybe a slow mode where you can only post once every x minutes. 

 

On 12/25/2023 at 10:42 AM, immamac said:

 

Would love to do this. I’d even go in person to meet with counselors etc. the problem is that the school doesn’t seem to want to help. I tried the last 2 years and it fell flat and on deaf ears and I’m not gonna continually chase administrative people to tell kids about the opportunity. 
 

The other way is to set up a booth on campus and let people know but I’m now an “old” so it just really comes off as creepy and not genuine IMHO. 

I'm not sure what you've done before, but I've looked into this before and here's the information I came across on creating an organization account and posting internships: https://careerengagement.utexas.edu/employers/recruit-ut/employer-recruiting-guidelines-procedures/

 

On 12/26/2023 at 2:17 PM, Danimal said:

This is the only Texas site I use. I just signed up for TreeFiddy and recently started TOF donations. 

Here's my suggestion on how to build a following on socials for Surly. This suggestion is based on replicating a model of another school's fan social media account that uses a lot of user-generated submissions. 

• The account is Drunk Old Grad, https://www.instagram.com/drunkoldgrad/, which is an account for West Point that is run by an alum
• Most of the content comes from current cadets or alums, and the person running the account uploads the content (and he makes some of his own content, too)
• A lot of the content is memes or videos taking a stab at Navy or Airforce, current cadet life, or being in the Army 
• But there is a lot of other content highlighting football, basketball, etc success, alum accomplishments, West Point from back in the day, other successes/ things in the news about West Point and the Army

If Surly follows this model, posts/videos can center on these themes:

• Making fun of aggies, sooners, other schools
• Updates on football, volleyball, basketball, etc.
• Current student life
• Alumni in the news
• Longhorn apparel, etc. 
• Pictures of Longhorn logos/fans in unexpected places
• Historical UT/Longhorn images (e.g., vintage gameday posters, images of campus from the 60s, etc.)

The goal in this model is more than just a football or sports account; it is an overall UT/Longhorn fan and lifestyle following.

One way to start getting this content could be to start a thread somewhere here for people to upload memes, images, videos, etc. Whoever runs the social media account would then make the final call on what to upload, then upload and manage the social accounts.

 

I like this idea. Message Board Geniuses is a similar model. Lots of novelty accounts operate this way I think

 

On 12/27/2023 at 1:12 PM, RGBIII said:

 

 

Or one of us got too drunk...

 

We do need to podcast more often. We enjoy doing it, its just hard to have schedules match up. Also we have to watch what we say and how we say it more now with TOF. Not a great look when you have founding members of an NIL collective talking recruiting and if you know myself and @immamac then you know we dont like to be cautious in the slightest. I dont mind having others fill in on the podcast, but we also enjoy our quality control and podcasting aint for everyone

Bump to shoutout the podcast but that has been discussed already. Only thing to add is having a network or something where you can let other people put out shows under the Surly Cinematic Universe or something while you and imma hold down the main podcast and put that out when you can

 

On 12/27/2023 at 1:22 PM, RGBIII said:

But also another person to wrangle

I think that some of these goals are going to ultimately take some formal organizing, for better and worse

 

Two things I can do to contribute: 

1. A 2023 season offseason book club. I can post the highlights, every play, and broadcast replay for a game each week. Everyone can relive the season, discuss, review, pick up on missed stuff, etc
2. A post or series of posts on culture. Brining in academic concepts like leader-member exchange but write it up in a way that's interesting. Might be a single long post or a series. 

If either of those things are the type that can be sponsored concept for a business I'd be open to that. I mention that only because I saw some of the other discussions on bringing in corporate sponsorships

[YGIFS 19452]

43 minutes ago, ChickenNuggets said:

how about jettison the whole CR board. That thing is probably the cause of a lot of problems. It's an insufferable pit of self-congratulating, echo chambering flatulence.

By physiological definition, all flatulence is echoing.  That's why it makes that sound.  I dunno for sure.  Maybe in outer space, in a vacuum, it doesn't make a sound.  But surely you can still feel it.  Hard to say, maybe RamJet can weigh in here given his expertise

Alls I know is we didn't have a half dozen concurrent threads bitching about the state of the politics forum outside of the politics forum on the last three site incarnations over 12+ years.  People want the site to reflect their own echo-chamber and it doesn't always work that way.  We have to come to grips with the fact that we're an extremely well-educated user base that is mainly successful, white/latino, male, middle-age in Texas that is incredibly dumb but wants to not be associated with stupid.  There's a monetization opportunity there, just don't know what it looks like.  

[ChickenNuggets 1629]

9 minutes ago, Pancho said:

And I think it needs to be thought about that maybe younger folks just aren’t into college message boards, especially with the progression of social media outlets. I just don’t think creating social media platforms for Surly is going to drive people to this board. If anything it will just drive up the number of followers on that account meaning more content on those accounts will need to be generated. It’s highly possible the “message board generation” of the late 90s, 2000s, and 2010s is just for that generation? Just a quick glance at message boards for random colleges across the country, and Jesus some of those threads haven’t seen new posts in a long time. A few forums have threads on the first page of the football board from August. 

Yeah, that makes sense. I do think a Surly twitter feed would be hilarious though. Especially in-game comments. Idk how else to reach a younger demographic. We generate so much commentary and some of it is outrageously funny.

[Mitch Cumsteen 18550]

7 hours ago, Neonmoon said:

 

4. Thujone: The Picasso of Dick

That one time I went to ou happy hour at Lee Harvey's, I saw this dude in the men's room wearing a t-shirt with the state of Oklahoma eating a dick. I said great shirt and he told me he was the artist. I said you're thujone? I know you. You're the Picasso of the penis. He said kinda sheepishly, yeah I'm the peniscasso. 

Edited December 30, 2023 by Mitch Cumsteen

[thunderlounge 7866]

1. Know your demographic and target audience

2. see #1.
 

 

[Dbeasy 15068]

On 12/28/2023 at 2:50 PM, Foosters said:

Couple ideas:

1) we can sell pieces of surly. Like, you could donate $100 and for a week, you get to pick the slogan on the front page for that week. For $500, you have mod privileges for a few days. Things like that.

I like where this idea is headed. Immamac, I’d like to pay $750 to hunt down a Surly poster in the streets of Austin and murder them in cold blood. I’d also be interesting in any two for one specials. 

[Neonmoon 38129]

1 hour ago, Dbeasy said:

Immamac, I’d like to pay $750 to hunt down a Surly poster in the streets of Austin and murder them in cold blood. I’d also be interesting in any two for one specials. 

[darkfluid 29]

The more I think about it, opening up the discord more and being active on reddit seems to be some of the best ways to snag some youth.  I see a lot of folks driving people to their discord or forums via the Reddit posts.

 

Driving more old farts here? Better memes and more boob threads are the first thing that pops into my head…the chalk talk and all 22 type stuff is great too..and posting snippets of that to Reddit and Twitter will drive some people to the sight. We need folks who have time to do that however. If we continue to win we will get more folks who want to hopefully.

[G650 14263]

9 hours ago, Pancho said:

And I think it needs to be thought about that maybe younger folks just aren’t into college message boards, especially with the progression of social media outlets. I just don’t think creating social media platforms for Surly is going to drive people to this board. If anything it will just drive up the number of followers on that account meaning more content on those accounts will need to be generated. It’s highly possible the “message board generation” of the late 90s, 2000s, and 2010s is just for that generation? Just a quick glance at message boards for random colleges across the country, and Jesus some of those threads haven’t seen new posts in a long time. A few forums have threads on the first page of the football board from August

This

[BurntOrange&White 39934]

Discord is the key. 
 

It’s essentially a way more modern message board/Reddit feed with streaming capabilities. 

Edited December 30, 2023 by BurntOrange&White

[UTEE97 3522]

Have someone interview players and some coaches or assistants (if permitted) or just record some behind-the-scene footage and post them on social media. That should generate a lot interest.

[immamac 42865]

1 hour ago, BurntOrange&amp;White said:

Discord is the key. 
 

It’s essentially a way more modern message board/Reddit feed with streaming capabilities. 

We can build our own discord. I’ve already proven that. If we need to let people go live I can provide that solution within the week. 

[Longhorn94 2452]

I disagree that 18-22 year olds don't read message boards anymore. My kids are on Reddit more than anything else. We just need to raise awareness that we are here.

[Pancho 44858]

1 minute ago, Longhorn94 said:

I disagree that 18-22 year olds don't read message boards anymore. My kids are on Reddit more than anything else. We just need to raise awareness that we are here.

Context

Reddit is all encompassing and has niche forums so pretty much anyone can find their own specialized community based on their interest. We have people here complaining that Surly has too many forums.

My original thought above specified college message boards, and I still think that could be true. You also have to consider the demographic of college message board to communities in Reddit. It’s really, really different.

[RPM 26322]

Killing CR would be the worst idea ever. It would lead to shitposting the rest of the board and turn things into a banhammer nightmare. I, for one, salute imma for all the hard work plus the above and beyond shit like Lee Harvey's, Tuscaloosa and Nawlins. Wish I was able to attend more of these events and I'd gladly pay for admission. In the meantime, I'll sit at the bar and toss dispense wisdom from time to time.

Edited December 30, 2023 by RPM
I don't know wisdom that well

[Neonmoon 38129]

1 hour ago, Longhorn94 said:

I disagree that 18-22 year olds don't read message boards anymore. My kids are on Reddit more than anything else. We just need to raise awareness that we are here.

Reddit’s format makes my eyes bleed 

[Sgt Hulk 13786]

Yeah as much as the CR is a cesspool of douchebags jerking each other off into their own mouths.  Keep them in one spot quarantined away from the rest of the board so they don’t pollute everything else they touch