I’m going to try and move this conversation from the Maddux thread, because I would like to see it get some direct attention.  People have been muttering about this under their breath and behind the scenes, and it’s time to clear the air.

Regarding Gonfalon Cubs:

1. I am also disappointed with Gonfalon Cubs.  I do not hold this against the people running it (more on that below), and think more than anything else that it reflects a lack of vision and/or implementation of that vision at BTF in general.

There is a long presence on BTF of Cubs fans who are thoughtful and articulate.  At the risk of boasting, I consider myself one of those people, but I have learned a lot over the years from a surprisingly large number of prolific contributors, some of who posted on this in the Maddux thread.  These people are solid analysts, good writers, and generally have something interesting to say.  I am somewhat baffled as to why BTF thought it necessary to go outside to identify editors for a Cubs blog.  Scott Lange comes in with an excellent track record as a Cubs blogger, and I’m pleased to have him around here, but he was not and is not a BTF regular and not part of this community, really.  At the very least, Scott should have looked among the denizens here for co-editors, or have been instructed to do so by the BTF powers.  That didn’t happen.  There has also been a lack of participation among the GC editors along the lines expected by BTF denizens. They post threads and then we hardly hear from them.  Suggestions were made that they add BTF regulars to the editorial board, and they were either declined or ignored.

Sox Therapy is the model of a blog success story on BTF, I suppose, and it’s operated by BTF regulars.  Why this model was ignored in the establishment of a Cubs blog, I have no idea, and I understand why people feel somewhat insulted that they weren’t asked to participate.  I would have declined the offer myself (my life right now does not permit commitments like this) but I should have been asked.  Personally, I don’t feel insulted and I really don’t think others should, because I think this was a matter of the BTF powers not really thinking through this and not a matter of them rejecting people, but I can understand why people interpret it that way.

2.  I mentioned that I would have declined the offer because I wouldn’t want to make the commitment, and I want to emphasize that.  Running the Cubs blog here should be a significant commitment, and it’s one that I would take seriously if I made it.  This is a high profile site and while Cubs fans might not demand much of their team, the ones here do and they demand quality and quantity in their Cubs blog.  Does anyone here have any doubt that you could come up with a list of, say, four Cubs fans on this site who would do a great job of running a blog?  Again, we’re talking about a group of articulate, intelligent people with high standards.

3.  Not only did this create an awkward situation for the Cubs BTF regulars, it put Scott and his team in an awkward position as well.  I don’t think they were given the guidance to make a blog that was going to work here.  If the expectations of the community weren’t communicated to them, I don’t think they were likely to meet them.  Perhaps they could have done a better job, but I think it was doomed from the start.

I want to make it clear that I, for one, very much welcome Scott’s, Mike’s and Ross’ participation here at BTF, in whatever form it may be.  I really hope this situation doesn’t scare them off.  This really is nothing personal about them, and I sincerely hope there are no hard feelings. Again, the problems with GC reflect more on BTF in general than it does on them.

4.  After GC was established, I think people generally wanted to make the best of the situation and tried.  They didn’t express their feelings about how GC came about and where it was going.  Well, I think we’re now clearing the air, and it’s time to decide what should be done.  I think we as a group need to go to Dan and Jim and tell them why we think a different direction is best for the site, and help them work out a plan and help implement it.  At the root of it, this is about high standards and expectations for BTF, and Jim and Dan should be on our side about that.  I’m sure that everyone will welcome the participation of Scott and his team in doing this.

5. I sort of agree with Moses, that this forum can be the Cubs blog, but it’s really not the same.  First, there’s a character limit, and a quality blog should allow for some in-depth articles.  Second, if the site goes in the direction it’s supposed to, this forum may turn into a free-for-all.  In other words, blogs and forums are different sorts of things.  I’m rather confused about where Jim plans to take the site next with regard to blogs versus newsblogs versus forums, etc., but whatever is done needs to be integrated into that.

Forgive me, but now that we have a thread devoted to this, I’m going to cross-post from the other thread:

I don’t know what the deal is.  As I understood it, Jim’s vision was to create separate blogs for various teams (and, I guess, the AL Central)—repository for stories, articles, analysis, etc., by team.  Gonfalon Cubs was, to my understanding, the blog for the Cubs.

Now, it seems that if you go into the Baseball Primer Newsblog, you see dropdown menus for various subject matters and for each team ("Team Beats")—essentially capturing the “Read related” list at the end of the intro to each thread.  This enables one to capture all Cubs articles in one place . . . which is one thing I thought Gonfalon Cubs was designed to do.  Now we have this forum . . . wtf?

As for Gonfalon Cubs, I must say that I’m pretty disappointed.  I realize some of us have issues with who has the keys (or, more particularly, who doesn’t), but this alone isn’t my concern.  It’s true that Scott, Ross, and Mike aren’t really used to the venom most of us have or our in-jokes, but that’s ok for me—they’re starting to get used to it.

What I have a problem with is the fact that they’ve had a grand total of 4 links in the last 33 days.  During this same time span, there have been at least 38 different Cubs articles in the Newsblog, many of which have been posted at our suggestion.  Where the heck are the Gonfalon Cubs boys?

I realize that we’re all busy people and have personal lives (I hope), but if these folks signed on for a job, they should be around to do it.  If they can’t do it, they (or Jim) should give keys to people who can be more attentive.

Now to add/expand a few points --

I agree with Andere that Scott Lange has an excellent track record as a Cubs blogger and also note that he isn’t completely new to BTF, but is still nonetheless largely an outsider—as are Ross Barnes and Mike Isaacs.  I don’t have a problem with this, nor is my problem the fact that the “insiders” weren’t asked.  This isn’t a personal thing at all—I never asked for the keys and, like Andere, doubt I would have the ability to properly commit more than minor contributions to the task either.

My problem is that they are inattentive to the Gonfalon Cubs blog.  If Jim wanted to allow others the keys to enable them to post, even with Scott’s oversight, I think that Gonfalon Cubs could be an excellent forum.  Heck, if Jim grabbed another BTF outsider to run Gonfalon Cubs, that would be cool with me—if whomever it was had the time to give Gonfalon Cubs the attention it deserves.

When the beta version of Gonfalon Cubs appeared, I made the first post.  I said, ‘This is a good thing.’ So far, so wrong.

I agree wholeheartedly that the blog has suffered from neglect on the part of the key-holders and also, I would suggest, from an oddly naive perspective in some of the leads.  I think that BTF requires a slightly higher level of thought than the average fan-site but I’m not seeing it at GC.

I had originally intended to raise this topic back at Cubs Convention time, when there were no end of stories, tidbits, and the like circulating the Cubs blog community and nothing at GC, but personal circumstances did not afford me the time to do so.

I’d go along with Andere, in that representations should be made to Jim and the powers-that-be. They should either get GC working efficiently or, failing that, close it down and start anew with a different editorial team.

It’s now been more than a week since the last post there, and Scott hasn’t added anything in more than 2 months.

Aside from a brief flurry of 3 by Ross in mid April, we’ve had one post in the last 5 weeks.

I’m going to send Jim and Dan a private email about this.

I sent Jim an e-mail as well.

Let us know when you have an answer from Jim and Dan.  I’d like to see Cubs regulars start making threads if only because it’s always slow in GC.

because I think this was a matter of the BTF powers not really thinking through