About the new board name (cougarstadium.com)

[LA Ute]

I know I'm late, but what in the world?

I still love you, LC. Just not those dirty rotten name-changers.

[YOhio]

About the new board name (cougarstadium.com)

I still love you, LC. Just not those dirty rotten name-changers.

I'm glad you don't love me. I'd change board names all day over the entire Internet if it would make it so you never love me.

[myboynoah]

I propose CB2 as the acronym.

I like it.

LES is the obvious acronym.

[LiveCoug]

LES is the obvious acronym.

We are all LES'ers?

[LA Ute]

I'm glad you don't love me. I'd change board names all day over the entire Internet if it would make it so you never love me.

Heaven help me, I'm just not capable of loving this. I'll bet your mom is, though, so you'll always have that.

[CardiacCoug]

WTF?

[FN Phat]

I don't see what all the commotion is all about.

[Parrot Head]

I don't see what all the commotion is all about.

LA Ute grew a beard.

[FN Phat]

LA Ute grew a beard.

Not possible. He lacks the testosterone.

[Jeff Lebowski]

A little more background on the switch. I made a proposal to make the switch a few days ago and presented it to the Executive Committee. We tossed in around for a while and everyone but UD thought it was a good idea so we pulled the trigger. So I am going to present some of my thinking on what led to my proposal and the other EC members can chime in if they so choose.

There are two primary drivers in my thinking. First of all, I never liked the old domain name. I have shared this with numerous people privately over the years. I regretted the choice almost from the start. If you look through the archives you will find a thread where I mentioned as much right after starting the board and asked for suggestions for a new name. It always seemed clunky and awkward. Someone suggested cougarstadium.com a few years ago and it stuck with me. I checked it out a while back and was surprised to see that it was available so I snapped it up.

The second and more significant consideration is outlined in the first post in this thread. When the conference realignment shook things up, several people predicted that the BYU-Utah rivalry was doomed. I was skeptical at first, but not anymore. I don't think anyone can deny that the rivalry has been fundamentally changed. Perhaps if BYU were invited to the PAC-12 it would resurrect, but that is not bloody likely. For a board that ostensibly caters to two fan bases, the deterioration of the rivalry cannot be ignored. Also, I have been monitoring the board traffic ever since we formed this board in 2008. We hit a peak in 2009 and it has been a slow but steady decline ever since. We don't need massive growth to be happy, but given the periodic defections we experience, a steady stream of quality new blood is vital to our long-term health. It has been my perception that while we have had some great additions in the past year or so, we have had more subtractions than additions. So I have to ask myself, where will be in five or ten years? Any scenario I contemplated didn't inspire me much. Furthermore, on a personal level, I always have to analyze my time commitment to this board. This takes a tremendous amount of time away from my work and my family and is purely a volunteer effort. As I consider my long-term commitment to this effort, I just can't muster much enthusiasm for managing a board dedicated to two increasingly unrelated institutions, especially when I envision an ongoing deterioration of the dynamic implicit in the old domain name. To be perfectly honest, I have zero interest in Utah sports anymore. I very much treasure my old Ute friends and I sincerely hope we will remain friends and interact for years to come, but I honestly believe that in the long run, this board will be more healthy and sustainable as a BYU-themed board. I appreciate the stress and disappointment this will cause in the short term and I apologize to anyone who is upset over the move. Maybe the change will prove to be a bad one. Who knows? Time will tell.

[Jarid in Cedar]

My quibble with your part two, is that I never had the feeling that the board catered to the two schools or fanbases(which is one of the major appeals for me), but that it catered to the community and its members. I don't care about the change, it is your board and your domain, do as you please. But the explanation still doesn't seem like more than a whim.

[HuskyFreeNorthwest]

A little more background on the switch. I made a proposal to make the switch a few days ago and presented it to the Executive Committee. We tossed in around for a while and everyone but UD thought it was a good idea so we pulled the trigger. So I am going to present some of my thinking on what led to my proposal and the other EC members can chime in if they so choose.

There are two primary drivers in my thinking. First of all, I never liked the old domain name. I have shared this with numerous people privately over the years. I regretted the choice almost from the start. If you look through the archives you will find a thread where I mentioned as much right after starting the board and asked for suggestions for a new name. It always seemed clunky and awkward. Someone suggested cougarstadium.com a few years ago and it stuck with me. I checked it out a while back and was surprised to see that it was available so I snapped it up.

The second and more significant consideration is outlined in the first post in this thread. When the conference realignment shook things up, several people predicted that the BYU-Utah rivalry was doomed. I was skeptical at first, but not anymore. I don't think anyone can deny that the rivalry has been fundamentally changed. Perhaps if BYU were invited to the PAC-12 it would resurrect, but that is not bloody likely. For a board that ostensibly caters to two fan bases, the deterioration of the rivalry cannot be ignored. Also, I have been monitoring the board traffic ever since we formed this board in 2008. We hit a peak in 2009 and it has been a slow but steady decline ever since. We don't need massive growth to be happy, but given the periodic defections we experience, a steady stream of quality new blood is vital to our long-term health. It has been my perception that while we have had some great additions in the past year or so, we have had more subtractions than additions. So I have to ask myself, where will be in five or ten years? Any scenario I contemplated didn't inspire me much. Furthermore, on a personal level, I always have to analyze my time commitment to this board. This takes a tremendous amount of time away from my work and my family and is purely a volunteer effort. As I consider my long-term commitment to this effort, I just can't muster much enthusiasm for managing a board dedicated to two increasingly unrelated institutions, especially when I envision an ongoing deterioration of the dynamic implicit in the old domain name. To be perfectly honest, I have zero interest in Utah sports anymore. I very much treasure my old Ute friends and I sincerely hope we will remain friends and interact for years to come, but I honestly believe that in the long run, this board will be more healthy and sustainable as a BYU-themed board. I appreciate the stress and disappointment this will cause in the short term and I apologize to anyone who is upset over the move. Maybe the change will prove to be a bad one. Who knows? Time will tell.

So did you even consider thenakedindian?

[clackamascoug]

A little more background on the switch. I made a proposal to make the switch a few days ago and presented it to the Executive Committee. We tossed in around for a while and everyone but UD thought it was a good idea so we pulled the trigger. So I am going to present some of my thinking on what led to my proposal and the other EC members can chime in if they so choose.

There are two primary drivers in my thinking. First of all, I never liked the old domain name. I have shared this with numerous people privately over the years. I regretted the choice almost from the start. If you look through the archives you will find a thread where I mentioned as much right after starting the board and asked for suggestions for a new name. It always seemed clunky and awkward. Someone suggested cougarstadium.com a few years ago and it stuck with me. I checked it out a while back and was surprised to see that it was available so I snapped it up.

The second and more significant consideration is outlined in the first post in this thread. When the conference realignment shook things up, several people predicted that the BYU-Utah rivalry was doomed. I was skeptical at first, but not anymore. I don't think anyone can deny that the rivalry has been fundamentally changed. Perhaps if BYU were invited to the PAC-12 it would resurrect, but that is not bloody likely. For a board that ostensibly caters to two fan bases, the deterioration of the rivalry cannot be ignored. Also, I have been monitoring the board traffic ever since we formed this board in 2008. We hit a peak in 2009 and it has been a slow but steady decline ever since. We don't need massive growth to be happy, but given the periodic defections we experience, a steady stream of quality new blood is vital to our long-term health. It has been my perception that while we have had some great additions in the past year or so, we have had more subtractions than additions. So I have to ask myself, where will be in five or ten years? Any scenario I contemplated didn't inspire me much. Furthermore, on a personal level, I always have to analyze my time commitment to this board. This takes a tremendous amount of time away from my work and my family and is purely a volunteer effort. As I consider my long-term commitment to this effort, I just can't muster much enthusiasm for managing a board dedicated to two increasingly unrelated institutions, especially when I envision an ongoing deterioration of the dynamic implicit in the old domain name. To be perfectly honest, I have zero interest in Utah sports anymore. I very much treasure my old Ute friends and I sincerely hope we will remain friends and interact for years to come, but I honestly believe that in the long run, this board will be more healthy and sustainable as a BYU-themed board. I appreciate the stress and disappointment this will cause in the short term and I apologize to anyone who is upset over the move. Maybe the change will prove to be a bad one. Who knows? Time will tell.

I'll go out on a limb here...

You're approaching this like an engineer. There's an old joke about engineers pondering the issue of "is the glass half full, or half empty." The engineer says "It's neither, there's too much glass."

You say that the forum is half empty, and getting worse. I agree, and have been hinting at needing to grow. If the object is to pull in more users, and sustain the viability of the board, narrowing the focus to an even less demographic is a sure way to accelerate the demise. A more logical move would have been to appeal to a broader audience by promoting a LDS theme headliner, and a huge emphasis on BYU, and the rest of the people around the country, (TX, CA, South Carolina, NY, WY, OR, AZ, ID, WA) who have allegiance to schools other than BYU, would feel welcome as initialy LDS, and secondary as a sports fan. That's how I feel. I come here more for the church bantor than the BYU talk.

Here's a suggestion to help this place become more vibriant. Members need to open up more. The best stuff on this forum is the things that are from the heart. People who sit on the sidelines and don't share moments, take from the givers, and give nothing in return. If people don't try harder this place will be a memory in 5 years.

[Lost Student]

The second and more significant consideration is outlined in the first post in this thread. When the conference realignment shook things up, several people predicted that the BYU-Utah rivalry was doomed. I was skeptical at first, but not anymore. I don't think anyone can deny that the rivalry has been fundamentally changed. Perhaps if BYU were invited to the PAC-12 it would resurrect, but that is not bloody likely. For a board that ostensibly caters to two fan bases, the deterioration of the rivalry cannot be ignored. Also, I have been monitoring the board traffic ever since we formed this board in 2008. We hit a peak in 2009 and it has been a slow but steady decline ever since. We don't need massive growth to be happy, but given the periodic defections we experience, a steady stream of quality new blood is vital to our long-term health. It has been my perception that while we have had some great additions in the past year or so, we have had more subtractions than additions. So I have to ask myself, where will be in five or ten years? Any scenario I contemplated didn't inspire me much. Furthermore, on a personal level, I always have to analyze my time commitment to this board. This takes a tremendous amount of time away from my work and my family and is purely a volunteer effort. As I consider my long-term commitment to this effort, I just can't muster much enthusiasm for managing a board dedicated to two increasingly unrelated institutions, especially when I envision an ongoing deterioration of the dynamic implicit in the old domain name. To be perfectly honest, I have zero interest in Utah sports anymore. I very much treasure my old Ute friends and I sincerely hope we will remain friends and interact for years to come, but I honestly believe that in the long run, this board will be more healthy and sustainable as a BYU-themed board. I appreciate the stress and disappointment this will cause in the short term and I apologize to anyone who is upset over the move. Maybe the change will prove to be a bad one. Who knows? Time will tell.

For those Ute fans that cannot read between the lines, JL is offering a trade: you pull some strings to get BYU into the P12-14, and the CUF name comes back. Your move, Utes.

[SoCalCoug]

I think by lamenting the loss of the conference affiliation, you're ignoring the real connections between the BYU fans in Utah fans that come here, the LDS church, and the close proximity of two major universities. Most of us likely haveboth BYU and Utah fans in our families and extended families; I am married to a Ute, after all. We also all have a passion for college football, in particular for our respective teams.

It's these connections that provide the common ground for us. And I think these are all the more important with the change in conferences.

And even with all that, I think the bonds we've developed over the years of posting here now provide the common ground. Sometimes, unless it's in people's board names, I have a hard time remembering who the Ute fans are, and who the BYU fans are.

I think the old name made it clear that this wasn't just for BYU fans, or just for Ute fans, but for people who have the connections that have existed for decades between these two universities, which go far beyond conference affiliation. I think by changing it to a BYU-centric name, you're not reflecting the loss of connection, you're creating a divide.

I don't like the change one bit. I'd prefer something that focuses on other connections that we have here, if the Cougar-Ute one is deemed no longer viable.

I fear that an unintended consequence is going to be the severing of the connections we have here. I don't see it as being particularly inviting to new people who happen to not be BYU fans, and it will result in a gradual eroding away of the Ute segment of our community here.

If that's your goal, fine, but if it's not, I'd hope you'd really consider whether you might have set your site down a road you haven't intended.