Are there any advantages to a pay site for Hawkeye sports?

I don't need to read any other replies before I answer. I will just say if you have this site for free, then pretty much the answer is a resounding "NO!" I will admit to being a friend of Jon's, but that being said I don't even frequent other Iowa sites, let alone a paid board. I used to when Jon was at his las site before this and then I quit with the pay after he left. Once he put this site on the map I felt like I didn't need a pay site. I rarely go to the other site, not because I have a loyalty to Jon, but I just don't feel the need to look elsewhere because of time constraints and because I also feel I get everything I need here. Maybe if I were ten or fifteen years younger and single without a child I would feel differently re the amount of time I have on my hands. But I probably only desire to go to the other main Iowa site 5-10 times a year, mainly during the height of football recruiting. But that is probably to be expected.

So that is my two cents.
 
I was a member of Hawkeye Report since its inception. If you like recruiting, then you would really like that site. Kakert has a lot about recruiting. I'm not that interested in guys that MIGHT play for Iowa; I usually don't get too interested in recruits until they are lock. I just couldn't see paying $100/year to read a lot about recruiting that I didn't really care about. The other site has more guys working for it so there are more articles but when posted don't contain anything more than what Jon posts, nor do they have that many 'new' articles that Jon does not cover.

When you think about it, Jon has done a tremendous job with this site.
 
I was a paying member of HI.com for awhile. I recently cancelled because I just haven't agreed with the negativity towards the coaching staff over the last couple years.
 
About the only advantage I can see for a pay site is the quality of the forum is a little bit better (but not much). For the most part those posters that like to derail threads or think they are funny posting garbage do not pay to post stuff like that on pay sites. The magazine scout sends out is kind of nice, my 7 year old goes ape over it as he bleeds black and gold (I get these passed to me). But any "inside" info you get on those pay sites is generally available within a few hours and if I really have to know something I will text a buddy who is a member. Social media is going to make those pay sites go obsolete.

I agree with Jon on what Rivals/Scout needs to do and I think the first one to take the plunge will have a huge advantage over the other sites.
 
I agree with Jon. The pay-site model is broken. With Twitter/Facebook, HR.com was scooped countless times during this last recruiting cycle.

The quality or lack thereof of the "premium" articles on pay sites, particularly HR.com, are a joke. It's painfully obvious that none of the authors have any real training in journalism. But if you want to read an interview with say, Brad Herman, where he is asked about Doyle for the thousandth time, then maybe it's worth it. Me? I'd rather read hawkeyenation.com and hawkeyelounge.com and it has nothing to do with saving money and everything to do with not lining the pockets of hacks.
 
JonDMiller said:
I think there are good things about both models. Attempting to monetize breaking info is next to impossible in today's social media environment. People who pay for those sites invariably like to tell a buddy or post it on twitter or somewhere, for various reasons. I never understood devaluing what you paid for, but it was happening more often than not which was one of the reasons why I decided to leave that model.

Personally, I think the marketplace is screaming for a Rivals/Scout style recruiting content platform and recruiting database model that is free. I believe something like that could gain a lot of traction very quickly if they had the proper marketing alliances (distribution network) in place, ie ways for Independent site publishers to participate in a revenue share in return for content placement and promotion and database installation as well as a solid group of writers/analysts who also believed in the future of the free model
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You just said a lot of big words.

Simply put, I liked some of Jon's set up on the Scout page before he left. It's how I started this whole crazy Hawkeye online love. So I've stayed there. But I also use this site because it's got some good posters and I like to have another site to verify/check info. Besides, it had a sweet Coker Thread (much like the now defunct Stross thread).

Personally, I hate the format of HR. Never liked it and it's not user friendly.

My 2 cents.
 
I think pay sites are going the way of dinosaurs. With twitter etc. people get info just as fast as a pay site.
 
I enjoy my Rivals subscription and plan to keep it. Tom and Blair do a great job breaking news and keeping us posted. Although, like many said, with social media it is nearly impossible to stay ahead of the curve.

The #1 reason I come to Hawkeye Nation is the articles by Jon and contributors. The articles on Hawkeye Report lean too much towards "here are the stats, facts, etc." ... We're all Hawkeye fans, we want to read a well thought out article that has a little passion / emotion. Jon is the best when it comes to that.

From a message board standpoint, I take the lounge over this 95% of the time.
 
If I joined a pay site and there were less dumb people I don't know who I would make fun of and that would make me sad.
 
There aren't less dumb people on a pay site. Just less people. The ratio is about exactly the same.
 
heitland said:
I enjoy my Rivals subscription and plan to keep it. Tom and Blair do a great job breaking news and keeping us posted. Although, like many said, with social media it is nearly impossible to stay ahead of the curve.

The #1 reason I come to Hawkeye Nation is the articles by Jon and contributors. The articles on Hawkeye Report lean too much towards "here are the stats, facts, etc." ... We're all Hawkeye fans, we want to read a well thought out article that has a little passion / emotion. Jon is the best when it comes to that.

From a message board standpoint, I take the lounge over this 95% of the time.
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Are there actually serious threads over there? That is what I miss the most about the old Scout pay forum. You could actually have a thread that only had a couple of jokes.

I'm all for the fun threads but sometimes its great to have a good informational thread that doesn't turn into a ******* contest of who can make the best joke.

It reminds me of when Jerry Springer used to be funny. At the end of his show the white trash studio audience would ask the panel of crazy people questions. But they weren't really asking questions, they were comments to try to sound funny.
 
Nice way to go off on everyone.... People like you make this site difficult. People like you being people with no respect for anyone else.


hoffahawk said:
RobKong said:
I used to belong to a pay site, and the forums were a lot lighter on the mindless banter that you see in free sites. Access to info seems to be just as solid here, and its worth ignoring a lot of what goes on in the forums to save that money :)
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I thinking posting in a forum without a bunch of mouth breathers is by far the biggest benefit. Outside of that I don't think the "insider=" info gets to you that much faster and in some cases has been just as wrong or off base as the rumors on free sites/forums.
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Xerxes said:
Are there actually serious threads over there? That is what I miss the most about the old Scout pay forum. You could actually have a thread that only had a couple of jokes.

I'm all for the fun threads but sometimes its great to have a good informational thread that doesn't turn into a ******* contest of who can make the best joke.

It reminds me of when Jerry Springer used to be funny. At the end of his show the white trash studio audience would ask the panel of crazy people questions. But they weren't really asking questions, they were comments to try to sound funny.
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Yes, there are several good discussion threads on a range of Hawkeye related topics. And a lot less [insert word] in the Lounge to derail the topics.
 
Xerxes said:
Are there actually serious threads over there? That is what I miss the most about the old Scout pay forum. You could actually have a thread that only had a couple of jokes.

I'm all for the fun threads but sometimes its great to have a good informational thread that doesn't turn into a ******* contest of who can make the best joke.

It reminds me of when Jerry Springer used to be funny. At the end of his show the white trash studio audience would ask the panel of crazy people questions. But they weren't really asking questions, they were comments to try to sound funny.
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I suppose you are right about this. Most that pay to get into those sites feel they are posting with the big boys or "experts" so they keep the wise cracks to a minimum.
 
get twitter and that is all yu need. kakert kicked me off for attacking licklitter happiest 100 bucks a year I ever saved
 
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