State of the SWF, 2007

[Mr. S£im Citrus 0]

TNT Sighting!

 

:: bows down ::

[5_moves_of_doom 0]

A little late arriving on the scene here, but I too am severely saddened to see the Fed die. However, as many others have stated, I can hardly say that this situation is unexpected. These problems have been slowly mounting for nearly three years now.

 

Anyway, I don't know how much commitment I could really offer in the way of helping out with CC, but if there is anything small that needs to be done (marking matches, etc.) with no one to do it, then I would be glad to help out. Either that, or I could perhaps add to the manpower on the writing side of things.... I'm not too confident that I would fare too well in competition upon returning (haven't been in the loop or even watched wrestling in general in a while...) but at the very least I could show for my matches.

 

I've got a decent amount of free time on my hands these days, so -- regardless of the capacity -- let me know if there is anything that I could do to help out around here in order to ensure that the SWF goes out with a bang.

[5_moves_of_doom 0]

TNT Sighting!

 

:: bows down ::

 

From what I can tell, by now you've got a much more impressive track record in the fed than I ever did, WC.

 

EDIT: And you have Voltron as your avatar, to boot.

[the.weej 0]

Dang, son. Here I reckoned you were dead. And I mean recently; I figured Scorsese winning an Oscar literally would have killed you.

 

-Z

[HVilleThugg 0]

What the fuck?!?!?!

[Toxxic 0]

What precisely are you expletiving about, Thugg?

[Above Average 0]

Yeah, it sucks but currently I don't know where the fed stands Thugg. We've started to show more, but have no brand new writers yet. I wonder if the decision will still stand by the time we get to Genesis.

[HVilleThugg 0]

^^^^

 

That's what I'm expletiving about!

 

I hope this doesn't stand...I'm not in a position to do anything about it, but I do hope that you guys figure it out and keep the fed alive.

[Atlas 0]

Might as well come out of the shadows for this.

 

Don't forget how this whole thing started sporadically as one massive thread. Once IGN gave us a forum, everybody was so excited to be a part of something new that there was a lot of drive to be a part of something special. It was the new thing at the time, and considering the era (end of the wrestling and internet booms) e-feds were hot. We were innovative and creative enough to draw the masses.

 

That isn't the case anymore. E-feds in general are down. Places like IWO and FWLnet.com don't exist anymore, and what does exist isn't nearly as popular. Peoples' attention has shifted since this started. Facebook, Myspace, and Youtube weren't around. The basic idea a of what a blog is was just taking shape. Seven years ago, when message boards (particularly IGN's) were booming, people finally had a channel to express themselves on the internet that didn't involve building a geocities website. There was a novelty to it that made it special. Now the idea of a community on the internet is huge, and very ego-centric. Why would you put in the time and effort to write a 5000 word match when you can film yourself sitting in front of your computer talking to your dog, and get instant feedback and attention?

 

A lot's changed since then. The average age of the active writers here is at least five years above what it was in the beginning. The activity in chat, on the boards, and message boards in general has gone down. There was a time when you couldn't go an hour without checking the board for something new. These days, it's common to see a day go by without a post. Even the popularity of wrestling has been relatively flat since the WCW Invasion debacle, in large part due to a lack of true competition. The quality of writing itself has gone up here, as Divefire mentioned. Why bother when you're hitting singles and everyone else is hitting home runs?

 

But the fed hasn't changed much since the beginning, and the fact that it hasn't adapted to the things that have changes is a large part of what's led it here. People came and went, show names and schedules have changed, and feeder leagues opened and closed. But by and large, the system that worked seven years ago hasn't been altered. That's not altogether bad, but it clearly doesn't contribute to any sort of growth or sustained success.

 

Advertising, moving, building yet another website is no solution. It may help in the short term, but the long term problems will continue to be there. Think about what you would do if you were to start a new e-fed today. Consider everything that the web is now: myspace, wikis, youtube, facebook, blogs, video, web 2.0 in general, etc. Utilize them and form a concept that can be a mold for a new and successful SWF. Take the ideas that have been mentioned like lowering word limits, booking newbies in some easy matches, providing some channels for instant gratification, etc. Retain the foundations of competitive match writing, wrestling knowledge, character building, a forum and an active community. Think outside the boards. If you want this to continue, then use the things that motivated you to participate in this project in the first place, and build something new with them.

 

I'd hate for this thing to go out with a whimper, so I'm happy to help in any capacity. If you're folding up in October, I have a lot of matches, promos and resources archived from the days when this all started that may come in handy. I don't have the time or skill to be active on a weekly basis, but if you're rebuilding the fed or restructuring in some way, I'll gladly lend a hand to that endeavor as well.

[Guest This is Bo]

I'm as suprised as anyone here. I remember getting into this league as an IGNfer, I remember writers like Cyclone Comet and Mark Stevens and how they were really into this fed. I personally loved writing (Even though I suck) I still did my best and had fun, that was what this was all about, having fun. I personally know how time consuming this use to be and me being one of the oldest one here with a lot of responsibility with kids and bills know that I dont have the time to get into this. Do I want to? yeah, I never stop liking to write wrestling for this fed, now I hear that the powers that be is tired because no one is showing up, well, I would be frustrated as well.

 

I'm shock, I hope something can be done because I may want to return one day. I know I'm not that much of a good writer like the new kids here but I do this for fun.

 

The Myspace idea....it seems interesting say the least. When the fed move from IGN to SWF it basically started over, the champions were still the same but everything was started over. I dont know, if it doesnt work for the SWF why not try...shit, what do you got to lose.

 

Bo-

[Mr. S£im Citrus 0]

This is really distressing... I've invested nearly five years of my life into this fed, and I hate to see it dying out in this manner.

 

I can't help but wonder how much age has to do with people not being able to make time. I know, for example, I'm one of a very small handful of people here that joined after they were already past their high school/college years, and I've never had any particular kind of homework concerns or a family situation where I had to be concerned about getting kicked off the computer after a certain hour. Is it that people join the fed thinking that they'll have plenty of free time, and don't take work/schoolwork/family into account, or do they just flat-out lose interest? Because at this point, I don't think that the problem is the ability to recruit people, it's the ability to recruit people with the willingness and/or means to stick around more than a week or two at a time. We always seem to get people to want to join, at least once every couple of months, but they never stick around. Is it an issue with them not being able/willing to budget their time, or do they just not want to be here?

[Secret Agent 0]

It’s rather sad, isn’t it? I can remember a time when there wasn’t a day that went by without finding something new on the SWF boards, but that’s hardly the case anymore.

 

I think it might be that some people just don’t realize the time it does take to be successful with this. For me, I know it’s finding the time to get something done because I have so many things going on and it’d probably be a lot easier if I only had to work 8-9 hours a day instead of the 12-14 I regularly find myself pulling. Hell, it takes me a good minute to get everything situated for one hour of uninterrupted time to do Skull Radio on Sundays…but I still manage to get something done, no matter how small of a contribution it is.

 

I think my point is really that, if people really want to do this they’ll make a way to do it, just as I have.

[Drew_K 0]

Howdy all. Guess who? Yeah, you know who it is.

 

First, since I don't want to post in two places, I want to say I was honored when I checked the Birthdays thread and saw people were remembering me.

 

Second, and more importantly, shit. This sucks big-time. As one of the only members of the fed to work in the world of real live wrestling, at least a little bit, I know it takes an army to do anything in the wrestling world. Truth is, at the moment, I'm kinda in a state of shock about the Benoit thing (God hopes it isn't what they're saying right now.), but I see this, and I look at my life, which includes a job, no school, and not nearly as much writing as I should be doing, I want to ask, is the fed still looking at October as the end, or trying to go on?

 

Because if either of those things are true, then I want to try to get back in. If I can be there to send this place out with a bang, I want to be there. If I can just see some of my old friends for a while, then that's awesome too. If I end up no-showing after two weeks, well, it'll be a shame, but at least I will have tried to come back and do things the right way. For some reason that seems important to me somehow.

[Toxxic 0]

For the official record: as of this time, Landon and I are intending to keep the fed running in some form, depending as always on people's input. However, the fed has picked up of late (in my opinion anyway).

[Sly 0]

I've been meaning to make a thread about that, as well.

[Guest vitriol]

Tragic.

[King Cucaracha 0]

Yeah, as of this moment it's still in the works for me and Toxx to take over. I'm planning a big post to make certain things clear some time soon, I'm just trying to word it as best possible.

 

I did ask Johnny to mention it on Skull Radio so people would be aware but whether that's been discretely forgotten or is just on a few weeks break, your guess is as good as mine folks.

[The Amazing Rando 0]

this past Sunday I had personal things to attend to, not sure what will be happening NEXT Sunday, but I'm sure I should be okay (even though I won't have the time to write)