Web site help wanted

[CLBuffalo]

In 1998 I got the domain name www.fastpitch.org. At that time and thereafter I dedicated it to amateur youth fastpitch softball, mostly in Massachusetts. It has not been online for a few years for a variety of reasons including my moving to South Carolina. I just renewed it and would like to put it back online. I know there are thousands of softball sites. I would like this to fulfill a need and a niche. As with other sites I'm sure there will be overlap. With so much expertise on this forum I know that there are many ideas. I want to hear them all. I'm not sure this will be the right place so please email me. I think it is available to everyone but if not I will make it available. BTW I am NOT interested in selling the domain. Thanks in advance.

[tcannizzo]

Chester,

It is what you make it. What did you intend it to be? Go with your first ideas and then your community will build based on common interests.

This might sound too vague, but you have to go with the niche that you wanted to originally fill.

[CLBuffalo]

Thanks for the feedback Tony. I was in Massachusetts at the time and am now in South Carolina. I am strongly thinking of moving out of South Carolina but not sure where yet. The original purpose of the web site was easy while living in MA but not so easy now as I am so far away and have lost daily contact with a lot of softball people there. Also softball people in SC are no where near as friendly as MA people. Guess I'll have to rethink what I really want to do.

[SC Ump]

Originally Posted by CLBuffalo

Also softball people in SC are no where near as friendly as MA people.

A bit off topic, but I think you might be finding consequences of too many organizations in SC. We have FED, ASA, ISA, NSA, USSSA, etc, which I think causes a loss of community.

Heck, you could keep a web site busy just in trying to keep a calendar of which organization is playing when at Freedom Florence (a local complex.) Of course I'm sure that is not what you want.

[CLBuffalo]

Thank you for the feedback Dan. You're right that I don't want to track who's playing where and for what organization. I tried that in MA and it didn't work. Besides there are tournament web sites and many rec leagues have their own web sites. I think I want to do something more static but I haven't completely formulated it yet. I'm thinking along the lines of if I went to a web site called fastpitch.org what would I expect to find and what wouldn't I want to see. I do expect there will be national, regional and local aspects on the web site. When I first started the web site it took me 2 years before I was more than half happy with it. I'm retired now and have a lot more time on my hands. I also have the benefit of hindsight.

[Andy]

Take a look here:

www.cactusumpires.com

This website was started for fastpitch umpires in the metro Phoenix area and has evolved into a site that many umpires around the country routinely check. Lots of local info for umpires as well as articles on philosophies and mechanics of umpiring fastpitch softball.

Your site does not have to be nearly as involved as Cactus Umpires, but it may give you some good ideas.

[CLBuffalo]

Thank you Andy. I have visited this site many times and it is indeed a very useful site for umpires and softball people in general. I will have a link to them. I can't and don't want to duplicate what they already have.

[tcannizzo]

Chester,
If I may I add to my original thoughts...

There are so many web sites that are involved with fastpitch softball in one form or another, that it would be a major challenge to present a new web site that offered something that wasn't already available.

The name "fastpitch.org" implies much more than umpiring. It would need to incorporate many more aspects of the game, including:

General Fastpitch Discussion
Infield/Outfield
Pitching
Behind the Plate
Hitting
Coaches Corner
Umpires Corner (which would equate to this entire web site, plus the others)
NCAA Forum
NHFS Forum
ASA Forum
Other Associations Forum
Tournament Information
Team Web Sites
Team Announcements/Recruiting
Training Aids, Videos
Softball Links
Instructors Registry
Equipment/Uniform Manufacturers/Outlets

Now, if you have the inclination to put all of THAT together, you would truly have a unique web site that would justify the name "fastpitch.org". One of the most sorely missed web sites out there was the "original" Fast Pitch Forum, which Mike remembers. There has never been anything like it, and perhaps one day there will.

JMO
Tony

[CLBuffalo]

First I would like to make it clear to everyone that I have no intention of making it just an umpire site. It never was and it never will be. The reason I had posted a message here is because there are a lot of non umpires in this Forum. Also it seems to me that this is now the Forum for softball people.

I have thought of trying to incorporate a lot of what you've suggested but more on the lines of links rather than duplicate what already exists. Perhaps I'm thinking of the site as being a sort of resource center.

The site is a .org and I have never received nor asked for any kind of compensation. I did once list some vendors because I was asked to by some softball people but I don't want to do that again. I don't object to advertising I just don't want to rely on it or make the .org part meaningless.

I am only interested in amateur fastpitch. Some will disagree with me on this but I don't consider NCAA or ISF or the Olympics (anymore) to be true amateur softball. BTW If I didn't mention it I am the only person working on this.

There are a few things you've suggested that I hadn't thought of and I will try to incorporate them.

If anyone wants to contact me directly you can visit the web site (http://www.fastpitch.org) and use the feedback form to send me your thoughts and suggestions. You can also email me directly at clbuffalo - fastpitch - org.

I do remember the Fast Pitch Forum and wish it was still with us. I also remember the good old days of RSS and RSO. I'm not sure anybody can recreate them but this is a good Forum.

Thanks again for the suggestions.

[Dakota]

Originally Posted by CLBuffalo

The reason I had posted a message here is because there are a lot of non umpires in this Forum. Also it seems to me that this is now the Forum for softball people.

Really? While there are some non-umpires who post here regularly, the large majority are umpires. I wouldn't consider this to be a general softball site. The site owners are fairly direct in their target audience - sports officials.

It is a public forum in the sense that anyone can register, but the threads here are almost exclusively dealing with rules and other aspects of officiating a contest.

Good luck with your web site, by the way.

[JefferMC]

I just (last week or so) registered the domain name UpstateSoftball.Com, with the intent of setting up a site focused on Ladies FastPitch activity in the Upstate of SC (a little out of the way of Manning).

Basically, my thought that there is no good clearing house for information about all the organizations that play in SC (as SCUmp mentioned, there are quite a few, even if you stick to girls fast pitch). I was thinking about trying to have such information as collected tournament results, etc., but am a bit worried about trying to keep that up in the height of the travel season.

I'd be interested in continuing this conversation off line...