Involve The Pros

E

ElCorazonFrio

Banned
The entire time I have been reading this forum I have heard people talk about how very few pros post here and when they do they get berated and slaughtered.

So, I just came up with an idea...

...Why not have a pro of the month Q&A?

The way I see it working is that we use the forum to have an actual back-and-forth between the fans and the pros. The session would last for, say, eight hours and it would be run like a radio show more than a public forum. Basically anyone could submit a question or comment which would be screened before the pro ever sees it. The person screening would be responsible for making the questions fair and the pro would be obligated to answer everything that came through the screening. Thus, insults would not be seen by anyone besides the screening agent, but legitimate criticisms which could be discussed might (per the discretion of the intermediary).

If resources were available, it could be made easier by having a host with the pro and possibly a typist to transcribe for the host and pro.

We could add a paypal link for donations and possibly even have bidding for rights to the 'top of the hour' question in which people could pledge in return for being guaranteed their *fair* question would be answered at a specific time.

There could also be a segment during which the pro is asked to comment on two or three of the most active current threads on AZB main forum. Commenting on the Funny Pic/GIF thread would be compulsory.

For the really brave pros, they could take a small trip to NPR.

This might actually help with getting pros on here of their own volition.

Thoughts? Other ideas?
 
I'll definitely give it some thought.
I certainly like the interactive aspect
 
Sadly, it would not work!


They avoid media because of the sponsors censoring their responses and punishment for any response that is unapproved.

KD
 
Why not just have management not allow the harassment of anyone, much less professional players.

What you propose would require scheduling & would pretty much be a one time thing per pro.

That said, if AZB wants to try it & works, great.
 
They used to have something similar called ask the pros. It didn't work then, it won't work now. In fact, it had their own sub forum. Thing is, every pro I know, and that's a few, lol, already know to stay as far away as possible from this forum.
 
NYC cue dude said:
They used to have something similar called ask the pros. It didn't work then, it won't work now. In fact, it had their own sub forum. Thing is, every pro I know, and that's a few, lol, already know to stay as far away as possible from this forum.
Click to expand...

My understanding was that the ask the pros subforum was just like the normal forum, someone would post a question and maybe it would get an answer.

This is more structured and one single pro at a time would be answering question for a set time. Not every question would get answered, but many would.

The whole point of this is that what the pro sees during his visit would be censored by the person screening the questions. Whether the pro comes back later is up to him.

Done right, there would be money in it for the pros, hence the paypal.

Done right, we'd be able to get the whole MC team on and give them a bit of a boost before the match.

If you know so many pros (I know zero), why not talk to them and see what they think?
 
ENGLISH! said:
Why not just have management not allow the harassment of anyone, much less professional players.

What you propose would require scheduling & would pretty much be a one time thing per pro.

That said, if AZB wants to try it & works, great.
Click to expand...

I don't know about you, but I didn't pay anything for my membership, I can't see how one could expect 'management' to oversee so many posts every day that they could stop what some parchment skinned people call 'harassment'.

Even if it were a one-time thing, it could easily go on for a few years, hence the one-per-month.

The scheduling is a challenge, but it is also really what makes this idea good--everybody knows when the questions will be asked, it gives it more gravitas to know there is only a set amount of time.

Also, we would have the opportunity to ask pros who don't type well or even speak our language because it would be easy enough to have an interpreter.

This is just something that came to me, I don't have much desire to talk to pros, but I thought it could be a good way to create a symbiotic relationship between pro pool and this forum.
 
AZ could send the same questions to 1 pro/month (that wanted to participate) and post the responses. Or AZ could send the questions to the pro and they could post their answers on FB, that way they would gain more followers its a win win. Maybe post the resposes on AZ a week later for the people that dont FB.
Jason
 
jasonlaus said:
AZ could send the same questions to 1 pro/month (that wanted to participate) and post the responses. Or AZ could send the questions to the pro and they could post their answers on FB, that way they would gain more followers its a win win. Maybe post the resposes on AZ a week later for the people that dont FB.
Jason
Click to expand...

It's a decent idea, but we would be missing out on a lot if the questions aren't tailored to the person.

For instance, one might want to ask SVB what difficulties he encounters when traveling to foreign countries and how they affect him. We all know that is something that is hashed out here on a weekly basis...why not hear it from the man himself?
 
ElCorazonFrio said:
It's a decent idea, but we would be missing out on a lot if the questions aren't tailored to the person.

For instance, one might want to ask SVB what difficulties he encounters when traveling to foreign countries and how they affect him. We all know that is something that is hashed out here on a weekly basis...why not hear it from the man himself?
Click to expand...

True. Maybe a set list with a few, say 5 questions tailored to the player. Have a thread with questions and a vote the last 3 days of the month on the 5 or so that arent covered under the "standard" questions.
Jason
 
The TAR podcasts scratched that itch, with JCIN soliciting questions in advance and doing a fair job of asking them all of the pros at hand. Virtually every pro that has ever tried to participate directly in this forum (or subforum) got trolled to death and the word is out...I'm sure a lot of them lurk, but any substantive posts are usually posted on their behalf by someone else. There are a couple of exceptions, but those that choose to stick around and engage get WAY more than they expected or should.

I'm not a fan of editors interfering with the direct conversation, but as a group we haven't covered ourselves in glory, either. Don't think this would work.
 
West Point 1987 said:
The TAR podcasts scratched that itch, with JCIN soliciting questions in advance and doing a fair job of asking them all of the pros at hand. Virtually every pro that has ever tried to participate directly in this forum (or subforum) got trolled to death and the word is out...I'm sure a lot of them lurk, but any substantive posts are usually posted on their behalf by someone else. There are a couple of exceptions, but those that choose to stick around and engage get WAY more than they expected or should.

I'm not a fan of editors interfering with the direct conversation, but as a group we haven't covered ourselves in glory, either. Don't think this would work.
Click to expand...

Didn't know TAR did that. Pretty decent way of doing it.

What you are saying about trolling is exactly why I do think this would work. I imagine this as being minimal screening (only removing the insulting posts/questions) and for a set amount of time. It would be basically an interview from an open forum with only necessary censorship.

After, the forum can discuss in their own way and it will be up to the pro whether he ever again thinks about the experience or not.
 
I like this idea, and I do think that there are some pros who are fans of the site, but worry about getting blasted by some of the forum bullies on here.

I use reddit and am familar with the AMAs that they have there. I think our audience is MUCH more "pool smart" than theirs though.

Here is an idea. Would it be more interesting for us to choose a player or would it be better to allow the forums to vote and then we try to arrange it with the player with the most votes?

Mike
 
ElCorazonFrio said:
The entire time I have been reading this forum I have heard people talk about how very few pros post here and when they do they get berated and slaughtered.

So, I just came up with an idea...

...Why not have a pro of the month Q&A?

The way I see it working is that we use the forum to have an actual back-and-forth between the fans and the pros. The session would last for, say, eight hours and it would be run like a radio show more than a public forum. Basically anyone could submit a question or comment which would be screened before the pro ever sees it. The person screening would be responsible for making the questions fair and the pro would be obligated to answer everything that came through the screening. Thus, insults would not be seen by anyone besides the screening agent, but legitimate criticisms which could be discussed might (per the discretion of the intermediary).

If resources were available, it could be made easier by having a host with the pro and possibly a typist to transcribe for the host and pro.

We could add a paypal link for donations and possibly even have bidding for rights to the 'top of the hour' question in which people could pledge in return for being guaranteed their *fair* question would be answered at a specific time.

There could also be a segment during which the pro is asked to comment on two or three of the most active current threads on AZB main forum. Commenting on the Funny Pic/GIF thread would be compulsory.

For the really brave pros, they could take a small trip to NPR.

This might actually help with getting pros on here of their own volition.

Thoughts? Other ideas?
Click to expand...

I think you got yourself some good ideas there. If all parties could make it work, could add value to everyone. Interesting possibilities.
 
AzHousePro said:
I like this idea, and I do think that there are some pros who are fans of the site, but worry about getting blasted by some of the forum bullies on here.

I use reddit and am familar with the AMAs that they have there. I think our audience is MUCH more "pool smart" than theirs though.

Here is an idea. Would it be more interesting for us to choose a player or would it be better to allow the forums to vote and then we try to arrange it with the player with the most votes?

Mike
Click to expand...

I think it would be great either way, but I lean toward not making this just a popularity contest. I think there are some obvious ones to get on the site, but at times it might be a matter of convenience or a logical progression.

If I really had to choose a time to start this, I'd choose right before the MC and kick it of with questions for captains of both sides.

This would give it a nice kick-off and since they would be answering questions as 'team captain' more than as 'player', it might leave the door open to come back later, as the kinks get worked out.

Thanks for the consideration.
 
With our ABR show, we try to give people advance notice about upcoming interviews when it's possible ( to submit questions) but scheduling is a major obstacle with pool players. Some don't know where they'll be and when a month from now, and/or they travel a lot. However, we do already have plans to be speaking with the finalized Team USA members after The Open.

As far as submitting questions, alternatively l could also set up a call-in line for people to ask their questions " in person", and we could edit them into the interview...
 
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