I see we have a lot of new posters in this forum (and I'm messing with them a bit ), and I was wondering if they were also on the Voyageurs (www.canadian-soccer.com/forum) and otherwise I'm pointing in that direction. I'm Daniel on the board. CSUDE!
I go to the V's board all the time just to look around but I haven't registered myself yet. I have noticed you and Rudi do the "CSIDE" thing alot, Daniel. How did that start?
As my name has already been mentioned, I'll just confirm that I am Rudi on the Voyageurs board. As for the CSIDE question, I'll defer to Daniel, as I've just recently jumped on the bandwagon
Cside is a conscious movement to have fun and stop discussing crap we have no control over (ie should Tam Nsaliwa be called up or how MLS will affect the USL). It's pure fandom and there is no spelling convention to cside. If you do "misspell" it (ex: scide), don't change it, and get creative with the spelling. I'll keep what the C stands for under wraps for now. The point of cside is to have some fun and voluntarily get away from the annoying and frustrating discussions. You'll notice a lot of pictures and titties in my recent posts . You must also attempt to work "cside" into the post. The more covertly the better. Sean has a small pecker.
MediaGuy...although I rarely post anymore (and don't really like the name). I prefer Duane--although I do like my handle here because it directly refers to the low light/funniest moment of my soccer playing "career." And trust me, it was sweet. I used to read Canadian-soccer a lot more, before I developed (*cough* *shameless plug* CollegeColours.com *cough* *shameless plug*) in 2004. It's about the other football--Canadian college variety. I like BS because it's an all-in-one stop, whereas Canadian-soccer is basically just about, well, Canadian soccer. Good resource though.
I am the same way, i like the Hockey forum here on Big Soccer and like going all over the place to check what other national or club forums are discussing. I do however check out the V's from time to time...it just needs more titties Daniel
I also prefer Bigsoccer due to the wider range of topics and perspectives. The Voyageurs board is not particularly representative of Canadian soccer. There are lots of other good boards like:- http://www.osl-td.com/board/viewforum.php?f=1 http://www.takethepiss.com/forums/index.php which are more geared towards active participants than to the small cliques who are involved with "Ultra" type fan groups that are worth an occasional look as well.
The Voyageurs board, for better or for worse, is representative of dedicated Canadian men's team soccer supporters, which is really what the group is designed to be about. In theory at least.
As much as it's gone down the drain recently, the Vs remain the best resource for all things related to the Canadian national team (and on a lesser level, the clubs, although fan websites are probably taking over). If you're on the Vs, you can expect to know pretty much about everything that is out there regarding elite Canadian soccer and its players. The point isn't to talk about the OYSL or the LSEQ or whatever. It's a national forum for national issues. And it's pretty much the only way to take the pulse of fans of Canadian soccer, seeing as there's so few. Just look at the reporters signed up on the board and those who have mentioned it (directly or indirectly) in their articles.
Why continue as a separate board instead of being part of a larger soccer community like bigsoccer? The journalistic mentions are less frequent than they used to be and as you mention the Voyageurs board has gone down the drain of late. I'm not sure that the Voyageurs board really does represent the pulse of the fans of Canadian soccer. For example the women's national sides, which have been very successful in attendence terms over the past few years, tend to be discussed at:- http://www.gobigred.ca/forum/cgi-bin/ultimatebb.cgi
I have to disagree BBTB, the V's board serves a very specific purpose (which cannot be properly served by a US-centric board such as BigSoccer). As for the women's side, well V's was originally a men's team board which was grown to include all Canadian nat'l teams, so naturally a women's-specific board would foster more in-depth discussion about that program.
I don't see any inherent reason why bigsoccer has to be US-centric given that the agenda on any sub-forum is set first and foremost by the people who post. If the Voyageurs board migrated here it seems to me that the same sort of setup as the UMNT boards could be set up:- https://www.bigsoccer.com/forum/forumdisplay.php?f=6 and there would be no more need for an annual fundraiser where the Voyageurs board webhosting is concerned. Not a decision that has anything to do with me but it's an option that clearly could be considered.
Its bad enough Canada isn't able to have our own soccer league, now we can't have our own internet discussion board as well? If there was a logistical reason preventing it, as there is with the former, fair enough, but I don't see it. The Voyageurs function is to be the equivalent of the US Sam's Army, and that's what that site is set up to be. Not sure what the value of migrating to this board is - those Voyageurs who want to come here to discuss Canadian soccer with non-Canadians or discuss Concacaf, MLS etc. do so, those that don't, don't (and to be fair, there have been enough ignorant/mis-informed/idiotic/blatantly incorrect posts about Canadian soccer from non-Canadian posters that I've seen over the years on this board that I can't begrudge people too much if they steer clear of hear). In any event, I really don't see what the problem is. I'm not sure that there were ever "frequent", but by no means have they stopped.
I post under the same name at both boards but have intentionally lowered my frequency of posting to rarely on this board and nil on the V's board. I lurk more than I actively post, looking for links posted by reliable members. I've also found the overwhelming negativity of some posters and the parochial attitudes of others too much to take at times. These things really came to the fore during recent issues with Canadian soccer. I suppose it's sort of the opposite of Daniel's Seesyde (how's that ) idea in that he's keeping it light and fun to cope with the inane threads while I'm just staying out of it all together. I miss it at times, though. Cheers.
What's your point? I could just as easily retort with shall we get rid of international competition and refuse to allow CMNT players to play outside Canada?
The point is that "Soccer is supposed to be the world's game that unites diverse cultures" has nothing to do with national team supporters groups. Especially the Canadian one. The site was formed to organize Canadian soccer support at games with the goal that the Canadian team was no longer out-cheered at its home park as so often had been the case across the country. In that sense the reason for a distinct group is needed much more in Canada than other nations who don't have such a problem (and yet still have their own supporter's group websites all the same - I'm tempted to ask you if you've suggested to the Tartan Army that they migrate here as well). Its a shame that there have been so few games in Canada since the movement took off here, but that doesn't negate the purpose of the movement and hopefully things will improve again on that front with a new stadium in place. The Voyageurs board isn't set up to prevent people from outside Canada or from other cultures posting there, and or having its members post on other soccer boards. There is no issue of xenophobia on the part of the board or its regular posters.
We will have to agree to disagree. I see no reason why a national team supporters group automatically has to have a completely standalone website.