u/HumoursOfDonnybrook

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Public sale on 13 August.

Hey folks,

We've come to the end of what feels like a very long season, and finished it as the first back-to-back URC Champions for a total of 10 domestic league titles! Our European final was very disappointing but I am glad the team managed to rally and salvage the season with a nice addition to the trophy room.

Now that we're entering into the quiet season, I thought I would solicit some feedback for the subreddit, how we operate and what the subreddit should look like over the next year.

What do you like about the subreddit? What do you not like? What do you think could be improved? Have you any ideas that we could implement? What would you like to see more of?

To lead us off, I've various thoughts which I would love some feedback on but please don't limit discussion to just these talk points - the floor is very much open for all and anything that you would like to discuss.

Self Promotion - Over the last year or so, there’s been a small influx of posts from accounts that exist to advertise their youtube channel or podcast across various rugby subreddits, including ours but they do not actively engage in the subreddits.

My feeling is that if you want to self-promote then you should be an active member of the community, however some of those posts have generated discussion so I’d like to better understand what the general feeling of the subreddit is.

As an example, /u/the_leinster_listen has occasionally posted about his podcast but he is also an active member, so I feel that’s something we should support & encourage. (Likewise, if another active member has a leinster or rugby-based project on the go, I’d encourage them to post about it here.) However, this post from a couple of days ago feels a little grubby to me considering that account has been set up purely to promote their channel.

Automod - I have been meaning to set up an automod that would manage match threads etc. for the last 18 months but haven’t gotten around to it so I’m posting about it here for accountability. Feel free to bully me about it if I haven’t set one up by the start of next season. If you have any ideas for functions you’d like me to set up on an automod, let me know.

Memes & joke posts - How do we feel about memes/joke posts? I’m quite ambivalent about them. When they’re good, they’re good but when they miss they are absolutely terrible. They’re not overwhelming the subreddit so I don’t think we really need to legislate on them but it would be good to get more understanding about how we feel about them. Is it a case that we allow high-effort joke/meme posts but drop low-effort ones? (and if so, how do we define high vs low effort?)

Long-form/in-depth content - I’d love to encourage more long-form content, so if anyone has any ideas for some, please let me know how I could support you. Whether it’s a one-off piece or a series, I think more of this style of content would greatly enhance the subreddit. I’ve a couple of pieces I’ve been working on for the last while, as I wouldn’t want anyone to think I was soliciting for free content while not providing my own.

Some general ideas: Data & statistics analysing particular games/styles of play/players/coaches etc. Retrospectives of previous league campaigns, former players etc. Player overviews (think something covering individual academy players could be quite interesting) Predictions for upcoming campaigns

I’ll consolidate the main talking points that come up on this thread in about a weeks time.

Thanks!

O captain! My captain! 🫡

According to the 42 rugby weekly, James Lowe's contract remains up in the air which is very, very late in the season now. The feeling I get is that the vibes aren't good. Despite being a key player for Ireland over the last 6 years and Faz name checking him as being in his world cup plans, he has remained on provincial contract which is the key sticking point. It's looking like Lowe will potentially be a high profile victim of Humphrey's policies.

From Leo's point of view, I can see the issue - paying big sums for a 33 year old player who he will have little access to and is likely to play single digit games over the season doesn't work under the David Humphrey's regime.

For my part, I'd be very sad to lose Lowe who has been a favourite player of mine since he came over. A big boot, a fantastic finisher, works like a dog across the pitch on both sides of the ball, and a different sort of character to the usual Leinster phenotype. He's a difference maker and still has massive value despite his age & the competitiveness on the wing.

Hey folks, much like the sun in the summer, you can count on the muppets and seagulls arriving around this time of year to troll the subreddit. I’ve updated the crowd control settings to filter posts from ban evaders & new accounts but it may filter genuine posters.

I’ll be keeping a close eye on what’s being filtered over the next few days and will adjust the settings accordingly. Apologies in advance if any genuine posters get hit with the filter - I’ll get any genuine posts approved as soon as I can.

If you feel you’ve been hit incorrectly with a filter, ping a message to modmail and I’ll get it sorted.

Thanks!

And breath…