Thank you to ITR. Its sad to be ending.
I just read the posting that ITR will close at the stroke of 12. …2012.
I am sincerely saddened by this. I really enjoyed reading and sharing thoughts on the Rockies with every one.
What are we going to do with out it? We need a new meeting place that we can bring the majority of posters and not be corrupted with the BS of boards like ESPN, etc.
Again, I really enjoyed the conversations. Thanks to Steve, Jack and Tracy and all posters.
Eric-aka ProgMatinee
I’m extremely sad to hear this as well. I loved getting the Farm Reports in my email at the beginning of every month. We are losing a great source of information.
That’s really sad. I’ve really enjoyed this site. Thank you to Jack and Steve. Jack and Steve, what will each of you be doing? To the ITR guys, I’ve enjoyed talking to all of you about the Rockies. Is there anyone out there who has the time and energy to start up a new site, or buy this one from the ITR guys?
Thanks to all the posters for keeping this site vibrant over the past three seasons. I’ll keep my ear out for good places to keep the conversation going next season. As far what I’ll be doing, I started a design company a year ago that takes most of my time. What little I have left is pretty much going to my week-old daughter.
Hey thats great Steve. Congratulations!
Thank you Steve.
Steve, a big congratulations on your new daughter. Congrats on your new startup also. I wish you much success.
Thank you to you, Jack and Tracy Ringolsby for providing a phenomenal Rockies site. Just my opinion but the best for sure.
It’s been a huge pleasure to be able to participate here. Thank you to everyone on here.
Job well done. Thank you for all you have done. Please let us know the next site.
Top-notch job on this site over the past three years…it was always the first site I checked before and after games…Steve and Jack, thank you so much for giving us Rockies diehards a place to chat, rejoice and vent…you will be missed…
Steve, Jack and Tracy: thank you for providing such a great home for us fans. Best of luck in the future!
Jon
Congrats Steve, to you and your wife for your new daughter and to you (and Jack and Tracy) for the outstanding job you have done with ITR. I doubt the financial model made it worth your time, but it certainly was worth mine. Good luck with your design business too.
Now where does this transplanted Denverite go for intelligent Rockies’ talk?
How far off were the finances from being able to make the site worthwhile for u guys?
Thanks to Steve and Jack. This was the place I visited before, after, and during games. Also thanks to all the commentators on the site for insightful and thoughtful commentary. It’s been enjoyable.
I sure hope I’m missing this site next October when the Rockies are deep in the playoffs.
Wow although this news does not come as a complete shock for me, however it is certainly disheartning to lose one of the most enjoyable parts of my daily routine – checking in often on the ITR.
Have to express and add my sincere thanks to Steve, Jack and Tracy! There simply has not been a better sports website anywhere than the ITR and the fantastic bunch of posters that frequent this site.
THANKS AGAIN!
A few things:
Steve, as an entrepeneur, please feel free to take the opportunity to tell us about your design business. You’ve certainly earned that right.
Also, I want to follow up GW’s question. Steve and Jack, is there a way for this site to work financially for you guys such that you would continue to operate it, or is that not possible? For example, could you have advertising revenue? This site has been an integral part of my daily routine, so I would like to see it not die.
Any chance there can be an opportunity to actually meet the guys who have participated on this site, both Jack and Steve as well as the guys who have posted regularly?
ok Prog here is the plan – you put up $50 and I will do the same and we buy the ITR site (hey Steve did not say what the price was). We don’t agree on much so that’ll make for the perfect partnership arrangement. Anyway it can’t be any worse investment than my current real estate joint venture. My poorly constructed point here is that there has to be some way to SAVE THE ITR!
NO!!! Do most of you have Facebook? We can set up private group on Facebook.
Just wondering if this had anything to do with Jim Armstrong leaving the DP after his name was released in the gambling ring.
I don’t we as a group would have trouble raising funds, but we need an expert.
Steve and fellow posters…
First of all, thank you Steve for this unbelievable site. A site such as this featuring insightful articles and writing followed by posters who are passionate without being pretentious is not typical of these types of sites. It was refreshing to say the least.
Congrats on your new addition…there is nothing like having your first child being a daughter(start building a profile of who you will allow to have her first date with…enjoy her every day because they are all grown up before you know it.)
Also, good luck and good thoughts are directed your way on your new business venture…your hard work here will attest to you work ethic and intellect…you will succed, of that I am sure.
Now on to the issue at hand. I have the time and a little capital but not the IT ability to be of any value. I am willing to expend time to examine any options we posters may be able to come up with.
Steve…would you be willing to email me with any approximate dollar numbers to keep this site open under the ITR logo?
We would not be able to maintain the “inside info” material that you provide, but a “whadda ya think” type post offers some potential. There are many competent posters here so a commitment by “us” to headline an article on a somewhat regular basis with various posters inputting leadins is not out of the question.
To all my fellow posters…there is no need, unfortunately, to attempt to maintain a somewhat “watered down” version of this site until we know how much the cost is. Once that is established(if it ever is)we can then proceed with the next step.
I just know one thing, I hope the posters that make this such a “fun” site feel as I do, and from the posts above, I believe it to be true, want to be able to “vent” to each other on a regular basis. To lose that would be a shame. Let’s see where Steve’s news takes us. We have a couple months to see if “we” can pull this off.
Keep your fingers crossed. You never know what the future may bring.
I also want to express my congrats to Steve on the business and new addition.
Thanks to all your hard work and putting this site up and keeping it going after the demise of the RMN when all seemed bleak in the sports reporting world.
I have enjoyed this site from day one. I have not been posting regularly lately but I always have this site tabbed and check in to read the best comments about the Rockies on the net.
To all posters, as Ed and Rich M and Prog have alluded to “where there is a will there is a way”.
I, like Ed, have no IT expertise but all the time in the world (unemployed now for 14 months). I certainly would help where needed.
Again, thanks Steve, Jack and Tracy for a wonderful 3 years on this site. And also, thanks to all the fine posters. I will miss the intelligent conversations that appeared each day on this site. Never met any of you but there is a feeling of “bond” with all of you.
Go Rockies!!!!!!!!!
Where was the post and info about Steve’s new addition in his life and I couldn’t find a post that explained that ITR will be shut down.
I have experience in IT but more rudimentary than a real professional’s skill set. But I’m a working full time when I’m not traveling. There is a Purple Row website but much more public with little control over who can comment. But the articles written by the resident columnists are very good.
As for the website, I have 20 years experience running my own fantasy football league on CBS. Only league players can access the sites and write articles there along with bulletin board for short comments. CBS has fantasy baseball for private league as well and the format is the same. Costs about $150 a year. We need to check and see if there’s a problem legally to copy paste articles by the Purple Row resident columnists as long as we site the source n author of the articles. Individual are also free to add their own articles.
Just an idea I’m throwing out there of we can’t come up with own website or take over ITR. You might say we don’t want to play fantasy baseball, but no you don’t really have to. Whomever we choose as commissioner would invite via emails to our private fantasy baseball site. We probably will have far more people than teams and it has the ability to put more than one people as co owners of a team. We can just run the automated drafting run and just the fantasy games run on its own without us having to be active participants just so we can write own articles and make comments on a private website inaccessible to the open public and new additions n subtractions are controlled by the commish.
Thoughts? Just one idea we can do if we can’t come with alternatives that doesn’t require IT expertise.
This decision really isn’t a question of money. For me, personally, it’s time to move on to new things and be a fan again. As for someone buying the site, there isn’t a set price but I can communicate more about that to people offline through email if you have some interest. More important is that if we were to sell the site to someone that it maintain a level of credibillity, if not as a news site then as a dicussion site. What we would be primarily looking for is someone or a group of people willing to keep the site actively updated and vibrant, which probably sounds easier than it is. If the desire is took keep the disucssion going, a good solution might be to simply create a Facebook group of ITR regulars. It would be a closed group and someone would have to be invited to join. I don’t know how many of you all are on Facebook or if it would work practically, but that would at least provide roughly the same forum without someone having to be responsible for updating the site and the other administrative functions that come with it. Thanks again everyone for all your thoughts about the site and the new addition to my family. I, of course, feel a sense of loss about the site but my primary reason for moving on is much more substantial gain, my Rockies fan-to-be.
My design company is America’s Fish, where I do web design, development, marketing and public relations. I will also be occasionally satisfying my Rockies writing fix on my blog at americasfish.com as time permits.
RMH, right under Inside the Rockies on the main page click on:
“Note to our readers: ITR will not return for 2012″
I think that a Facebook group of ITR regulars, with additional people added by invitation from someone in the group, might be a simple, workable solution. I’m on one for people from my hometown (Lakewood, New Jersey) of a certain age, and it works pretty well.
Ideally, a place with daily news/transaction reports and game recaps would be preferable to an email list or random blog.
If we do make it a discussion forum, I am a fan of vbulletin format. Licenses run $200-$600.
I have no clue how to run one but would be willing to help moderate on a part time as need basis as well as kick in a little for the license.
I must say this sucks, this was definitely my favorite place for Rockies news and convo. Thanks for maintaining it as long as you did, I enjoyed it.
Steve many congrats on your little one as well. As a new Dad myself , to a little man in early August, I know that time and sleep are precious right now and ITR has not been at the forefront of my time.
That being said, I was sincerley sad to sign on today and see this news though. I hope that there is interest in keeping it live.
I echo interest in either buying a partnership into the site and keeping it going. Steve you know how to reach me, so please do. I would like to discuss options when you have time.
Perhaps Facebook is a good start, like Julian says, but ITR has such a great niche following and intelligent readership, that I hope there is a way to keep it going. Prog and RMH have some good thoughts here, so I advocate somehow, someway to keep it live.
The Purple Row connection would be a great idea, as would be links to the Rockies site that includes stats, standings, rosters, etc. I am almost sure that we would have to get permission from the Rockies to do this.
What I have noticed while mostly reading the PR site and actively participating here at ITR are the following general perspectives:
1. ITR (somewhat older group), while at PR (somewhat younger group).
2. ITR (standard baseball stats), while at PR (sabermetric stats).
3. ITR (comment response is less interastive and immediate), while at PR (very interactive and almost immediate responses).
4. PR usually has one or two daily articles written by a staff of six or seven people as I recall, we obviously won’t have that unless we recruit some journalism guys to help us out.
5. PR acknowledges that the posters sometimes get far off topic, and actually maintains separate blogs where the posters can discuss virtually everything – music, food, movies, etc.
6. I would also suggest here that the ITR site has a well earned reputation as being very civil discussion, clean language, respect for fellow posters opinions and somehow maintains that by posters encouraging other posters to post in a similar fashion. This is almost unheard of from a sports site on the web – kudos to Steve, Jack & Tracy!
This is not to say that one site is better or worse than the other, I am just pointing out the differences as well as the common passion for Rockies baseball between the sites. The current ITR format is the most appealing to me personally, but I readily admit that that is mostly from a comfort level with the posting pattern and posters here at ITR.
Anyway a long winded effort to say that I am willing to actively participate in the restructuring of the ITR in any way that might be helpful. By my guess we have about fifty loyal ITR posters here, I am really hoping that is enough to keep this ITR site going!
I didn’t know Purple Row had a fan forum. I’ve only been to the site a handful of times to read an article. Might our best option be to join them?
That’s actually a great idea Prog!
A simple way to do this (although I would expect it might require Purple Row approval) is to generate an “ITR” fan post on the Purple Row site (say daily if we have enough “What do you Think?” authors/seven of us once a week?) then allow that post/blog discussion to continue in the same way that our blogs do here.
This idea is crazy enough that it just might work. Purple Row (they are also part of a larger internet blog group called SBNation) likely would welcome the additional blog to their site as it would bring additional readers for them. They already have the baseball links that ITR currently has and they do a great job of linking in current news articles daily as well.
Actually I am almost certain that several of their bloggers frequent the ITR site regularly now anyway.
I agree with Rich M that the civility of the discusion on this site has been great. When I have occasionally gone to other baseball sites, the level of civility and overall discourse has not been as high. So, any way that we could keep this group of people together would be great.
Steve, like everybody else I’m disappointed because this is, by far, the best sports site I’ve ever been a part of. We can actually have an adult discussion and even when we might disagree with somebody’s opinion we don’t call him (or her) a stupid XXXXXX+++!!!.
I want to thank you and Jack and Tracy for keeping this site going. Hopefully we can somehow keep the ITR site going somehow someway. I’m just afraid if we become a part of Purple Row and if that site is part of Coloradorockies.com (and I don’t know if it is as I’ve never looked at it) we might not feel as free to make negative comments about ownership and management.
Good luck on your new business and new addition. And say goodbye to sleep for the next 5 years or so. I did almost the same thing 38 1/2 years ago when I quit my full-time job to make my avocation a full-time business. But I waited until my daughter was 6 weeks old. My business is still going strong, despite plenty of ups and downs. Live your dreams.
I like the facebook idea.
We can keep our screen names, etc.
I will get advice from my better half on the possibilities.
Sshe is an expert on the site as are all chicks. I will return with opinions from her soon.
Too bad to see this come to an end. Thanks Steve, Jack, Cowboy, and all of the regular contibutors for making this site a daily visit for me. I’ll miss it.
A suggestion: rather than Facebook (which I don’t use and despise for various reasons) or Purple Row (which I appreciate but don’t really like for various reasons) how about one of the fan forums that still exists? I used to participate in a pretty good discussion over at fanhome, but I think that site folded too. It had moved over from Scout.com, which is now part of the Fox Sports network. Looks like they’re likely to stay in business now given the Fox connection. So that would be my first suggestion. Check it out and let me know what you guys think.
ESPN has fan forums too, but I’ve never tried to use them since they keep pushing you to pay for the “insider” premium privileges. But if you can stand the bombardment that would work too.
But none of it is ITR. Thanks again. Jack, Steve, hope you stay active with tracking the Rockies in some shape or form. Best of luck to you guys.
Rich M, that’s a good post about ITR and PR. I like PR but it’s a very different site and I appreciated very much the different point of view here. Not everyone at PR is a “saber type” but it is the overwhelming focus there. I think Abgayani and I tend to be the type who post those sorts of things. So obviously I like that approach but there’s a bit more of a variety here, IMO.
I join everyone in thanking Steve, Jack and Tracy for the time and effort they put in here. In addition to being able to continue hearing from you guys after the demise of the RMN, it’s important to have multiple places/communities online to talk Rockies.
Wow! What a shocker. Needless to say, we’re all addicted to ITR and going cold turkey will be tough. I join the rest of you in thanking the ITR crew for all they’ve done and hope we can find some way to hold this thing together. Until we do, we might think about starting a common e-mail group where we can at least maintain contact after this site shuts down. Keep the ideas coming in posters. I’m confident we’ll find our fix.
I’ve never actually posted here but I’ve been reading ITR for the last couple of seasons from the UK. As someone who was just learning about the sport of baseball this site has been invaluable and I’ve enjoyed reading the debate and discussion.
So i’d just like to take the opportunity to thank the ITR Team for all there hard work and wish you well for the future.
As for where you want to go next you might want to consider hosting a forum. I used to use phpBB and vBulletin and as far as I remember they were never too complicated to setup and maintain. Whatever you decide to do I have a web hosting account that I’m currently paying for and not using so if thats any help i’d be glad to assist.
Navik, it seems like it might a little late, but welcome to ITR anyway! Thanks for your post, you are actually the reason that I am not wild about the Facebook or other “closed” forum approaches. Although we have a great core group here at ITR, it is always nice to add readers and especially new posters to the discussion.
As an occasional poster, I want to add my thanks to Steve, Jack and Tracy for the concept and the conduct of ITR. My job involves lots of travel. I read the spring training reports on ITR from Singapore this past year. Kept me feeling close to home. The civility of the discussion, the acceptance of diverse opinions (including mine) and the professionalism of Jack’s reports stand out. All of the above will be missed. But so is the RMN. Still.
Well, I guess the age-old saying of, “all good things must come to an end” rings true for ITR. I have several websites that I religiously tune into everyday, and this was my first one I’d go to. I really do appreciate the insight and news this site provided. I also enjoyed the “community” of followers that engaged in friendly conversation about our beloved Rocks. I’ve never been someone who “blogs”, but I would find myself from time to time commenting on certain topics. Many thanks to Steve, Jack and Tracy!
As for options, I’ll leave those to you guys. However, I have to say that purplerow.com is a wonderful site and has new columns on a daily basis. So, I’ll go to anyplace I can read new/current articles on my Rocks on a daily basis. I will definitely support any decision on where our “community” goes to replace our ITR fix.
hey guys, i actually have the geek knowledge to run something like this, doing my nerd thing day in and day out for over 20 years. I also have access to a server to host it (although a minimal monthly fee would be involved which i could float if ad’s don’t cover it)…i would LOVE to be able to help keep ITR going, because like you guys i have lived through this site and each of your comments throughout the week to get my rockies fix…I don’t have the type of money it would take to buy the site off of Steve (don’t know how much it is, but that should tell you how much expendable cash i have – knowing i don’t have enough before knowing the cost), but if we all pitched together a bit we might be able to take over and keep this going…i would love to see if we could keep it alive…
the bottom line is this – i read all of the other sites, have been on Purple Row, etc. and although they have some amazing stuff on other sites it doesn’t have the same feel as the discussion here…I really think there is a sense of community on this site, not to mention mutual respect, that has been fostered (pun intended) over the last three seasons, which has as much to do with you all, as it does with Steve, Jack and Tracy…I don’t think Facebook would be the perfect solution, although perfectly plausible – it just doesn’t feel like it would be complete going that route…
So, what say we try and keep this site going and if we can pull it off we invite Steve, Jack and Tracy (and Marc, Alanna, etc) to post whenever they feel like it, but the bulk of the info comes from us – the “rabid” fans of the team and the sport?
jaredean…
I reject my previous post citing facebook. I can’t figure it out anyway.
I like your idea about keeping this site active…it appears to me that it would be propagated by simple leadins…ie. last night’s game…Iannetta going 0-28 and still on the roster…etc.
The posts could then follow and we wouldn’t lose a beat.
I agree on the cost. I don’t know how many of us paid the $25 for the farm report to help keep the site up and running but if and when we find out the total cost from Steve(if he is wiiling to divulge that info)a starting point would thus be reached.
May I assume that we could/would make it a subscription-type site? If we keep the cost of said subscription down I would bet most of us would “kick in.”
This is where I am the the proverbial “no clue” individual.
But as long as we keep working, discussing and brainstorming the solution may present itself.
Your expertise would undoubtedly be paramount to the continuation of this site.
Let’s keep talking here. I like the progress so far, in such a short period of time.
Jaredean, if you have access to a server to host the site, I think that between whatever ads do come in and all of us contributing something it should be enough to keep it afloat. Like you, I am strapped but would be willing to contribute something. And like Ed, I also have no clue when it comes to servers, web hosting etc. I am not a fan of facebook and have never used it. I like your idea much better. Count me in for support.
Bummed about the site potentially going away, but encouraged by the efforts to keep it alive. Count me in. Not for tech stuff, but whatever else is needed.
Steve, Jack, and Tracy, you really started something here…something really good. A site where disagreement is tolerated, while flaming is not, because of active moderation and a firm, but not overreaching, sense of propriety. Steve, you must have been a heck of a good Editor.
And congratulations on the birth of your daughter, and on your new business.
Would you be willing to serve temporarily as the contact point for those of us pursuing having the site continue? Just facilitating the exchange of email addresses among those who give permission for theirs to be released would be great. (I give permission.)
So…let’s wait for Steve’s reply, and he’ll let us know if he’s OK with the above arrangement. If so, give permission via this thread. If not, we’ll work on Plan B.
Damn! I like this crowd. Hope it is kept alive!
What we could do in the interim is set up a yahoo email group that people can sign up for between now and the close of this site and any news of the new site can be transmitted via that group. We could keep it heavily moderated to make sure spam or something isn’t sent out to peoples email.
Would be happy to serve as a contact point. Also, you can always email me offline with the questions or thoughts.
I like all your gumption guys I gotta feeling we can somehow, someway keep this alive. Jardean sounds like he might have to take lead on this, at least now. Steve where do we go from here?
Yeah Jaredean!I’m willing to part with a tuppence of my paltry Soc.Sec. if necessary for the pleasure of keeping my brain active with the discussions on this site.To lose the Rockie and now ITR feels like a double whammy.
My long post of last night didn’t post for some reason.The short version is congrats Steve,and thanks Cowboy,Jack,Steve,and especially all you great posters,for making this a nightly ritual nearly every night during the season.Lets keep it alive.Like Jaredeans solution best,but gladly accept our new foreign posters input and help also.
This is Andrew T. Fisher of Purple Row. I too am deeply saddened by the loss of Inside the Rockies. I was very happy with the alternate coverage and forum to the Post when the Rocky was shut down. I will miss Jack Etkin’s monthly farm reports as much as anything. In light of all of this, I have seen several mentions of Purple Row. All of your questions, concerns and compliments of PR are well thought out – I just want to address some of the concerns I have seen here.
1) First and foremost, we are all Rockies fans. Any civil Rockies fan is welcome.
2) We strive for civil discourse as well, and should it get out of hand, disciplinary actions are in place.
3) Purple Row is in no way affiliated with ColoradoRockies.com. (Actually, it’s affiliated with SBNation.com). We have no connections to the team, so any and all grievances are encouraged. There has been quite a bit of pointed hand-wringing this off-season.
4) Purple Row is both a blog and a fan forum. You may read the stories, but the true lifeblood is the comments section. You can also create a fanpost to write about your own topic similar to Whaddaya Think? These are general longer story type posts. If they are small questions or comment starters, those work far better in the comment section of that day’s article. It is a different format than a true “fan forum,” but everything you get from a fan forum, you can get at Purple Row.
5) As for having a separate ITR place to maintain your community, I really don’t think that would work. It would first push well-thought out FanPosts by other posters off the front page frequently, but moreso, it would fragment the PR community within our framework. As I said, we are all Rockies fans, and as long as you are civil, you would be welcome.
6) It is true much analysis (not all) in stats and comments at PR is SABR related. We have primers on all of these stats available on the site. If you were to show up and bash that ideology without reading them/giving them a chance, your welcome would be understandably sour. I encourage you to give them a read. Even if you still don’t like that method, you are more than welcome to come discuss ideas at PR.
7) The community at PR is certainly younger, a bit more abrasive and larger than here at ITR. I can understand the resistance to move your vocal fandom there. It was frighteningly intimidating myself years ago. But while it is different, there is still quality conversation, and anyone who provides well thought out, civil comments is immediately welcomed. There is obviously no pressure, but we would love your input, and as a writer there, I would personally love to have more opinions from an older crowd to challenge those of us in our 20′s.
8) I would like to definitely thank Tracy Ringolsby, Steve Foster and Jack Etkin for ITR. Each one of them have helped me and PR will specific questions, prospects or other news, and I will definitely miss opening the ITR tab each morning.
If anyone has any other questions, email me at poseidonsfist@gmail.com, or talk to RockyMountainHigh. I met him in Scottsdale this spring. Go Rockies!
I like the thought of keeping either this site or something similar going for those of us who regularly visit ITR…while we may not always agree, I truly appreciate and look forward to the banter exchanged with regards to our beloved Rockies…this is a GREAT community and I don’t want to see it go by the wayside…
I love this site. Thank you to Steve, Tracy, and Jack for keeping it around this long. I am in for whatever the crowd decides and will certainly part with some money to keep this or its replacement alive.
This post is directed to RMH…
Is the Andrew T Fisher of Purple Row the guy we had beers with at the Tavern(the peanuts on the floor saloon)?
The more I think about it, I think he was the guy. Need your confirmation.
To the rest of you posters…I, like many of you, read this site second following ITR. I am fascinated with SABR and am trying to educate myself on its nuances in evaluating stats and players.
I like the site alot and it may be the logical way to go…for those not familiar with the site, consider checking it out…it’s pretty good.
I want to add my thank you to Steve, Jack and Tracy as well as to the regular posters, some of whom I have openly disagreed with on occassion.
As for PR, I find their daily articles to be well thought out and well written. I will admit the comment streams can be hard to follow. I also have some issues with SABR. PR’s posters quote so many different statistical measures and permutations it is hard for me to determine what is relevant and what is just stat geekiness. Sorta like Agbayani on steroids.
As you have all said, it is sad to lose this site and I will miss all of your posts and opinions(well, maybe not the constant DOD bashing) and hope to see your comments at PR.
Agree Ed…
Purple Row has lots of info and seems to be set up similar to this as far as behavior on posts and such. Would hate to lose the small tight group of posters that we have here..great discussions but I guess at some point expansion is going to happen(after all, brought us the ROX!).
Whatever we decide, hope every one of you stay engaged.
Thanks again Jack, Tracy and Steve!
Ed the Ump, it is not the same person. He was a friend of Andrew Fisher. He’s one of the columnists on PR under byline Poseidon’s Fist. I follow him on Twitter.
I have gone over to PR on occasion but feels like there’s a thousand commenters posting after the articles. Yes the summary of the positives posted by Andrew Fisher is spot on but I prefer the sense of a small community that we have on ITR. It’s like teachers preferring a class size of 20 over a class of 200. Get to know them personally and learn from each other.
Weve been tossing a lot of ideas on what to do going forward. I propose we narrow the focus to keeping ITR cuz I think most ITR regulars want that sense of small community. Willing to throw in $25 a year plus a one time donation to buy web site or get license for ITR to be revived. We have known each other for over two years so I’m not worried about scammers or flaky people.
I really appreciate all ITR has done the past few seasons, but most of all I have appreciated all of you. I have posted on PurpleRow but the spirit of that site isnt the same as here, in any way. Would hate to lose this community as well.
So if we can setup a facebook page, or some other site, I will be part of it and if we need to cough up some money to make things happen, count me in. Personally, a number of you should be writing columns for a site like this (or our new one), and I say that as a published author who does a lot of writing and speaking. You guys are very good at making excellent points and doing it in sharp ways.
So, please, lets keep the conversation going, and when we are ready, I will gladly pass along or post my email address. It doesnt take much to setup a blog site (places like godaddy will create it for you as part of their fee) but someone would have to moderate (I can volunteer for some of that duty, when I am in country).
Miss talking to you guys already.
And to Steve, Tracy, and Jack, you guys are the best – bar none – of any baseball writing team out there!
Sad to see this site go. It was the first thing I looked at every morning. I think in the meantime until we can get something more official setup(and since this is a WordPress site), we can start a free blog site on WordPress.com. The name would have wordpress in it until we actually buy a domain name and then the site can have it’s own name. What do you all think??? Hopefully in a couple years I will know a little more about building websites(I will be taking online classes for Web Design to go along with my degree in Visual Communications).
Hey Andrew..thanks for the invitation to Purple Row. Regardless of what happens to our tight nit group I will certainly also be joining PR as well!
well, i’ve giving this a lot of thought since reading and posting my idea of keeping this site going…i’ve contacted Steve on the side and have a conversation with him about the IT portion of it going – i would also like to get a sense of how many people would actually be willing to pitch in to keep this site up…it would take some cash flow to get keep it up, but “many hands” and all of that would make it manageable…i don’t like the idea of making it a “paid” site, because i want people to feel free to come here, give their thoughts and ideas and be all the better for it, possibly pitching in as the time arises…but if the group as a whole feels a paid site would work then who am i to stand in the way? maybe we could do some sort of non-profit radio type of “fund drive” each year to keep the bills paid, lights on.
So, are there enough people here thinking that if we do keep the ITR up and going it would be worth pitching in some cash to fund it?
I would be more than willing to give my time and knowledge on the IT side to keep the site up. I have a vision of the regulars that come on here most often having their own “columns” to help with the information flow…possibly each person taking an aspect of reporting (hot stove, game wrap, etc)…
what say ye?
Great site.
Thanks to Steve, Tracy, Jack and everyone who posts here. I got on this site because the Rocky Mountain News folded and I liked what Tracy, Jack, Steve, et al wrote in that paper about the Rockies. It really was a wakeup call that the internet is where it’s at and where it will be at. It got me more interested in doing stuff online. This was a wonderful website with the best baseball minds, writing and analysis on the net. Steve this was your baby for a long time. Nice work. Now you have a real baby to take care of. Congrats and good luck. Thanks, again
Steve, Jack, and Tracy,
I skipped to the end of this thread, and am anxious to go back and read all the posts and ideas on how to keep this excellent site alive. Thank you for providing this most excellent venue for our opinions and rants, and best of luck to you in the future.
egossage, I think you’ve got the right idea. Either use an existing fan forum site (my original suggestion), or start up a new blog that we all move over to.
Keeping ITR going intact is a great idea, but I’m afraid none of us has the right combination of time/money/organizational skills to make that work. Steve has told us as much.
On a related point: People are used to getting news and commentary for free these days. ITR started when the Rocky folded. Remember some of the other Rocky writers tried to keep the paper going online on a subscription basis? I think the interest was (to put it mildly) tepid. That’s not because we don’t want to hear from our favorite writers; we do. We’re just spoiled. That’s not going to change. We’ll never get the same combination of actual reporting, insight, and analysis that we used to get from Tracy and Jack. Those days are over. We can do the analysis part ourselves — that’s what’s fun about sites like ITR. But we don’t have the access (or time and commitment) to do the reporting like Tracy, and we don’t have Jack’s writing chops to make people sit back and think about what this daily drama of grown men playing kids’ games all means …
@EdTheUmp, Unfortunately, it was not me you shared times with over a beer. I wish it were, as you’d be a very interesting guy to chat with. I would guess it was Greg Stanwood.
@progmatinee I definitely hope you do come over to PR, even if it isn’t your full-time home for Rockies thoughts. I’ve enjoyed your comments perhaps most of those here on ITR.
To the rest, I definitely understand your desire to keep your community alive and secluded. For those willing to take a leap, you’re always welcome!
Wanted to throw in a couple thoughts: Purple Row is an excellent site and would be a good place to keep the conversation going. Also, while this site has been the meeting place for this core group of fans for the better part of the past three seasons, that crucial aspect of the site is also its most transferable. The ITR crowd can be the ITR crowd anywhere, even if ITR isn’t around. I say that because I believe it is worthwhile to caution about the time commitment necessary to keep the site operational. It was inevitably what made it hard for us to keep going. If a group of you would like to pitch in to keep it going, we’ll certainly listen to scenarios, but I also believe there might be an easier way to keep that most basic aspect — the conversation — going. I would be happy to assist where I can in setting up new digs if needed.
Andrew, me, drinking beer? You should know better. Wasn’t me.
Then again, you, me and RMH all go back a ways to the old MLB forums. At least, I think RHM was there.
I definately think the key ingredient to ITR was the daily postings by Steve or Jack. Those were the beef in the stew. As posters we all came in and added our favorite ingredients.
I think to maintain the level of participation up (and continue to attract new posters) and keep us grounded on certain topics we’re going to need daily game reports that are as good (and as unbiased and fair reporting) as the ones Steve and Jack gave us.
I know I’m not capable of that. :)
What I wonder is if Steve or Jack would be interested to continue those posts but transfer all of the “web stuff” and forum moderation to others?
I agree with Prog. Really it would be a 2x per game commitment, or at least that’s what we ingredient adders got spoiled on. There was the posting of the lineup, where we then added in-game commentary, followed by the post-game summary, where we added our own post mortum.
Depending on whether I watched the game or not, I personally gravitated to one or the other. The summary if I missed the game, and the lineup if I was watching and needed to rant about another runner being thrown out at home on that stupid contact play. Would a fan run ITR still provide that level of reporting or are we okay with less? I guess I could read the game summary elsewhere and catch the lineup at gametime as long as we have that blog where I can catch all of y’all’s excellent comments.
It should be a simple responsibility for a group of peeps to be responsible for the lineups and in-game coverage.
The post game coverage has to go to someone who took notes on the game, is fair and of course is an interesting writer.
We don’t necessarily want to copy and paste ESPNs analysis.
Big shoes to fill! Thanks again to Steve and Jack for providing that over the past few seasons.
I’ve said a couple of times earlier in this thread that we should be able to use PR articles as starters for our commentaries; I loved their “Know your opponent” articles and they also have post game articles which are just as good as we’ve seen from Steve/Tracy/Jack but a bit more technical using sabermetrics more often. Greg Stanwood last I heard runs his own Rockies radio shows. It is just a matter of being able to comment or write our own articles within our own secluded communities that I long for.
I don’t think I’d be comfortable with that. It’s one thing to occasionally brink up a Kizla or Renck article and ask what others think, but to routinely link off another sites articles and then have our own private discussion, just seems…i don’t know…not right to me.
That’s why I thought we could ask Greg Stanwood and Andrew Fisher to put copies of their PR articles on our new ITR at the same time as when they post it to theirs.
I could write up a few articles myself as I used to be a sports editor at the high school newspaper, but I wouldn’t have time to have access to all the inside information that Steve/Jack/Tracy have which is why I would like to ask Andrew and Greg if they would volunteer to add articles on our website and they have pretty good inside information and they both write without sounding so biased one way or the other.