This summary report focuses on the last two parts of this year's survey: GopherHole/site-related responses and the fun questions. The answers to the questions were varied and extensive; however, there was commonality in the responses, too. The highest number of common or frequent responses are listed in descending order. I've selected quotes by members that amplify and give a flavor of the survey's responses. Community was a common theme articulated in a lot of the responses. Also cited is the board's activity and humor.
A. GopherHole/site-related Questions and responses
I. What do you like about GopherHole?
1) Articles by Nadine Babu, aka: GopherLady; Chris Monter; Rob Litt, Thom Wynn, BleedGopher links, Sports Huddle re-caps, etc.
2) Diverse opinions/insights/ ideas
3) Recruiting information
PavedWithGold: "Discussion with people who have a similar passion for Gophers athletics. New discussions and topics everyday."
alltimetwinsfan: "Links from Bleed, weekly updates from DL, contributions by others and the general community."
pharmacygopher: "Insights into the team you don't get from the media. Bleed's links."
Mulligan: "A community that often has decent discussions although one with too many village idiots that ruin them. The recruiting news and the regular contributors like Bleed, GopherLady,SS, DL, etc."
Hates Monikers: "Information and discussion about my favorite teams (mostly) from other fans. Love the recruiting information and press conference notes."
Zales04: "Community feeling, informative threads by prominent posters, Chris Monter interviews."
Pewterschmidt: "Diverse range of topics and opinions on the message boards. I like Selection Sunday's contributions in the basketball forum. I also like the redesign of the site."
II. What do you dislike about GopherHole?
1) Hijacking of threads.
2) Trolls
3) Name calling/petty bickering/personal attacks/negativity
GOFUR: "Posters who feel compelled to jump on others for minor mistakes."
GopherinPhilly: "Negative people who hijack threads with their own agenda."
Anderson8284: "Negativity. Name calling. Personal axes to be ground. I just seem to lurk these days, don't really want to post much anymore . . . some days the threads are unreadable."
Butch Nash Guy: "Pissing matches, get really old and seems like it is getting worse."
alltimetwinsfan: "The bickering . . . it's to the point where I don't post all that often anymore . . . I just read and chime in from time-to-time."
AuEGO4: "Hijacked threads and people making big deals out of grammar."
calminnfan: "Some very negative, degrading posts/posters, especially of players."
C. What improvements or changes that you would like implemented? (There was a laundry list of varied suggestions; however, most participants didn't name anything.)
Norman Dale: "Like the amount of leeway the moderator give posters."
paulser21: "Perhaps a way to flag a person overly aggressive or continuously hijacks threads."
soneillum: "More hockey coverage."
GophersInIowa: "Maybe interview opposing radio guys and beat writer before big games."
gopherguy05: "Slightly more moderation, removal of duplicate threads, etc."
brucelaupa: "Faster loading pages."
D. What do you think of the website upgrades?
The overwhelming response was very positive!! Several cited the look and ease of navigation. However, a number of respondents also mentoned the slowness of loading and logging onto the site.
E. Do you follow the Social Media?
Yes: 53 No: 23 Other: Did not answer - 34
FacebooK: 51 Twitter: 45 (Several respondents use facebook and twitter; some only use facebook or twitter.)
III. Fun Questions (Those that chose to respond had a wide range of answers. The demographics of this site played a role in the responses - the greater number of young respondents (18-40 yoa) would naturally focus on the most recent past, which is apparent in the below listings.)
A. Most suspensful game witnessed in person (the following listed most frequently).
1) Iowa 2011 football game.
2) Iowa 2010 football game.
3) Purdue 2005 football game.
4) Wisconsin 2005 football game.
5) Michigan 2003 and Wisconsin 2003 football games.
B. Best defense that you witnessed in person (the following listed most frequently).
1) 1997 Men's Basketball team.
2) 1999 Football team.
3) 1977 Football team.
C. Favorite Minnesota Marching Band Musical Selection.
1) Rouser
2) Minnesota March
3) Hail Minnesota
Note: The Rouser was the overwhelming choice . . . nearly doubled the Minnesota March.
As far as the final question - favorite rock 'n roll song you'd like the marching band to play during a game - there was no clear cut favorite. There were no duplicates.
Again, I want thank everyone that participated in this year's survey. The GopherHole community made the questionnaire a success.
The GopherHole Staff has a lot of information to consider as they review the website-related questions. There was a plethora of comments in addition to the ones that I listed in this summary. IMO, there were a lot of good comments and suggestions.
Thank you . . .
Go Gophers!!
A. GopherHole/site-related Questions and responses
I. What do you like about GopherHole?
1) Articles by Nadine Babu, aka: GopherLady; Chris Monter; Rob Litt, Thom Wynn, BleedGopher links, Sports Huddle re-caps, etc.
2) Diverse opinions/insights/ ideas
3) Recruiting information
PavedWithGold: "Discussion with people who have a similar passion for Gophers athletics. New discussions and topics everyday."
alltimetwinsfan: "Links from Bleed, weekly updates from DL, contributions by others and the general community."
pharmacygopher: "Insights into the team you don't get from the media. Bleed's links."
Mulligan: "A community that often has decent discussions although one with too many village idiots that ruin them. The recruiting news and the regular contributors like Bleed, GopherLady,SS, DL, etc."
Hates Monikers: "Information and discussion about my favorite teams (mostly) from other fans. Love the recruiting information and press conference notes."
Zales04: "Community feeling, informative threads by prominent posters, Chris Monter interviews."
Pewterschmidt: "Diverse range of topics and opinions on the message boards. I like Selection Sunday's contributions in the basketball forum. I also like the redesign of the site."
II. What do you dislike about GopherHole?
1) Hijacking of threads.
2) Trolls
3) Name calling/petty bickering/personal attacks/negativity
GOFUR: "Posters who feel compelled to jump on others for minor mistakes."
GopherinPhilly: "Negative people who hijack threads with their own agenda."
Anderson8284: "Negativity. Name calling. Personal axes to be ground. I just seem to lurk these days, don't really want to post much anymore . . . some days the threads are unreadable."
Butch Nash Guy: "Pissing matches, get really old and seems like it is getting worse."
alltimetwinsfan: "The bickering . . . it's to the point where I don't post all that often anymore . . . I just read and chime in from time-to-time."
AuEGO4: "Hijacked threads and people making big deals out of grammar."
calminnfan: "Some very negative, degrading posts/posters, especially of players."
C. What improvements or changes that you would like implemented? (There was a laundry list of varied suggestions; however, most participants didn't name anything.)
Norman Dale: "Like the amount of leeway the moderator give posters."
paulser21: "Perhaps a way to flag a person overly aggressive or continuously hijacks threads."
soneillum: "More hockey coverage."
GophersInIowa: "Maybe interview opposing radio guys and beat writer before big games."
gopherguy05: "Slightly more moderation, removal of duplicate threads, etc."
brucelaupa: "Faster loading pages."
D. What do you think of the website upgrades?
The overwhelming response was very positive!! Several cited the look and ease of navigation. However, a number of respondents also mentoned the slowness of loading and logging onto the site.
E. Do you follow the Social Media?
Yes: 53 No: 23 Other: Did not answer - 34
FacebooK: 51 Twitter: 45 (Several respondents use facebook and twitter; some only use facebook or twitter.)
III. Fun Questions (Those that chose to respond had a wide range of answers. The demographics of this site played a role in the responses - the greater number of young respondents (18-40 yoa) would naturally focus on the most recent past, which is apparent in the below listings.)
A. Most suspensful game witnessed in person (the following listed most frequently).
1) Iowa 2011 football game.
2) Iowa 2010 football game.
3) Purdue 2005 football game.
4) Wisconsin 2005 football game.
5) Michigan 2003 and Wisconsin 2003 football games.
B. Best defense that you witnessed in person (the following listed most frequently).
1) 1997 Men's Basketball team.
2) 1999 Football team.
3) 1977 Football team.
C. Favorite Minnesota Marching Band Musical Selection.
1) Rouser
2) Minnesota March
3) Hail Minnesota
Note: The Rouser was the overwhelming choice . . . nearly doubled the Minnesota March.
As far as the final question - favorite rock 'n roll song you'd like the marching band to play during a game - there was no clear cut favorite. There were no duplicates.
Again, I want thank everyone that participated in this year's survey. The GopherHole community made the questionnaire a success.
The GopherHole Staff has a lot of information to consider as they review the website-related questions. There was a plethora of comments in addition to the ones that I listed in this summary. IMO, there were a lot of good comments and suggestions.
Thank you . . .
Go Gophers!!
