Results from our September Survey, including drawing winner

Thank you to all who participated in the September survey. I was surprised with the number of participants and I tried to respond to each one who filled out the form. If you did not get a response from me, check your spam folder. If still nothing – please drop me a note at mets360@ outlook.com – eliminating the space between the @ and the “o.”

Part of filling out the survey was an entry into our drawing, which was for a one-year membership to the site – or a piece of memorabilia from my collection for those who had lifetime memberships. I’m happy to announce Jack Susser as the winner of the drawing. Jack will get 12 additional months added on to his membership term. Congratulations, Jack!

The survey also had spaces for you to express your feelings about the site. I’m very happy to say that almost everyone had positive things to say about the site and the content we offer. A little kindness always goes a long way and I was on the receiving end of more than a little! It meant a lot to me and I thank each and every one of you who took the time out to add those positive statements.

Of course, not everything was positive. But that’s okay. It’s important to listen to constructive criticism because it shows you how you can be better.

Hands down, the most common complaint people had was the necessity of having to login so many times. Message received – loud and clear. Unfortunately, there’s not an easy answer. This is a case brought on by the plugins used to run the site. I tested many plugins before Mets360 became a membership site and this was easily the best. But that was 21 months ago, so perhaps there’s something better available now. After the Mets have concluded their 2022 season, I’ll investigate again and see if there’s something better that reduces the login load that you face. In the meantime, I heartily suggest that you try accessing the site with Firefox. That’s my primary browser and while I still have to login on a regular basis, it sounds like perhaps not nearly as often as some readers do. So, that might be a partial solution to this issue.

I’d like to discuss a few more points people brought up.

Someone wrote, “If there was more interaction I would comment more.” Well, this is really a chicken and egg thing, isn’t it? The only way we get more comments, more interaction is if people, you know, comment more and interact more. Of the last 100 comments at the site, I’ve left 18 of them. If there are more comments, I’m sure I would comment even more. Still, my goal is to be an active commenter and contribute fewer than 10% of the comments at the site.

The same principle holds with the Game Chatters, although my percentage of comments there is much higher than 18%. I replied to someone that Metsense does a great job of posting comments and participating in the Game Chatters and if I could clone him, I would. Furthermore, my belief is that we had five more people like Metsense, the impact would be exponential. But at the end of the day, I can lead the readers to water but I can’t make them drink, or in this case, participate.

This would be a good time to thank Woodrow/Woody, who has made an effort not only to show up in the Game Chatters but to hang around and participate, even if it means waiting 120 seconds for a reply. It’s been both noted and appreciated, Woody.

Someone else suggested having a free trial for potential new members – this has been added to the list of things to do.
A couple of you mentioned a return of the baseball card posts – as a long-time collector, this warmed my heart! You will definitely see these again before the year is out.
Another reader mentioned interviews with non-team personnel. I’ll be doing a Q&A shortly with John from Albany that will run on his site. Guess I’ll return the favor and look for others to do that with, too.
Yet another respondent suggested having pools like March Madness or Football Do or Die pools. I’d definitely be interested in this but I need to gauge interest, first. If you’d be interested in something like that, please drop a note here in the comments section and let me know what type you’d be up for.
Several people asked for more coverage of the minors and there was a couple of you who wanted to see more MLB Draft content, too. We can definitely have more minor league content while they’re playing games, so this is something you’ll see next year. I don’t follow amateur baseball so that seems less likely but perhaps it’s something that David Groveman would be interested in.
Finally, someone asked for more video, even if it wasn’t about the Mets. And this one has already been put in place, with a video of Albert Pujols hitting his 700th HR appearing at the site.

Thank you to everyone who comes to the site and reads our articles. An even bigger thanks to those of you who leave comments and participate in the Game Chatters. It’s a great time to be a Mets fan and I hope to feel the same way at the end of next weekend and throughout the playoffs and World Series.