Look at how the Dolphins treat fan sites!

mattyk72 · Post by **mattyk72** » Mon Jun 04, 2007 10:21 am

Hello Danny boy, take note of this!

http://www.miamidolphins.com/newsite/ne ... entID=4759

September 26, 2006- Excitement mounted and tension filled the air at the Miami Dolphins Training Facility Saturday night, Sept. 23. At stake – who would take home the "Webbies."

What, you might ask, are the Webbies?

Hollywood has its Oscars. Television awards the Emmy. Miami Dolphins fan sites compete for Webbies, which grow in prestige every year.

"We have great fans all across the country, not just here in South Florida, many of whom have developed dynamic Web sites for their favorite team," says Scott Stone, Senior Director of Internet & Publications for Miami Dolphins, Ltd. "We created the Webbies as our way of recognizing their ingenuity and thanking them for their loyalty."

Representatives from 16 Miami Dolphins fan sites traveled to the Dolphins training Camp for the awards ceremony, some from as far away as North Carolina (Fantastic Fins), Oklahoma (The Fin Forum), western New York (Phins.com)…even Canada (Shed Dawgs – from Mount Pearl, Newfoundland). All have Web sites dedicated to the Miami Dolphins and the competition among them to be the best is spirited. Each was hoping to claim one of the Webbies, ranging from Best Special Features and Most Informative, to Best Overall Site.

Following an insider’s tour of the training facility, special reception and dinner, the carefully-guarded envelopes were opened and…the Webbies winners are…

• Best Overall Site – Phins.com
• Best Main Site Design and Layout – Miami Dolphins Online
• Best News Content – Phins.com
• Most Informative Site – Phinatics
• Best Message Forum Design – PhinFever
• Best Features and Fan Columns – The Fin Forum
• Best Special Features – Finheaven and Co.

Everyone present toasted the winners, then immediately began talking about the next day’s game against the Tennessee Titans. All the fan site representatives were given tickets to the game at Dolphin Stadium, where they joined some 70,000 of their “friends” to help cheer their team on to victory over the Titans (13-10).

BossHog · Post by **BossHog** » Mon Jun 04, 2007 11:08 am

Matty!!!

Don't get me started now.

And the Dolphins have actually been doing this for a few years.

Hope you're well brother. Semper Fi. You know full well that we'll both outlast Danny. :rock:

Irn-Bru · Post by **Irn-Bru** » Mon Jun 04, 2007 11:41 am

If Redskins.com did that, 'Extremeskins' and 'Redskins.com TV' would get all of the awards. . .with Larry Michaels dominating the individual award categories.

:twisted:

JansenFan · Post by **JansenFan** » Mon Jun 04, 2007 11:57 am

Irn-Bru wrote:If Redskins.com did that, 'Extremeskins' and 'Redskins.com TV' would get all of the awards. . .with Larry Michaels dominating the individual award categories.

On a serious note, I just don't get the whole "fan sites don't deserve the time of day" line of thought. We are a bunch of guys who dedicate our free time (and some not-so-free time) to promoting the very product that the team spends millions of dollars to promote. Would it really be so bad if the team used these sites to promote their brand by giving us even some sort of recognition and even partial access to the team? We always write about the positive things and never the negative, while the Post gets full access and goes out of their way to look for the negative. We never use un-named sources to push an agenda, yet we have to scrape and claw to get a named source like Brandon Lloyd, just so we can all bleed burgundy and gold and have a glimpse of what the team is thinking or feeling without going through either the organization's fliter or the media's.

I just don't get it.

Redskin in Canada · Post by **Redskin in Canada** » Mon Jun 04, 2007 12:21 pm

JansenFan wrote:I just don't get it.

Each one of us has been thinking about this issue separately seeking some answers:

http://www.the-hogs.net/forum/viewtopic. ... ht=#327519

mattyk72 · Post by **mattyk72** » Mon Jun 04, 2007 12:22 pm

Nice to see a team embrace their fan sites and reward them for all the hard work they do.

The Skins, as with many things, are seriously missing the boat here.

When my buddy who's a big phins fan told me about the way the team treats their fan sites I almost couldn't believe it!

Smithian · Post by **Smithian** » Mon Jun 04, 2007 2:19 pm

College teams have begun looking at fans ites in a very negative light. Many programs around the nation have made their public view of fan sites as being very obstructive and hurting the program.Some programs are scared of well informed fans realizing that the program isn't as good as it can be which probably is why they hate fan sites.

On the other end of the spectrum, for some reason, pro teams welcome most fan sites with open arms and most websites have direct links to a message board. I have never seen a college website direct link to a message board. I rather the pro team stances on fan sites.

Jake · Post by **Jake** » Mon Jun 04, 2007 5:03 pm

Miami.

BossHog · Post by **BossHog** » Tue Jun 05, 2007 8:52 am

Smithian wrote:On the other end of the spectrum, for some reason, pro teams welcome most fan sites with open arms and most websites have direct links to a message board.

I don't know what gave you that idea, but I could certainly tell you of at least 40 or 50 webmasters that would beg to differ.

I know of only 2 or 3 sites with true access to their respective teams.

Now... I think MANY teams are starting to figure out that the fan sites haven't gone away... at least not the organized, decent-sized ones... and more and more you will see the resources of fan sites like THN tapping into the mainstream media. But it's certainly NOT the norm at all.

The NFL doesn't have an 'official' stance. They leave it up to the individual teams to make their own decisions.

It's really great to see Miami doing what they're doing, and they've been doing it for a few years.

Why not embrace the fan sites at least on Fan Appreciation Day? It would seem to make both sense and cents for the organization. Obviously if we were going to be acknowledged on Fan Appreciation Day... we would hype the crap out of it... we would get as many of our community there as we could... we would do so happily and proudly...

Seems like a win-win to me. :idea:

mattyk72 · Post by **mattyk72** » Tue Jun 05, 2007 10:39 am

Snyder has dropped the ball several times over since buying the team when it comes to fan relations. I think it's pretty clear he doesn't really care about the fans vs. making a buck.

Redskin in Canada · Post by **Redskin in Canada** » Tue Jun 05, 2007 2:38 pm

mattyk72 wrote:Snyder has dropped the ball several times over since buying the team when it comes to fan relations. I think it's pretty clear he doesn't really care about the fans vs. making a buck.

What Dan Snyder needs is a good GM to show him that he can make even more money out of all of us if he has better PR with the media, fans and players. :wink:

Please do not get me started on scouting, talent discovery, player acquisition and trades ... :evil:

mattyk72 · Post by **mattyk72** » Thu Jun 07, 2007 11:37 am

Just a heads up, I might be having a guest blog spot on Jason LaCanfora's Redskins Insider on the WPost regarding this subject. Stay tuned.

Chris Luva Luva · Post by **Chris Luva Luva** » Thu Jun 07, 2007 12:35 pm

mattyk72 wrote:Just a heads up, I might be having a guest blog spot on Jason LaCanfora's Redskins Insider on the WPost regarding this subject. Stay tuned.

Sure thing.

JeanPassepartout1974 · Mon Jun 11, 2007 1:12 am

Many teams try to beat up on other fan sites
So Fins aren't the only one.

Post by **admin** » Mon Jun 11, 2007 8:51 am

JeanPassepartout1974 wrote:Many teams try to beat up on other fan sites
So Fins aren't the only one.

Did you read the post? It's about the Dolphins rolling out the red carpet for their fan sites, not beating them up.