What’s Next for Growing Our User Base?

[OK Computer]

I think I read somewhere that there are already efforts to make the site more visible through Google and other search engines, which is great. I’m making this thread to talk about what else we can do to expand the forum’s reach and bring in new users from different corners of the internet.

First, it’s worth clarifying what our actual goal is. Do we want Baseline Bums to become the premier Spurs discussion hub across all platforms? Because if that’s the goal, our competition includes r/NBASpurs, the RealGM Spurs subforum (if it’s still active), and the broader Twitter or X Spurs community. If that’s the direction we want to go, we’d need to think about ways to reach those users and draw them here without violating platform rules or coming off as spammy.

Before we even get to strategy, we should understand the size and makeup of our potential audience. The reach of this forum is proportional to how popular the Spurs are as a team, both in the U.S. and globally. Based on recent data, the Spurs rank around 9th among NBA teams in total social media following, with roughly 15.4 million followers across all major platforms. That gives us a good idea of how big the global fan base is. If a large portion of Spurs fans are outside English-speaking regions, maybe it’s worth considering multilingual support or small site updates to make the forum more accessible. We could even look at whether certain regions have site restrictions that prevent access. Understanding how big the potential user base is will help us decide how much effort to invest in outreach.

Then there’s the question of how big we want to get. Is the dream for the Spurs organization to one day acknowledge this forum officially? If so, that probably means some adjustments to site culture and behavior would have to follow. Or do we just want to remain the go-to unofficial Spurs forum where most serious fans naturally gravitate? Either way, the goal shapes the approach.

Now, thinking about next steps, I think part of the answer is adapting to how people consume content today. The reality is, the online conversation around teams happens across platforms driven by visibility and convenience. Maybe that means integrating Twitter or X feeds from active Spurs commentators like Clan the Spurs Fan, Evan Townsend, and others into the front page. Or we could add our own users and their tweets (for example, if scott had a twitter all of his tweets would be on display here because of the API integration). Right now, the desktop homepage looks a bit bare under the main thread list, and adding more relevant live content could help.

Another idea is to bridge real-time fan interaction. For example, a member here could host a Twitter Space or Discord voice chat during live games where forum members can join and talk. The link could be shared across Reddit or Twitter so people find their way here naturally. The goal isn’t just more traffic, it’s to create a stronger sense of live community engagement that younger or newer fans are used to.

I’ve got my product manager hat on here and just want to think about practical, modern ways to make this place more visible and connected. Curious what others think and whether any of these ideas have already been tried.

 

[LeBowen]

We talked about it already in some topics.
Disclaimer: Everything I'll write in this post is just my opinion.

First, it’s worth clarifying what our actual goal is. Do we want Baseline Bums to become the premier Spurs discussion hub across all platforms? Because if that’s the goal, our competition includes r/NBASpurs, the RealGM Spurs subforum (if it’s still active), and the broader Twitter or X Spurs community. If that’s the direction we want to go, we’d need to think about ways to reach those users and draw them here without violating platform rules or coming off as spammy.

Why do we need a goal? This forum was created out of necessity, we got most of the ST regulars in here, added some great functionality stuff and can finally discuss Spurs without waiting for a minute for the forum to load.
Let everything else happen organically.
We don't need to chase people around the internet and advertise this forum. We only wanted all the ST regulars to be aware of it, nothing more.
New people are welcome, but it's not like we're aiming to get thousands of members or monetize this place. All we need is enough funding to keep the servers up.
Pledge goal was $600 to buy the servers for another year and it was met within hours. That's before a lot of people were aware of it.

Before we even get to strategy, we should understand the size and makeup of our potential audience. The reach of this forum is proportional to how popular the Spurs are as a team, both in the U.S. and globally. Based on recent data, the Spurs rank around 9th among NBA teams in total social media following, with roughly 15.4 million followers across all major platforms. That gives us a good idea of how big the global fan base is. If a large portion of Spurs fans are outside English-speaking regions, maybe it’s worth considering multilingual support or small site updates to make the forum more accessible. We could even look at whether certain regions have site restrictions that prevent access. Understanding how big the potential user base is will help us decide how much effort to invest in outreach.

Again, let it happen organically.
I think most of us were posting on Spurstalk because we couldn't handle all the blind homers on reddit (and twitter? I don't ever engage in the comments, wouldn't know, but seems to be full of homers).
Our targeted audience shouldn't be every casual Spurs fan. I'd love for us to get a lot of new regulars, but only if they're knowledgeable and solid contributors. I can't be bothered with superficial homer takes.

Then there’s the question of how big we want to get. Is the dream for the Spurs organization to one day acknowledge this forum officially? If so, that probably means some adjustments to site culture and behavior would have to follow. Or do we just want to remain the go-to unofficial Spurs forum where most serious fans naturally gravitate? Either way, the goal shapes the approach.

We talked about it and the general consensus is that moving to a new forum with a new domain name is a good thing because ST had a horrible reputation (rightfully so) and a lot of people avoided it like the plague because of all the degenerates constantly bringing politics up even in ST subforum and there was no moderation whatsoever.
In here none of that political talk will be allowed and eventually people will see that we didn't carry any of the ST baggage over.

ST had by far the best Spurs content analysis (at least that I'm aware of), so called journalists and various sites kept stealing ideas and data from us, I suspect this place will be no different when everyone becomes aware of it.
Tbh, I'd like for some of the Spurs reporters and content creators to become active members in here.

Now, thinking about next steps, I think part of the answer is adapting to how people consume content today. The reality is, the online conversation around teams happens across platforms driven by visibility and convenience. Maybe that means integrating Twitter or X feeds from active Spurs commentators like Clan the Spurs Fan, Evan Townsend, and others into the front page. Or we could add our own users and their tweets (for example, if scott had a twitter all of his tweets would be on display here because of the API integration). Right now, the desktop homepage looks a bit bare under the main thread list, and adding more relevant live content could help.

Again, it's just my opinion, but I really hate twitter format when it comes to engaging into a discussion. It's a chore keeping up with it.
And considering what has the platform become with it's ownership and all the blatant botting/propaganda, it would maybe be for the best if we moved away from it completely.
Bluesky post embedding is also integrated, it's a way cleaner platform for now until (and if ever) twitter normalizes again.

Another idea is to bridge real-time fan interaction. For example, a member here could host a Twitter Space or Discord voice chat during live games where forum members can join and talk. The link could be shared across Reddit or Twitter so people find their way here naturally. The goal isn’t just more traffic, it’s to create a stronger sense of live community engagement that younger or newer fans are used to.

Agreed, live discussion would be nice.
But then again even 10 people in the same discord channel is too many if we're talking about watching the game live.

I’ve got my product manager hat on here and just want to think about practical, modern ways to make this place more visible and connected. Curious what others think and whether any of these ideas have already been tried.

Your ideas are spot on, my personal opinion is that we shouldn't force anything to happen, I've got no doubt that this community will grow organically as Spurs get better because we've got some amazing minds in here and there really isn't anything else out there when it comes to let's call it higher level Spurs discussion.

 

[Ariel]

This is an interesting discussion, and most of that are good ideas if you own the site and want to maximize revenue, but from my perspective I want the site to provide maximum value to its user base, which doesn't necessarily mean maximizing the number of users or clicks. In fact, that will probably bring along many "empty" clicks and low quality posts, which will detract from the overall experience of the average reader (I might be tempted to create ANOTHER forum to replicate the original baseline bums tbh ).

If we were to attract the entire Reddit Spurs subforum, would this be better? How about x/twitter, do we really want that kind of atmosphere here? I know I don't. Having the Spurs sponsor the forum might come at a high cost, I don't want to have to police content to conform a third party to keep the revenue source flowing, this would turn into a worse version of SpursReport. This site is in its infancy but already has an identity, the second it deviates from that it will lose my support and I'll find myself (once again) a refugee looking for a safe-heaven.

I would like to attract the best from those communities though, certainly there's plenty of brain power going around that doesn't yet know this place exists and would bring a lot of value, those should be our targets. In that sense, we do want visibility, but the right kind. Say, inviting good posters from other forums (even non Spurs ones), or generating a main page with good content that adds visibility. I think we can all individually add to that by posting good contents and making an effort not to go overboard against each other (there will be limits to this here).

One thing I think would add a lot, though, is a main page with good content. For instance, I think your in depth scouting reports pre-draft would be article worthy and serve as a starting point for discussion, likewise if Chinook were to analyze the cap implications of a given move (trade, signing, etc), or scott continuing to work on his grades and game stats, or ffadicted's widgets that add a lot of value, these are concrete contributions that would help bring along the right kind of posters. This is the direction I'd like to see BB grow into.

 

[Fabbs]

Is the dream for the Spurs organization to one day acknowledge this forum officially? If so, that probably means some adjustments to site culture and behavior would have to follow.

Is getting on an NBA teams approved list going to mean massive compromises?
Remember this is a league that promotes and props up Steven A Smith as a premier mouthpiece. I could go on.
Stern Jr. has sold out on many important issues. "I'm going to clean up travelling" is but one.

I see the benefits of being recognized by the NBA. So if we do it, great but lets not sell out.

 

[spurraider21]

I do think one step would be a podcast or just some live discussion of sorts. I know back in the day Mono would occasionally host the Mono Show which had some hilarious memories.

Doesn’t have to even be a weekly regular thing. But every now and again with 1-2 main hosts and then a time for guests to pop in.

Maybe even just once a month like a monthly recap of how the team has looked, etc.

We all post often enough that a frequent show would be pretty duplicative with our posts and would just be beating the same points over the head.

 

[Ariel]

I'm on the fence with the podcast idea, it's contingent on finding someone who has the skills and desire to do this, so it isn't an easy thing to plan when you don't have any budget for it and depend on someone's willingness to take on the task. But if someone wanted to use this platform to venture into the podcast space, having a small but enthusiastic community like this one behind them wouldn't be the worst starting point, and it wouldn't hurt that the bar for Spurs podcasts isn't particularly high either (to be kind). Perhaps a relatively short episode, with 3/4 regulars exchanging opinions on the topic of the week could flow fairly easy. But don't count on me for this, I feel more comfortable writing in English than speaking.

 

[OK Computer]

I think Mr. Body would be the perfect podcaster, tbh. He posts like Screamin A Smith, I have a feeling he’s like that when he speaks too. I’m not even joking. It’d probably be entertaining to listen to. You’d need someone really passionate about their opinions for it to be effective.

 

[brazil]

I, for one, prefer a tight but active community. I dont think the goal should be to grow massively. I believe a lot of posters preferred ST because of the fun and the solid bb discussion, a larger audience means more vanila posters, vanila takes and random unfunny shit nobody cares about (see reddit, realgm etc..). Quantity is often contrary to quality. Quantity would also attract bots, spam and require more moderation which sucks. Objective is imo first to get the most of knowledgeable ST posters on board and get the ball talk going and see from there.

 

[LeBowen]

I, for one, prefer a tight but active community.

Preseason game threads have 292 and 271 replies, I think this place is already active enough.
We'll easily get to 1k comments in the opening night game thread, imo.

 

[brazil]

Preseason game threads have 292 and 271 replies, I think this place is already active enough.
We'll easily get to 1k comments in the opening night game thread, imo.

yes exactly... in fact it is going faster than I thought

 

[Ariel]

I think Mr. Body would be the perfect podcaster, tbh. He posts like Screamin A Smith, I have a feeling he’s like that when he speaks too. I’m not even joking. It’d probably be entertaining to listen to. You’d need someone really passionate about their opinions for it to be effective.

Maybe, we need to get him here first though. Good news is the vast majority of ST's bball user base is already here, we're just missing a handful of core members and we're ready to go.

 

[scott]

Hi everyone, just wanted to acknowledge this thread and say great thoughts in what I've skimmed through so far. I'll be back shortly with my own opinions of where we should go from here. I've said from the beginning, I'd like for this place to largely be driven by the community and not any one person in a vacuum. The value of this place is the community, so I want to honor and respect that into the future going forward.

I have some thoughts, but in the meantime keep providing yours!

 

[BacktoBasics]

This is an interesting discussion, and most of that are good ideas if you own the site and want to maximize revenue, but from my perspective I want the site to provide maximum value to its user base, which doesn't necessarily mean maximizing the number of users or clicks. In fact, that will probably bring along many "empty" clicks and low quality posts, which will detract from the overall experience of the average reader (I might be tempted to create ANOTHER forum to replicate the original baseline bums tbh ).

If we were to attract the entire Reddit Spurs subforum, would this be better? How about x/twitter, do we really want that kind of atmosphere here? I know I don't. Having the Spurs sponsor the forum might come at a high cost, I don't want to have to police content to conform a third party to keep the revenue source flowing, this would turn into a worse version of SpursReport. This site is in its infancy but already has an identity, the second it deviates from that it will lose my support and I'll find myself (once again) a refugee looking for a safe-heaven.

I would like to attract the best from those communities though, certainly there's plenty of brain power going around that doesn't yet know this place exists and would bring a lot of value, those should be our targets. In that sense, we do want visibility, but the right kind. Say, inviting good posters from other forums (even non Spurs ones), or generating a main page with good content that adds visibility. I think we can all individually add to that by posting good contents and making an effort not to go overboard against each other (there will be limits to this here).

One thing I think would add a lot, though, is a main page with good content. For instance, I think your in depth scouting reports pre-draft would be article worthy and serve as a starting point for discussion, likewise if Chinook were to analyze the cap implications of a given move (trade, signing, etc), or scott continuing to work on his grades and game stats, or ffadicted's widgets that add a lot of value, these are concrete contributions that would help bring along the right kind of posters. This is the direction I'd like to see BB grow into.

I think your point about a main page with content is the right path if we wanted this place to exist beyond a discussion forum.

Not saying I do or don’t. Just wanted to second the opinion that article submission and content rich home page is very SEO friendly if those here want to expand and have a greater reach.

 

[spurraider21]

btw i dont think "podcast" is necessariliy the right term. dont need some crazy organized scripted thing with video editing and whatnot. think 30 minute radio style thing, of which 10 minutes of it is posters "calling in"

 

[Ariel]

btw i dont think "podcast" is necessariliy the right term. dont need some crazy organized scripted thing with video editing and whatnot. think 30 minute radio style thing, of which 10 minutes of it is posters "calling in"

I think your conception of podcast is too elaborated, we're talking the same thing here. Even an audio only show stored online for asynchronous access would qualify. Yes, I agree, I was envisioning something similar, someone functioning as host and several other members taking turns in offering their opinion. Could be Q&A style, say a specific episode with someone with more cap knowledge answering questions of other members, or a panel of people analyzing draft prospects pros and cons, or a specific event gathering several people here to offer their opinion. If there is a will I don't see any reason not to be able to generate something in between a locked on / you know ball kind of event, except for, of course, someone being willing to do that. My point is this can't be forced, but if there is someone who would like to take that role, they would already have a small community behind them rather than starting with crickets and tumbleweed.

 

[elpimpo4cc]

Let's keep the site active, the spurs takes going and the racist/incel/nazi shit the fuck out of here

 

[ambchang]

I’m a simple minded dude, I just want a place to shoot the shit with other spurs fans, argue about why our 11th man isn’t the reason for us sucking ass, and get great insights to change my mind.

 

[scott]

So, I wanted to briefly respond here before I get back to work on my game grading project.

I see two paths BaselineBums can take.

The first path is a casual one, where we just focus on making this community the best parts of ST without all the worst parts. If we do that, people will come.

The second path is to aggressively try to grow the visitor base, add original content in the form of articles, a podcast, YouTube channel, etc. I think the Spurs media-sphere is ripe for a high quality podcast and YouTube channel... we all know how bare that cupboard is right now. The articles, podcast and YT channel could all be monetized. BaselineBums could potentially be a viable business... but at what cost? With a lot more views comes a lot less of what we were trying to preserve in creating this site: the heart of ST.

For now, I personally think we stick with the first path. Maybe eventually the second path will come, but there is no need to force it right now. We were able to come together and salvage the wreckage of ST, and that's enough for now, in my opinion.

Ultimately, I want this site to go where the community guides it - so with that said I hope people will continue to chime in with their opinions on where they'd like this to go.

 

[OK Computer]

I think I agree. That said, how do we make the baselinebums experience richer?

We’ve talked about how reading other people’s thoughtful analysis adds value. How can we build on that without expecting those users to write full articles? Since the best posts are often replies buried within threads, maybe we feature them on the front page as a “Post of the Week.” Clicking it would take users directly to the post and thread. It highlights quality contributions, gives the writer recognition across the forum, and might encourage more people to put real thought into their posts.

 

[OK Computer]

What else makes this forum enjoyable to be part of? I think we can all agree that @ace3g posts stand out because he’s always sharing the latest social media clips, interviews, and updates. Maybe we can give him better tools or visibility so his posts are highlighted for everyone. He’s already doing the work that keeps the forum up to date on everything Spurs. The guy’s consistent, dedicated, and deserves more recognition for it.

 

[OK Computer]

Another idea is a Spurs trivia widget that everyone can join in on. It could feature multiple choice questions, and each week we show the top five participants. That would make for a fun, engaging activity for the community. We could also add small banners or icons under a user’s avatar as bragging rights for those who consistently win the trivia.

The ideas are flowing in my head tonight, lol.

 

[ginobilized]

Like the Spurs, I say keep this organic and not skip any steps. My instinct would be to get through season #1 and assess what works and what could be added/improved. More people here has no inherent advantage to me. Growth for the sake of growth has few benefits most times. I also feel a bit of protectiveness for the Spursian shangrii la that has been so beautifully executed here. As we establish the culture and vibe here I think it will be easier for newcomers to follow the rules and make sure there are no acute digressions like our old petrie dish ST became. Just my two cents.

 

[LeBowen]

I think I agree. That said, how do we make the baselinebums experience richer?

We’ve talked about how reading other people’s thoughtful analysis adds value. How can we build on that without expecting those users to write full articles? Since the best posts are often replies buried within threads, maybe we feature them on the front page as a “Post of the Week.” Clicking it would take users directly to the post and thread. It highlights quality contributions, gives the writer recognition across the forum, and might encourage more people to put real thought into their posts.

Not sure XenForo has the option, but invision forum has a feature where you can highlight a post that receives a certain number of reactions.

For example, a forum I'm a member of has an 8 likes threshold after which the entire post body background changes color, making it more visible.
I'd say 5 likes would be a good threshold for our level of activity.

As for posts getting buried, I don't think it's an issue since threads are sorted well. Maybe some stuff gets buried in game threads, but those are for live discussion.

Btw, is it time for the offtopic forum and other sports threads to be moved there?

 

[k....]

i woudnt expand the product unless someone had the talent to do so. a youtube call in show would be epic but i am not going to force it.

That said if someone has a good forum post than minimal work to turn it into an article. chat gpt would be good at that actually. just need to make terms and conditions that the site owns the content here.

 

[spurraider21]

Guy just got to a new and improved version of ST and immediately asking how can we get bigger and better