ultimately, it’s a diverse ecosystem that’s developing, and i think everyone is better off for having these different models out there. i won’t even say they’re competing or that one will come out on top, since i think there will always be a spectrum of successful approaches.

good luck, and i’m sure we’ll be learning from watching what you do while this space develops.

river

You are missing a big part of the way our editorial process works.
1. Anyone can sign up to be a writer including third party fan sites and blogs that can take advantage of our editorial services and upload their existing content and gain more exposure on our site
2. As contributors gain a higher ranking on the site they get more rights to post and recommend additional third party sources
3. And this is very important our editorial team make an initial decision about where we post the article, But once it is live it is up to the readers reaction to decide where the article will end up.

We use the editorial process as a way to improve the quality of content and reduce the abuse that reliance on the lowest common denominator can create. At the same time it is up to our audience to decide what they think is good and shape the content on the site.

Ze’ev Rozov
CEO

that said, it takes a lot of users to make it effective, so we do indeed need to capture the interest of a large number of people. this is where i think our differentiation comes into play. there’s more to web 2.0 than community features, imho. in that regard, we think we have a lot to offer.

we know we have a long way to go if we want to carve out a space and gain the loyalty of a large number of fans, but that’s the goal. only time will tell how successful we are.

@whatshisname:

ESPN’s community is actually pretty poor. Their forums are less active and much lower quality than some of the fan communities out there. And they’re pretty basic when compared to vBulletin. But they have massive marketing leverage so they have built up a decent-sized community, although a lot of fans avoid ESPN like the plague.

By the way, EPSN is launching a similar service this month. Was announced several months ago. And if you think ESPN has a successful model and reputation, read the responses to this:

http://www.deadspin.com/sports.....184894.php

It’s interesting that FanNation was founded in 2006 by former ESPN.com employees. ESPN announced their web 2.0 plans a few months ago so they’ve probably been in development for a while. Were the FanNation founders aware of these plans? Were they involved in the development? Is it possible that ESPN is going to claim that ideas or technology were stolen? Just throwing that out there because it wouldn’t be the first time in web 2.0 (remember Facebook vs. UConnect).

Thanks for joining the conversation and introducing fanation. I was not aware of your site while we were building Sportingo. There does seem to be similarity between the sites although our focus in on a Europe and not on American sports. I agree with your point that a key value is providing a central place for the avid sport fan to access a full view of the sport they care about. In response to skeptical’s comment about starting message boards in a crowded market, we decided not to offer message boards at this stage but rather to bring to our readers attention interesting conversations that are already taking place and them go to outside message boards to continue these conversations. I don’t see the point in duplicating what is already done well, but to add value by becoming the central place that an avid sport fan can create an identity voice their view and in the near future view sport events.

Ze’ev
CEO
Sportingo

as for competing, along with message board improvements, we feel we have an advantage in offering a lot of the content in one place that would usually take 4 or 5 site visits to find. by putting the stats and news and other pieces right in there with the message boards we hope to make it easier for fans to access it all in a seamless way.

and you are right on about the fantasy stuff. we are trying to offer compelling content and tools for fantasy users, and those won’t be relevant to everyone. one challenge is certainly bridging that space between your more average fan and the fantasy users.

as i mentioned, we’re very early in the life of the site, and we have a lot of work to do in terms of rolling out new features, as well as polishing and better integrating what’s there.

i hope you’ll use the site some more and offer your input. we’d love to know what fans like you are looking for. thanks again.

beyond news, we offer user blogs, groups with message boards, friends, site messaging, stats, scores, fantasy news and tools, and we’re just starting to launch our first games. we have a pick’em game for the nfl season that just went up.

it’s true that we have a lot of features, and trying to keep the site uncluttered is a challenge. we’re continuously trying to improve the site and refine the features, and we’re excited about some of the things we have on deck.

no site is going to be perfect for everyone, certainly, but we feel like we can put together features that will satisfy a lot of fans, from casual followers to hardcore fantasy nuts.

skeptical, i don’t know how much time you spent on the site, but i encourage you to go deeper and see what you think. we’d also love to hear about any issues with the ajax or anything else. our goal is to make the site as usable and stable as possible.

so thanks for the feedback, both positive and negative. we everyone will at least check it out and give us more input.