Another HS site bites the dust

C

Crimson and Black

Well-known member
It looks like OVAthletics has bit the dust. The local forum covering eastern Ohio and WV panhandle and the OVAC seems to no longer exist. It seems it would be difficult to succeed just covering a small region. Yappi covers the entire state and more which for me is preferable.
 
 
Original ownership and moderation team all left the OV about 5-10 years ago — and they don’t still live in OH or WV, even. Diaspora across the country (NC, NV, SC.) Site was on a death spiral for years, partly due to general demographic issues and the issue of other local media / institutions evaporating as it related to high school sports.

The two guys who bought it had good intentions, but they lacked vision, savvy and awareness. The last two are big issues for a forum that was 10-15 years behind the discussion on the majority of topics, because talking in 2023/2024 requires a pulse on how people see things and how things are in 2023/2024, and the other crippling issue was how a forum can become an ancillary site for gossip and potential libel with regards to hyper-specific issues pertaining to schools east of the river (Park, Linsly etc.)
 
Crimson and Black said:
It looks like OVAthletics has bit the dust. The local forum covering eastern Ohio and WV panhandle and the OVAC seems to no longer exist. It seems it would be difficult to succeed just covering a small region. Yappi covers the entire state and more which for me is preferable.
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Site is still up but the forum is experiencing problems. Main thing about them was they also covered the WV teams in the ovac while Yappi doesn't.

Also SEOP covers some of the ovac.
 
According to a Facebook post, it has to do with the software company that they use for the site. They are "difficult to deal with", according to the post. They have been down close to a month now.
 
The answer to the problem they’re dealing with has already been explained earlier in this thread. It’s not the software company.
 
The Dock said:
Original ownership and moderation team all left the OV about 5-10 years ago — and they don’t still live in OH or WV, even. Diaspora across the country (NC, NV, SC.) Site was on a death spiral for years, partly due to general demographic issues and the issue of other local media / institutions evaporating as it related to high school sports.

The two guys who bought it had good intentions, but they lacked vision, savvy and awareness. The last two are big issues for a forum that was 10-15 years behind the discussion on the majority of topics, because talking in 2023/2024 requires a pulse on how people see things and how things are in 2023/2024, and the other crippling issue was how a forum can become an ancillary site for gossip and potential libel with regards to hyper-specific issues pertaining to schools east of the river (Park, Linsly etc.)
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In their defense, that area is 10-15 yrs behind the times anyways....
 
Not sure the site is "biting the dust" lol. They acknowledged the problem back on 2/19 so it must be a major issue.
 
EagleFan said:
Not sure the site is "biting the dust" lol. They acknowledged the problem back on 2/19 so it must be a major issue.
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The major problem is less than 2 dozen people truly interact with the message boards. Same 20-24 people chat daily there.
 
Bidenomics said:
The major problem is less than 2 dozen people truly interact with the message boards. Same 20-24 people chat daily there.
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Did Big Red pick up a Week 8 game yet? I heard they picked up McDowell from Erie, PA, in week 9. That's a solid game.
 
You can tell the owners of OVA are totally serious about bringing back the forum, which is why when I went to OVAthletics.com/forum this morning to read thoughtful discussion on the Buckeye ‘8’ becoming the Buckeye ‘12’ I’m getting the same message as I did two months ago that the ownership is cheaping out on upgrading to the new software.
 
The Dock said:
You can tell the owners of OVA are totally serious about bringing back the forum, which is why when I went to OVAthletics.com/forum this morning to read thoughtful discussion on the Buckeye ‘8’ becoming the Buckeye ‘12’ I’m getting the same message as I did two months ago that the ownership is cheaping out on upgrading to the new software.
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This exact topic has snuck it’s way on to SEOPs now granted they sort of in our region but by much
 
Oil Filter said:
Not to necro, but latest info seems to have both Massillon and Steubenville still open week 8. :stirthepot:
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That ain’t happening. We simply do not have the horses or talent to compete with teams loaded with D1 P5 kids. Just the way it is. We do not have the ability to bring kids in like the Hobans, Massillon’s, TCC’s and so on.
 
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