The Swans fraternity on the Internet continues to grow and as we approach a membership of 400, some of the members have requested that the club gives us the recognition and rights awarded to the other Supporters Organisations, namely the MAGS and FOSCFA.
A request posted to the "Swans Say" message board on the club's official Internet site, has failed to elicit a response. As a group, we sponsor two players' kits and I produce this fortnightly column in the programme so I think our credentials are worthy. Can I take this opportunity to repeat the request that our members be allowed into the "Supporters bar?"
After a low-key launch, the official site (SCOS) has improved of late. Its biggest success has been the message board. Apart from the nice site/poor site postings, some of the messages have provoked really heated debates amongst the fans themselves. Let me try and explain why I think this happens.
As the Internet is a relatively new medium, people are often unaware of the impact that their words can have.
Firstly, you have mass readership of your message. Think about it; when did you ever write a letter that got read by more than one (or maybe two) people? On the net, it is accessible to hundreds and even thousands – and is seen by that number.
Secondly, it is quite often easy for someone to read a meaning into a message that was never ever intended by the sender - I have found this out from personal experience.
To help convey the meaning of a message, "Smileys" are used. If you wish to convey that your message is slightly tongue-in-cheek, you use a semi-colon followed by a dash followed by a closed bracket – like this ;-)
If you look at this sideways, you should see a smiling face with one eye winking! There are loads of these that can be used to convey various emotions etc. – but that's enough for you to be getting on with for now ;-)
Links to all Official and Unofficial sites are available at my Swansea Internet Web site. The address is http://www2.prestel.co.uk/gmartin or use the easy-to-remember version http://come.to/swanseacity