Power to the People - the many positives of a forum for like minded people

Power to the People - the many positives of a forum for like minded people

Hello everybody, Tbuckley here, first name Tommy thanks to my dear Manchester United loving mother who decided to give me that first name when I was born in honour of the then United manager Tommy Docherty.

Indeed the naming event was a two-horse race as I was either going to be called Tommy in honour of Tommy Docherty or Trevor if my Nottingham Forest supporting dad had his way in honour of his then football idol Trevor Francis.

Ultimately my mum won that one and she also won the battle to convert me into a Manchester United fan as opposed to my dad guiding me towards standing with him on a Saturday afternoon in the Trent End at Forest. 

With my parents being very keen football followers, I was always destined to love football.

They also tell me I was also destined and literally born to love horse racing, as well as my mother, was apparently pregnant with me when they visited Goodwood races many years ago, subsequent numerous family trips to Doncaster races cemented that love for racing, that love for mixing with like-minded people. 

So some 30+ years later I'm a huge football and horse racing fan thanks to my parents and the other massive element that I've my parents to thank for is the way they instilled in me the importance of respecting people, being honest with people and doing the best I can to help people.

Their simple but effective message being if you show people respect, they will respect you, if you are honest they will be honest with you and if you help other people, you will get help from others when you need it. 

All of that brings me to this point now, posting my first article on my blog here on OLBG, with my main motivation to always be respectful of everybody who uses and contributes on this site, to always be honest with everybody on this site and to hopefully help people in anyway I can.

Because I know for sure that I will get that being on here, indeed it is long odds on and banker material. 

I'm a huge horse racing and football fan primarily, spent years enjoying a season ticket at Manchester United, but also went to watch teams local to me such as Derby County and Chesterfield, also probably been to 100+ race meetings in my time, but also a keen follower/participant of snooker and darts as well. 

As much as I love watching and participating in all of those sports, I also thoroughly enjoy sharing views on those sports with like-minded people, I love constantly learning new things from others and I certainly am motivated to try and return the favour by doing what I can to help others. 

I'm motivated to use this fantastic opportunity to try and use my passion for the sports mentioned, to use the knowledge and experiences I've gained in my 25+ years of viewing those sports and 20 years of betting on them and to combine all of that into contributions on OLBG that will hopefully interest people and help them in a positive way.

I genuinely do love the whole aspect of interacting with like-minded people, sharing opinions with people who have the same passions as me, for me. 

Personally I get real enjoyment from discussing all issues relating to the sports I've mentioned and I could quite happily spend all day doing it whether that be sat in a pub, in a bookmakers, at the racecourse, over the phone or via the internet.

Indeed the internet is what initially brings all of us on OLBG together and it is via the various, impressive range of forums on here that the vast majority of us will interact and share opinions.

I'm going to use this first, greatly appreciated opportunity on this blog to give my views on the many positives of being a member of forums, especially the forums on OLBG and hopefully they are positives that you've all enjoyed since being a member. 

That is a perfectly accurate and succinct description of what the OLBG forums have offered to me since I've been seriously involved in the last month or so. 

Admittedly I've been a member of OLBG for years, the first main attraction was an amazing tipping competition/prize on offer, and admittedly I've been very busy working on other projects and platforms so I didn't use the full capacity of OLBG namely the extensive forums.

I am making up for lost time on that score, indeed making up for lost chances to interact with and benefit from the vast knowledge base on here, by getting involved in everything I can in the forums and I'm loving, absolutely loving it. 

 it's a massive positive, and a free opportunity to have your 'voice' heard and an ability to have your say on the issues they care about. 

Having that opportunity to freely voice opinions on a specific forum with like-minded people definitely has massive positive side effects as it gives people a chance to express themselves amongst people who understand them and who know exactly where they are coming from.

 Of course, all social media does that to an extent but on specific forums such as OLBG it will only be people who love horse racing, football, snooker, darts, and many other sports, actually getting involved and communicating with each other. Having that guaranteed presence of people share the same passions, and most importantly on OBLG well-reasoned points, instantly generates an extra level of respect and honesty that you simply do not get on other social media platforms.

 If you post an opinion about football or horse racing on Facebook then the chances are it's going to be seen by a lot of people who are simply not interested and it just gets lost amongst all the other mainly trivial stuff on there. If you then join a forum such as OLBG and post those same opinions on football or horse racing you are guaranteed to get an honest, respectful and detailed response and for people wanting their voice to be heard that does give a great sense of fulfillment and a sense of purpose, what's more, it is unquestionably deserved. 

Another massive, incredibly positive aspect of a forum such as OLBG is that over time via repeated exchange of opinions amongst the forums and the fantastic members race days, genuine personal friendships are made, and with that comes a genuine extra level of fulfillment. 

indeed via the last two OLBG race days I have had the pleasure of meeting several members and thoroughly enjoyed their company, long may that continue.

Human nature and DNA dictates that we want to achieve, that we want to earn respect, that we want to be honest with people, that we want to be heard and share opinions with like-minded people, that we want to learn and that we also have the need to compete with others, they are the common factors we all share and thankfully we can all do that within a forum.

A huge positive of forums and indeed one that many people don't realise even occurs is that which the collective power of people on forums have on decision making within bookmakers and from that the types of bets they offer. I used to work for a bookmakers and from time to time we used to go to regional meetings with higher management to discuss future plans including the various types of new bets that would be coming into shops and quite often it was revealed that the inspiration for new betting markets came from discussions and ideas taken from betting forums. 

An example of this is the way that football betting has increased massively over the last 5 years and within that, the number of different betting markets available on any given match has gone from probably 10 to over 200 in some cases and a huge percentage of those new markets got their inspiration from betting forums. 

Constant discussions about betting opportunities on total goals markets, Under/Over, both teams to score, score and win, corners, red cards, time of first goal, are all bets that were largely inspired by members of forums on the internet and now a key focus of the service offered in betting shops is to offer what you can do on-line. 

That impact also spread from football betting to betting on other sports and it had a major, positive impact on the services bookmakers offer and made sure that they have to keep evolving and understanding what punters are looking for and that has to be a good thing for everybody involved. 

Internet forums do get a lot of negative press, usually from people who have no knowledge or genuine experience of them, admittedly some basic forums serve no positive purpose at all but I certainly believe that specific forums such as OLBG provide many positives and give members a real, valued sense of purpose, personal confidence and a communal power that can most definitely be incredibly productive and pro-active.

So I say Power to the People of the forums, especially on OLBG, use the 'power' in a positive way, learn from the incredible discussions and quality opinions on offer, enjoy and respect what's provided by fellow members, I certainly do and I'm looking forward to doing it for a long time to come. 

So there you go, that's my opening blog entry on OLBG and it's an insight into where my passion for horse racing, football, and sport, in general, comes from and my views on what I believe is the most important element of any industry, any business, any website, it's the people involved that really matter and how the people involved combine together that matters the most.