That's a really interesting question. What's the motivation to hang around once you're verified and you've voted for people you've wanted to vote for in that moment.

For example I would actually like a separate forum - I'm just tired of everything being in FB ecosystem and been cutting out a lot of groups there.

Personally I find this the best site, even at the current beta stage, to update one's Competition record (like Abo mentioned) and it's nice to have a proper platform for that, even if it would be just for my own entertainment and bookkeeping.

Once members are entered all the info and get verified... this becomes a useful database chronicling a good number of legit practitioners. That's the point, right? If this draws enough people, it should be fun to surf through profiles through Coach/Students links, cities/gyms etc., and finding out about the people you meet on the mats.

I guess there is a valid concern about members becoming inactive/abandoning the site after the initial buzz, and then it might be more challenging to get a new rank verified after a number of years... (yeah, there is a notification of rank update to previous verifiers, but some won't bother.) On the other hand, it's safe to assume the user base will grow, so even with people becoming inactive in the voting front, new people should have come in and fix said problem.

Yeah, this could become something akin to r/BJJ, and would be a valuable hub in that sense–a dedicated BJJ social network.

An obvious extension would be a matsurfing implementation, at some point down the line. The current status of matsurfing is pretty rough.

That said, even if it ends up basically being more like BJJ LinkedIn, that's highly valuable in its own right.

Image an /r/BJJ but without anonymous profiles <3

I’m on beltchecker regularly and I think the lack of anonymity here makes it a more enjoyable forum. /r/BJJ can be good, but I feel that many of the replies on /r/BJJ are derogatory, simply because people can hide behind their computer screens.

It's absolutely brutal there sometimes

This site reminds me of the MMA UG or the Underground. I used to argue with a Judo guy there all the time. TTT!

It is weird going back to old school forums (which is what got me into BJJ in the first place, back when I was regularly posting on Bullshido in the early 2000s), as they have mostly been killed off by Facebook (except for hold outs like The Underground and Sherdog). I like having everything on Facebook for convenience, but yeah, as long as the thread reply notifications on here work ok, not a problem.

Seems like an attempt to bring back the forum structure...might work but will be a tall task.

Yep, agreed. Makes me feel nostalgic, but we'll see if the forum remains active after the initial flurry of excitement about the 'new site'-ness of Beltchecker dies down. Very early days still, but if anyone has the staying power and community links, it's Christian.

Yeah I see there’s great potential with the forum aspect of this site. When everyone’s identity is so easily visible there ought to be less tendency to troll and write derogatory comments compared to other platforms.

I'm also registered on another site, JitsuClub.com, it isn't as widely used as this one though. Mostly because it's harder to join (you'd have to use Telegram etc.)
But a great thing (for me), is that I can log each training AND my subs and taps during my rolling sessions.
This maybe could be a thing here to keep the action going..

So far I’ve enjoyed the forums, and messages. I’ve met people already and had some great conversations! Also helping out people I haven’t met yet with questions, or verifications.

No offence Kenneth, but I find the idea of logging a number count of subs and taps IN TRAINING completely absurd. (Comp records & personal notes/log on training sessions are another matter.)

I think this could become something great. It could be a useful tool to network and connect with people around the world. If you travel a lot, you could have contacts for people and places to roll. It’s pretty awesome.

So people who don't do competitions get nothing :p
Dunno, I find it rather interesting to log all kinds of stuff.

We already built that once (http://www.bjjglobetrotters.com) haha :)

It obviously makes sense to have a decent training diary... but logging taps and getting tapped is borderline detrimental for you growth in BJJ IMO. Training hours, topics, intensity, recovery etc - these are things that make sense to log.

Agree!

A training diary/log is on my idea list but it's down the road

Training hours, topics, intensity, recovery etc - these are things that make sense to log.

I think this is great idea and very usefull. I dont keep any training diary but if somebody else has created a perfect one, I would love to! It would be great to get your own diary just to see over alls but also if its public to be able to compare your own training to others. Training volyme, intensity, sycles, recovery times etc.

I used to keep a training spreadsheet religiously, just tracking hours trained, where I trained etc, but just don't have the time now I run a club. Still keeping my training blog updated, though it's become more of a teaching blog now. Bunch of old spreadsheets I'd like to do a big update on when I finally get some time (obviously I always have time for random social media, top priority :P)

http://www.slideyfoot.com[...]sheet.html

I use to keep logs on excel for all of our members but found it a pain keeping on top of it. I found an app called Marune, I just use this now just to keep track of my own training.

Ive started using that this year as well. Maybe instead of re-inventing the wheel, and integration could be developed like the plan with Smoothcomp.

I like the forums. Reminds me of the old Underground days as well!

Who else is here from the UG?!

Spent a few years there but it’s way back

I'm exceptionally happy to have a place to keep track of my matches and tournament record. I used to use a tumblr blog as a place to record everything and keep track so I can look back an reflect on everything. So I know I'll be logging on to chek the forums, but if they were dead I'd still log in on occasion to update my matches and medals.

That's amazing

Spent time there then left