The incredible difficulty of getting in touch with Richard Batho

[JJ Sefton]

To see how accessible he was I had this weird idea...I emailed him a question!

My email was sent at 17:46. I received a reply at 17:48.

 

[Linz]

And you have just over an hour if you want to catch him on work-time... he's working until 7pm

 

[lenners]

Richard, if you're reading this, how about an update on the progress on the working parties.
You could post it on here or arrange to put something on the club website.

 

[Vancouver]

Fixed it for you:

To: [email protected]
From: Lennard

Dear Richard

If you're reading this, how about an update on the progress on the working parties. You could post it on here or arrange to put something on the club website.

Yours
Lennard

 

[lenners]

Sorry Vancouver, but I'm simply publicly asking a question.
I would like the answer to be public as well seeing as I think all our fans deserve to know how they're progressing.
Hope that fixes it for you.

 

[Vancouver]

Sorry Vancouver, but I'm simply publicly asking a question.
I would like the answer to be public as well seeing as I think all our fans deserve to know how they're progressing.
Hope that fixes it for you.

But you're asking a question in a venue you know full well it won't be answered. Maybe you could have posted this question in the "Questions for Batho" thread that Linz posted and subsequently closed because it had been over run by people questioning Batho's role. Why should Richard come on here when everyone knows he would take abuse? It's not part of his job; there are other, more proven, ways to contact him.

Get past your stubbornness, email him and you might find Richard to be helpful.

 

[Northyorksblade]

Len, Would have emailed you, but as you like things in the public domain, why are you such a tosser? Best wishes NYB

 

[lenners]

But you're asking a question in a venue you know full well it won't be answered. Maybe you could have posted this question in the "Questions for Batho" thread that Linz posted and subsequently closed because it had been over run by people questioning Batho's role. Why should Richard come on here when everyone knows he would take abuse? It's not part of his job; there are other, more proven, ways to contact him.

Get past your stubbornness, email him and you might find Richard to be helpful.

Nope, I'm asking a straightforward question that the fans rep should answer.
It's one that the fans he represents should have an answer to, not just individuals who contact him.
Linz closed the thread because someone asked him about money, which is also a reasonable question when it comes to impartiality.

---------- Post added at 06:46 PM ---------- Previous post was at 06:46 PM ----------

Len, Would have emailed you, but as you like things in the public domain, why are you such a tosser? Best wishes NYB

Here's a thing, that doesn't bother me in the slightest.

 

[Vancouver]

Nope, I'm asking a straightforward question that the fans rep should answer.
It's one that the fans he represents should have an answer to, not just individuals who contact him.
Linz closed the thread because someone asked him about money, which is also a reasonable question when it comes to impartiality.

I'm pretty sure Linz closed the thread because you hijacked it for your own causes rendering the thread and her efforts wasted.

I also asked Richard a question and I'm expecting an answer. I just hope he reads in the Capcom-unity forums but he might not as he never said he did. Guess I could email him...

 

[BaldeRunner]

To see how accessible he was I had this weird idea...I emailed him a question!

My email was sent at 17:46. I received a reply at 17:48.

Thats great, well done. I wonder whether your question was of interest to other fans of the club? I wonder whether the answer to that question was also possibly of interest to other fans of the club? I wonder whether the question raised issues that other people may have had an alternative view about? I wonder whether individual e-mails, whilst undoubtely having their place, are the most effective way of liaising with many thousands of fans of the club?

I am more than happy to distance this increasingly daft debate away from Richard Batho. I am sure he is a perfectly decent guy and we have definitely slipped into over-personalising this (on both sides of the debate). This should always have been about a principle. I happen to believe that a fans' liaison officer should use all means possible to communicate with fans and particulalry in what is undoubtedly one of the lowest periods in this club's history. I accept that others don't share this view.

My feeling is that I am appalled by the mismanagement and sheer incompetence the club hs demonstrated in the last three years. I am angry by the lack of genuine dialogue with an eclectic fan base that the club has shown. By eclectic, I mean the very different sort of fans we have ranging from those fans who are committed enough to attend meetings & go to reserve games through to fans who can only maintain their links through message boards such as this one or reading the OS etc. I'm sure we all agree that every level of fan is crucial in the coming few seasons.

I would like and need as a semi-exiled fan updates and summaries about what is happening at the club. I want hard questions to be asked and to be addressed and then to be debated by the fans. Thats the kind of club i would like to support. My belief is that if we had that kind of relationship the level of debate would be raised. it's not about agreeing with each other but it is about being able to debate facts as well as opinions. The current bile and bitterness being spilled on this forum is, in my view, a lot to do with the fact the club is not engaging in any debate at any level. that only leaves us with subjectivity and opinion. It is probable that i have misjudged the role of fans' liaison officer as being more significant than it actually is (in terms of what I am actually looking for).

Can I therefore ask the club to please begin to spend less time on toe curlingly bad selling strategies and a bit more time on engaging with an alarmingly dwindling fan base

 

[beightonblade]

Its a bit like when Paxo questions the politicians ........ if they like the question they answer .... if not

 

[Vancouver]

Its a bit like when Paxo questions the politicians ........ if they like the question they answer .... if not

Stuff that! I want an answer.

 

[LoughboroBlade]

Emailing a question, and then posting the answer up on here, is easy, simple and virtually no effort at all.

If Len truly thought his question was important, he would do just that. But as he has not, he can't actually be that bothered.

 

[ghandi]

Emailing a question, and then posting the answer up on here, is easy, simple and virtually no effort at all.

If Len truly thought his question was important, he would do just that. But as he has not, he can't actually be that bothered.

Absolutely spot on. Len is more concerned about the means rather than the ends.

 

[BaldeRunner]

Emailing a question, and then posting the answer up on here, is easy, simple and virtually no effort at all.

If Len truly thought his question was important, he would do just that. But as he has not, he can't actually be that bothered.

But Len isn't the one who is being paid to liaise with fans. Am I missing something?

 

[Foxy]

But Len isn't the one who is being paid to liaise with fans. Am I missing something?

He's been offered various methods to liaise by, the ones which other fans are partaking in.

If Len wants, he can meet Richard and/or others from the club when he wishes. Just like my open ended offer to buy him a pint, he'll normally be too busy or not in the area.

Sadly, Len realises that as Richard Batho will not be posting directly on forums, he has an unobtainable goal to critisise about for the forseeable future.

I completely understand his original point, what I fail to understand is his reluctance to get past that

 

[Micalijo]

To see how accessible he was I had this weird idea...I emailed him a question!

My email was sent at 17:46. I received a reply at 17:48.

Aren't you a clever boy. What was the question and what was the answer?

Handriers? Free tickets for ever for non season ticket holders?

 

[BaldeRunner]

He's been offered various methods to liaise by, the ones which other fans are partaking in.

If Len wants, he can meet Richard and/or others from the club when he wishes. Just like my open ended offer to buy him a pint, he'll normally be too busy or not in the area.

Sadly, Len realises that as Richard Batho will not be posting directly on forums, he has an unobtainable goal to critisise about for the forseeable future.

I completely understand his original point, what I fail to understand is his reluctance to get past that

I honestly had not realised that 'Richard Batho will not be posting on forums'. I find it odd (but helpful) that you had to tell me that Foxy. That kind of means that you are liaising with us on behalf of the fans' liaison officer to tell us he won't be liaising with us. I'm not trying to take the p@ss but it is a bit surreal.
Couldn't he have posted a one off message to that effect himself with a quick reason why? That would have been a good piece of liaison I think.

So I take it that is the official position albeit delivered in a slightly convoluted way. At least we know and I won't waste time on any more messages abot that. I will continue to maintain that the engagement of the club with the fans on a wider basis is awful

 

[ghandi]

I honestly had not realised that 'Richard Batho will not be posting on forums'. I find it odd (but helpful) that you had to tell me that Foxy. That kind of means that you are liaising with us on behalf of the fans' liaison officer to tell us he won't be liaising with us. I'm not trying to take the p@ss but it is a bit surreal.
Couldn't he have posted a one off message to that effect himself with a quick reason why? That would have been a good piece of liaison I think.
So I take it that is the official position albeit delivered in a slightly convoluted way. At least we know and I won't waste time on any more messages abot that. I will continue to maintain that the engagement of the club with the fans on a wider basis is awful

What I can't understand is why does anyone think this Forum is any different from several other Sheffield United forums that Richard Batho should use this Forum to communicate. Surely no one believes he should communicate on every Sheffield United
forum?

 

[silverfox]

What I can't understand is why does anyone think this Forum is any different from several other Sheffield United forums that Richard Batho should use this Forum to communicate. Surely no one believes he should communicate on every Sheffield United
forum?

Or any other forum or blog or facebook or twitter or any other method....packet radio anyone?

Otherwise he must be neglecting his duty?

 

[Foxy]

I honestly had not realised that 'Richard Batho will not be posting on forums'. I find it odd (but helpful) that you had to tell me that Foxy. That kind of means that you are liaising with us on behalf of the fans' liaison officer to tell us he won't be liaising with us. I'm not trying to take the p@ss but it is a bit surreal.
Couldn't he have posted a one off message to that effect himself with a quick reason why? That would have been a good piece of liaison I think.

I'm not speaking on behalf of anyone else, just mentioning what would appear to be the case.

Are you suggesting a one off message stating he isn't doing exactly what he would be doing by posting that message would make sense?

So I take it that is the official position albeit delivered in a slightly convoluted way. At least we know and I won't waste time on any more messages abot that. I will continue to maintain that the engagement of the club with the fans on a wider basis is awful

I'm not speaking for anyone else other than myself. We regularly try as a forum to give people opportunities to engage, however, the most recent instance wasn't taken in a productive nature by some (not all) and therefore was a waste of time.

 

[Highbury_Blade]

This forum has just over 700 members who have visited in the last year. Of this 700 quite a good proportion haven't posted that much. So we're probably talking less than 500 active members. Of those 500 how many of them are exiles and don't get to the lane that much? Probably quite a few, maybe 100 or so.

So we could be looking at a potential audience of 400 people who'd be interested in what batho's got to say. I'd guess there are a tiny fraction of that 400 that actually gives a shit about how batho goes about his job.

Perhaps he feels there are better ways of spending his time than conversing with people on here. Why would he come on here and get bogged down arguing with 2 or 3 people who apparently have got big issues with how he goes about things, but not big enough to email the bloke and voice their concerns?

I do agree that more stuff should be posted on the OS though.

 

[silverfox]

This forum has just over 700 members who have visited in the last year. Of this 700 quite a good proportion haven't posted that much. So we're probably talking less than 500 active members. Of those 500 how many of them are exiles and don't get to the lane that much? Probably quite a few, maybe 100 or so.

So we could be looking at a potential audience of 400 people who'd be interested in what batho's got to say. I'd guess there are a tiny fraction of that 400 that actually gives a shit about how batho goes about his job.

Perhaps he feels there are better ways of spending his time than conversing with people on here. Why would he come on here and get bogged down arguing with 2 or 3 people who apparently have got big issues with how he goes about things, but not big enough to email the bloke and voice their concerns?

I do agree that more stuff should be posted on the OS though.

Too sensible by far!

 

[Vancouver]

When I've been running community for FIFA and other titles I've told the dev team (read in this Batho) to avoid the forums because it'll suck up all their time. When they first appear it'll be great and people will appreciate it (well; not the forum Lens as every forum has a Len). As soon as the dev is short on time people accuse them of 'ignoring the fans' and the vitriol gets stronger to the point that a very adversarial atmosphere is created and any good will goes straight out of the window. It's significantly better of the 'dev' to get in touch with someone like Foxy and myself and have them act as a conduit.

 

[sheffielder]

Firstly I would like to thank Kopped for putting this up. Maybe we could have this sent out as one of the articles in the www.sufc.co.uk newsletters I get.

Moving on I would like to say you all know how to get hold of Mr Batho so just do it. The people who moan about it are the very reason he shouldn't get involved because you can't please everyone. The software my company produces occasionally gets a bad comment on a forum or blog but I never reply to any of them. You can't please everyone and the people who do slag you off on forums are not worth bothering with.

From what I see RB is doing what he has been paid to do so live with it. Your problem really isn't with Richard anyway

 

[Highbury_Blade]

That's a bit different though isn't it van? Surely if you're running the community, you're doing the batho role?

How far did your remit extend? Did you just do the official forums or did you post on destructiod kotaku and RPS?

 

[Vancouver]

That's a bit different though isn't it van? Surely if you're running the community, you're doing the batho role?

How far did your remit extend? Did you just do the official forums or did you post on destructiod kotaku and RPS?

For public communication I was solely on the forums and community events. We left Kotaku etc to the PR team.

 

[boo radley]

Len, Would have emailed you, but as you like things in the public domain, why are you such a tosser? Best wishes NYB

Good question most would like the answer to.

Here's a thing, that doesn't bother me in the slightest.

We didn't get the answer though. He fails to answer many posts and then is surprised he isn't spoken to by a stranger.

Go on Len astound us and answer the above perfectly reasonable question.

 

[Stafford Blade]

Len, Would have emailed you, but as you like things in the public domain, why are you such a tosser? Best wishes NYB

I thought personal abuse wasn't tolerated on here?

Northyorksblade must be a real Terry tough guy, i bet he had his fists clenched and everything when he typed that.

Keep going Lenners, I think you post some negative drivel at times but on other occasions you are spot on.

 

[Foxy]

I thought personal abuse wasn't tolerated on here?

It certainly isn't, and any instance will be dealt with in the regular way of infraction.