In my first season of club cricket, I bought two bats. I broke after a few matches, other one lasted. I googled information about bats and found CBF. Later on, I signed up as I had had collected a few nice bats before I joined and needed to discuss more.
Here are some of Pros and Cons:
1. In terms of media and features, sponsors and posters share the same challenges. Uploading pics is done thru a third-party app. Same for vidoes. The forum could use an upload feature that'd make everyone's life easy.
2. Regarding tough comments and Q&A, that's just life. Same thing could happen on twitter or instagram. Until we have standardized specs for bats (dead weight, swing weight, balance point, location of node of percussion, density, etc.), there will always be a debate when buying bats online or thru post/mail. The reality is that not everyone can buy a bat from a shop. First vendor who solves the problem of standardization (and patents/trade-marks it), will win lot of business. GM to a degree do that and they have built an enormous reputation because of it. Personally, I have never owned a GM (don't like handles
) but love their quality standards!
3. What ultimately makes the forum is the quality of information people post and also the members. Many members here are influencers in their respective cricket circles. I personally have introduced many people to brands that I saw here. MG2, Keeley, SK/Mueleman, #FoxIt - you name it. Good ones have been embraced, bad ones are rejected. There is still value for sponsors to engage directly with members here. I found CBF because of google search which pointed me to some posts. More product information sponsors/brands leave in the forum, more accessible it is thru google search.
4. The area where CBF is lacking is coaching information. PitchVision never refunded my money for courses I paid for which they later removed - Michael Bevan and Graham Gooch. They are unreliable. There is a market and need for coaching information. CBF admins/owners should look into this as this could benefit members and coaches. Maybe once a quarter Q&A session with coaches who comment on posted videos. Same for fitness and nutrition.