[Archived] RIP Rovers Official Message board

[pk1875]

I noticed some weeks ago the club official message board had been taken down, initially I thought Mr Grooby might have somehow blocked me (again).

I know the place was dyeing a slow death with regular posters down to half a dozen or so (no real surprise given the over moderation over the last few years) but it gone forever now.

This may explain the sudden appearance of posters who are more likely to "tow the party line", as they move from there to here. 

I emailed the club and got the following reply: 

 

Dear Paul

 

Thank you for your email and bringing this matter to our attention.

 

I believe the there was an issue with the message board a month or two back.  Our media department, who run the website, tried several way to resolve the issue but none of these have proved successful. 

 

Having reviewed this internally, the general opinion, given the decline in traffic to this area, is to discontinue the message board.  We were one of only a handful of football clubs to still run our own message board and, since the rise of social media over the past decade, its usage had dropped off to the point that there was very little interaction between fans. Those discussions appear to have now moved to the likes of Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.

 

I can assure you that this decision wasn’t made to reduce costs but simply becausewe feel it would be a better use of our media departments time to devote their effort  to these social media outlets and other areas of the website where usage is much higher to communicate with our fans.  We are in the process of taking down the link to the message board to save any further confusion in this matter.

 

Kind regards

 

 

 

Lynsey Talbot

General Manager

[Dunnfc]

To be fair i think it's a good idea. 

Why keep something which is no longer viable.

Most use Brfcs whom i speak to anyways, the over lefties using Roverstalk.

[den]

Shame, but maybe understandable.

[Stuart]

There is a danger of this board going the same way. Interest in Rovers that doesn't relate to Venkys ruination must be at an all time low.

[Mattyblue]

Generally I would agree Stu, but when was the last time a midweek game had 6 pages posted PRE match?

Just shows we are crying out for a bit of hope... I remember the board was buzzing the night of the Lambert appointment. It just doesn't take long for the owners to bring us crashing back down to Earth.

[davulsukur]

I started out life on the official boards many moons ago (under a different username)

 

Once I migrated over here I went on the official ones less and less.

It's a shame but it was dead over there years ago.

[Bigdoggsteel]

They could have at least put a message up at the link to the page. 

Ah well,looks like this board is the future  This place seems pretty busy. Even if everyone doesn't agree. Well I suppose that's the idea of a football forum. 

[Rover_Shaun]

28 minutes ago, Mattyblue said:

I remember the board was buzzing the night of the Lambert appointment.

The training ground was buzzing once too.........

[Rover_Shaun]

3 minutes ago, Bigdoggsteel said:

They could have at least put a message up at the link to the page. 

Ah well,looks like this board is the future  This place seems pretty busy. Even if everyone doesn't agree. Well I suppose that's the idea of a football forum. 

If only the football was still the main discussion

[Bigdoggsteel]

Just now, Rover_Shaun said:

If only the football was still the main discussion

True 

[47er]

1 hour ago, Bigdoggsteel said:

They could have at least put a message up at the link to the page. 

Ah well,looks like this board is the future  This place seems pretty busy. Even if everyone doesn't agree. Well I suppose that's the idea of a football forum. 

Very sad news.

[Mike Graham]

Where is Roversmum going to go?  She was one of the Mods on the Official MB.

[Gav]

Terrible decision

[pk1875]

4 hours ago, Bigdoggsteel said:

They could have at least put a message up at the link to the page. 

Ah well,looks like this board is the future  This place seems pretty busy. Even if everyone doesn't agree. Well I suppose that's the idea of a football forum. 

I occasionally posted on the forum, usually not well received but I'm pretty sure this is the same Bigdoggsteel that posted on there. Bad way to just close it without any notice. A regular poster off there Pshycosoma has messaged me tonight pretty angry at the way it was wound up.

[Dunnfc]

Pychosoma was a good poster on there too. 

Shame but he's welcome on here anytime i'd imagine. 

[davulsukur]

Devil's Advocate was also a good poster. 

[Amo]

The official forum's death knell has been a long time coming.

Shutting down the IMDB boards was a bigger travesty...

[Bigdoggsteel]

8 hours ago, pk1875 said:

I occasionally posted on the forum, usually not well received but I'm pretty sure this is the same Bigdoggsteel that posted on there. Bad way to just close it without any notice. A regular poster off there Pshycosoma has messaged me tonight pretty angry at the way it was wound up.

Ya, a batch email to all active members wouldn't have taken much. In the email you recieved, they said they tried to fix it, I am not sure about that, as it was just an SQL issue. An SDE would have fixed it pretty quickly.

I understand their reasoning as things were very quite there, but they could definitely have handled it better. Even if there were just a handful of remaining members. 

Anyway, hopefully Psychosoma and a few others join here. I see Roverthetop is a member. Some good posters over there. Even if there was a about 3 days between replies. Maybe people just put a lot of thought into their responses  

[Tom]

33 minutes ago, Amarillo said:

The official forum's death knell has been a long time coming.

Shutting down the IMDB boards was a bigger travesty...

Yeah those places were full of rubbish but I always enjoyed reading other people's views and over thought (look how clever I am) theories after watching a film 

[den]

Does Grooby still work at the club?

[Bigdoggsteel]

Just now, den said:

Does Grooby still work at the club?

I think he does. He took a step back from the message board though. Which improved things imo. 

I remember around the time it was evident Kean would take us down, things got heated on the board and Grooby was throwing out bans like confetti. 

I suppose he will argue he had his reasons, official board and all that. 

[Psychosoma]

Well, I've joined up here on PK's recommendation since the club have managed to wreck the official boards just like everything else they manage to touch.

A couple of mentions above which was nice to see, so thank you! Hopefully the conversation on here is more regular than over there towards the end.

Such a shame really, Ive made a lot of real life friends through those boards, the away day trips I had 2006/2007/2008 and over to Europe are some of the best times I've had, so I'm thankful for them for that, but I dont buy for one second that its changing habits for people stop going there.

For me it is a mix of overmoderation, a poisonous atmosphere during Keans time and general malaise towards the club in general that killed it. Add to that the fact the club never promoted the board and its no suprise it became a haunt of a core group of regulars often talking to themselves. That it ends so unceremoniously, and only noted because PK managed to get a reply from them (they didnt even bother to answer my email) just shows how much they could really give a crap.

Personally I HATE facebook as a tool for communicating with other fans, theres no way of getting good regular debate going and no easy way to build up relationships with other regular posters, even the ones you disagree with!

Anyway, glad to be here and I'll contribute when I can! Am I likely to get slaughtered if I post anything to defend Venkys in the future? LOL

[Audax]

Quote

Having reviewed this internally, the general opinion, given the decline in traffic to this area, is to discontinue the message board.  We were one of only a handful of football clubs to still run our own message board and, since the rise of social media over the past decade, its usage had dropped off to the point that there was very little interaction between fans.

This was brought up once before, message boards have declined; but I tend to like them a lot. So, while forums have suffered some, it still must be a small percentage that have gone by the wayside.

[pk1875]

5 hours ago, Psychosoma said:

Well, I've joined up here on PK's recommendation since the club have managed to wreck the official boards just like everything else they manage to touch.

A couple of mentions above which was nice to see, so thank you! Hopefully the conversation on here is more regular than over there towards the end.

Such a shame really, Ive made a lot of real life friends through those boards, the away day trips I had 2006/2007/2008 and over to Europe are some of the best times I've had, so I'm thankful for them for that, but I dont buy for one second that its changing habits for people stop going there.

For me it is a mix of overmoderation, a poisonous atmosphere during Keans time and general malaise towards the club in general that killed it. Add to that the fact the club never promoted the board and its no suprise it became a haunt of a core group of regulars often talking to themselves. That it ends so unceremoniously, and only noted because PK managed to get a reply from them (they didnt even bother to answer my email) just shows how much they could really give a crap.

Personally I HATE facebook as a tool for communicating with other fans, theres no way of getting good regular debate going and no easy way to build up relationships with other regular posters, even the ones you disagree with!

Anyway, glad to be here and I'll contribute when I can! Am I likely to get slaughtered if I post anything to defend Venkys in the future? LOL

Welcome aboard mate, you will be a good poster on here. Had many a disagreement with you over the years but you always have rhyme and reason to your debate so will enjoy it on here. 

[blueboy3333]

7 hours ago, Psychosoma said:

Well, I've joined up here on PK's recommendation since the club have managed to wreck the official boards just like everything else they manage to touch.

A couple of mentions above which was nice to see, so thank you! Hopefully the conversation on here is more regular than over there towards the end.

Such a shame really, Ive made a lot of real life friends through those boards, the away day trips I had 2006/2007/2008 and over to Europe are some of the best times I've had, so I'm thankful for them for that, but I dont buy for one second that its changing habits for people stop going there.

For me it is a mix of overmoderation, a poisonous atmosphere during Keans time and general malaise towards the club in general that killed it. Add to that the fact the club never promoted the board and its no suprise it became a haunt of a core group of regulars often talking to themselves. That it ends so unceremoniously, and only noted because PK managed to get a reply from them (they didnt even bother to answer my email) just shows how much they could really give a crap.

Personally I HATE facebook as a tool for communicating with other fans, theres no way of getting good regular debate going and no easy way to build up relationships with other regular posters, even the ones you disagree with!

Anyway, glad to be here and I'll contribute when I can! Am I likely to get slaughtered if I post anything to defend Venkys in the future? LOL

Welcome to BRFCS

I hope a few more of your mates jump ship to here. A few more people wanting to discuss the football would be great for the board imo. That part has tended to get lost, understandably.