• Welcome to BGO! We know you will have questions as you become familiar with the software. Please take a moment to read our New BGO User Guide which will give you a great start. If you have questions, post them in the Feedback and Tech Support Forum, or feel free to message any available Staff Member.

The Death of the Internet Forum (aka ... the 'McDonaldization of the World Wide Web')

Boone, my brother.

There are a lot of factors that could be factoring into it. Most of which have been mentioned on this thread multiple times. I can also tell you that (at least this year) the success of the Caps has put a major halt on my own personal involvement with the Redskins. The fact that they won the cup has seriously been the focus of my attention. Local sports reports shows living on the Caps, a playoff game every other night for 2 months, and the events to be a part of like the parade have dominated my focus. Obviously I'm a Redskins fan, probably more so than a Caps fan, but when it comes down to it, a team on a championship run is going to dominate the conversation over a team during their offseason. Now I'm not trying to debate that this town belongs to the Redskins, because it absolutely does, but there are only so many hours in the day to be focused on things, especially when I have an almost 2 year old at home. I rarely get on my computer at home. The majority of my time online is done at work, within my office, during down time.

You and I have also spoken privately about other factors that we both have agreed we're not enjoyable circumstances. That evolving situation put a hurt in the minds of a couple board members.

Add to that the seasonal effect as well as multiple face palm situations with the team, it's not hard to understand why the offseason is an avoidable period for Die-hard Redskins fans. Most of the loudest offseason fans of this team, are the ones who are trying to make a statement, not have a conversation. It's been a devolving process that has become extremely tiresome. Personnel bungles, mixed with moments that leave you saying 'they did what?' have pushed the conversation this time of year to be predominately negative. Things that we all just get wore out talking about. Cousins was a big part of it. The firing of Scot. The never ending narrative of 'hope' that we get force fed and we all argue about whether it's the step in the right direction, or just another smoke screen devised by Dan Snyder to try and get more ticket sales. The negative notions that we CONSTANTLY go back and forth about. The happy fans get stepped on saying their "homers" or "staring through burgundy glasses" mixed with the negative fans who get jumped on as "haters" or "only backing their own narrative."

Reporting is almost dead. Now tweets and instagram posts are the news cycle, and it's generally about 5 min long. Hard to maintain a conversation on a message board at times when the news changes faster than the pictures on the header.

BGO has always been a sanctuary in my mind.... one that I've loved coming to, and while I've slowed lately, it's still a place I enjoy being a part of.
 
And the paragraph regarding the home and hater comments were not specifically about this board... but more an overall narrative about any emotional conversant people have anymore

Sent from my SM-G955U using Tapatalk
 
Thanks for taking the time to give your thoughts Neo and ST. There are definitely a lot of factors in play - including the ones each of you referenced. It's good to hear from you guys :cheers:
 
Alright, John. You win. :)

I know for me, it's not messageboards specifically, but social media in general. I've kinda just had it. I think it's brought out an ugliness that I don't want to be a part of anymore. On top of that, my personal tolerance for discord has dropped to historic lows, and I've always found that if one has nothing nice to say, one should say nothing at all, which is what I've been doing.

So ok. I will try and find some nice things to say. I can't make any promises, though.
 
Alright, John. You win. :)

I know for me, it's not messageboards specifically, but social media in general. I've kinda just had it. I think it's brought out an ugliness that I don't want to be a part of anymore. On top of that, my personal tolerance for discord has dropped to historic lows, and I've always found that if one has nothing nice to say, one should say nothing at all, which is what I've been doing.

So ok. I will try and find some nice things to say. I can't make any promises, though.

I 'get it' probably more than you realize Henry my friend. I keep my Facebook account open only because we have a family group there and it's the easiest way to communicate with most of my kin. If it weren't for that, I'd be done with it entirely. Even with politics, I've always believed that it's super rude to go after people for their political beliefs, or even to aggressively espouse one's belief in a public forum if you can't do it without belittling or demonizing those who believe otherwise.

Charles Krauthammer once said (and I'm paraphrasing) that 'If you don't formulate and state what you believe in, you are not really a grown up'. I understand what he means - we should all decide what we believe and are passionate about. But putting 'what you believe' above all else, including compassion and civility towards your fellow man, and delivering one's 'beliefs' without regard to decorum, politeness, or even basic respect of another's right to hold a different view - I have a problem with that. And that's my core problem with social media. Charles Krauthammer could tell you that your opinions were off-base and wrong, and you'd feel like thanking him for the compliment after he'd done so. But those skills elude all but a few these days.

I'm thrilled to see you hitting that post button Henry. The world wide web is a smarter, nicer, and better place with YOU in it brother :cheers:
 
I 'get it' probably more than you realize Henry my friend. I keep my Facebook account open only because we have a family group there and it's the easiest way to communicate with most of my kin. If it weren't for that, I'd be done with it entirely. Even with politics, I've always believed that it's super rude to go after people for their political beliefs, or even to aggressively espouse one's belief in a public forum if you can't do it without belittling or demonizing those who believe otherwise.

I'm right there with you on the Facebook thing, John. I've removed the tab from those that open automatically when I open my browser and I only check it a couple times a day now. When I do check it, I almost exclusively at the posts I've chosen to be notified about or to take care of things on the page I keep for the Beer Show. Honestly, if it were not for that page I'd look hard at just shutting my account down completely as there is so little positive on there these days. It's a time suck and life demotivator.
 
Alright, John. You win. :)

I know for me, it's not messageboards specifically, but social media in general. I've kinda just had it. I think it's brought out an ugliness that I don't want to be a part of anymore. On top of that, my personal tolerance for discord has dropped to historic lows, and I've always found that if one has nothing nice to say, one should say nothing at all, which is what I've been doing.

So ok. I will try and find some nice things to say. I can't make any promises, though.

Well said brother. I would amend one part of your post, that of discord. These days no one seems to understand the true purpose of arguments, that is, the stating of differing opinions in hopes of achieving an agreement or decision of one over the other. Too often we raise our voices instead of the level of our position, if you will. I have seen this infect ES to the point that I no longer have any desire to even "drive by" because I know it won't reach any receptive ears. As little as ten years ago one could engage in a lively discourse with another that featured intelligent, well reasoned points thrown back and forth...and allowed for others to interject their thoughts as well. That is no longer the case, and insofar as that is concerned I agree with Boone that the internet we used to know is dead.
 
Has arguing to achieve the upper-hand in debate ever led to a successful end?

Not that I can recall and if you don't agree you are stupid.
 
Has arguing to achieve the upper-hand in debate ever led to a successful end?

Not that I can recall and if you don't agree you are stupid.

Lol. Uh, okay. Success is a highly subjective term - can you be more specific? For now, a three part response: 1) I believe it has and it still can; 2) your recall may be less than optimal; and 3) color me stupid, because I most definitely do NOT agree.

:)
 
The first part I consider fact. At least my fact. ;)

The second is a combination of sarcasm and social media commentary. Sorry.
 
Just an interesting aside...

I recently got back into golf in a major way, in large part thanks to Brother @Om 's passion for it. I stumbled upon a vBulletin message board called The Hacker's Paradise. It's huge, active as hell, and is a mirror image of BGO in a lot of ways. Same software. Same friendly tone and sense of community. Even some of the thread titles are the same. Only difference besides subject matter? It's active as hell.

I think in their case, it's for 2 reasons. Firstly, and most importantly, golf is incredibly popular, and oddly enough, there aren't a plethora of forums out there on which to discuss it. Secondly, they've successly incorporated vendor presence and golf equipment sales into the site. I'm not sure there's much we can learn from them, but they are thriving despite all of the barriers and hurdles I've thrown out there in this thread. Btw - if you are a golf fan, you should really join THP - great forum!
 
Thoughtful posts here. I learned a lot. For me, the Internet is a dangerous place. The government records everything. The big companies make a lot of money steering us in certain directions. You can't separate the bots, trolls and fakes from real posters. The next click could be a key logger. There are not so good people and nations intentionally sewing discord. It seems to be where people act out frustrations from other areas of their lives.

The technology that is the Internet is revolutionizing everything. Human nature doesn't change as rapidly.
 

Users Who Are Viewing This Thread (Total: 1, Members: 0, Guests: 1)

Help Users
As we enjoy today's conversations, let's remember our dear friends 'Docsandy', Sandy Zier-Teitler, and 'Posse Lover', Michael Huffman, who would dearly love to be here with us today! We love and miss you guys ❤

You haven't joined any rooms.

    You haven't joined any rooms.
    Top