Admin 3

Just to clear up a few misconceptions...

This has been pointed out multiple times, but it seems to keep being brought up so I will once again clarify that the monetary cost of running and maintaining these boards was a non-factor in the decision to sunset them. Yes, it does cost money to run them, but that was not even part of the discussion of closing the boards.

The boards will remain open through the end of the day tomorrow. (Friday, May 5 is the final day.)

When we talk about the usage drop-off, it refers to every metric we have -- not just registrations or post counts. We completely understand that the vocal group on here is extremely passionate and active. However, the number of actual active users is considerably smaller than many seem to imagine. Despite the 70,000+ registered accounts, only a very small majority have been active in the last year to two years -- and that includes people who don't post comments. We understand there are plenty of members who come to read, rather than post their thoughts. (In fact, more than 70% of registered users have never posted a single time.) When we talk about activity, it includes those fans as well. All of it has declined. The number of members visiting and posting on the boards on a daily, weekly, monthly and annual basis has reached very low levels. (Last preseason/regular season, only about 3% of members visited the boards. And in October and November, all of the posted comments were made by just 1% of the users. These numbers include news article comments as well.)

The mods and I greatly appreciate all of the compliments about how our board is better than others out there and how much better our members are than those on other boards. (We have always agreed.) But as any of the mods can attest, it's not easy to keep it so clean and the trolling to a minimum. There is a significant amount of effort and behind-the-scenes communication going on between the mods and admins. (In fact, the amount of conversation taking place in the mod area is greater than all of last season's game threads and this year's draft forum post volumes combined.) To keep things up to our high standards requires a great deal of time and human resources, and we must constantly evaluate how we're utilizing those resources so that we might best serve all our fans.

As you may have noticed, several fans have been looking to launch an unofficial community for those still interested in interacting with each other in a message board environment beyond tomorrow. I have been in contact with those creating the boards at www.purpleflock.com and invite you to check them out.

We know that many who have voiced their displeasure will still disagree with our decision to close the boards, but we hope you might respect the fact that, since last offseason, much thought, debate and consideration has gone into this decision. We greatly appreciate your support as fans and thank you for your unsurpassed passion.

9 hours ago, RavensDieHard21 said:

So our accounts will still function on here to comment on the news articles? Or, do we have to access them via social media?🤔

Yes, all accounts will still be active and function the exact same way to allow commenting on news articles.

44 minutes ago, GrimCoconut said:

I take it there's no going back on this decision huh? 

Our plan is still for this Friday to be the last day of the boards.

(Commenting on the site's news articles will continue however.)

On 4/25/2017 at 11:48 AM, Somerset Ravens said:

Do you know why we never get a response when we send a communication through contact us?

You should always receive a response from Contact Us. All of those emails go directly to one person who then funnels them to the appropriate people in the depts. pertaining to the message. We have received several emails from people on the boards and sent replies to each of them.

As we do receive a significant amount of emails, it sometimes takes several days for the message to be sent to the proper person to address it.

8 minutes ago, BOLDnPurPnBlacK said:

Is the board no longer available through the app?

Just opened it up and its gone. 

It had been removed, but has since been added back there.

BOARD CLOSURE DATE CHANGE

Thank you to everyone who has shared feedback on this thread. We wanted to ensure we provided ample notice to the community of the shutdown and originally felt that 3+ weeks was suitable. Also, with the NFL calendar now spanning 12 months, we realize that there is no "best" time to sunset the boards. However, with the amount of chatter that occurs during the free agency period and draft, we understand that March 31 may not be the ideal time to close the discussion.

With that in mind, we have decided to leave the message boards up and running through the draft. The new shutdown day will be Friday, May 5 -- one week following the NFL Draft. We realize that many will still be upset that the board is closing, but we hope this provides members an opportunity to continue the ongoing dialogue during this busy time of year.

39 minutes ago, EdTheMythicalOne said:

I thought this was coming from the people above the moderators? So who is the "we" you are referring to?

As I understand it this decision is coming from the higher ups and the statement to begin this thread is essentially their press release. If that is not the case then you need to clarify it for all of us.

Seems to me the message from the statement is that this board is closing because the Ravens believe the fans can and are conversing more on other social media outlets for which the statement provides some links for. If that is not a strong suggestion/endorsement then I am not really sure why it was worth including them.

So since "we" understand that they are completely different platforms and tools then "we" should understand why this message board is so much better than those other outlets and a very strong reason as to why they should not be closed down. Are "we" paying attention to all of the backlash this announcement is getting? Are "we" starting to think this may not be a good idea?

"We" being the Ravens front office. And we have reviewed, will continue to review and appreciate every comment posted here. However, the plan is still to sunset the boards.

13 hours ago, ravensnick said:

My confusion on the shut down stems from the replacement. Over the years, I have gotten the chance to meet some really cool feel fans on this forum and I definitely wouldn't have been able to do that on social media. Plus, where the heck else am I supposed to post my mock drafts that no one reads anyway?

To clarify again, we do not view Facebook or Twitter as a "replacement" for these boards. They are just other social communities that we are encouraging people to engage with after the boards no longer exist. We completely understand how they are very different platforms and communication tools than this one.

14 hours ago, ellicottraven said:

Sorry Admin 3. This is not intended directly at you, but the heads that made this decision are just plain short sighted and foolish. In the short term, you'll find no increase in traffic to your FB or twitter feeds and moreover will end up losing fan interaction which is critical to fan engagement. That is how the dollars flow - fans to club. I just hope whoever made this decision (probably anticipating some pushback but thinking it was needed to cut costs or whatever) better hope that the real powers that be - Owner Steve Bisciotti and President Cass are fully aware of this decision. Because if this novel business school churlish idea backfires, their heads will be the first to roll.

Thank you @ellicottraven for your critical, yet level-headed and respectful comment. No offense taken.

Let me explain to you and others that there were many factors that went into this calculated decision and it was made after much careful thought and consideration. And to address two common points many members have made -- the monetary cost of running the boards (or anything involving sponsorship) was not the driver of this decision. Also, the purpose of the move was not to try to drive traffic to or increase our followings on other social media platforms.

We looked at a lot of data -- both internal (about our boards) as well as external (digital and social media usage habits in today's world). While many here have argued that the site's traffic will significantly decline because the majority was made up by usage of this board, our numbers did not show that. Over the last several years, we have seen significant declines in the number of active users while audiences on other social platforms have drastically increased. We understand that the smaller group of regular board users here are extremely active and we very much value your avid support of our team. We are constantly evaluating everything we do with the intentions of delivering the best to our fans and reaching the widest number of fans that we can. There came a point when we felt that we could better server our fans if we devoted our resources -- including time -- to other initiatives.

We fully support thoughtful and insightful discussion and always prided our community on that tenet. We understand Facebook and Twitter may not be everyone's favorite modes of communication, but there are plenty of other fans who feel differently and use them to engage teams, athletes, media members and other fans in thoughtful dialogue. Everyone may not be in agreement, but it's widely accepted and acknowledged that conversation today occurs on these platforms. And while trolls and negativity are present on those channels, we have seen (particularly over the last several years) an equal amount of trolling/attacking/negativity on these boards. (I realize the users may not have seen it, but just ask the mods how many inappropriate comments have needed to be removed from this community.) The intent was never for Facebook or Twitter to completely replace the boards. We are only encouraging members to visit those platforms because they provide ways to keep you engaged with us and each other.

The "powers that be" are aware of this decision. Our team was well aware that the very active people in our community would be upset by this move. I don't want you to believe that we don't care about you, because we certainly do -- we are reading every single comment. As others have recognized though, the digital landscape is evolving and we are doing what we feel best serves our fanbase as a whole.

I am not asking that everyone now agree with our decision as I truly understand the disappointment being felt by some. However, I hope that everyone can respect the thought that went into it, know that it wasn't made on a whim and realize that the fans are always at the forefront of our minds in everything we do.

Thank you for reading. And thank you for your loyalty, support, passion, heart and dedication. It's those traits that make the Ravens Flock -- undoubtedly -- the best group of fans in the world.

14 hours ago, K-Dog said:

THIS

THIS 

THIS 

The timing is the worst, okay, maybe not the worst, but of I mean in the off season, now is the time when things are getting exciting once again. It is a terrible idea to shut it down either way, but the timing is bad. 
I love how they say " careful consideration"  I don't think that was the case.

@K-Dog @rossihunter2 We definitely considered timing, but, as @T3hRaven pointed out, there is never a best time to close these as the NFL has become a year-round topic of conversation. We have discussed this move since before the start of the season, but obviously didn't want to close the boards then. I suppose a case could have been made in closing them in mid-February -- arguably the quietest time of the League year -- but we wanted to keep them up as we continued our research and further evaluated everything. Technically, the new League year begins today, so that was an option, but it just seemed to make sense to let the community live through the end of the month.

17 hours ago, EdTheMythicalOne said:

Why did I just get a new TOS agreement again if the boards are actually closing? Why have new TOS rules if there will be no more board to post on at the end of the month?

@EdTheMythicalOne A line was added (in bold) to the top of the TOS, letting members -- new and old -- know that the boards will be shutting down at the end of the month. We wanted to ensure we communicated the message to as many members as possible in case people happen to miss the announcement or this thread. We realize that some people are checked out and will be surprised when they return after March 31, but we are using all available features to minimize that.

2 hours ago, Edgar said:

Some of us have talked about this before but a ravens podcast...even a cheesily shot weekly you tube one where guys on this board break down players....specific to Ravens needs/fit and speculate on who we might select would be a cool novelty....really think guys on this board would do a much better job than anyone I've seen or read locally.

Hi @Edgar,

I'm not sure if you are aware, but we launched a Ravens podcast -- The Lounge -- at the beginning of the season. Our writers, Ryan Mink and Garrett Downing, share their thoughts and often sit down and chat with players and other guests. The 47th episode was posted yesterday.

Check it out on iTunes, Soundcloud or wherever you listen to your podcasts.

3 hours ago, lgcs27288 said:

Im assuming all of the media coverage will be the same? I.e mailbag, LFW, etc...

Yes. This change will not affect the content on the website and mobile app.

Just to dispel the various questions of those wondering if this is an April Fools joke, it is not. March 31 will be the last day the boards remain open.

After careful consideration, we have decided that we will sunset our message boards at the end of this month. Since we opened our boards a decade ago, the digital landscape has greatly evolved. While we understand there remains a smaller group of highly-engaged fans who participate in conversation in our forums, a significant amount of the dialogue about our team and our games has migrated away to other social media platforms over the past several years.

Our message boards will remain up and running through Friday, March 31st, and will shut down on April 1st. We recognize that this change may upset avid members of our community. However, we look to utilize our time and resources to focus on how we can best connect with our fans across an array of digital/social outlets.

If you are not already engaging us and other members of the Ravens Flock on our Facebook page, Instagram account, through Twitter or Snapchat, we invite you to follow us on those channels and continue to participate in our social communities. In addition, the commenting feature on our website articles will remain intact. Members will be able to continue using their boards account to log in and share their thoughts at the bottom of every news story.

We’d like to thank all the Flock members and our moderators who have brought thoughtful conversation to this space and made our community great for the last 10 years.

Ravens Social Media Hub »

We did a board upgrade earlier today that caused some of the problems, but all the issues should now be resolved. Our apologies for the trouble. Thank you for your patience!

@52liveforever Just wanted to let you know that your message has been passed along to Ryan, Garrett, Sarah and John.

Have a nice week.

Thanks very much for pointing this out bio. We'll be sure to get this fixed after today's game.

We apologize for the trouble you're having. In our upcoming maintenance release, we have improvements both to editor auto-save clearing (the "old quotes showing back up" issue) and for the problem with the inability to post issues primarily.

Just to confirm though @Rav'n Maniac, when you submit a reply and it won't go through, is the problem you're experiencing that the button changes to "Saving" or "Submitting" but then comes back without actually saving the post? (We think we understand the issue you're speaking of, but just want to be sure we aren't looking at two different things.) Thanks very much for your time!

Hi @allblackraven,

I wanted to let you know that, over the last two days, our developers tested various pages of the site using a VPN in New Zealand. Glad to see that the problem is now resolved for you!

Preseason Game 1
Baltimore Ravens vs. Carolina Panthers
Thursday, August 11, 7:30 PM EST
M&T Bank Stadium - Baltimore, Maryland

TV: WMAR (Channel 2 in Baltimore) | WJLA | WHTM | WFXR | WWCW | CSN
Radio: 98 Rock | WBAL-1090 AM | SIRIUS: 113 | XM: 225
Local Radio Crew: Gerry Sandusky (play-by-play), Stan White (analyst), Qadry Ismail (analyst)
TV broadcast simulcast with radio during preseason games
View Full Schedule of Gameday Coverage »
Referee Crew: Terry McAulay

Download the Official Ravens Smartphone & iPad Apps or stay tuned to the Gameday page to follow the game. Listen to the live WBAL radio pre-game show and game broadcast, view live stats, videos, tweets, photos, info, watch live-streaming video of John Harbaugh and key player post-game press conferences and see on-demand game highlights.

Fans attending M&T Bank Stadium on Thursday will be able to watch Michael Phelps' 200-meter individual medley finals race (as long as he qualifies for the finals, which is expected) on the RavensVision video boards during a commercial break in the Ravens-Panthers game. The race is scheduled for 10 p.m., and Phelps will be going after his 22nd career gold medal.

Hi K-Dog,

Sorry for the confusion. We made a few changes to our primary navigation last night and intentionally removed "Forums." Hopefully today, the words "The Flock" (next to the Login/Join links) will change to "Join The Conversation" and that will link directly to the message boards. So there will still be a link to the forums in the primary navigation. You can also hover over the new "Flock" in the main navigation and there is a "Message Boards" link underneath that.

I'm glad to see that, despite your confusion, you were still able to find your way to the boards to post this message.

Thanks for your time!

The Training Camp Lottery actually opened the first week of June and closed at the end of the month. It was promoted across all our digital, mobile and social channels, so we're sorry that you weren't aware of it.

As Grapple pointed out, we're holding two practices at M&T Bank Stadium that are free and open to the public. We hope you can make one or both of those!

http://www.baltimoreravens.com/ravenstown/training-camp/stadium-practice.html

And if you're looking for team records, here you go: http://www.ravenspr.com/records/records_complete.pdf

This can be accessed from our History page: http://www.baltimoreravens.com/history