atomicfront

29 minutes ago, Moderator 2 said:

I've been waiting for this to happen, everyone thinks their forum is the best of course.  It's the people that make the board and keeping the spammers at bay. Lol

Getting to show up on Google when people search for Ravens Forum and Ravens Message Board is the key.  People are going to come and go.  If you can't get new people to come to your site it will die.  Also when people come you need to have at least a page full of threads that have response in the last day and more than three or four responses.  When you go a Ravens talk sub forum and on the first page has topics that haven't had replies in a week people will assume it is a dead site and keep moving.

3 hours ago, The Raven said:

Just about all of this is wrong.

1. The mods have always deleted posts and threads. Take that from a guy that's probably had a few hundred deleted in my time here. those rules were in place during this place's peak.

2. As for the idea that we're in a club and people stopped because of that, well, that's just reaching. That's moronic. The boards were always cliquey, even going back to 2009 when I started here. I feel like I've been one of the cliquey folks. That's not the factor.

The thing is that most people came here for hot takes, engagement, and discussions with other Ravens fans. With the ever increasing prominence of Facebook and Twitter, that function mattered less, leaving only the people who came here for discourse deeper than knee jerk reactions and hot takes. And with the growth of other forums at RSR and Reddit, the already small presence of message boarders who enjoy actual discussion was spread thin and distributed between the forums.

TL;DR? People like Facebook because they only have to read a sentence. When Facebook got even more popular, message boards, which require some level of literacyy, got less popular. We're not a society that values depth or complexity in discussion.

There are plenty of very active forums  with thousands of member posting regularly.  I post on a few and everyone is nice and the moderators only move or merge when appropriate.  I see a lot of boards die and it is mostly to bullies taking over.  This is the only one I know that is dying because of over moderation.  

Anyway the Ravens are not important if people don't discuss them or go to the games or watch them on TV anymore it is really pretty unimportant in the big scheme of things.  People can go to amusement parks, zoos,aquariums, museums or just take a hike in the woods and they will be fine.  I mean after the Colts left we were fine without them.  So if the NFL and the Ravens continue to ruin their business that is their choice.

2 hours ago, jimjim5 said:

I wholeheartedly agree. I quit coming to this site because of this fact.

People give you negative because if the truth.  Sad. And the moderators move my post to a thread about a new four, home? My post has nothing to do with a new forum home it has to do with the forum being shut down.  the moderators want to screw up the forum until the last possible moment.  Pathetic.

3 minutes ago, jazz1988 said:

Could be wrong but I  think a message board can be  busy with only 200 out of  50,000 registered fans. If so is the board really serving it's purpose if only 200 fans are actually involved with it out of  thousands?

If you have 50000 registered users and only 200 are posting I would say you would have to look what is not causing people to post as they had some desire t post when they first created their accounts.  It is easy to say people are not posting as much in forums in general but reddit's forums seem very busy.  

2 hours ago, PuRock said:

Several seasons like that will only leave the die hards still standing. And even their activity will decline.  

I don't think that has anything to do with Forum participation.  The Orioles had 14 straight losing seasons and during that time Orioles message boards were very busy. I think it actually promotes posting when a team is doing poorly because everyone has suggestions on how to fix it.  When a team is winning and most of the players are playing well what is there to discuss?

3 hours ago, Admin 3 said:

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.

Like I have said numerous times but for some reason you guys choose to delete the reason this board has less and less posts is due to the moderators.  They merge so many threads and lock others.  How can you encourage people to post or participate if there are only three threads that anyone posted in a couple of days and when someone starts a new thread it is either locked or merged?  That is discouraging people from posting. I have never been on another forum where the moderators did this.  I can see if there are multiple threads about the same thing to merge them.  For example if the Ravens sign a free agent we don't need 8 threads about it.  But if the Ravens sign a free agent or their is a suggestion to sign a specific player that thread does not need to be merged into another thread.  

I have moderated boards before and new threads lead to more conversations and more posting.  I will say that the moderation is simply what killed the boards. I would post something in someone's new thread and then it would get merged into another thread and that would cause me not post again for several months.  

I think the only people that are left are people that feel they are in a club and the majority of Ravens fans stopped posting because of this.  Also putting the Message Board link at the bottom of a sub category makes it pretty clear that you don't want people to use the message board.  

50 minutes ago, rmw10 said:

Not as crazy as you might think.  Chelsea and AC Milan played in Baltimore several years back and it was a sellout crowd.  Soccer has steadily been growing in popularity here.

That was a friendly.  I have no problem with NFL playing pre season games out of the country but regular season should be in U.S.

Orioles do this for all season ticket holders

11 hours ago, flynismo said:

No, I like it here. I plan on sticking around til it closes.

It is closing in two days so you see you on reddit.  

9 hours ago, Italian Raven said:

Buying merchandise doesn't make me a customer? Oooook..

I don't live in the US either and I bought an Ed Reed jersey, a towel, a football, a winter and a summer hat ( I'm sure I'm even missing something). I bought my gf a Torrey Smith jersey and 2 South Carolina sweathers while taking my sister a USC summer shirt.

Also, even leaving merchandising behind, what you wrote about revenues makes no sense. Ever heard of NFL game pass international? 

The league plan to bring more and more games abroad is definitely a huge help to the increase of the fanbase (who go to the games, pay a flight, hotel and tickets) and therefore its revenues. I'm sure you're one of those americans who keep advocating for the game being played in the US only because "hey, it's OUR sport...make your own dang league!".

Interesting that they deleted my original post and kept your post with a quote of my post.  Perhaps they didn't like that I quoted the moderators post that mentioned disabled people in it that I quoted as that was deleted as well.

Yeah when Serie A, Bundesliga, La Liga, and Premier League games are played in Baltimore than I would be fine with NFL games in Europe.  What are the odds of Real Madrid playing Barcelona in Baltimore?  

Lets be realistic here, Rice was cut because he wasn't producing anymore. He had his worst statistical season by far just before the incident which made the F.O. job a ton easier in parting with him. If he was still the guy who won us that game in San Diego on 4th and 29 (Hey diddle diddle) you bet you behinds they would have kept him.

He was cut because of the video. If there hadn't been a video and an outrage against the NFL because of not giving him a big suspension he wouldn't have been cut.

So we are celebrating guys who assault others and carry guns illegally? Baltimore needs more criminals? I find how you use the term "Choir Boy" as an insult to be offensive. I would rather have a player who wont' add to the cities crime rate.

15 hours ago, Moderator 3 said:

This is the reason we were given (1st post).  

My heart goes out to those members who don't really have another place to "talk" Ravens (like shut-ins, those living far away, etc.).  It's easy for me to have a conversation.  Heck, it happened in my dentist's office this morning.  For some, though, they have nobody but us to talk with.  

Well according to the post you are quoting they have Facebook and other social media platforms that are more popular than this site.  

Also some guy who is the Auckland isn't generating revenue for the Ravens.  No TV revenue, No ticket revenue.  The Ravens aren't responsible for creating a social network for people who aren't even their customers. 

10 hours ago, allblackraven said:

I appreciate what you're saying and I have no issue with any of the other frequently mentioned people who hate Flacco, Harbaugh, whatever. But I really don't understand how RayRayRaven was allowed to post so much garbage, regardless of whether he agrees or disagrees with anybody on the board. That crap is incomprehensible and I'd say obvious troll. There was no 'value' in letting his (different) opinion heard even if he was a genuine poster because there's no opinion there, there are no legible words and sentences in his posts. 

You seem to have a hard time getting along with others.  Maybe you should take an anger management course.  

2 minutes ago, flynismo said:

It's a good thing reddit isn't closing any time soon then. Feel free to sign up over there.

You too. 

2 hours ago, The Mom Gene said:

We can agree to disagree on that.  If there were no good reason, then they wouldn't be shutting it down.

 

I will agree that it was a great place to bring Ravens fans together.  The site isn't going away.  Just the forums are.

I blame AllBlackRaven

2 hours ago, rossihunter2 said:

of course it's a community - i dont know why that's mutually exclusive from it being a place to discuss ravens related info

if you dont like the way this forum works then dont use it... but there are clear rules that the mods work within which are signposted when you join the site - i dont know what you think we should do differently? should we not enjoy the draft coverage as a group if we want to? should we not agree with each other and disagree with you just because you dont want us to?

Arguing about whether I should use a forum that will be eliminated in 3 days seems pretty pointless.  There is no rule that states don't mention who the Ravens drafted until after everyone has found out about it from means other than this site.  Like I said you should have started another thread for your viewing party. Of course if you did that the moderators would have merged the threads. 

2 hours ago, Moderator 3 said:

How about one simple rule: don't be a jerk.

Well I wish you followed  that advice and didn't merge all my threads and other threads that I responded to. 

2 hours ago, Grapple Raven said:

I don't know how much he could add to the offense, but Keenan Reynolds might not be available according to this article. The policy Keenan was under was rescinded yesterday and Keenan couldn't be reached for comment as to how this order will affect his military status.

Ravens Insider‏ @RavensInsider 5h5 hours ago

More

Department of Defense rescinds 2016 policy that helped military academy athletes defer duty to go pro http://dlvr.it/P2Tb9v 

I would think that the Military is a better career option for Keenan at this point.  I don't really understand why this policy existed in the first place.  

3 hours ago, polynesian15 said:

I don't think I'm misjudging, but to each his own. I specifically stated that I like Torrey, and Boldin + Jacoby as well for that matter. I was merely comparing the talent level of the to receiver corps, and personally I don't think the SB cast was significantly more talented than the current one. That's where the discussion started. Add to that the FACT that Ozzie will add another weapon before the season - perhaps our old friend Anquan. Then I think this passing offense is ready to produce adequately along with a suffocating defense.
However, this all depends on the line blocking, the running game becoming viable, and Joe's confidence and comfort level returning to pre-injury status. 

We are all aware of that. Are you aware that Torrey played his rookie season allowing him to gather yards in about 32 games? Did you know that Torrey was the only dependable WR other than Anquan (that's how despicable depth was back then compared to now imo) so he had a good amount of targets as the #2? More targets usually equals better production simply through more opportunity. Did you know that Torrey hasn't really had to deal with injury throughout his career, thus allowing him to hone his craft consistently without major setbacks?

To your second point: rest assured, Ozzie will add another veteran presence to the WR corp. No need to worry about it 4 months from the season.
Perriman will get a starting shot this season. If he stays healthy throughout the season yet underperforms in a mad way; say 20 rec/190 yards/1 TD, then I'll happily agree with your statements and worries. But I hardly doubt that's gonna happen, do you?

In relation to player health and injuries: they just happen. You can only carry 53 players on the squad (and likely a max of 6 WRs) so how do you select your corp. Mediocre/aging players with no history of injury? And do you simply discard a player with immense potential and talent because he had a knee injury?  

You are saying 190 yards and 20 receptions is your over and under?  I am sure there are ton of undrafted guys out there that could do much more than that if they were top 2 on the Ravens.   Torrey put up 1100 yards in his third season. I would say anything under 800 yards would be a big disappointment at this point. Shoot Aiken got more than that when he was a top 2 receiver.  

11 hours ago, purpletide said:

Then maybe Facebook is more for you, no reason to contribute to the conversation if you see the community being that way. As for the "bullying" thing, I could see that if people just constantly used ad hominems and ridiculed for the very idea of an alternate perspective, but that's mostly coming from the person trying to defend themself (i.e. you saying "you guys are like three year olds"), but people bring different reasons as to why they disagree with an opinion, hence why everyone is flooding a single person. People aren't just attacking people because they have the audacity to have an opinion, they're trying to prove their side as right, turns out that's on Facebook as well as any forum you can come across. Also, yet again you seem to care a little bit too much about down votes, I don't see why you would call it juvenile for the reasons I mentioned earlier, and you use no dislikes as a positive for Facebook. As I said, they're not meant to be taken to heart, just adds context as to what the general community feels about a comment, there's no positive or negative to down votes.

The thing is it is not your "community".  It has nothing to do with you. I have as much right to post my opinions as you do.  Like I said people begin to think it belong to a few members. I am just as important as you or anyone else who posts here. I buy Ravens tickets and I watched them on TV.  I am sure some guy with 20,000 posts from Australia isn't buying many tickets to games or watch games on Network TV.  .   It isn't a community it is just a place to discuss Ravens related information.  It is supposed to be a fun excursion from real life. 

6 hours ago, polynesian15 said:

Because he got injured the first day of TC the year before and was sidelined much of TC the following year - i.e. he had to get up to speed, get reps in, get his footing etc. Don't get me wrong I like Torrey, and he was a valuable, if one sided, down field threat for us. But he always caught the ball in his belly, and he lacked physicality in a big way. Very seldom would you see him go up and out-muscle db's - cue that last play in the AFC championship vs NE. Perriman had his rookie season last year, and despite being used sparringly he displayed incredible feats we never saw from Torrey. 
You'll be smiling midway through next season when Perriman is balling. 

Sure injuries suck, but ALL players get hurt at some point - it's part of the game. Torrey had produced more, but he didn't miss an entire season. Don't know about the drops (anyone have statistics?), but I think most of Breshad's drops will vanish next season because he's getting settled in. Torrey was a starting receiver opposit Bolding because the rest of the cast consisted of Laquan, Doss, Reed etc.
Perriman had to compete for targets against Smitty, Wallace and Aiken. You know Smitty and Wallace are the starters there, and Aiken proved productive on occasion - and again Perriman came off major injury. Not the case for Torrey.

 

Well so far Perriman hasn't produced like Torrey did.  I believe in giving him a chance to be one of our top 2 but we still need another proven wide receiver on the team.  To go into the receiving core we have now is likely to lead to a season where we don't compete.  

41 minutes ago, rossihunter2 said:

why does anyone do anything? none of it matters...

what's the point in even posting on this forum for example... none of it is significant...

yet you still do it...

I am only posting because there are only few days left and the moderators have annoyed me by merging all my posts. Every thread I ever started got merged into an unrelated thread.  And then I get my posts deleted when I mention it.  Then I get my posts deleted when I mention who the Ravens drafted.  Then I mention that off topic is probably not the best place for new Ravens forums and that is deleted.  And they wonder why the forum gets so little traffic.

36 minutes ago, purpletide said:

I never said they were significant in any way, they're just a way of showing what the general reception a response has. They're not supposed to be taken as important, just shows what the community thinks of a certain idea. Just because the boards are shutting down doesn't mean that people don't feel the need to show how ignorant they find a comment to be. But you see a lot of down votes on things like mock drafts that people don't agree with and misinformed opinions, you are the only one that feels the need to let people know that you disagree with their down votes. Most people would defend their opinion, sure, just not ridicule the very idea that someone disagrees.

I don't disagree with the right for someone to have an opinion but down votes is juvenile.  And the community?  Seems like that is why message boards are dying out.  Tend to end up being a bunch of bullies who attack anyone who disagrees with the group think of a few people.  That is why Facebook is more popular.  People put their real names and photos on there.   And all your friends and family can see your behavior.  And no dislikes. 

39 minutes ago, purpletide said:

You can tell he isn't bothered by down votes because he has to specifically say he doesn't care about them.

I don't care about them.  Give me more.  I think it is funny on a board they are shutting down you are giving them out.  It is sad actual

y that you think an up vote or a down vote is significant in anyway.