ANNOUNCEMENT: Boards Closing May 5 (New Date)

[rmw10]

1 minute ago, jimjim5 said:

I personally think and IIRC, when the past format changes to the BaltimoreRavens.com website were enacted, the link to the forums became obscure; initially, I couldn't find the forum/boards link again. I think this change, plus the fact that the Ravens have cast a less that stellar product on the field has definitely led to this board's demise.

Case in point, the "Join the Conversation" link has disappeared on the website, pointing to the ominous sign of the forums going dark. I'm sure many didn't even realize this piece. I'm willing to bet those changes to a more mobile friendly, but less visually spectacular website killed things.

Too bad, as this board was the bees-knees.

This too.  It used to be front and center on the homepage.  I know this complain was brought up around the time of the update, and it was said that nothing was going to be done about it.  The product on the field contributes but we were probably pushed in this direction as well.

[PolishRifle]

Goodbye Ravens messageboard. Had some fun times here. ;o

[jimjim5]

27 minutes ago, rmw10 said:

This too.  It used to be front and center on the homepage.  I know this complain was brought up around the time of the update, and it was said that nothing was going to be done about it.  The product on the field contributes but we were probably pushed in this direction as well.

Yes. I feel like it was planned obsolescence. 

[RavensFanMania]

35 minutes ago, jimjim5 said:

I personally think and IIRC, when the past format changes to the BaltimoreRavens.com website were enacted, the link to the forums became obscure; initially, I couldn't find the forum/boards link again. I think this change, plus the fact that the Ravens have cast a less that stellar product on the field has definitely led to this board's demise.

Case in point, the "Join the Conversation" link has disappeared on the website, pointing to the ominous sign of the forums going dark. I'm sure many didn't even realize this piece. I'm willing to bet those changes to a more mobile friendly, but less visually spectacular website killed things.

Too bad, as this board was the bees-knees.

I absolutely agree with this point.  Our of sight out of mind.......

[The Raven]

2 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.

Follow up question: Why close the board if it wasn't a financial decision? I can understand closing a slowing board if the financials were a burden, but if it wasn't a financial decision, why do it at all?

Further, if the issue is human capital, shouldn't there be less time/effort spent if engagement is declining?

Are mods not volunteers? I don't want to minimize what they do by any means, but it is volunteer work that they choose to do.

Frankly, I don't see how much thought went into this at all. I'm not seeing any good reason to close this.

Edited 1 hour ago by The Raven

[jimjim5]

The big piece that's not being mentioned is the forum having critical analysis of players, coaches, and the organization while "officially" being linked to the Baltimore Ravens. That can be very conflicting from a media perspective. Too easy to find negative press and/or "near" insider information and evaluations, no matter how off-base they may be.

[The Raven]

Just now, jimjim5 said:

The big piece that's not being mentioned is the forum having critical analysis of players, coaches, and the organization while "officially" being linked to the Baltimore Ravens. That can be very conflicting from a media perspective. Too easy to find negative press and/or "near" insider information and evaluations, no matter how off-base they may be.

I think you're a little far down the rabbit hole with that one. I don't think that's it at all.

[RavensFanMania]

4 minutes ago, jimjim5 said:

The big piece that's not being mentioned is the forum having critical analysis of players, coaches, and the organization while "officially" being linked to the Baltimore Ravens. That can be very conflicting from a media perspective. Too easy to find negative press and/or "near" insider information and evaluations, no matter how off-base they may be.

That happens a lot in the news articles replies as well, so I don't think this is it.

[allblackraven]

1 minute ago, The Raven said:

I think you're a little far down the rabbit hole with that one. I don't think that's it at all.

Yup. If anything, comments on news would be the first to go in that case.

[jimjim5]

15 minutes ago, allblackraven said:

Yup. If anything, comments on news would be the first to go in that case.

You are probably right, but I have always pictured this nonetheless, as the Ravens media does glean through social media.

Edited 1 hour ago by jimjim5

[jazz1988]

So overall not many fans really are active on the board for the past two years and the purpose of the board in the first place was so  Raven fans or football fans in general  could  register and come together to discuss  about topics sport related rather it's about The Ravens, other football teams, the draft, fantasy football and etc. if there's 70,000 people register on this site and only 100 or so people are  actually active on the board then that's sad. Not only is it showing very few actually value the board but  money is involved towards  the maintenance of the board and more for the fans that actually post and etc.Even though money isn't the issue and isn't the reason why the board is closing down it's probably most likely looked upon as a waste of money since very few fans actually seem to value it and no business wants to waste money especially if they don't have to.

Edited 1 hour ago by jazz1988

[atomicfront]

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.  

[atomicfront]

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?

[jazz1988]

21 minutes ago, atomicfront said:

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?

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?

[atomicfront]

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.  

[jazz1988]

2 minutes ago, atomicfront said:

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.  

I agree .