A bit of a poll / open discussion...

[Ganpati's Goonerz--AFC's Aboriginal Fertility Cult]

Anyway,lurkers! What would YOU like to see changed/improved?

Ok, as a lurker since dial up days:

1. Tree view was much better. Every night I could scroll down and appreciate the one-liner jokes and still find the posts I wanted to dip inside.
2. Even though I mostly read at night, so there wasn't much point in replying, I could find things and reply to people by PM. I can't find that now. But I used to have PM conversations one post each per day with people like Jorge and Herbie - not great for the board, I accept, but I enjoyed it.
3. Personally, I liked Jorge. I miss him.
4. Yes, it is cliquey for outsiders. I could post something and see it ignored. {I dunno - Feo not squaring it in the 80th min} A couple of posts later, one of the in crowd would say exactly the same thing and it gets ten replies in ten mins. Am I really gonna join that thread when those ten people have made it clear that they will only discuss said Feo ****up with their mates, not with me?
5. Though since the board's died, I now to get replies. I've had more replies in the last 2 months than I have all century. Perhaps the in crowd should have treated the many other like me as they now do as opposed to ignoring us all until there were only half a dozen people left.
6. Yes the AW/Septic owner disaster is to blame. Everyone's depressed by it. cf that eternally optimistic paddy blogger. Even he's now saying what I've been moaning about the yank ****ing the club. If we'd bought a worldie this summer there would be more traffic. I reckon we know this season is over all ready and that this may be the end - it's certainly not gonna be 1998-2006 again for a while.
7. Thread hijacks. Even now, when I do get replies, I'll post. {Unfortunately, as as lurker who never used to get any replies, I still often forget to check to see if anyone has responded.} Now I do, eg half an hour after my post, I'll have say 10 replies. {10 more than I used to get, I admit.} First 3 will be about the subject and then it's 2 people talking about what wine goes with what they're eating that night. No point in me joining in - I like food and wine, but it's clear the thread is now for them, not me.
8. I dunno much about social media - I don't use twitter or facebook etc - so I'm not the one to say if this is killing forums. All I do know is that last April, some mid-table team beat/drew with Sperz meaning their title bid was ****ed. WBA I think. I went to their forum {bit brown nosed, I admit} to say "well done lads, I saw you beat us 3-2 at ours a few years back but I don't begrudge you now cos you've ****ed up the Sperz. Respect" I had about 40 replies that night. And there were hundreds of other posts replies. Do they not have blogs and social media too?
9. When I pointed that out here, someone said its cos all Arsenal fans have moved to commenting on blogs. So I went to Arseblog to see if this was true - yes hundreds of comments {called Arses} but nothing like the conversation you used to get here. Can't believe people have switched from here to Arseblog. It's not the same at all.
10. So old people leaving and not being replaced has become a viscous circle. More leave, fewer join. Repeat ad infinitum. It feels cliquey to outsiders, the team is on a downward spiral, no PM, no nightshift, no treeview, thread hijacks, no replies but the same post will be replied to if made by one of the in crowd, many of the best posters going with no-one welcomed as a replacement, etc etc.

That's just the take of this lurker.

Hope it all works out cos I've enjoyed it, but I do reckon the club is in the worst place it could be. If we dropped to mid table we'd at least have some cup runs/ upsets to look forward to. A regular change over of players. But the yanks owner and AW going mad don't help.

But please tell me cos I was away. What did you lot do to Jorge?

Herbie's barely here anymore. LA may not have liked me much, but at least what he wrote was informative and insightful, and if I posted something intelligent he'd give me a respectful reply. But as a lefty, we needed Jorge to balance the arriviste Tories, and now he's gone political discussion is pointless. "I say, don't you agree that the '97 vintage is the best when eating roast pleb?" "Yes, old boy, but the '98 in the best for feminist tartare" "Your mum"

So anyway, in the unlikely event anyone will reply to me, what happened to J and can I at least PM him somehow to say cheerio?

[Ash]

{stuff}

I'm sure I have responded to you quite often, GG--AAFC. Though you do sometimes rant a bit, if I may say so.

If you find it cliquey, it has always been so, and more so in the past because, as you point out, occasional posters stood out less amongst the din. We all get ignored from time to time, but it's hard to become a part of a community if you don't try. Lurking, making the odd post then sulking if it doesn't get the attention you sought might not be the best approach. The quality of posts, rather than their length, can have a lot to do with how they are recieved. Worth thinking about.

To say that it is not worth discussing politics because Jorge is not here seems odd if you tended to agree with him, unless you are one of those who prefer to discuss politics with those who agree with you, rather than disagree. There is a tendancy to big up posters who have left, saying "I hardly ever post, and you lot are all crap anyway, not like good old XZY". Then complain that you don't get attention.

Jorge left after Burnley said something like "Fùck off and die. Seriously" to him.

[Pat Vegas]

I'm sure I have responded to you quite often, GG--AAFC. Though you do sometimes rant a bit, if I may say so.

If you find it cliquey, it has always been so, and more so in the past because, as you point out, occasional posters stood out less amongst the din. We all get ignored from time to time, but it's hard to become a part of a community if you don't try. Lurking, making the odd post then sulking if it doesn't get the attention you sought might not be the best approach. The quality of posts, rather than their length, can have a lot to do with how they are recieved. Worth thinking about.

To say that it is not worth discussing politics because Jorge is not here seems odd if you tended to agree with him, unless you are one of those who prefer to discuss politics with those who agree with you, rather than disagree. There is a tendancy to big up posters who have left, saying "I hardly ever post, and you lot are all crap anyway, not like good old XZY". Then complain that you don't get attention.

Jorge left after Burnley said something like "Fùck off and die. Seriously" to him.

I think everyone is taking this place way too seriously. Which I was sure guilty of doing in the past. When I first started posting on here people ignored me and thought I was annoying.

[Ash]

I think everyone is taking this place way too seriously. Which I was sure guilty of doing in the past. When I first started posting on here people ignored me and thought I was annoying.

Right. And most of the occasional posters I take the trouble to talk to just ignore my efforts anyway. Like all these gentlemen making helpful kitchen recommendations, and all those keen to discuss the trending topic of GD design. No manners, you see.

[Ganpati's Goonerz--AFC's Aboriginal Fertility Cult]

I'm sure I have responded to you quite often, GG--AAFC. Though you do sometimes rant a bit, if I may say so.

If you find it cliquey, it has always been so, and more so in the past because, as you point out, occasional posters stood out less amongst the din. We all get ignored from time to time, but it's hard to become a part of a community if you don't try. Lurking, making the odd post then sulking if it doesn't get the attention you sought might not be the best approach. The quality of posts, rather than their length, can have a lot to do with how they are recieved. Worth thinking about.

To say that it is not worth discussing politics because Jorge is not here seems odd if you tended to agree with him, unless you are one of those who prefer to discuss politics with those who agree with you, rather than disagree. There is a tendancy to big up posters who have left, saying "I hardly ever post, and you lot are all crap anyway, not like good old XZY". Then complain that you don't get attention.

Jorge left after Burnley said something like "Fùck off and die. Seriously" to him.

Dunno how to cut up a quote so:

1. I know you have been decent. Everyone here has, tbh. It's hard to explain, really. I haven't done good job of it.

2. I'm not ungrateful. I've always been a lurker. The irony is that if I posted at 1am before, it wouldn't be seen. Now with no night shift, people have been taking up my posts the nest day. Seriously, more replies in the last 2 months than all century. It's just we all wish it was like before, don't we?

3. Again, don't take it the wrong way? Where did I say you're all crap? I was still lurking and posting last night, wasn't I? Chris asked what has changed, someone said ask a Lurker, so I replied. Damned if I do, damned if I don't? Just saying what had changed for me.

And again, I'm not complaining I don't get the attention. I get far more than I deserve and everyone is generally both respectful and witty. Why do I still pop in after 15+ years?

4. So J basically flounced?

[Ash]

4. So J basically flounced?

No, he just left. To flounce you have to dramatically tell everyone you're leaving and, well, flounce out. Jorge slipped away quietly in the night.

[Sir C]

Dunno how to cut up a quote so:

1. I know you have been decent. Everyone here has, tbh. It's hard to explain, really. I haven't done good job of it.

2. I'm not ungrateful. I've always been a lurker. The irony is that if I posted at 1am before, it wouldn't be seen. Now with no night shift, people have been taking up my posts the nest day. Seriously, more replies in the last 2 months than all century. It's just we all wish it was like before, don't we?

3. Again, don't take it the wrong way? Where did I say you're all crap? I was still lurking and posting last night, wasn't I? Chris asked what has changed, someone said ask a Lurker, so I replied. Damned if I do, damned if I don't? Just saying what had changed for me.

And again, I'm not complaining I don't get the attention. I get far more than I deserve and everyone is generally both respectful and witty. Why do I still pop in after 15+ years?

4. So J basically flounced?

Forgive the intrusion, but I find it very hard to believe that j flounced as a result of b giving him both barrels; j has been involved in many, many robust exchanges over the years (haven't we all?) and shrugged them off. I have a sneaking suspicion that he had simply grown tired of casting the radical leftist seed hither and yon only to look in vague for the growth of any seedlings.

[Ash]

Forgive the intrusion, but I find it very hard to believe that j flounced as a result of b giving him both barrels; j has been involved in many, many robust exchanges over the years (haven't we all?) and shrugged them off. I have a sneaking suspicion that he had simply grown tired of casting the radical leftist seed hither and yon only to look in vague for the growth of any seedlings.

Well, there was a message from him that called us all fascists, about which I am disappoint, but it's always easiest to deal with political differences by shouting 'fascist' at everyone.

Anyway, if he were still here, he could have given us the low-down on these two expected new players, whose careers he will certainly have followed in detail.

[Sir C]

Well, there was a message from him that called us all fascists, about which I am disappoint, but it's always easiest to deal with political differences by shouting 'fascist' at everyone.

Anyway, if he were still here, he could have given us the low-down on these two expected new players, whose careers he will certainly have followed in detail.

Yes, I have recently been described here as both a 'fascist', and an 'uber Brit supremacist', so I suppose I ought to flounce, really.

I'll give it some thought before deciding.

[Ganpati's Goonerz--AFC's Aboriginal Fertility Cult]

Forgive the intrusion, but I find it very hard to believe that j flounced as a result of b giving him both barrels; j has been involved in many, many robust exchanges over the years (haven't we all?) and shrugged them off. I have a sneaking suspicion that he had simply grown tired of casting the radical leftist seed hither and yon only to look in vague for the growth of any seedlings.

So is there no PM any more? Can we not ask him politely to come back?