The death of the Buffalo Bills Message Board - how did it happen?

[Royale with Cheese]

10 hours ago, frostbitmic said:

I believe Boyko had it shut down because of the negativity on the site. Of course that happens with nearly two decades of failure.

 

I don't get the hate for the mods over there tho, they had a thankless job and had to deal with people trying to push their buttons on a non stop basis.

 

There were a lot of good posters over there and a lot of them made the switch over here and there were a ton of good posters here already. There were also a lot of bad posters there and thankfully not all of them made it over here. Maybe some had already been banned here before infecting the BBMB.

 

I'm glad that this site is here though and thank those running it so us fans have a place to talk about our team.

 

 

 

 

 

That and too many users creating too many threads.  There would literally be 3-5 threads about the same topic.  Many wanted to be heard so they wouldn't comment in the existing thread so they created their own.  Then fighting would happen because people were sick of seeing the same threads and the thread creators would get sick of being called out for creating another thread.

 

Then you just had some bad posting for a long time.  There would be people who looked they had a 3rd grade grammar level commenting and creating threads.  Some of threads/posts, you couldn't understand because the grammar was so poor....you couldn't read it.   I forgot his name but there was one particular poster who had extremely bad grammar, couldn't understand him through spelling/content/sentence structure and would create 5 threads a day every day. 

[Gugny]

12 minutes ago, bobobonators said:

All i know is I preferred the old TBD,  before the influx of new users from BBMB. 

 

I think the mods have handled the influx well.  They quickly jettisoned the ones who were clearly here to make trouble.  Others, they've been pretty patient.  But in the last couple weeks, I've seen the "hammer" come down a little more, so I think the honeymoon is over.  I think it's pretty clear what the "culture" of the board is, and those who can't conform ... I think we'll see less and less of them.  I think a lot of high-quality posters came here.  As long as the clean-up continues, in the end, I think TBD will be better from the BBMB shutdown.

[Pirate Angel]

It was that damn sasquatch

[Royale with Cheese]

2 minutes ago, Gugny said:

 

I think the mods have handled the influx well.  They quickly jettisoned the ones who were clearly here to make trouble.  Others, they've been pretty patient.  But in the last couple weeks, I've seen the "hammer" come down a little more, so I think the honeymoon is over.  I think it's pretty clear what the "culture" of the board is, and those who can't conform ... I think we'll see less and less of them.  I think a lot of high-quality posters came here.  As long as the clean-up continues, in the end, I think TBD will be better from the BBMB shutdown.

JM being thrown out was, I guess, a "big one"?  He was consistently posting on here and BBMB.  Probably one of the more active posters between 2 sites.

He simply couldn't handle someone having a different opinion than him.

[Patrick Duffy]

9 minutes ago, Royale with Cheese said:

 

That and too many users creating too many threads.  There would literally be 3-5 threads about the same topic.  Many wanted to be heard so they wouldn't comment in the existing thread so they created their own.  Then fighting would happen because people were sick of seeing the same threads and the thread creators would get sick of being called out for creating another thread.

 

Then you just had some bad posting for a long time.  There would be people who looked they had a 3rd grade grammar level commenting and creating threads.  Some of threads/posts, you couldn't understand because the grammar was so poor....you couldn't read it.   I forgot his name but there was one particular poster who had extremely bad grammar, couldn't understand him through spelling/content/sentence structure and would create 5 threads a day every day. 

 

It was Teef's fault

[Guffalo]

Scott, have you ever been contacted by the Bills regarding this message board? Earlier replies in this topic discuss censorship by the mods under the employ/ control of the Bills organization. I wonder if TBD/Scott has ever been  confronted by an angry Bills representative or lawyer for content that they may feel unfairly slanders the team/players. 

[Royale with Cheese]

Just now, Patrick_Duffy said:

 

It was Teef's fault

 

It always is.  He drinks cheap beer and enjoys it.....so disturbing.

[co_springs_billsfan]

TBD works a lot better than the old BBMB forum.  I'm not so much upset that it is gone, but the way it went down still bugs me. No warning. I felt abandoned and alone until finding this place. I think it happened right before free agency, too.  It would have been nice to have a week or two notice for people to prepare.  

 

I still won't give the main Bills site any traffic cause I'm bitter. ?

[Patrick Duffy]

Just now, Royale with Cheese said:

 

It always is.  He drinks cheap beer and enjoys it.....so disturbing.

Yup, always drinking up all the beer and wine, and running around naked showing his ass. And trashing up Apple Bees.

[Royale with Cheese]

Just now, Patrick_Duffy said:

Yup, always drinking up all the beer and wine, and running around naked showing his ass. And trashing up Apple Bees.

 

I just don't understand how someone can trash Applebees.  It's one of America's favorite comfort food restaurants.

[DaBillsFanSince1973]

11 minutes ago, Royale with Cheese said:

JM being thrown out was, I guess, a "big one"?  He was consistently posting on here and BBMB.  Probably one of the more active posters between 2 sites.

He simply couldn't handle someone having a different opinion than him.

 

 

thrown out?

 

JM2009 

[blacklabel]

13 hours ago, BuffaloRush said:

It's been quite some time since the Buffalo Bills Message Board was shut down.  In fact, that's how I landed here.  My question is - how did it all go down.  From my understanding the moderators were all volunteers and the head moderator was named Z-man.    How they became moderators and who made them moderators?  I have no idea.  I believe that Chris Brown oversaw the BBMB at one time but had very limited involvement with it. 

 

From what I can surmise, the board went down very shortly after Derek Boyko was hired.  So my guess is that he evaluated the website and decided the website had to go.  Clearly this was one area that Scott Berchtold must have not really paid much attention to.  

 

All I know is that one day, I went to log in and then there was a message that it was gone.

 

Here are my questions:

 

- Who was from the Bills organization was responsible for the BBMB?

- Who picked the moderators?

- Did anyone from the Bills even know or care that the BBMB existed?

- Who were the moderators exactly?

- How did the death of the BBMB occur and why was the decision made?

 -Who made the call and how were the moderators notified?

 

So many questions - but hopefully with the knowledge of this board we can get some answers.  I am really loving Two Bills Drive by the way.  Way better people and better conversation overall

 

I had been signed up for the BBMB since 2002. In 2004 they overhauled it and that was the forum/system they used until it was shut down.

 

The reasoning they gave was because they felt other social media platforms (Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Snapchat, etc) would be more effective/better at reaching their fans than a message board. Shortly before they decided on that, they hired a new guy to head up their PR department and I think he made the call.

 

I was never a moderator and I didn't know any of them but I remember wyobillsfan (something to that effect) being a mod, maybe, at one point. I think her name is Robyn and she has some stuff that goes up on the SB Nation blog (Buffalo Rumblings) from time to time.

 

The board was a daily stop for me. There were times when it sucked and every post was drab and negative. There were also a handful of people who liked to troll, make up different usernames and do things specifically to rile people up.

 

I don't recall mods being "ban happy" but I never paid that close attention. I do recall there were a handful of posters with legitimate connections and inside information that they would post about from time to time. There was a guy that would be more active around draft time and usually he was pretty accurate in predicting the prospects/free agents they were going after, leading some to believe he actually worked in the scouting department (he denied this) and most to think that he probably had a friend or family member that did work in the front office in some aspect. 

 

I was aware of this board while BBMB was still up and it has definitely seen a major uptick in traffic and new users and it's pretty good. I'm sure some of the "OG" TwoBillsDrive board members haven't been thrilled with the migration of posters from BBMB but this board is super active and usually pretty good.

 

As for how the Bills are doing with their numerous social media platforms... it's awful. Every Facebook/Twitter/Insta post has tons of comments with 80% of them ripping the team and players. The other 20% are supportive or trying to tell the negative people to can it. I tend to stay away from any comment section discussions regarding da Bills because it's usually a crapshow.

[Big Turk]

Too many posts similar to this one

[Gugny]

13 minutes ago, Royale with Cheese said:

 

It always is.  He drinks cheap beer and enjoys it.....so disturbing.

 

If your property taxes were $20,000, you'd drink cheap beer, too.

[Fan in Chicago]

13 hours ago, SDS said:

 

Disagree. A lot of good people have joined. A few others weren’t a god fit. No worries. ?

Watch it, Scott. McD is influencing your thoughts 

 

 

Question to BBMB refugees - who or what the heck is Crusher ?

Edited December 1, 2017 by Fan in Chicago

[Royale with Cheese]

14 minutes ago, DaBillsFanSince1973 said:

 

 

thrown out?

 

JM2009 

 

I believe he's permabanned.

11 minutes ago, Gugny said:

 

If your property taxes were $20,000, you'd drink cheap beer, too.

 

That's why I don't live in Rochester.  

[nedboy7]

A better question would

be how did it get this so dumb?  

[corta765]

I love TBD far better then BBMB. I do agree the sudden death was unexpected but the quality of threads here for the most part is far improved and a lot of sillyness is non existent here.

[DaBillsFanSince1973]

17 minutes ago, Royale with Cheese said:

 

I believe he's permabanned.

 

oh, I thought it showed "banned" but must be "permabanned" still shows an active account?

[Gugny]

1 minute ago, DaBillsFanSince1973 said:

 

oh, I thought it showed "banned" but must be "permabanned" still shows an active account?

 

Do something to get banned.  I'll check your profile out and let you know what it says.  Just PM your email first. 

[DaBillsFanSince1973]

1 minute ago, Gugny said:

 

Do something to get banned.  I'll check your profile out and let you know what it says.  Just PM your email first. 

 

 

I'm good. thanks

 

I was just curious is all as I have seen banned members here in the past showed "banned". maybe this new site doesn't do that.

[Billsfansinceday1]

This has come up a number of times both here and on other message boards so I thought I would chime in to answer some questions and perhaps correct some misconceptions.  On the BBMB, I was known as MASH/BFID and was one of the mods for the last 3+ years of the BBMB's existence.  I registered here under a new user name, to get a new start, but have been "outed" previously so I am comfortable stating the following things as far as I know them to be true.

 

1.  The mods had as much advance notice of the closure of the board as everyone else (ie none).

2.  With #1 stated, it was pretty clear for a very long time that OBD had lost interest in the BBMB.  There was no support at all from OBD and tech support was non-existent.  As a result, spambots were rampant.  Being the early bird mod, I would routinely ban 50-100 spambots every morning so they could infect the board with trash or porn or whatever.

3.  The mods were not picked per se nor were we compensated (we did receive signed mini helmets one year from Gregg Pastore...mine is here on my desk signed by Kyle Williams).  Mods did come and go for a variety of reasons and one was even banned for being so extremely abusive (Teratoma, who was before my time as a mod).  Essentially, we volunteered and had a clean posting history, and there was a need for additional support.

4.  The BBMB was certainly read by some at OBD, although, we really didn't know who.  I receive the Bills Digest and the last page of every episode was all quotes from members of the BBMB with comments from OBD staff to summarize the view of the topic from the top.  They obviously knew who was good and who was bad.

5.  There are a lot of comments here about the degree of moderation and I tend to agree with a lot of it but not all of it.  Early on, I talked at length with Robyn (WYO) who was the lead mod at the time and the co-author of the Code of Conduct.  Tom Donahoe, the previous Bills GM,  was a regular reader of the BBMB and despised all the negativity toward him and the organization...to the point that he threatened to shut it down.  As a result, a fairly stringent CoC was written to ensure the survival of the board.

6.  Regarding #5, was there some abuse by mods, sure.  Personally, I started out being too adherent to the CoC and infracted or banned some people who shouldn't have been.  As time went on, I tapered my moderating style while others may not have.  WYO tended to advocate for the "scalpel" approach rather than the "hammer".  Once she was gone, we migrated toward our own personal styles for better or for worse.

7.  Some members there did get extremely personal and abusive, especially on game day and around the draft.  If it carried over, they may have gone away, many who returned under another name.

8.  There was a fair amount of disagreement behind the scene about some of the infractions and bans, some of it quite accusatory.  Without a strong lead mod, there was no "referee" so things tended to get more personal and vindictive, or at least that was my impression.  Others would probably disagree with this, but se la vie.

9.  I am not aware of any new member being banned, unless their IP address was that of a PBU (Previously Banned User) or an address identified as a spam address.  

10.  It was stated here that mods had 2nd accounts.  The only occasion that I can think of was when we needed to test a new feature and needed an account other than our main user name.  

11.  I am also happy to be able to type "vague" without it hitting a language filter.  No idea how that happened, but it was clearly unintended consequences.

 

That's about it.  I really did enjoy the BBMB and there were a lot of very valuable contributors there, many of whom are now here.  I do enjoy it here and appreciate the discussion.

 

Edit:  Bills Chick was a mod.

Edited December 1, 2017 by Billsfansinceday1

[Brianmoorman4jesus]

14 minutes ago, Billsfansinceday1 said:

This has come up a number of times both here and on other message boards so I thought I would chime in to answer some questions and perhaps correct some misconceptions.  On the BBMB, I was known as MASH/BFID and was one of the mods for the last 3+ years of the BBMB's existence.  I registered here under a new user name, to get a new start, but have been "outed" previously so I am comfortable stating the following things as far as I know them to be true.

 

1.  The mods had as much advance notice of the closure of the board as everyone else (ie none).

2.  With #1 stated, it was pretty clear for a very long time that OBD had lost interest in the BBMB.  There was no support at all from OBD and tech support was non-existent.  As a result, spambots were rampant.  Being the early bird mod, I would routinely ban 50-100 spambots every morning so they could infect the board with trash or porn or whatever.

3.  The mods were not picked per se nor were we compensated (we did receive signed mini helmets one year from Gregg Pastore...mine is here on my desk signed by Kyle Williams).  Mods did come and go for a variety of reasons and one was even banned for being so extremely abusive (Teratoma, who was before my time as a mod).  Essentially, we volunteered and had a clean posting history, and there was a need for additional support.

4.  The BBMB was certainly read by some at OBD, although, we really didn't know who.  I receive the Bills Digest and the last page of every episode was all quotes from members of the BBMB with comments from OBD staff to summarize the view of the topic from the top.  They obviously knew who was good and who was bad.

5.  There are a lot of comments here about the degree of moderation and I tend to agree with a lot of it but not all of it.  Early on, I talked at length with Robyn (WYO) who was the lead mod at the time and the co-author of the Code of Conduct.  Tom Donahoe, the previous Bills GM,  was a regular reader of the BBMB and despised all the negativity toward him and the organization...to the point that he threatened to shut it down.  As a result, a fairly stringent CoC was written to ensure the survival of the board.

6.  Regarding #5, was there some abuse by mods, sure.  Personally, I started out being too adherent to the CoC and infracted or banned some people who shouldn't have been.  As time went on, I tapered my moderating style while others may not have.  WYO tended to advocate for the "scalpel" approach rather than the "hammer".  Once she was gone, we migrated toward our own personal styles for better or for worse.

7.  Some members there did get extremely personal and abusive, especially on game day and around the draft.  If it carried over, they may have gone away, many who returned under another name.

8.  There was a fair amount of disagreement behind the scene about some of the infractions and bans, some of it quite accusatory.  Without a strong lead mod, there was no "referee" so things tended to get more personal and vindictive, or at least that was my impression.  Others would probably disagree with this, but se la vie.

9.  I am not aware of any new member being banned, unless their IP address was that of a PBU (Previously Banned User) or an address identified as a spam address.  

10.  It was stated here that mods had 2nd accounts.  The only occasion that I can think of was when we needed to test a new feature and needed an account other than our main user name.  

11.  I am also happy to be able to type "vague" without it hitting a language filter.  No idea how that happened, but it was clearly unintended consequences.

 

That's about it.  I really did enjoy the BBMB and there were a lot of very valuable contributors there, many of whom are now here.  I do enjoy it here and appreciate the discussion.

 

Edit:  Bills Chick was a mod.

I would love to have known which of our posts were on that last page of the digest lol. I’d love to know if any of my non gameday posts over there ever were seen by obd lol. Il take no responsibility for the game day ones. Those are pure emotion and alcohol. 

[CLTbills]

28 minutes ago, Billsfansinceday1 said:

This has come up a number of times both here and on other message boards so I thought I would chime in to answer some questions and perhaps correct some misconceptions.  On the BBMB, I was known as MASH/BFID and was one of the mods for the last 3+ years of the BBMB's existence.  I registered here under a new user name, to get a new start, but have been "outed" previously so I am comfortable stating the following things as far as I know them to be true.

 

1.  The mods had as much advance notice of the closure of the board as everyone else (ie none).

2.  With #1 stated, it was pretty clear for a very long time that OBD had lost interest in the BBMB.  There was no support at all from OBD and tech support was non-existent.  As a result, spambots were rampant.  Being the early bird mod, I would routinely ban 50-100 spambots every morning so they could infect the board with trash or porn or whatever.

3.  The mods were not picked per se nor were we compensated (we did receive signed mini helmets one year from Gregg Pastore...mine is here on my desk signed by Kyle Williams).  Mods did come and go for a variety of reasons and one was even banned for being so extremely abusive (Teratoma, who was before my time as a mod).  Essentially, we volunteered and had a clean posting history, and there was a need for additional support.

4.  The BBMB was certainly read by some at OBD, although, we really didn't know who.  I receive the Bills Digest and the last page of every episode was all quotes from members of the BBMB with comments from OBD staff to summarize the view of the topic from the top.  They obviously knew who was good and who was bad.

5.  There are a lot of comments here about the degree of moderation and I tend to agree with a lot of it but not all of it.  Early on, I talked at length with Robyn (WYO) who was the lead mod at the time and the co-author of the Code of Conduct.  Tom Donahoe, the previous Bills GM,  was a regular reader of the BBMB and despised all the negativity toward him and the organization...to the point that he threatened to shut it down.  As a result, a fairly stringent CoC was written to ensure the survival of the board.

6.  Regarding #5, was there some abuse by mods, sure.  Personally, I started out being too adherent to the CoC and infracted or banned some people who shouldn't have been.  As time went on, I tapered my moderating style while others may not have.  WYO tended to advocate for the "scalpel" approach rather than the "hammer".  Once she was gone, we migrated toward our own personal styles for better or for worse.

7.  Some members there did get extremely personal and abusive, especially on game day and around the draft.  If it carried over, they may have gone away, many who returned under another name.

8.  There was a fair amount of disagreement behind the scene about some of the infractions and bans, some of it quite accusatory.  Without a strong lead mod, there was no "referee" so things tended to get more personal and vindictive, or at least that was my impression.  Others would probably disagree with this, but se la vie.

9.  I am not aware of any new member being banned, unless their IP address was that of a PBU (Previously Banned User) or an address identified as a spam address.  

10.  It was stated here that mods had 2nd accounts.  The only occasion that I can think of was when we needed to test a new feature and needed an account other than our main user name.  

11.  I am also happy to be able to type "vague" without it hitting a language filter.  No idea how that happened, but it was clearly unintended consequences.

 

That's about it.  I really did enjoy the BBMB and there were a lot of very valuable contributors there, many of whom are now here.  I do enjoy it here and appreciate the discussion.

 

Edit:  Bills Chick was a mod.

 

Good insight. Cool to know what went on behind the scenes, and that OBD actually saw the posts and cared about it.

[JoeF]

Tom Donahoe -- isn't he the one who drank babies blood?

 

The additional input and perspective have been great additions for the most part, even with the occasional Nate Peterman bad half posters...I bet it feels nice for the BBMB folks to be on freer site.  Kudos to Scott again for giving us all a home.

 

John From Hemet...Kim Pegula is attractive and Terry is a lucky man.  Like me -- he out kicked his coverage but he is making do....

[Shaw66]

24 minutes ago, Billsfansinceday1 said:

This has come up a number of times both here and on other message boards so I thought I would chime in to answer some questions and perhaps correct some misconceptions.  On the BBMB, I was known as MASH/BFID and was one of the mods for the last 3+ years of the BBMB's existence.  I registered here under a new user name, to get a new start, but have been "outed" previously so I am comfortable stating the following things as far as I know them to be true.

 

1.  The mods had as much advance notice of the closure of the board as everyone else (ie none).

2.  With #1 stated, it was pretty clear for a very long time that OBD had lost interest in the BBMB.  There was no support at all from OBD and tech support was non-existent.  As a result, spambots were rampant.  Being the early bird mod, I would routinely ban 50-100 spambots every morning so they could infect the board with trash or porn or whatever.

3.  The mods were not picked per se nor were we compensated (we did receive signed mini helmets one year from Gregg Pastore...mine is here on my desk signed by Kyle Williams).  Mods did come and go for a variety of reasons and one was even banned for being so extremely abusive (Teratoma, who was before my time as a mod).  Essentially, we volunteered and had a clean posting history, and there was a need for additional support.

4.  The BBMB was certainly read by some at OBD, although, we really didn't know who.  I receive the Bills Digest and the last page of every episode was all quotes from members of the BBMB with comments from OBD staff to summarize the view of the topic from the top.  They obviously knew who was good and who was bad.

5.  There are a lot of comments here about the degree of moderation and I tend to agree with a lot of it but not all of it.  Early on, I talked at length with Robyn (WYO) who was the lead mod at the time and the co-author of the Code of Conduct.  Tom Donahoe, the previous Bills GM,  was a regular reader of the BBMB and despised all the negativity toward him and the organization...to the point that he threatened to shut it down.  As a result, a fairly stringent CoC was written to ensure the survival of the board.

6.  Regarding #5, was there some abuse by mods, sure.  Personally, I started out being too adherent to the CoC and infracted or banned some people who shouldn't have been.  As time went on, I tapered my moderating style while others may not have.  WYO tended to advocate for the "scalpel" approach rather than the "hammer".  Once she was gone, we migrated toward our own personal styles for better or for worse.

7.  Some members there did get extremely personal and abusive, especially on game day and around the draft.  If it carried over, they may have gone away, many who returned under another name.

8.  There was a fair amount of disagreement behind the scene about some of the infractions and bans, some of it quite accusatory.  Without a strong lead mod, there was no "referee" so things tended to get more personal and vindictive, or at least that was my impression.  Others would probably disagree with this, but se la vie.

9.  I am not aware of any new member being banned, unless their IP address was that of a PBU (Previously Banned User) or an address identified as a spam address.  

10.  It was stated here that mods had 2nd accounts.  The only occasion that I can think of was when we needed to test a new feature and needed an account other than our main user name.  

11.  I am also happy to be able to type "vague" without it hitting a language filter.  No idea how that happened, but it was clearly unintended consequences.

 

That's about it.  I really did enjoy the BBMB and there were a lot of very valuable contributors there, many of whom are now here.  I do enjoy it here and appreciate the discussion.

 

Edit:  Bills Chick was a mod.

Excellent, Fancy. I agree. 

 

Mod s did tend toward more of a hammer approach toward the end, and some posters didn't like it.  They thoightnoy was necessary because of the Spanish, pbus, etc and it was.  But some of it was just unnecessarily harsh.

 

Being a mid is thankless.  I always likened mod decisions to a nearsighted football ref making out of bounds calls without his glasses.  If you went near the sidelines you were going to get some bad calls.  But most of the posters anywhere stay near the middle ifnhe field and even nearsighted refancan tell they're in bounds.  

 

A lot of people were happy at bbmb.  The quality of discussions was excellent several years ago. It deteriorated some I've the years but there still were plenty of good threads.  

 

This place is well run. Without the Bills looking over their shoulders the mods have more freedom to shape it the way they want.  I have my quibbles with it, but that's just the near sighted ref problem - no place is.going to run exactly the way each member wants. 

4 minutes ago, JoeF said:

Tom Donahoe -- isn't he the one who drank babies blood?

 

The additional input and perspective have been great additions for the most part, even with the occasional Nate Peterman bad half posters...I bet it feels nice for the BBMB folks to be on freer site.  Kudos to Scott again for giving us all a home.

 

John From Hemet...Kim Pegula is attractive and Terry is a lucky man.  Like me -- he out kicked his coverage but he is making do....

I would bet that people aren't freer here.  The fact that the Bills wouldn't give the mods the technical ability to truly ban bad actors meant that moderating over there was a constant guerilla war with some people who were just jerks.  Here you have well behaved people posting - they feel free because they don't live in fear of being banned.  At bmbb people were paranoid with good reason - the mods were tough. But you have to remember that the mods got rough because they were in this constant battle with a lot of.peoblem children they couldn't get rid of. 

[teef]

2 hours ago, Patrick_Duffy said:

 

It was Teef's fault

It was when I posted the nudes of myself...wasn't it?

[Roundybout]

2 hours ago, Fan in Chicago said:

Watch it, Scott. McD is influencing your thoughts 

 

 

Question to BBMB refugees - who or what the heck is Crusher ?

 

EJ fanatic who was permanently broken when he was benched for Orton.

[DaBillsFanSince1973]

2 hours ago, Fan in Chicago said:

Question to BBMB refugees - who or what the heck is Crusher ?

 

a glorified arrogant troll, the soulless one.

 

[JoeF]

52 minutes ago, Shaw66 said:

 

I would bet that people aren't freer here.  The fact that the Bills wouldn't give the mods the technical ability to truly ban bad actors meant that moderating over there was a constant guerilla war with some people who were just jerks.  Here you have well behaved people posting - they feel free because they don't live in fear of being banned.  At bmbb people were paranoid with good reason - the mods were tough. But you have to remember that the mods got rough because they were in this constant battle with a lot of.peoblem children they couldn't get rid of. 

Makes sense Shaw...BTW -- your posts and analysis have been a great addition.    Enjoyable reading!

[Jauronimo]

I had an account at BBMB for a few months.  Mods asked me investigate and infiltrate what they referred to as "subversive and un-American activities".  I got out when they asked me to wear a wire.  That part didn't make a lot of sense to me.

[SaviorPeterman]

The official reason for the BBMB shut down is not that complicated, Russ Brandon (not the Pegulas) hired a sock puppet named Derek Boyko in Feb to be the new VP of communications for the Bills. One of the reasons Brandon brought this guy on is because he was trying for years to shut down the Eagles official message board on their website due to 'negative fan experience' inadvertently hurting ticket and merchandise sales. Keep in mind the Eagles have had a many good years the last 10+ years compared to the Bills but yet a few down seasons truly riled up the fan base there especially before they landed Carson Wentz a few years back.

 

In any event, after the latest regime change Brandon and his new errand boy made a very quick decision to shut down the BBMB for good because they new the situation there was going to get progressively worse with the expectation of a truly terrible 2017 in a full blown rebuilding campaign. It's no secret many long time 'homer' type of posters even stopped drinking the koolaid flowing from Orchard Park. Same reason Bills official beat reporter Chris Brown was forced to stop posting on the forum as well because he was relentlessly attacked from all sides for posting the usual pro Bills drivel and canned response type of statements.

 

So you can believe this story or not but this is what one of the former mods I've kept in touch with shared with me after the dust settled and they figured out what happened. Also the moderators weren't even told this was happening either that's how sudden it was. Same mod also acknowledged what most long time BBMB already know....T&C is/was truly a major loser that got off on banning people on an online forum, apparently the only reason he/she was a mod in the first place is because of a relation to somebody that worked at One Bills Drive. Either way good riddance, no hardcore fans should ever waste their time on official team run forums to being with. Private, unofficial ones like this are always the best route for engaging in serious hardcore discussion.

 

[GoBills808]

I don't want to dwell too much on this because it's in the past but the moderators at the former site (some apparently who have decided to join as posters here, so be forewarned ye who read this thread) were to a person (I interacted via DM with most if not all of them) carbon copy representations of the guards in the Stanford Prison Experiment. Literally incapable of rational behavior and common decency. True story.

 

When something goes under, the people in charge never want to admit that it was their fault. Those were the BBMB moderators, at least two of whom now post here, and I'm not surprised in the slightest that they still won't take responsibility for their failures. Just food for thought.

[Klapaucius]

16 hours ago, Patrick_Duffy said:

I'm not sure, but I was told that the mods there were taking advantage of their power and just banning people for no reason on a regular basis. Made any new comers feel unwelcomed and what not. But I'm not totally sure, just passing what I heard it to be. You probably will never really find out to be honest. In any event, this site is much, much better.

 

I was banned shortly after registering because my name 'Losing my Mind' led them to believe I was a trouble causer. I rarely post, but do a lot of reading. Getting banned for a name turned me off from the board.

[Patrick Duffy]

1 hour ago, teef said:

It was when I posted the nudes of myself...wasn't it?

Yes, yes it was Teef, and although my wife enjoyed them it did not float well. And the glory hole pick, well that one just took the "cake". #cakewalk

8 minutes ago, Klapaucius said:

 

I was banned shortly after registering because my name 'Losing my Mind' led them to believe I was a trouble causer. I rarely post, but do a lot of reading. Getting banned for a name turned me off from the board.

Yes, similar things like that happened to A LOT of people. It was stupid and a few of those mods had a big part in it.

[Jay_Fixit]

2 hours ago, Billsfansinceday1 said:

This has come up a number of times both here and on other message boards so I thought I would chime in to answer some questions and perhaps correct some misconceptions.  On the BBMB, I was known as MASH/BFID and was one of the mods for the last 3+ years of the BBMB's existence.  I registered here under a new user name, to get a new start, but have been "outed" previously so I am comfortable stating the following things as far as I know them to be true.

 

1.  The mods had as much advance notice of the closure of the board as everyone else (ie none).

2.  With #1 stated, it was pretty clear for a very long time that OBD had lost interest in the BBMB.  There was no support at all from OBD and tech support was non-existent.  As a result, spambots were rampant.  Being the early bird mod, I would routinely ban 50-100 spambots every morning so they could infect the board with trash or porn or whatever.

3.  The mods were not picked per se nor were we compensated (we did receive signed mini helmets one year from Gregg Pastore...mine is here on my desk signed by Kyle Williams).  Mods did come and go for a variety of reasons and one was even banned for being so extremely abusive (Teratoma, who was before my time as a mod).  Essentially, we volunteered and had a clean posting history, and there was a need for additional support.

4.  The BBMB was certainly read by some at OBD, although, we really didn't know who.  I receive the Bills Digest and the last page of every episode was all quotes from members of the BBMB with comments from OBD staff to summarize the view of the topic from the top.  They obviously knew who was good and who was bad.

5.  There are a lot of comments here about the degree of moderation and I tend to agree with a lot of it but not all of it.  Early on, I talked at length with Robyn (WYO) who was the lead mod at the time and the co-author of the Code of Conduct.  Tom Donahoe, the previous Bills GM,  was a regular reader of the BBMB and despised all the negativity toward him and the organization...to the point that he threatened to shut it down.  As a result, a fairly stringent CoC was written to ensure the survival of the board.

6.  Regarding #5, was there some abuse by mods, sure.  Personally, I started out being too adherent to the CoC and infracted or banned some people who shouldn't have been.  As time went on, I tapered my moderating style while others may not have.  WYO tended to advocate for the "scalpel" approach rather than the "hammer".  Once she was gone, we migrated toward our own personal styles for better or for worse.

7.  Some members there did get extremely personal and abusive, especially on game day and around the draft.  If it carried over, they may have gone away, many who returned under another name.

8.  There was a fair amount of disagreement behind the scene about some of the infractions and bans, some of it quite accusatory.  Without a strong lead mod, there was no "referee" so things tended to get more personal and vindictive, or at least that was my impression.  Others would probably disagree with this, but se la vie.

9.  I am not aware of any new member being banned, unless their IP address was that of a PBU (Previously Banned User) or an address identified as a spam address.  

10.  It was stated here that mods had 2nd accounts.  The only occasion that I can think of was when we needed to test a new feature and needed an account other than our main user name.  

11.  I am also happy to be able to type "vague" without it hitting a language filter.  No idea how that happened, but it was clearly unintended consequences.

 

That's about it.  I really did enjoy the BBMB and there were a lot of very valuable contributors there, many of whom are now here.  I do enjoy it here and appreciate the discussion.

 

Edit:  Bills Chick was a mod.

Hey buddy. So you can agree that T&C was the worst mod in the history of the internet right? Because I’d love for him to know it.

[Luka]

1 hour ago, teef said:

It was when I posted the nudes of myself...wasn't it?

 

I quite enjoyed that. But no board is capable of handling that amount of traffic all at once.

[Dr. Who]

MASH was always a good fella.  Glad he is here.

Edited December 1, 2017 by Dr. Who

[DasNootz]

16 hours ago, SDS said:

 

Disagree. A lot of good people have joined. A few others weren’t a god fit. No worries. ?

This site has gotten much worse.

[SDS]

3 minutes ago, DasNootz said:

This site has gotten much worse.

 

Thank you for taking time out of your day to tell me/us this. I hope you feel better.