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

[Bill_with_it]

A number of those moderators lack in their personal ability to remain objective.

Some regularly displayed that they were willing to violate their own integrity. 

There were some decent mods such as Shaw and a few others. 

Regardless, Im glad I made my way hear and my posts arent hel to a higher standard than they mods are holding themselves to. Its a breath of fresh air thanks SDS.

[PrimeTime101]

On ‎12‎/‎1‎/‎2017 at 6:20 AM, Patrick_Duffy said:

No, I can tell you that you are 100% wrong. For example, I had a good friend that was a Big Bills fan and told him about BBMB and asked him to join up. Finally one day he decided to join, was a member for 2 hours, then his account got banned. Guy never even got a chance to post anything. So yes, they DID in fact ban ppl for nothing. Now THAT is a FACT, so how bout checking yours before calling someone else wrong.

Nice story I am not buying it.

On ‎11‎/‎30‎/‎2017 at 11:52 PM, Real McCoy said:

Bolded above is 100% false and you are wrong. They Banned new members for absolutely nothing. They banned new members for saying anything more than once negative about the FO or coaches. How I know it 100% false? My first 2 accounts there were banned as a new member for basically nothing at all, healthy convo (my negativity) about Fitzpatrick, coaching and FO (which I was right about for the record). My 3rd account I learned to walk the BS Mod line until I hit 1K posts and they would stop with the perm bans and send out infractions whenever they pleased finding the most minor loophole in their bible CoC if they disagreed with you.

The site flat out sucked IMO, the only reason I went there was after ESPN team forums shutdown was due to the "Official BB Team message board" from a google search and honestly wish I came here from day1.

 

Are you a EX mod there as well? Knowing the favoritism and your first couple lines it sounds like it. BBMB was not your stereo type of "all good things come to and end".

 

This site, mods, people and discussions are flat out better. Thank you SDS and company for taking us in and running a legit forum that lets fans opinions or thoughts roll even though some topics are debatable or wrong.

 

 

They banned for talking negative about coaches? this is so far from the truth its not even funny. Your third account? When your banned from the boards you are banned. Technically you were not even allowed to make more accounts thus you were breaking TOS just by doing that. I had easy 25+ friends in those forums that talked plenty of smack about the bills organization and negative about coaches and QB's. Its not what you say it is how you said it and the words you used. They did ban new members cause it was there second third and fourth accounts that were not allowed.

 

Also new members that came from other cities just to troll rightfully got banned. Your facts are wrong.

 

and by the way folks... in my time there, 4 mods got banned for favoritism. ALL bans went to the administrator and if caught banning for 0 reason they would of lost there job.

 

I was not a mod there.. just because you feel soo good about yourself calling me a former mod there doesn't mean its true. Far from it. I know many people involved in those forums.

 

The forums went down cause the current admin didn't want that job anymore and the forums were a complete mess. FO decided to shut it down.

Fact not fiction and by the way, it was even announced a month before hand that they were looking for a new Admin there. I feel so sad for you guys that want to make up these stories and but hurt because you got your wrist slapped many times for saying all the wrong things.

Edited December 2, 2017 by PrimeTime101

[PrimeTime101]

On ‎12‎/‎1‎/‎2017 at 10:25 AM, 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.

You could not hit the nail on the head any better then what was said here... Accept 8. Any Warning, points given, infractions could be overturned by the admin. I myself had 2 warnings and an infraction overturned. Part of the problem was mods had second accounts that they used to give opinions and post topics with and when you stepped on there toes then you were warned or worse. Many posts got removed by mods that should not have and many others got let go do to favoritism. Fact of matter is no one was banned for no good reason.

[Real McClappy]

44 minutes ago, PrimeTime101 said:

Nice story I am not buying it.

They banned for talking negative about coaches? this is so far from the truth its not even funny. Your third account? When your banned from the boards you are banned. Technically you were not even allowed to make more accounts thus you were breaking TOS just by doing that. I had easy 25+ friends in those forums that talked plenty of smack about the bills organization and negative about coaches and QB's. Its not what you say it is how you said it and the words you used. They did ban new members cause it was there second third and fourth accounts that were not allowed.

 

Also new members that came from other cities just to troll rightfully got banned. Your facts are wrong.

 

and by the way folks... in my time there, 4 mods got banned for favoritism. ALL bans went to the administrator and if caught banning for 0 reason they would of lost there job.

 

I was not a mod there.. just because you feel soo good about yourself calling me a former mod there doesn't mean its true. Far from it. I know many people involved in those forums.

 

The forums went down cause the current admin didn't want that job anymore and the forums were a complete mess. FO decided to shut it down.

Fact not fiction and by the way, it was even announced a month before hand that they were looking for a new Admin there. I feel so sad for you guys that want to make up these stories and but hurt because you got your wrist slapped many times for saying all the wrong things.

Right bud! You know everything on this matter. Everything other posters state are flat out lies including myself right?  Even an Ex mod states there was mod abuse but he's making crap up too, you as well state the same which banned 4 mods.

Spin it however you may....

What do I gain about making crap up about a failed BBMB forum? Absolutely nothing,  I can careless if you believe me or not, the FACT is what I stated.

Edited December 2, 2017 by Real McCoy

[HOUSE]

17 year old virus

[Rob's House]

17 minutes ago, PrimeTime101 said:

You could not hit the nail on the head any better then what was said here... Accept 8. Any Warning, points given, infractions could be overturned by the admin. I myself had 2 warnings and an infraction overturned. Part of the problem was mods had second accounts that they used to give opinions and post topics with and when you stepped on there toes then you were warned or worse. Many posts got removed by mods that should not have and many others got let go do to favoritism. Fact of matter is no one was banned for no good reason.

 

The biggest problem was the site was infested with emotionally stunted fanboys who couldn't tolerate having their fairy tales challenged, and most of the mods were among them. Shaw was a rare exception. 

 

In a way I pity them, because it's really pathetic for a grown man to power trip on his message board mod authority and dedicate his waking hours to tirelessly defend the honor of Doug Whaley and EJ Manwell. But most of those guys were insufferable douche nozzles that made that board unreadable and I'm glad they lost their little jobs.

[Chris66]

The only thing I can add is it must of been impossible to run a board that was owned by the team. It was also successful for the most part,but having said that message boards should be private so opinions don't get stomped on. That's what ultimately brought that board down.

[OldTimeAFLGuy]

28 minutes ago, Real McCoy said:

Right bud! You know everything on this matter. Everything other posters state are flat out lies including myself right?  Even an Ex mod states there was mod abuse but he's making crap up too, you as well state the same which banned 4 mods.

Spin it however you may....

What do I gain about making crap up about a failed BBMB forum? Absolutely nothing,  I can careless if you believe me or not, the FACT is what I stated.

 

 

...so back to my original question......seeing that TBD became the "sanctuary site", should SDS create a forum solely for BBMB REFUGEES & BOAT PEOPLE so as to stop the infiltrating pollution by us refugees and boat people?.....I'd bet he could lock down the STADIUM WALL from access by us lepers......we could wallow in our VERY OWN FORUM with no harm no foul against the TBD creme de la creme......us lepers know our place...........

[Victory Formation]

I agree, always liked Shaw and MASH was okay too. Did not like the others.

[Real McClappy]

21 minutes ago, OldTimeAFLGuy said:

 

 

...so back to my original question......seeing that TBD became the "sanctuary site", should SDS create a forum solely for BBMB REFUGEES & BOAT PEOPLE so as to stop the infiltrating pollution by us refugees and boat people?.....I'd bet he could lock down the STADIUM WALL from access by us lepers......we could wallow in our VERY OWN FORUM with no harm no foul against the TBD creme de la creme......us lepers know our place...........

I agree and am with you. I'm done with this thread as it accomplishes absolutely nothing at all. 

 

Copied from my page2 reply and will leave this thread with this:

 

This site, mods, people and discussions are flat out better. Thank you SDS and company for taking us in and running a legit forum that lets fans opinions or thoughts roll even though some topics are debatable or wrong.

 

[OldTimeAFLGuy]

11 minutes ago, Real McCoy said:

I agree and am with you. I'm done with this thread as it accomplishes absolutely nothing at all. 

 

Copied from my page2 reply and will leave this thread with this:

 

This site, mods, people and discussions are flat out better. Thank you SDS and company for taking us in and running a legit forum that lets fans opinions or thoughts roll even though some topics are debatable or wrong.

 

 

 

....we lepers are united!!..................silly omnipotent crap isn't it?....we BOTH know EVERY site has its share of "pimples"......and yes dittos to SDS for a job WELL DONE......

Edited December 2, 2017 by OldTimeAFLGuy

[GoBills808]

18 minutes ago, Real McCoy said:

 

This site, mods, people and discussions are flat out better. Thank you SDS and company for taking us in and running a legit forum that lets fans opinions or thoughts roll even though some topics are debatable or wrong.

 

Copied for posterity. Now die thread die.

 

 

[teef]

2 hours ago, Billsfansinceday1 said:

Not sure about that.  There are still a few folks still working on those knots.  

 

I thought it it was hilarious. ?.  

I'm legit disappointed now. 

[Billsfansinceday1]

14 minutes ago, teef said:

I'm legit disappointed now. 

Not sure what you are disappointed about.  Your impersonation was awesome.  You almost had me fooled.

[mead107]

I think we have picked up some very good members and like 99.5 %.  Of them.   Are mods have done a great job trying to keep thing in goo order   

[OldTimeAFLGuy]

2 minutes ago, mead107 said:

I think we have picked up some very good members and like 99.5 %.  Of them.   Are mods have done a great job trying to keep thing in goo order   

 

...being in the .5% negative percentile, I vow to try much harder.............

[mead107]

1 hour ago, OldTimeAFLGuy said:

 

...being in the .5% negative percentile, I vow to try much harder.............

We like old farts.  

[OldTimeAFLGuy]

3 minutes ago, mead107 said:

We like old farts.  

 

 

...my bad...I will also work to minimize gas discharges as well..........

[Brianmoorman4jesus]

There was a lot more thread changing over there. The same threads will stay on page 1 here for days. Over there you would be lucky to get a full day of the same idea on page 1. The news seemed to flow in a lot more frequently over there as well. It was certainly growing chaotic towards the end. EJ Manuel pretty much ruined the last year or two. It just seemed like you could get ideas out individually without being merged. A lot of times here, very specific POV’s are merged into a very general topic. It makes it hard to get read. I have grown fond of TBD and it was a nearly seemless transition. I appreciate the general hospitality but still tend to take slight exception towards the negative comments about BBMB. It was a very solid message board and the non troll lifers that made it home, were often times very insightful and die hard Bills fans. This place has been a very soft landing spot and it is nice to not get blasted by a mod every time you push the vocabulary limit. If this first season here ends the drought, then the BBMB will serve as a sacrifice to the football gods. Go Bills!

[starrymessenger]

There were a few good posters over there but overall the level was always a notch below TSW. In fact, depending on what exactly you may be looking for in terms of tone/mood I always thought the smaller boards, the Range (now HCBBT) and the Zone were a lot more fun than the BBMB. Certain mods there made for a stifling experience. That T&C guy used to give me infractions just because another member would ask him to. Overall it was way too politically correct and in your face for my taste.

[Cripple Creek]

3 hours ago, mead107 said:

I think we have picked up some very good members and like 99.5 %.  Of them.   Are mods have done a great job trying to keep thing in goo order   

thank you

[Happy]

23 hours ago, JPP said:

Called Rex a buffon on two occassions.....got dinged on both times....guess they liked rex....

Either that or the truth hurt.

[Shaw66]

5 hours ago, OldTimeAFLGuy said:

 

...being in the .5% negative percentile, I vow to try much harder.............

I'll let you know when you're slipping up. 

3 hours ago, Brianmoorman4jesus said:

There was a lot more thread changing over there. The same threads will stay on page 1 here for days. Over there you would be lucky to get a full day of the same idea on page 1. The news seemed to flow in a lot more frequently over there as well. It was certainly growing chaotic towards the end. EJ Manuel pretty much ruined the last year or two. It just seemed like you could get ideas out individually without being merged. A lot of times here, very specific POV’s are merged into a very general topic. It makes it hard to get read. I have grown fond of TBD and it was a nearly seemless transition. I appreciate the general hospitality but still tend to take slight exception towards the negative comments about BBMB. It was a very solid message board and the non troll lifers that made it home, were often times very insightful and die hard Bills fans. This place has been a very soft landing spot and it is nice to not get blasted by a mod every time you push the vocabulary limit. If this first season here ends the drought, then the BBMB will serve as a sacrifice to the football gods. Go Bills!

There are pluses and minuses everywhere.  Forums have personalities and cultures that are defined by their users and their moderators.  It was different at BBMB.   Some people liked it better there, some liked it better here.   

 

I'm glad this place was here so that we had someplace to land.  

[Brianmoorman4jesus]

9 minutes ago, Shaw66 said:

I'll let you know when you're slipping up. 

There are pluses and minuses everywhere.  Forums have personalities and cultures that are defined by their users and their moderators.  It was different at BBMB.   Some people liked it better there, some liked it better here.   

 

I'm glad this place was here so that we had someplace to land.  

Yeah me too. When it was first taken down I had to check a ton, thinking somehow it was just my phone or something. It was like a surreal moment. Then I remembered a few times where people over there mentioned this place...just seemed like the only real option at that point.

[Gugny]

8 hours ago, Rob's House said:

 

The biggest problem was the site was infested with emotionally stunted fanboys who couldn't tolerate having their fairy tales challenged, and most of the mods were among them. Shaw was a rare exception. 

 

In a way I pity them, because it's really pathetic for a grown man to power trip on his message board mod authority and dedicate his waking hours to tirelessly defend the honor of Doug Whaley and EJ Manwell. But most of those guys were insufferable douche nozzles that made that board unreadable and I'm glad they lost their little jobs.

 

 

¡Eres racista!

[SDS]

4 hours ago, starrymessenger said:

There were a few good posters over there but overall the level was always a notch below TSW. In fact, depending on what exactly you may be looking for in terms of tone/mood I always thought the smaller boards, the Range (now HCBBT) and the Zone were a lot more fun than the BBMB. Certain mods there made for a stifling experience. That T&C guy used to give me infractions just because another member would ask him to. Overall it was way too politically correct and in your face for my taste.

 

What is HCBBT?

[Gugny]

2 minutes ago, SDS said:

 

What is HCBBT?

 

Hardcore Buffalo Bills Talk, but the link is to buffalo range dot com.

[slaphappy]

On 11/30/2017 at 8:17 PM, LABILLBACKER said:

All I know is I'm very grateful to be here.  Wonder what ever happened to wyo or perfectspiral? This site is substantially better with less clutter.

Wyo is on the twitter

[davefan66]

Honestly, BBMB had not been good for years.  Dates back to the first round of permabans on the “but”.  After that, it became a peeing match between some posters and the mods.  People started pushing the envelope even though it as clearly stated some things would not be tolerated any longer.  Yeah, some of the mods were overboard (teratoma for one), while others were just doing their job.  It just kind of escalated over time. 

 

The one question asked all the time, is why shut it down?  Simple.  The Bills no longer wanted their team run fan site to contain any negativity towards the team, couldn’t handle it.  After years of futility, and of us backing the team, what did they excpect.....roses??

 

 

Edited December 3, 2017 by davefan66

[T-Bomb]

On ‎12‎/‎1‎/‎2017 at 12:44 PM, Dr. Who said:

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

 

I disagree

[T&C]

It's so nice to see so many familiar faces/posters here, all assembled. The only mods from the bbmb I lost contact with are Flafitz and Chazz, wonder what they are up to now. I had Jayhawks contact info but can't find it right now, he was one funny mofo lovem or hatem. He was my mentor way back...

 

There are a lot of half truth's and also a Lot of information omitted in the postings here... I have no problem taking it out into the open to clear any air that wasn't clear already. 

 

Big 12 sightings!!!

[Misterbluesky]

I was danceswithfatchix on there....then dances..then kman.finished with this naming right.banned once for threatening to kill another member.I liked most of the folks on there..no complaints.as far as mods,I really never had any beef with any of them.good luck to everybody..you created that dynasty and you ended it…...surplus the benefits.

[T&C]

Just now, Misterbluesky said:

I was danceswithfatchix on there....then dances..then kman.finished with this naming right.banned once for threatening to kill another member.I liked most of the folks on there..no complaints.as far as mods,I really never had any beef with any of them.good luck to everybody..you created that dynasty and you ended it…...surplus the benefits.

Holy mother of pearl... I was asking about you the other day somewhere else. Good to see you posting...

[B-Large]

ah, the old BBMB.  The But used to be maybe the single greatest sub forum ever on a message board.  There was a distinct group of poster in the sub, some really find ****, until the hammer came down and everything was an infraction.  Kinda drifted elsewhere after than, mainly this mastic little nook.

 

Ive heard from a friend who was a mod there that there was no warning, it was just gone one day.  The theory is that OBD wants to used facebook and other social media to communicate with fans, and fans with fans.

 

wasted a lot of boring workdays on that site, find memories indeed.

 

Edited December 4, 2017 by B-Large

[Misterbluesky]

35 minutes ago, T&C said:

Holy mother of pearl... I was asking about you the other day somewhere else. Good to see you posting...

good to see you to....p.s.-my sister and bil are leaving your area..coming back home looking at Lancaster...he has the malcom young..it came on quick..he's my age.

[Klapaucius]

On 12/1/2017 at 1:01 PM, Billsfansinceday1 said:

That sounds very unusual but I can’t say it didn’t happen.  Usually, we sent a PM to members with a problematic user name asking them to change it.  Hard to imagine your name even raised an eyebrow.

 

I thought it was strange too. Maybe it was similar to somebody that was causing issues. I guess I'll never know.