Is the Extremeskins message board officially dead?

[dyst]

Compared to other NFL fan forums, this place is alive and well. The forum is very active, lively and I think has a good amount of discussion and allows for a pretty decent amount of disagreement in opinions. I enjoy it very much. Now, whether or not actively is less compared to previous years, I can't attest to that but it wouldn't surprise me due to social media taking over, the NFL  being a 365 day event now, and channels such as ESPN and NFL network in more homes then ever before. Also, let's not forget the fan base is getting older and the Skins aren't gaining fans as quickly as they use to. DC being a transient town and all plus the fact that even local kids just prefer to be a fan of other teams that actually have a chance to win. Being a bad team for almost the entirety of 25 years will do that to a fanbase.

 

 

[Audible_Red40]

I just had to look to see how long I have been around.  Almost 11 years.  I was a lurker for a while before that too.

 

Although I don't post as much as all.  This is still my go to page for info and reading pleasure.

 

There a plenty of people on here who bring EXTREME knowledge, discussions and information worth our time to come check it out.  There are a few attention seekers a couple of Debbie Downers and a few unrealistic armchair GM's, etc, you can either by pass them or take it all in and enjoy the laugh.

 

This place is like home for me.  It has probably kept me away from twitter because I come here for the countless hours many of you put into posts.

 

No it is not DEAD.  HTTR!

[Lombardi's_kid_brother]

It's not dead, but Twitter and Facebook have filled a lot of the needs it used to provide almost exclusively. We can interact with reporters and players directly. We can interact with other fans by name.

 

All message boards are being reduced to an older, hard-core crowd, I think. Which is fine. I'm old. I fear change.

[Koolblue13]

4 hours ago, SWFLSkins said:

 

A hair above .500 is 9-7 at the least.

 

 

That's our spot!

[Guardshock]

On 8/11/2017 at 7:25 PM, kleese said:

I am a member of message boards for all the teams I follow... Redskins, Thunder, Reds, and University of Oklahoma. I think message board popularity in general spiked around 2002-2008 something like that. Partly because at that time everyone was internet connected, but no one was really doing social media or even texting. Message boards were a means to communicate that we hadn't seen before. 

 

I can can tell you this, all of the boards I belong to seem to have followed the same pattern of a peak then a decline. ES is still the busiest of the boards I frequent though. 

 

Its not as popular as it once was but I'd say it's at least 75% just general stuff and 25% specific to ES.

 

 

 

I agree with all of this!

 

Except for the fact that as a Pacers fan, enjoy PG!

 

Anyway, I enjoy ES and it is by far the largest one I am a part of. I struggle to keep up honestly.

[Idaho fan]

I Joined in 2005 after a year or so of lurking.  I did like the way things looked and were set up back then and for a while after but understand things change.  Many things have changed for the betterment of the site/content and rarely go more than a day during the season/preseason without stopping in.    Doesn't seem dead to me at all.

 

I appreciate all the work that went into and goes into making this site what it was/is and hopefully always will be.

 

I still miss the black background and how it used to have a more unique feel but Im not going anywhere.

[pjfootballer]

Dead?  No

 

In need of a shot of adrenaline (from the team)?  Yes

[HapHaszard]

Darn it where is Andyman when you need him????

[Mania]

On 8/11/2017 at 8:25 PM, kleese said:

I am a member of message boards for all the teams I follow... Redskins, Thunder, Reds, and University of Oklahoma. I think message board popularity in general spiked around 2002-2008 something like that. Partly because at that time everyone was internet connected, but no one was really doing social media or even texting. Message boards were a means to communicate that we hadn't seen before. 

 

Over the years, a few things have happened:

 

1. More message boards popped up. This obviously dilutes the pool a little. 

 

2. Social media. For those that came to the boards more for news and takes rather than discussion, mediums like twitter have taken that over. 

 

3. Novelty wears off and people get a little bored/complacent with it. 

 

I can can tell you this, all of the boards I belong to seem to have followed the same pattern of a peak then a decline. ES is still the busiest of the boards I frequent though. 

 

I think specific to ES beyond the general things I outlined would be the overall disappointing team performance. Some people just tune out. ES also had that direct connection to the team and no doubt typhus caused some silly drama/friction within the community. Perhaps some jealously. It started getting a little melodramatic and off topic at times and that likely turned some people away. 

 

Its not as popular as it once was but I'd say it's at least 75% just general stuff and 25% specific to ES.

The days of Art and Om.  Ah those were the days.  I've been a member since 2003 after lurking for a year.  

[Darrell Green Fan]

I just started posting here regularly and I gotta say compared to other boards this has way more traffic.  If there was more in the past I'm not sure that's a good thing. I would hate to put up a post, take a work call, then have 3 pages of posts as the topic changes over when I return. 

[Poman]

9 hours ago, pjfootballer said:

Dead?  No

 

In need of a shot of adrenaline (from the team)?  Yes

PJ!  I've been thinking about you the last couple weeks.   Glad you're still here.  I lived in Rock Hill for years and always paid special attention to your posts.  To me, that's what ES is.  Hope things are rolling for you bud.

[pjfootballer]

6 hours ago, Poman said:

PJ!  I've been thinking about you the last couple weeks.   Glad you're still here.  I lived in Rock Hill for years and always paid special attention to your posts.  To me, that's what ES is.  Hope things are rolling for you bud.

Took some time off from the site from about November until last month.  Had some things going on and needed a break from social media. I'm here sparingly now.

[ixcuincle]

Here is the frank honesty. Message boards are dying and the trendy generation likes to "Discord" (which is chat) or reddit now. That being said despite both of those modern technologies, this message board continues to update and stick with the times so much, that it isn't antiquated. People like "loosely moderated" places like Reddit where you can just say whatever the **** you want without filters, but to me this place still has something Reddit won't have which is intelligent people who analyze and help the forum community in general (thanks to our moderation Staff). 

 

 

[dsciambi]

I've basically given up on the NFL and haven't read ES much in the last 2 years. Just happened to stop by as I'm bored at work and saw this thread.

 

One of the reasons I stopped coming here was the change to trying to consolidate everything into a few threads. I can appreciate that the mods wanted things to look "cleaner" but it killed the dynamic nature of conversation. I don't want to read a massive thread that might cover what previously would have been 10 different thread topics.

 

The over-moderation of this board has been a massive mistake in my opinion.

 

Edit: And going through and now reading all of the responses to this thread, it seems like a few people share that sentiment.

[Burgold]

Well, the Tailgate is alive and very active. Not for the best of reasons, but it is good healthy conversation.

[Jumbo]

Of all the things that get said in these kinds of threads (and the ones from ten years ago pretty much read just like this one, as they all do, with a little variance in details) there's one major truth that gets short shrift.

 

Forget about the FO, or the players any given season, or the fanbase foibles, or Snyder, or the poor record for 15 years, or the mods, or changing tech for a second. 

 

It sounds like cliched pabulum, but the major factor in what makes the board enjoyable and interesting or not is what the posters bring to the table. The posters are the most substantial factors in what makes or breaks the board. So whenever anyone posting on ES is mulling on what makes ES good or bad, I suggest a mirror as one of your assessment tools.

 

In that spirit, rather than expecting (or hoping) to be served with interesting, informed, thoughtful, amusing, etc. content, try providing it. 

 

To the many here who do that---and more than a few of you do so at quite high a level---you will always have ES staff's recognition and appreciation in addition to the endless adulation  of (and abuse by ) the rest of the membership.

[Burgold]

1 hour ago, Jumbo said:

So whenever anyone posting on ES is mulling on what makes ES good or bad, I suggest a mirror as one of your assessment tools.

 

Using a mirror is a really antiquated way to discover if something is dead or not. I guess it still works. 

 

All we got to do is put a mirror under Extremeskins nose and find out if it starts to steam up. Hmm.... ESers are always steamed up about something!!! I guess that makes us a lively board.

[wilco_holland]

What I like that I can talk with people about my favorite team. In the Netherlands does aren't a lot. 

 

Sure I could go to reddit or something bit I kinda like ES because I feel like I know people here. I have no idea who a guy like the @Redbeast is in real life...but somehow I see him as a Redskins friend. 

[Braxford]

I am not that much of a poster but I check in every day of the season and during the draft and free agency. During training camp I usually check in a few times a week. I have always been impressed and thankful for the hard work that has gone into this site. I know its a labor of love for many. I find great insight, crazy insight, and comic relief here. I get ALL my Skins news from here and the vast majority of my NFL news from this site ( not a fan of the gasbagging and media darling centric nature of the sports networks, but that is part of their business). HTTR and Long Live Extremeskins!

[Horde of Zombies]

Been shambling around here for a very long time under this name and another before it.... message board will only die when Zombie is only one left here.

 

[Otis Wonsley Posse]

Here everyday. We diehards are here to stay

[OVCChairman]

Not dead, but if I can be completely honest, for a while it fell victim to it's own success.  I've been a member here since 2002 and this place is very different then it was then.  After the peak truly hit, it boomed BIG TIME.  So big that you couldn't hardly have a conversation unless you scrolled the board constantly.  I used to check in a couple times a day, if you posted something in the morning, it very well could be 4 or 5 pages back by the time I would check in a few hours later.  Not a bad thing, in fact it's a testament to how popular the board truly is / got.  I fell off the board for a few years because of it.  I've recently found myself returning, and there are a lot of new faces, but also quite a few familiar ones that I remember from way back when, and so far the rushing waters that once were seem to have settled a little bit.  This could be social media, it could be competition, or it could be the state of the franchise.  Like Jumbo said, a lot of the success of a board comes from the posters.  There for a while, when things were bad, it was (seemingly at times) a multitude of conversations revolving around negativity.  Not to say the heartbreak, the frustration, the utter pain felt by the fans wasn't warranted, and this was absolutely a place people could come to and discuss these things since most of us were / are  feeling the same thing.  All these factors can play a part in a board 'falling off' from the level it once was, but if we all take a minute to make sure we're contributing to the board, it'll continue as a platform to discuss, debate, and share information.  

[Koala]

It's better organized but less interesting.  It's the old battle between type A and type B personalities.  The merging of threads makes the board easier to browse, but stiffles discussion.  Before the merging trend, threads with similar topics would become their own animals so to speak, Invariably going off on tangents that would probably infuriate type A personalities, but fulfills the raison d'etre for type B personalities.

 

Probably, the best thing, as always, is to find a middle ground that relaxes some of the rules on starting new threads and merging threads, while preventing the impulse to turn every thought into a new thread.  I'm sure the staff discuss this quite often and we will see the board evolve towards that middle ground that allows encourages creative thought in a non-chaotic setting.

[Cliffmark1]

On 8/14/2017 at 3:15 PM, pjfootballer said:

Dead?  No

 

In need of a shot of adrenaline (from the team)?  Yes

I think you won. 

[ThomasRoane]

On 8/12/2017 at 0:31 AM, Rdskns2000 said:

I've been here since Day 1.  This board is stil active as it was when it began.  When there's alot of Redskins activity; the board is busy.  When there isn't, is slows down.

 

This is the case for me.  If there's something news worthy or a debate worth getting into then I'm there.  Generally though, during the season there is a lot of activity.  Afterwards, people unplug and find other things to occupy their time.  A few probably actually get some work done. 

 

Nah...who am I kidding?!?!