This site's open secret is that the Arsenal board has been abandoned. It's like the Marie Celeste over there, with half-finished threads (like the half-drunk cups of coffee on that famous ghost ship).
Rattled rant [HASHTAG]#bottler[/HASHTAG]
What we don't yet know is why it has been abandoned. I want to explore that theme in this thread.
It seems to me that there are two possible answers.
The Arsenal Mods have destroyed the board
Without wanting to point any fingers, my initial thinking has been to lay the blame squarely at the feet of the Gooner mods. They have led a campaign of intolerance and overt bias since this site was created, getting rid of anyone who dared to breathe a word of opposition against Wenger and his outdated tactics. There was a raft of bans. In disgust, a whole section of Gooners boycotted, not just the board, but the entire site, and set up on their own.
The Chav board's campaign of hatred and intolerance taught us that mods cannot act in such a juvenile and high-handed fashion without there being serious consequences to the long-term survival and fortunes of your board. It seemed to me that the Arsenal mods - whether it be for reasons of simple neglect, or a much deeper ignorance - simply did not learn this vital lesson.
Discussion is the life blood of a healthy and vibrant forum. Destroy that, and you destroy the forum. It seemed to me, certainly initially, that that is what the Arsenal mods did.
The Arsenal board was populated by fair-weather plastics
This possibility has emerged with the decline in AFC's fortunes in the league.
In many ways, this is linked to the first possibility. By banning and driving away decent, non-plastic posters, the Arsenal mods have created a rod for their own backs. If all that remained were the yes-men fair-weather plastics, they have only themselves to blame, because the one thing that we absolutely know about fair-weather plastics is that they will desert you on the flip of a coin, just when you need them most.
So, it is possible that the Arsenal board is currently deserted because it was populated by fair-weather plastics, who have done a runner due to the fact that Arsenal are so ****e, at the moment. This theory can be tested, because - if it is correct - the plastics will return to gloat, brag and scoff just as soon as there is a revival in their club's fortunes.
Sure, we may have to wait quite a while for Arsenal's fortunes to revive, but only time will tell.
Pixie is damned either way
It is unfortunate that Pixie is damned if his board revives or if it doesn't.
If the board revives with AFC's fortunes, we will all know that the Gooner board is populated by fair-weather plastics. There will be absolutely no running away from that conclusion, and Pixie will have to bear the brunt of the onslaught of derision and wummery that will undoubtedly follow.
If the board does not revive, then we will know that it is because Pixie and his fellow mod destroyed the board that he was charged with looking after.