It's nuts that there's an issue with people unable to create accounts and it hasn't been fixed yet, it'd be like a shop with the front doors broken and no customers can get in but they just leave it and slowly go out of business.
The same thing happened to the Mag board mate and it'll take some time to recover. It all became way too cliquey & repetitive to the point where new people didn't want to post. It's supposed to be about a particular club, as is this board, but the endless schoolboy sexual banter, in-jokes and cliches put people off. And starting endless 'what's your favourite colour' threads is infantile imo .......... it's supposed to be about a football club. No offence to people but I think there are way too few who actually go to the games so this place is a substitute. But unless there are real life accounts of games, incidents and people's stories it's just bored blokes talking to strangers about the same old stuff.
The owner of this site, is obviously making **** loads of cash still, or has probably made enough already to keep him secure. Otherwise I'd imagine he would be all over the issue.
Last time he tried to fix issues he ****ed it right up. The search facility has been ****ed for months.
The site owner definitely stopped giving a **** a long time ago, maybe the fruits of his labour weren't as tasty as he'd predicted. There's no entry signs for any new posters wanting to join, that's a fact, unless you know an existing poster. So there could be a queue of people looking to break into this board and tell me I'm a Manc from Essex with no mates and another person on another board will knock my teeth out blah blah blah. Vince left cos of the negativity about the club, Tees has shed a little more light on his reasons but they're similar to vince. Maybe when a club is letting fans down they choose to disassociate themselves albeit temporarily, there's no rules to state that you have to post 'through thick and thin' so from my point of view I just hope Vinnie and Tees can come back when they feel more positive about things. I don't think it'll be too long, a few players in should lift a lot of misery.
The board has its ups and downs. Certainly we could do with new members, but we have hundreds already registered. 90% have either left or dont post.
I used to post through thick and thin but, as I've said, I think there are too many critics who never go to the games imo. They always seem to be the most negative, possibly because they watch in bars, with their Sunderland shirt on, having to take flak from people. People I meet, pre-match and at the stadium, are usually much more upbeat and game for a laugh. In fact I can't recall ever hearing the in depth discussions about finance etc that you get on here.
I think message boards and pubs are very different and one thing about message boards is that you're gonna get people from everywhere joining in, such as ex-pats and folk who maybe can't go to games, as it reconnects them with their club. I don't need that reconnection with my club, I pass it every day twice and I go to more than enough matches with family and pals to not need to chat about the club with several scousers on here. I had a cleaner at my old office who used to come in and chat about transfers literally every day, boring the life out of me, I never understood what he got out of it, he'd never stepped foot in the ground so I gave him my SC's for a game and he went with his son, after that he never ****ing shut up about that game. Sometimes people ask me what I'm doing on here and to be honest I'm not always sure, theres some funny posters on here so I gues that keeps me coming back.
So would you say SAFC is your 2nd team now so to speak mate? Ie you want us to win apart from against your team? Or is it just litterally some of the posters you like? Daft question i know.
I always look for your results, have done since Keane was there. I wouldn't say it disappoints me when you lose as I don't have an emotional connection with the club but I'd like you to do well, or better than you have been doing at least!
I use this board as I no longer get to many games being a single father living approx 300 miles from Sunderland. Even when I get back to the NE to see my parents, going to the game isn't a priority as it has to be about the family. I get to away games in and around London when I can but this is one of the many alternative ways I stay in touch with the club. I think, therefore, that the implication that people who don't (or can't) attend games are more negative or less knowledgeable is unfair. There are people on here who claim to attend games who are extremely negative and/or talk absolute garbage about football (imo). I think its the nature of a forum that people talk about slightly different things to what they'd discuss at the game or in the pub. For some it seems to be a place for spleen-venting and I suppose that's fair enough. It would be good if there were fewer threads repeating the same negative themes but as a public forum everyone has a right to contribute. The only way to combat this is to start more threads on interesting football related subjects (if I ever think of any I'll let you all know).
I didn't say or imply that mate ..... football supporters, these days, have much more knowledge at their fingertips then ever before. I'm generalising, of course, but I do find that people who don't go have no 'investment' in the club so whinge more. Those who go, whenever they can, have 'more to lose' so generally look for the positives more imo.
I can count on one hand, the amount of what I would class, proper football men on this forum. You are one of them. I value your input on these boards. I've always been about football, that's my taste on here. I'd be happy if every single thread was talking in-depth all things football. It's not for some, though. There's decent posters who prefer the off-topic threads. It's each to their own, i suppose.
Fair enough and I can see your point. Its kind of contradictory to the way things should be really; you pay your money, you make a contribution, you should be entitled to have a moan (if you think its necessary).
Great post Norton. You need to sort your odometer though mate. Nowhere near 300 miles. Your just 20 miles or so south of me.
Sandy to the Barnes is 220 miles. Sorry mate, just being a bit daft pedantic. I've done that sprint a thousand times now, it seems. Fastest was 2 and a quarter hours to Durham Cricket Club at the Riverside. Seemed like I was the only car in the road. Longest was 10 hours, having a picnic on the A1 at Dishforth with a load of yanks parked up alongside.
