What happened here?

[Stones of granite]

Are there any current regular users who are not British, Irish or Kiwi?

there used to be loads

Doesn't seem to be many now. The only thing that gets discussed on the non-Home Unions rugby threads are the All Blacks. Well, apart from my efforts, of course

Constantly replying to your own posts constitutes discussion?

[BBD]

It works for Nigel Owens

[Digby]

Well, I know that there are at least 3 things we can all agree on

Wayne Barnes is the best in the business.
Rob Andrew is a rugby god, as player, coach and administrator.
The French can go f*** themselves, and it's their own fault for not speaking English (though they were robbed in 2011).

The French were barely robbed in 2011 when one looks back to them really getting a number done on them in 1995

[OptimisticJock]

Are there any current regular users who are not British, Irish or Kiwi?

BBD still posts. He's a Romanian former sex-worker.

Former?

[Zhivago]

LMAO

Sorry, but you haven't got a clue.

The decline started in 2008/09, we peaked during the 6N of March that year with around 79,000 posts, no thats not a typo. That kept declining month on month. Our membership peaked at around regular 750 users I think. There is indeed a seasonal element to usage, however comparing our most popular month against each other, March vs March, e.g. March 10 was busier than March 11 which was busier than March 12 and so on. There is a similar decline that is replicated when you compare our less busy months (typically August and December).

All the stats, on new threads started, newly joined members, members online, posts made etc all have been in decline for many years. Sadly I no longer have access to the old site to get the stats to show you, and this new site is not user friendly enough behind the scenes to dig out the current stats since we have been here.

Essentially, we were well past the tipping point/critical mass before we changed sites. So digs about current Admin/Mods and claims this was avoidable are based upon a groundless starting point and simply innaccurate and unfair.

No one is ever forced to post here, its a free choice, thus we are in direct competition with a wide range of other sites and leisure activities. The only attraction we can possibly have is our appeal as an interesting and engaging site. Essentially a pleasant place to spend some leisure time. Once it starts to become less interesting, more boring, repetitive, less funny, less about banter and more about egos clashing then people drift away, log in less until they only visit occasionally, see the same tiresome windbags banging the same drums in the direction of the same opponents then eventually they stop bothering and the social network around them weakens and declines in a similar way.

So again I refer you to Charlton Heston on the beach, we did this, we had a brilliant site and we blew it all to hell.
You want to know who to blame for the decline? look in the mirror, consider the style of posting you use, the value you have added and whether you have been a pleasure to post with or simply a pain in the arse. If anyone is unsure of the answer, please ask, Im sure someone will be happy to tell you.

OK I concede one thing, the decline accelerated when we moved, rather than started.

[Zhivago]

Oh and I'll say this, which will shock you all... Prysiau was a far bigger loss for this place than UG was.

[Stones of granite]

Oh and I'll say this, which will shock you all... Prysiau was a far bigger loss for this place than UG was.

Are we supposed to be shocked because we would disagree, or because you generally had your nose shoved up his arse?

[Zhivago]

Oh and I'll say this, which will shock you all... Prysiau was a far bigger loss for this place than UG was.

Are we supposed to be shocked because we would disagree, or because you generally had your nose shoved up his arse?

Shocked because you'd not expect me to say it.

[Stones of granite]

Oh and I'll say this, which will shock you all... Prysiau was a far bigger loss for this place than UG was.

Are we supposed to be shocked because we would disagree, or because you generally had your nose shoved up his arse?

Shocked because you'd not expect me to say it.

I'm probably not as surprised as you think. I assume that you eventually got tired of your attempts at sucking up to him being rebuffed in his usual abrasive style.

[BBD]

The decline had been going on for 7 years. How many people were actually left when we moved to here? We were down to a couple of hundred posts a week
I know your own presence has been intermittent over the years but you are seriously abusing the facts to fit an agenda here.

We can all recall posters who have disappeared, some we remember for better reasons than others, comparing ex posters is a futile exercise
As we haven't agreed on the criteria and it doesn't change the fact they chose to leave,of their own free will or by failing to heed the signs that their posting style was more trouble than it was worth

[Zhivago]

Are we supposed to be shocked because we would disagree, or because you generally had your nose shoved up his arse?

Shocked because you'd not expect me to say it.

I'm probably not as surprised as you think. I assume that you eventually got tired of your attempts at sucking up to him being rebuffed in his usual abrasive style.

What you see sucking up was from my perspective simply siding with his arguments, against a barrage of abuse (although he gave as good as he got for the most part).

[Zhivago]

The decline had been going on for 7 years. How many people were actually left when we moved to here? We were down to a couple of hundred posts a week
I know your own presence has been intermittent over the years but you are seriously abusing the facts to fit an agenda here.

We can all recall posters who have disappeared, some we remember for better reasons than others, comparing ex posters is a futile exercise
As we haven't agreed on the criteria and it doesn't change the fact they chose to leave,of their own free will or by failing to heed the signs that their posting style was more trouble than it was worth

I probably am biased. I associate the decline of this place with the decline of my addiction to this place.

[Donny osmond]

Everything since 1990 has been 2nd rate pish anyway

Sent from my HUAWEI VNS-L31 using Tapatalk

[cashead]

uncle_paddy
Canute
hwntw
tigran
APR and Madashton
UG
dave

He was OK
White noise cunt
Had a few run-ins with him, but overall, he was OK
Dunno what he was like in the French forums, but outside of that, all he did was whine about conspiracies against le France
Nazi punks fuck off
Good riddance
He got weird

The rest, I barely remember.

[cashead]

I'm sure it won't take long before I'm painted up as a literal Hitlerstalin for "getting UG banned" or whatever but fuck it, UG got UG banned.

[Zhivago]

I'm sure it won't take long before I'm painted up as a literal Hitlerstalin for "getting UG banned" or whatever but fuck it, UG got UG banned.

Probably did him a favour.

[Buggaluggs]

Are there any current regular users who are not British, Irish or Kiwi?

BBD still posts. He's a Romanian former sex-worker.

Not so. He still gives arthritic handies for a pint of stout and a bag of crisps.

[BBD]

Is it the rubber glove pensioners discount again love?

[zer0]

Found it late, but KK's Tumeric thread was threatening to reach the levels of one of Timmy's old post toilet-cubicle reports. Was a good dose of nostalgia. Well done to all involved.

On BBD's stats, I'm surprised to see that the decline had been going for that long. My perception/recollection is much like Kamber's; that the transition from the fantastic board, with Sparrowlegs' stick drawings as the logo, to this final iteration really seemed to kill off the user base. That perception, of course, is probably based on the presence/absence of particular posters (see Tre's list) as opposed to overall user stats.

[rowan]

Show the love, brothers. Let's make this forum great again!

[cashead]

I'm sure it won't take long before I'm painted up as a literal Hitlerstalin for "getting UG banned" or whatever but fuck it, UG got UG banned.

Probably did him a favour.

The fact is, after the multiple bans of varying length he served out, at no point did he ever reflect on why he was periodically put in timeout. It was bound to happen sooner or later, and in the end, a low-effort prod set him off. Maybe I provoked him into it, but he was the one who chose to get so worked up over words on the internet, that he was reduced to making threats over them like a dumb scrub.

[Stones of granite]

I'm sure it won't take long before I'm painted up as a literal Hitlerstalin for "getting UG banned" or whatever but fuck it, UG got UG banned.

Probably did him a favour.

The fact is, after the multiple bans of varying length he served out, at no point did he ever reflect on why he was periodically put in timeout. It was bound to happen sooner or later, and in the end, a low-effort prod set him off. Maybe I provoked him into it, but he was the one who chose to get so worked up over words on the internet, that he was reduced to making threats over them like a dumb scrub.

His mental health issues did it.

There, I said it.

[Sandydragon]

Oh and I'll say this, which will shock you all... Prysiau was a far bigger loss for this place than UG was.

Good grief, we agree on something. Actually a lot of posters have moved on. Some have found other things to do with their time, I know of a couple that I keep in contact with on LinkedIn who now have small families and don't have the time.

[Sandydragon]

Found it late, but KK's Tumeric thread was threatening to reach the levels of one of Timmy's old post toilet-cubicle reports. Was a good dose of nostalgia. Well done to all involved.

On BBD's stats, I'm surprised to see that the decline had been going for that long. My perception/recollection is much like Kamber's; that the transition from the fantastic board, with Sparrowlegs' stick drawings as the logo, to this final iteration really seemed to kill off the user base. That perception, of course, is probably based on the presence/absence of particular posters (see Tre's list) as opposed to overall user stats.

Probably also clouded on certain forums by small numbers of posters posting a lot.

[kk67]

Less is more. The technical discussions and general knowledge base of most posters is high and it's varied. Whatever the technical aspect of the game or even it's administration we have some fecker who actually knows what they're talking about. On the internet, that's pretty rare.
When I read the comments sections of other websites it makes me glad this place exists.