An urgent plea to Arsene supporters..

[northbank123]

Tbh if I was an Arsenal fan wanting to join a forum and I was pro-Wenger then I wouldn't join the only anti-Wenger messageboard around.

Agree that a forum will benefit from having a range of views. But people are (fairly) so passionate in their views on Wenger that it wouldn't exactly be reasoned debate and more a slanging match with neither side budging.

[LeftfootlegendGooner]

I Like arsene and his puffy coat and his amazing 100 per cent stat of never having missed a water bottle

But seriously I have thought that after we missed out on winning the league in 2008 his time was up but I do refuse to call him names......................................................although having said that, if he changed his ways, bought 4 world class players and made us proper title contenders then I would fully support him again.

That's just football and we are all as fickle as fuck

[Eboue-Why?]

Excellent post Vinny.
I just wish that fans who do feel Wenger is still the man for the job could feel comfortable (or as Wenger would say..COMEFOURTABLE!!) in coming on and at the same time weren't gonna get a mouth full of abuse if they do support him.
We'll see....

[DB10_TH14]

the new wenger revolution will start with us winning the carling cup in feb and come may 2014 we'll have won the league.......i believe

[mcdowell42]

.....this Forum really really needs you to join up and bring other views to the table. There's no point getting away from the fact that 99% of posters on here are anti-Wenger and want him out along with the board but clearly this is not the percentage at games, on phone-ins etc.
I for one can't see that a Forum is doing what it's supposed to do unless it generates good debate without resorting to insults. I am genuinely interested in hearing why he is still the man for you, why 1996-2005 is enough to justify giving him more time, and why you think that other managers couldn't do a better job than he's doing.
I'm convinced there must be thousands who read the content on here but don't think it's worth getting involved due to the overwhelming anti-Wenger stance adopted. Go on, put the other side of the argument to us!

Good points Eboue.

Unfortunately it's not a user friendly place for new people to join who would disagree with the general concensus on here and the way the forum is run does not encourage alternate views. This is not meant as a criticism of the Mods as they were asked to step in after the forum was shut down, and they have done admirably. Unfortunately when you have a group of people who have been posting together for a long time (see the number of posts of the Mods) allegiances are made and people will gravitate towards people who have the same view.

I have seen new posters coming on here with positive things to say about Wenger and they were ridiculed and derided, in some cases by the Mods. I have raised issues before and was told to just ''man the fuck up''. When you have Mods who are participants they need to shelve their own opinion sometimes for the good of the forum and I see that happening very rarely. As I say they were the ''regulars'' who offered their services to help get the forum back up and running and fair play to them for that, but I don't see any initaitives being taken to help encourage new members.

Baba was a case in point. How he was let get away with what he was doing for so long is absolutely beyond me. He sucked the life out of the forums and in a lot of case he was encouraged. Some of the vitriol towards Wenger is completely unwarranted, He seems to have been blamed for not seeing what Abrahamvich and the Sheikh was going to do and foreseen the worldwide recession when people working in finance could not foresee it. Some of the posts are laughable to be honest and it seems like its a competition to come up with new ways to insult Wenger and it continues to feed on itself. I'm still here cause i'm just too stubborn and I don't react to most of the crap.

HighburyJD can be both critical and supportive of Wenger.He puts forward alternate views and some people debate them and others just ridicule him. For a week or two he seemed to be trolled by a specific member where every one of his posts was ridiculed and he was repeatedly accused of Wumming. JD can stand up for himself but if you have people reading this with a view to join it may put them off. It is hard to get the balance right between having a user friendly forum and letting people voice strong opinions.

On the subject of running the Forum, there were comments the other day about a rumours thread and its a pain in the ass for Mods to read it. Am not sure whether this was meant in jest but the Mods seem to climb all over themselves to delete one when there have been calls from people to actually have one. As a football supporter we all like to dream

As I say it is not meant as a criticism of the Mods it just is what it is, but unless there is a sea change I don't see new members seeing this as a place to discuss the Gunners and football in general unfortunately.

JMO.

Whats that

[rodders999]

To be fair if you think Wenger is going to turn it round at Arsenal no message board or forum is going to do you any good. An extended stint in a psych ward however........

[arseofacrow]

For those who haven't been on here going back as far as 2006/7 (I have, albeit under a different name) it would be instructive for you to go back and see that this place was a much funnier, cutting, edgier and lively with proper debate in real issues. I'm not talking about the pro/anti things, but good debate without the moaning on why more of these people join or don't.

The fact is that over the years many people's opinion has moved over to the dark side, mine included, because of assessment of what's going on, not a dogma based upon hatred. I think you'll find rational people and excellent posters like Cockeriil's Chin and g88ner whose positions have evolved or changed, donaldo who wanted respect for Wenger and me expecting a good season out of About Diaby

Maybe an education on the forum is required, because those people who complain about a polarisation are at some points themselves responsible for creating this - although as with Wenger, it's convenient to lay the blame elsewhere.

[MM99]

For those who haven't been on here going back as far as 2006/7 (I have, albeit under a different name) it would be instructive for you to go back and see that this place was a much funnier, cutting, edgier and lively with proper debate in real issues. I'm not talking about the pro/anti things, but good debate without the moaning on why more of these people join or don't.

I've been on here for four years now too so have seen a lot of how the forum has changed over the years and the reason why the place was much funnier etc... was because we didn't have all this 'akb'/'realist' bullshit.
Back then the posters debated the footy but kept it civil with other posters. I also remember times when we had a laugh like the little feud with the .com forum members, reading number5's stories and other quality threads involving steary, one2smooth, tomkingsbury etc... People not only debated the football but we had a laugh at the same time. Now it's just constant abuse and it's boring as fuck hearing the same posters saying the same stuff all over again.

It also helped back then where we didn't have a thing such as the basement so all banter was on the main topic board meaning there was a healthy balance of serious discussion and fun threads. Nowadays threads in the basement hardly get a look at so the main part of the forum just consists of the same posters repeating the same views. Hardly gonna make people from the otherside of the spectrum want to join in is it.

[mojokickin]

For those who haven't been on here going back as far as 2006/7 (I have, albeit under a different name) it would be instructive for you to go back and see that this place was a much funnier, cutting, edgier and lively with proper debate in real issues. I'm not talking about the pro/anti things, but good debate without the moaning on why more of these people join or don't.

The fact is that over the years many people's opinion has moved over to the dark side, mine included, because of assessment of what's going on, not a dogma based upon hatred. I think you'll find rational people and excellent posters like Cockeriil's Chin and g88ner whose positions have evolved or changed, donaldo who wanted respect for Wenger and me expecting a good season out of About Diaby

Maybe an education on the forum is required, because those people who complain about a polarisation are at some points themselves responsible for creating this - although as with Wenger, it's convenient to lay the blame elsewhere.

totally agree.. theres a reason why i for one dont post here anymore but like to read different opinions where we share the same basic love and want the same things.
you have to give an opinion a chance no matter how ludicrous or insane it might sound to you.. while as a person we might not have patience as a group we must not shun anothers thinking and make him feel alone.

[DB10GOONER]

We added 4 or 5 mods after the close down. We already had 4 or 5 of us before then, but some of us weren't on here as often because of work/family commitments.

Forums change, they grow, shrink, take on a life of their own in a way. Originally a large group of us joined here in 2007 and just all seemed to have the same sense of humour and were mostly lads (and a couple of ladies) in their 30's with similar outlooks on life and football. The banter was brilliant. It was a much more open, freer and less modded forum then, and it worked fine because most of us knew where to draw the line. It had a real "down the pub with your mates" feel to it.

But the word got out and the number of members increased hugely and not all of them had the ability to control themselves and gradually the banter became more and more vicious until it just spread throughout the forum - this of course coincided with the team doing worse and worse and a growth in frustration at Wenger/the Board etc. At that point to be honest there were days here where I was the only mod on the place racing around threads deleting the worst of the abuse, dealing with things like a certain ex-member's very public meltdown, banning WUM's and trolls. It was just getting out of hand.

Mike, the owner, shut the place down and had a long hard think about it. When he re-opened he gave very clear instructions to us existing mods and to the new mods. There are now rules. So now we have a forum that some like, some don't like and a few have left. That's just the way it is. You can never make everyone happy.

But one thing that some of you giving out about the forum don't seem to understand is this is also a place where people come to vent their anger and frustration at what has become of our beloved club. That won't change - it's human nature. If you don't like it then honestly why not go find an Arsenal forum that is more to your liking? That's not a "fuck off and join blah blah blah" statement. I just don't know why anyone would spend time on a forum they don't enjoy. Makes no sense.

[DB10GOONER]

Couple of other points;

Vinny, you don't seem happy about the mods also being posters. Well, you might think differently if you had been a member of the now defunct official Arsenal.com forum. It was modded by non-members (in some cases not even Arsenal fans) and it was like Communist Russia over there.

All shit aside, one of the reasons this forum has lasted as long as it has and been as much fun as it (sometimes) has, is BECAUSE the mods are also posters. We don't jump on every little thing, we don't kill every thread.

As for banning? It's a last resort. We don't ban people because other people don't like them. We ban them for breaking the rules. And EVERYONE gets a warning or two before a temporary ban, followed by a permanent ban (if needed).

[flash gunner]

I cant add much to DB10's post as he covers it all but all i want to add is in my opinion everyone is welcome here, i can understand a pro-Wenger poster not fancying having to defend his thoughts all the time and choosing a forum more in tune with him but thats probably what makes anti Wenger posters gravitate here.

I think Vinny said about Babatunde and the abuse he gave out to anyone who disagrees with him and i made my feelings clear from the start that Baba should have been banned long before he actually went but still there are posters and long standing ones here that dont think he did anything wrong and people dont get banned easily here. You can see the predicament it leaves when modding this place.

I think the abuse has been reduced (but not totally gone) a lot since the forum relaunch and personally i would welcome any new posters whatever thoughts they have on the club

[LeftfootlegendGooner]

I cant add much to DB10's post as he covers it all but all i want to add is in my opinion everyone is welcome here, i can understand a pro-Wenger poster not fancying having to defend his thoughts all the time and choosing a forum more in tune with him but thats probably what makes anti Wenger posters gravitate here.

I think Vinny said about Babatunde and the abuse he gave out to anyone who disagrees with him and i made my feelings clear from the start that Baba should have been banned long before he actually went but still there are posters and long standing ones here that dont think he did anything wrong and people dont get banned easily here. You can see the predicament it leaves when modding this place.

I think the abuse has been reduced (but not totally gone) a lot since the forum relaunch and personally i would welcome any new posters whatever thoughts they have on the club*

*As long as it is the same as mine.....

[DB10GOONER]

I cant add much to DB10's post as he covers it all but all i want to add is in my opinion everyone is welcome here, i can understand a pro-Wenger poster not fancying having to defend his thoughts all the time and choosing a forum more in tune with him but thats probably what makes anti Wenger posters gravitate here.

I think Vinny said about Babatunde and the abuse he gave out to anyone who disagrees with him and i made my feelings clear from the start that Baba should have been banned long before he actually went but still there are posters and long standing ones here that dont think he did anything wrong and people dont get banned easily here. You can see the predicament it leaves when modding this place.

I think the abuse has been reduced (but not totally gone) a lot since the forum relaunch and personally i would welcome any new posters whatever thoughts they have on the club*

*As long as it is the same as mine.....

Banned. Next?

[LeftfootlegendGooner]

I cant add much to DB10's post as he covers it all but all i want to add is in my opinion everyone is welcome here, i can understand a pro-Wenger poster not fancying having to defend his thoughts all the time and choosing a forum more in tune with him but thats probably what makes anti Wenger posters gravitate here.

I think Vinny said about Babatunde and the abuse he gave out to anyone who disagrees with him and i made my feelings clear from the start that Baba should have been banned long before he actually went but still there are posters and long standing ones here that dont think he did anything wrong and people dont get banned easily here. You can see the predicament it leaves when modding this place.

I think the abuse has been reduced (but not totally gone) a lot since the forum relaunch and personally i would welcome any new posters whatever thoughts they have on the club*

*As long as it is the same as mine.....

Banned. Next?

No need to ban Flash, he means well.....