I've been a lurker since the late 1990's on the site. I know that political threads were a big thing back then and I get why they were banned. They became a cesspool of personal attacks.
I'm more thinking in general- this site used to be hopping- there would be plenty of good quality discussion threads and specifically so much good NFT content that I just don't see anymore.
It seems that the number of posts is not even half of what I remember it being on a daily basis. It didn't matter whether the Giants were good or bad this site was much more of a general social hub.
Am I just remembering wrong? Is it because the Giants have been dreadful for the past decade plus?
Exactly. The Giants are what we used to make fun of the Redskins for being. The offseason is the actual season, and the fanbase goes into September feeling like world beaters before reality sets in by Halloween.
There did certainly used to be more colorful characters on here, as well as more serious discussions about things like economics. I think a lot of people just move on. There are so many media of different types to tune into these days.
I actually agree with this. I don't think we ever fully recovered from the blues of 2020.
I'd say we're more so an even bigger joke than them. I'd say the Giants are like the Browns or what the Raiders have become, or have been, since they lost that Super Bowl to Tampa Bay.
+100
I can tell you that I have been spending less time simply because every thread turns into one about the QB and it is from the same people.
If you knew your wife was going to bring up the same thing every time you walked into the kitchen, then you may stay away from the kitchen because you are fucking tired of it. Even if you agree with her... it eventually gets old.
With stuff like twitter, facebook, discord, reddit, tiktok and other similar types of social media, the audience for these types of message boards is trending older and older and not being replaced by younger. Remember when BBI has lots of 20 year olds and college students? They are all in their mid-30s now and likely represent the younger group on the board.
The Giants being maybe the worst franchise in then NFL the past decade certainly hasn't helped matters, but the bigger issue is the older posters are dying off and not being replaced.
BBI is a a dinosaur with a limited shelf life, maybe another decade. At the same time, the site would be much more active if the team was winning (see 2022).
This site is excellent, the game day previews and reviews, the training camp updates, the front page and all the work Eric and his team (mods) do to upkeep the site.
What is not excellent is the corner forum, and simply that's because the level of tolerance people have for outside opinions has lessened due to the way the media has shaped us the last 20 years. Myself included.....Also I want to say...an I don't have it but X (twitter) has really lowered the bar IMO for human decency.
As far as with the team, that doesn't help either but some think going 10 years without a Super Bowl run is rock bottom and are frustrated, tired and embarrassed to wait any longer so quick snap judgements and changes are demanded. An a portion of those fans live their lives for Giants football so they have become the most vocal.
That said, BBI is top shelf. it's a special place with great people who contribute (shout out Mets thread team) and I cherish it greatly.
On second thought, the same ol' DJ crapola accounts for >90% of the discussion here, so that would certainly be very few threads.
The Giants are depressing to the point where discussing/debating the reasons have gotten boring
But Vin R talking Batman, now that’s the kind of energy we need around here!
BBI being less traffic'd is a symptom of the terrible product the Giants have become.
There did certainly used to be more colorful characters on here, as well as more serious discussions about things like economics. I think a lot of people just move on. There are so many media of different types to tune into these days.
Agree with this. Knicks/NBA and Rangers/NHL threads are consistently among the best and most informative
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Who left because every discussion would become overrun with the same by repeated negative posts, no matter what the topic. It ruins any chance of discussing anything else.
+100
I can tell you that I have been spending less time simply because every thread turns into one about the QB and it is from the same people.
If you knew your wife was going to bring up the same thing every time you walked into the kitchen, then you may stay away from the kitchen because you are fucking tired of it. Even if you agree with her... it eventually gets old.
Many Of the knowledgeable, interesting posters are gone. Seems like the site has A been overrun by townies who spam every thread with the saMe 3 thoughts. Even a thread carefully crafted to avoid the usual crap devolves quickly. The football acumen is way down. The discourse is lacking.
Social media has obliterated any civil discourse and respect in disagreement. It's basically become a megaphone for the miserable and disgruntled. I don't need to seek that out in my leisure time. I just stay out of the kitchen.
Well, why do you think people are miserable? It's a Giants fan website & the team blows. If we were KC or SF or Baltimore or name a good team & I guarantee you there'd be a helluva lot more optimism. I was here in '08...fans were insanely optimistic.
You want people to be happy & less bitching? Well, the product being better sure AF helps.
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preferable to the websites actually devoted to those teams.
There did certainly used to be more colorful characters on here, as well as more serious discussions about things like economics. I think a lot of people just move on. There are so many media of different types to tune into these days.
Agree with this. Knicks/NBA and Rangers/NHL threads are consistently among the best and most informative
The best Knicks discussion I've found online is here on BBI. BBI Yankees discussion is on par with Twitter, but one of the great Yankees follows on Twitter is Dunedin's Twitter handle; he rarely comes here anymore for all the reasons we've been discussing. So BBI Yankees is also pretty good, is what I'm saying. And that fanbase is FULL of toxicity, so it's hard to find.
Buffett doesn’t invest in NFL teams, because they can’t be run by idiots.
Buffett doesn’t invest in NFL teams, because they can’t be run by idiots.
Hahaha, that is a good one and perfectly describes the Giants.
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In comment 16651126 steve in ky said:
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Who left because every discussion would become overrun with the same by repeated negative posts, no matter what the topic. It ruins any chance of discussing anything else.
+100
I can tell you that I have been spending less time simply because every thread turns into one about the QB and it is from the same people.
If you knew your wife was going to bring up the same thing every time you walked into the kitchen, then you may stay away from the kitchen because you are fucking tired of it. Even if you agree with her... it eventually gets old.
Many Of the knowledgeable, interesting posters are gone. Seems like the site has A been overrun by townies who spam every thread with the saMe 3 thoughts. Even a thread carefully crafted to avoid the usual crap devolves quickly. The football acumen is way down. The discourse is lacking.
Social media has obliterated any civil discourse and respect in disagreement. It's basically become a megaphone for the miserable and disgruntled. I don't need to seek that out in my leisure time. I just stay out of the kitchen.
This point hits home for me. Probably why I primarily lurked for 25 years. There were so many good posters back in the day. All I had to do was sit back and learn.
Maybe why I started posting more; the clear absence of quality content. Of course, I’m an idiot and not anywhere close to being as knowledgeable as those posters from the past.
I’m also guilty of the above; spamming threads. I will stop that. I also hope quality content returns, or like Eric said, this site will be gone within a decade.
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In comment 16651126 steve in ky said:
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Who left because every discussion would become overrun with the same by repeated negative posts, no matter what the topic. It ruins any chance of discussing anything else.
+100
I can tell you that I have been spending less time simply because every thread turns into one about the QB and it is from the same people.
If you knew your wife was going to bring up the same thing every time you walked into the kitchen, then you may stay away from the kitchen because you are fucking tired of it. Even if you agree with her... it eventually gets old.
Many Of the knowledgeable, interesting posters are gone. Seems like the site has A been overrun by townies who spam every thread with the saMe 3 thoughts. Even a thread carefully crafted to avoid the usual crap devolves quickly. The football acumen is way down. The discourse is lacking.
Social media has obliterated any civil discourse and respect in disagreement. It's basically become a megaphone for the miserable and disgruntled. I don't need to seek that out in my leisure time. I just stay out of the kitchen.
I'll push back on part of this...The site was much more "mean" when I arrived around 1999/2000. It was that meanness, which brought on a lot of the rules and banning's we have now. If you think people are mean now, you wouldn't of lasted back in the day.
I’ve been here about 28 years myself and there are a lot of good posters who have left, you not recognizing that doesn’t change it from being so.
You’re misunderstanding my point completely. I know many good long time posters who chose to leave because every thread got hijacked with the same nonsense. It ruined quality discussions. It has zero to do with my expectations, I’m merely answering the OP
I'm hooked. Start an NFT.
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Go ahead and start a thread on how well Runyan or Flott are playing, and see how many people post on it. It's deck chairs on the Titanic.
There are very few Giants-related topics to discuss that are both honest and relevant to what is going on with the team.
We are all rooting for this team out of inertia, and that isn't going to last forever.
I know you say the problems are deeper than QB, but man if you placed Jayden Daniels on this team things would feel a helluva lot different. I'd also sense a renewed energy around the team.
Or Nix or McCarthy or even Rattler.
For yet another season, it looks like we are back in Ground Hog Day mode where the season is basically over by the end of October. And then you compound that by rolling out the same boring, limited QB for a sixth season.
In a QB driven league, not having one kills the fan's soul.
But I really enjoy Saturdays around here at this time. We have a good group of college fans who bring good info to the table and are fun to interact with...
Those were great discussions. But I think we'd all be fooling ourselves if we didn't admit they generated a lot of simmering animosity and it eventually carried over into football discussions.
Second, I don't seem to agree with a lot of BBIers about what it means to be a fan. So many people obsessed with the team losing to get a better draft pick. So many people angry that they won this late-season game or that "meaningless" game. I'm a fan; I want the team to win, period, full stop. If I wanted to hang out with people who want the Giants to lose, I could join an Eagles or Cowboys forum. If that's what I'm going to read, why am I here?
Also, while I still come here multiple times a day, the threads are extremely repetitive. I said this on another thread three days ago:
Tired of every thread turning into the same arguments about DJ. It doesn't even matter if the arguments are good ones; I've read them 100 times. Also similar re Thibodeaux, Hyatt, Wan'dale Robinson, Daboll, Schoen, everyone in the Mara family, Evan Neal, JMS, Gillen, the kickers, Eric Gray... I'm sure I've forgotten someone, but that'll do for a start.
1. Viewing from mobile is a terrible experience
2. We cannot tag people or be notified of someone is tagging you
3. We can't edit our posts because the admins think it is more important to memorialize everything as they were said even if mistakes were made.
4. There's no way of being more organized like creating threads for subtopics.
I'm here for the knowledge but the website could use a serious update. Is that the reason why it's gone downhill? I doubt it but it's the reason why I don't read every comment (because it's hard to read on mobile) and it's the reason why I don't post (because my posts get immediately lost and I have no idea whether anyone responded to it unless I'm diligent).
Are there any Giant discord communities? I love discord or slack for many of the reasons that I posted above.
Outside of the Giants, this site has great content (outside of political discourse). My daughter used suggestions from this site to plan her trip to Iceland. I usually find myself knowing stuff that's going on in The real world before others do because of this site.
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Once the next Batman movie starts filming ;)
The Giants are depressing to the point where discussing/debating the reasons have gotten boring
But Vin R talking Batman, now that’s the kind of energy we need around here!
I do miss some of the quirkiness, like Vin talking batman, randy and the alien stuff, even paulie's political ramblings.
While understanding why political threads are banned, I wish they were allowed. It's the whiny little bitches who kept pestering Eric with complaints and making his life miserable that got them banned. That, and politics having the ability to turn otherwise rational people into mindless morons. Still, they were darn fun if you simply ignore posters/threads that have gone too stupid/rowdy. And sometimes there was quality comments/discussions.
Then BBI went onto a different server or service provider and everyone had to re-register. Back then BBI was great for the inside info when one didn't have access to local info.....so I tried to be the first to register for no reason other than I wanted to get back into posting occasionally.
This website has evolved for sure. Some ways better, some ways worse. But the site has been dead for a years now. Give us some good football and some positive stuff to discuss and it'll improve I"m sure. Or have folks calm their tits down and stop beating the same drum that most of us already know or get the gist of.
.02 over,
You're welcome : )
You sure about that? It seems limitless.
1. Viewing from mobile is a terrible experience
2. We cannot tag people or be notified of someone is tagging you
3. We can't edit our posts because the admins think it is more important to memorialize everything as they were said even if mistakes were made.
4. There's no way of being more organized like creating threads for subtopics.
I'm here for the knowledge but the website could use a serious update. Is that the reason why it's gone downhill? I doubt it but it's the reason why I don't read every comment (because it's hard to read on mobile) and it's the reason why I don't post (because my posts get immediately lost and I have no idea whether anyone responded to it unless I'm diligent).
Are there any Giant discord communities? I love discord or slack for many of the reasons that I posted above.
+100 - I have said this before. There are ways to increase traffic and income while making the platform more user friendly. It requires some initial investment and work, but the end results would be well worth it.
For me the lack of quality discussions keeps me away. Find the site more toxic than entertaining or informative.