Just how fast is BBC message board going down hill (21/04/04)

[Richie Benauds Love Child]

As you can see its got a bit busy over the last few days.

[Trescothick's Footwork]

I would like to announce my presence here

[Moss]

I've also defected, but I was only a very new member on the TMS board anyway.
This board format is much better, as threads are listed in order of replies.
And there's no SKR.

[Richie Benauds Love Child]

Welcome.

It appears that one or two are digging there heals in, some that I find surprising as written below.

A manifesto for the faithful... I get high on leg-spin - 498th post - 21 Apr 2004 17:30
Good afternoon, my friends. It is gently drizzling outside; all but one County Championship game is off. Yet whilst I relax, drifting off into a Chris Read-inhabited reverie, I grow cataclysmically angry.
You see, in the past few days, hours even, men, and women, who have enlightened this great convention with their binary presence, have abandoned ship. A ship, may I add, that, although primitive of construct and creaky of beam, remains as healthily afloat as it was on the day of its christening. I would go as far as to say that comfort is to be found in its old-fashioned, easily negotiable ways. Certainly I find this to be so.

A ship, however, is not a ship without its crew. Last autumn and winter, despite the early falling of the western sun, the ship's crew was bountiful, knowledgeable, and as entertaining as any group of cricket-lovers could be. All varieties were present: pranksters, youths, statisticians, pundits, friends. Granted, there were some to whom friction was a way of life rather than a restraining force acted upon a surface by another. But they added inestimably to proceedings. Seldom has argument been more rewarding than on these pages.

But now, I know where the crew of the Marie Celeste had gone.

They merely boarded the QE2 instead when nobody was looking.

I have seen the alternative chatroom. The very first thing that strikes me about it is how modern it all looks. As one who embraces revolution (and yes, I was at the inaugural Twenty20 cup match), I was inclined to have a glance, just to see what it was like.

Well, it was hellish. In order to view a message and its replies, an extraordinarily complex system of buttons had to be negotiated. When I eventually accessed a message, all the contributors had little ‘comments’ next to their names! Worse, each reply took up almost the entire screen! Now, I believe that until we somehow meet up for real, we should display a certain…humble mystery. The BBC messageboard allows this perfectly, marrying a wholly workable layout with efficiency of use. The ‘new’ (and spectacularly ugly) board does not.

But that is not the reason that I am staying here. The reason is thus. Despite the erratic post count, I have always been known to you all as ‘I get high on leg-spin’ (or Lancs Man for a short if highly amusing spell) and I have a reasonably impressive history; over 500 posts now. I’m not up there with Farmer Giles or even don talon yet, but I wish to retain my identity as it is, on these boards. It isn’t alien; it’s everyday yet endlessly changing with the news and the personnel. I am established here. It is my electronic home. And I have no reason to leave it. Therefore, I shall remain, and may you all stay as well.

It struck home hard when I visited the fallacious rip-off that a good number of my contemporaries had left. Every name was once-familiar, once-welcomed. Now, I no longer know these people. They are slaves to a system not dissimilar from a Hot-mail email account, with twice the gaudy allure and thrice the plastic lack of permanence. The chasm is opening, my friends. And when the other site crashes, into the abyss, will the deserters all come snivelling back?

I hope so. For when they do, I know, I know, it will be for good.

Thank you for your time,

IGHOLS. (Age 17)



A shame he didnt join. Had some fun conversation about ashly giles and neighbours one evening.

[Mark Kidger]

Originally Posted by Essex Eagle

Sadly, though we expect immigrants to the country to become instantly angliscised, we dont always so it ourselves - you only have to see the morons we export to spain who have created a little britain there

Is that a reference to me?