Even though the number of people happy to stand up and admit they are Kettering town supporters dwindles to the lowest number in living memory, and probably longer, supporter online outlets continue to grow. I'm not sure the news that we are now a "Two Forum" club is necessarily a good thing. For one, there's twice as much gnashing of teeth and wringing of hands to wade through! Twice as much blaming everyone for everything. Oh my God, there may end up being two Pedros!
We know what it is like to have competition. We recently buried the pretender to our throne - the "This isn't Kettering" blog! Let that be a warning to anyone else who wants to write at length about a bunch of crappy footballers, playing miles from home!
The new Poppy Power forum has tried to create a distinction between itself and the venerable Poppynet. There are additional sections covering memorabilia, not footballing topics, travel, international football etc., all under a kind of free form, "anything goes" banner, free from heavy moderation.
Of course, we could all see what would happen next. Given a long leash, the Administrator probably hoped the members would engage in innovative, exciting and stimulating exchanges, pushing the boundaries of the Poppies online experience.
In the real world it took mere days for members to start swearing at each other, slagging off Poppynet, issuing threats and getting themselves banned. And then bleating about "free speech" as though being advised not to bring down a holy jihad on the Site Administrator in someway restricted their human rights. Anyone running or moderating these sort of forums deserves a medal, and almost certainly a bout of psychiatric help!
The new Forum may or may not last. I'm not sure there's the interest out there for another site where all the JC haters can gather, and we can wonder in what alternate reality the appointment of Helen Thompson might be considered a good idea!
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