What happened to the Official Forum?

Discussion in 'Taylor's Tittle-Tattle - General Banter' started by SkylaRose, Dec 18, 2019.

  1. SkylaRose

    SkylaRose Administrator Staff Member

    Back in the late 1990's early 2000's, Watfordfc.com had a fan forum attached to their site that fans could sign up for and post to, much like we do here. I used to be a member and liked the banter. Does anyone know why it was removed from the official site? Were any rules broken?

    I am not putting wfcforums down at all by the way, there is no comparison - this forum is miles better than the official one was. Great members here and lot's of topics. Miester and the team of Mods do a fantastic job here.

    Just asking if anyone who perhaps was a member knows what happened?
     
  2. wfc4ever

    wfc4ever Administrator Staff Member

    I think it got shut down for legal reasons - was at the time of Simpson/Ashton/Boothroyd when they would ban anything negative about the club.

    Always remember someone called "the gift" on there who'd write long texts without paragraphs or full stops!

    And you could "kill" a post by reporting it!!!
     
  3. Relegation Certs

    Relegation Certs Squad Player

    rivals.net was the best forum, and miles better than this one. A much more amusing and less po-faced community.
     
  4. Diamond

    Diamond First Team

    Chewit happened.
     
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  5. SkylaRose

    SkylaRose Administrator Staff Member

    Could you elaborate? I take it that was a member of the forum?
     
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  6. wfc4ever

    wfc4ever Administrator Staff Member

    Cannot remember really but maybe he or she might have been a member who posted allegations I guess?
     
  7. Diamond

    Diamond First Team

    He was a moderator on the oficial site. I think he admitted once that it was a mistake. It was the wild west on there. Abuse, false rumours, fights, libel, unsafe for work/school stuff posted regularly. It was a stain on the official site and the club couldn't wait to get rid of it but in 2006 there was only rivals, gloryhorns and the darkside which were all as bad / much worse. Early in 2006 a fairly decent site popped up and went as quickly as it came. Later in 2006 this site arrived, found a work/school safe gap in the market and started to get popular. Before the end of 2006 the club shut the official site and most of the members jumped to gloryhorns and here.

    I miss the darkside more than the official site.
     
  8. GoingDown

    GoingDown "The Stability"

    Any posting that remotely went down the political route was dealt with quickly.
     
    Timbers likes this.
  9. The Voice of Reason

    The Voice of Reason First Team Captain

    Spot on that is exactly what happened, I think someone was going to sue them for what some idiots were saying on there. It's a pity that too many are allowed to say what they like on here these days, because even though some things slipped through the net the mods were a lot stricter back then and people were quite often expelled or were given a suspension when they crossed the line.
     
    SkylaRose likes this.
  10. luke_golden

    luke_golden Space Cadet

    Sounds like you’re a fan of censorship. Nazi.
     
  11. StuBoy

    StuBoy Forum Cad and Bounder

    A few of us were signed up on here (and the official forum), prior to the club closing it. At that time to say it was very much tumbleweeds all round on this site would be an understatement. Once the official club one closed it seem to explode on here from next to nothing. Gloryhorns was already pretty established I think. Can’t believe it was all over 10 years ago.
     
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  12. wfcmoog

    wfcmoog Tinpot

    I vaguely recall, the final nail in the coffin was something to do with a rumour about Marlon King. It was probably true too.
     
  13. Arakel

    Arakel First Team

    The official site boards were pretty good back when they first opened up. Mostly internet early adopters at the point.

    By the time it closed down, they were a cesspool that I had long since stopped frequenting.

    Internet mass adoption proved to be unfavuorable for quite a number of sites, really, unless they adopted more draconian measures. The early days of the net were quite different to what we have now, very much a double edged sword.
     
    SkylaRose likes this.
  14. Relegation Certs

    Relegation Certs Squad Player

    The darkside was good at first but faded away until in the end it was just cpl_jones ranting to himself.

    I wonder what happened to that old soak? Dead or demented I'd wager.
     
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  15. Clive_ofthe_Kremlin

    Clive_ofthe_Kremlin Squad Player


    Yeah a big miss Cpl Jones, along with Tommy Cooper, Best Dressed, Bertie Royal and others.

    All on darkside were refugees from BWL Rivals, which in its day was the finest message board ever.
     
  16. Teide1

    Teide1 Squad Player

    I think you are right, Marlon King’s disappearance from action was all very mysterious with many rumours as to what actually happened, something to do with a Friday night before a Saturday game at Charlton!
     
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  17. Maninblack

    Maninblack Reservist

    I was never part of rivals.net but for me, Gloryhorns was the best by far in its early days, 15-16 yrs ago. A rarity for any online forum, a real respectful & tolerant community. A few of us even met up for pre-match beers on occasion.
     
    SkylaRose likes this.
  18. SkylaRose

    SkylaRose Administrator Staff Member

    I'm guessing the reason the "Marlon She Said No" chant began when he played for Coventry?

    I know what happened. Shame really. Our top scorer under Boothroyd in our promotion season.
     
  19. Relegation Certs

    Relegation Certs Squad Player

    I presumed most of them were on here in various other guises when I first joined here, but I don't actually think that's the case. People like Tommy Cooper were really rather intelligent and I don't get that impression from any of the posters on this forum.

    Though I suppose if they couldn't find this place perhaps they weren't that smart after all.
     
  20. Relegation Certs

    Relegation Certs Squad Player

    Gloryhorns was the effeminate fop compared to the rugged high - testosterone Darkside.
     
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  21. Aberystwyth_Hornet

    Aberystwyth_Hornet Squad Player

    I just remembered we were like rats from a sinking ship. I wasn't active on the official forums and arrived here before it shut. I don't feel I'm overly active on here but I've been around for over 13 years :eek:

    I remember when this place temporarily closed down when I was at uni and felt completely lost
     
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  22. Cassetti's Beard

    Cassetti's Beard First Team

    Is there an archive of the old forum?
     
  23. Otter

    Otter Gambling industry insider

    I never used the official forum but I was on BWL, however the Rivals network was bought out by some company who then ran it to the ground. I did go on the Darkside but it was a shadow of what Rivals was. When BWL died I did sign up to Glory Horns but I never posted there and I lost interest, it was many years before I came across this site and I lurked for about a year or so before signing up.

    BWL had a massive thread called "Post if you hate L*t*n", it was near impossible to load on dial-up internet.
     
    lendal likes this.
  24. GoingDown

    GoingDown "The Stability"

    He's in the politics forum.
     
  25. hornmeister

    hornmeister Tired

    Excellent. Jog on.

    Banned
     
  26. hornmeister

    hornmeister Tired

    Sold the rights to Sky
     
  27. Relegation Certs

    Relegation Certs Squad Player

    Powermonger!
     
  28. Clive_ofthe_Kremlin

    Clive_ofthe_Kremlin Squad Player

    Under what name?
     
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  30. Otter

    Otter Gambling industry insider

    I see that Maceo (aka @Clive_ofthe_Kremlin ) posted a thread called "Alan Garcia is a thief is a thief is a thief".

    Assuming that you were referring to the then president of Peru, you may be interested to know that when anti-corruption police kicked his door down earlier this year, he shot himself in the head.
     
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  31. Harrow Orn

    Harrow Orn Squad Player

    All I remember was a thread about Martin Devaney
     
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  32. Moose

    Moose First Team Captain

    Never clicked that was the case, but of course.
     
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  33. Timbers

    Timbers Apeman

    Ally'you'orns or something if I remember!

    I am sure many of us remember the most famous poster of them all, job...
     
  34. another_mrlizard

    another_mrlizard Squad Player

    The depressing thing about seeing old BWL threads again, is realising just how many ******s tried to talk about football on there. A cardinal sin, on a forum intended purely for discussion of cheese and lemurs.

    As for Darkside, the only good thing on there was MrGiraffe. The rest of us have either died or might as well, for all the good we do nowadays.

    I met Jones several times. Turns out he is actually Mark Francois.
     
    lendal likes this.
  35. PotGuy

    PotGuy Forum Fetishist

    I mean, this was just from loading the message board
     

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