Hi, my name is Brock Beauchamp, and I'd like to talk to all of you!

[Cowtipper]

No acquisition like this is ever done altruistically.

The goal isn't some nice guy coming in to help some down-and-out forum. The goal is to make $$$.

To make $$$, this site will have to offend the least amount of eyes possible.

Which means all the quirkiness and edginess of this site (aka, the character) will have to be removed.

Which means it will be watered down.

Is anyone actually lending this idea credence? How many times has this played out in real life and no one likes it? "I liked Old John's Bakery until it was bought out by Megacorp, now it's just not the same."

If we want more visitors, why don't we just advertise on Wordpress or Google ourselves? I was getting hundreds of extra views on some articles I was writing just by putting $5 to $10 into a 24-hour Wordpress cycle.

There's better ways to improve traffic flow than selling out.

"Absolutely. We work with the community, and value its input." ...

but what wasn't said was

"but that doesn't mean we'll actually do anything the community says because haha you don't have control anymore, we do."

Edited February 21 by Cowtipper

[Edgy MD]

I am. I am lending this idea credence.

And as somebody spending money (money I don't really have) to make this site live, I am not afraid of the notion that money might be made.

[Cowtipper]

Well, RIP CPF.

[Frayed Knot]

btw, B.B., how did you find us?

I keep thinking we're so obscure that D.B. Cooper and the remains of Jimmy Hoffa would be easier to locate.

[Brock Beauchamp]

btw, B.B., how did you find us?

I keep thinking we're so obscure that D.B. Cooper and the remains of Jimmy Hoffa would be easier to locate.

I've spent years looking into forums for every MLB team. I didn't find this place until early summer of 2025; it was really hard to find, to be honest. I had tried so many variety of searches for each team, and this was buried deep in the results somewhere.

[Brock Beauchamp]

To make $$$, this site will have to offend the least amount of eyes possible.

I'm going to be frank: I don't care all that much what happens in the forums. There can't be rampant racism, beyond that almost everything is a choice.

But I'm absolutely cutthroat about racism, as we all should be. My kids are Black, I have no time for that ****.

If it was all about the dollars, we wouldn't do stuff like this, which pissed off a HUGE portion of our audience. Our Twins Daily front page on ICE Out day. People act as if trying to be profitable means you need to discard everything you believe in; that simply isn't true. Some people do that, sure, and those people suck.

[kcmets]

What is the monthly cost of running the cranepoolcompanion? I'm more

than happy to adopt the CPF for the month of March to keep the forum

ad-free. Then someone else can adopt it for April. I have PayPay, Zelle,

Venmo and Bill as payment options. I have a few checks left lol, can't

remember the last time I wrote a check...

[Edgy MD]

I am paid up through November, when the price will inevitably bounce up from my introductory offer.

I certainly appreciate the offer of passing the hat (and KC generously offering to get the action started) but the death of this forum is the greater issue. I want it to live and thrive and prosper, not merely exist on life support. I have long wanted it to be the centerpiece of a KCMets.com-like magazine site, but have failed to get that off the ground despite a couple of false starts.

And I realize managing the platform, maintaining the database, building in the SEO — while it is not beyond me — is a huge pain in the ass. (I ****ing hate SEO, and it was a big part of my job loss at Catholic Relief Services.) I get within five years of being caught up in the state of the art of Web editing and site programming, and then something goes on in my life — a health thing, or a job thing, or a family thing — and I have to put that aside, and the "state of the art" has moved ahead and I am out of my depth again. Also, I am bad at leadership, or else I'dve put together a programming team, and editorial team, a design team, etc.

The "state of the art" is now "let AI do all that **** for you" but **** that noise.

What I want is a platform adjacent to this forum that I can contribute to as a Metsfan writer alongside other showcased Metsfan writers, finding our audience and growing a community. Accepting that maintaining such a site under my control is always going to be a life hassle, and I see this as an opportunity to do that/be a part of that, even if that means ceding some control. I (personally, anyhow) need to put the Web management hours of my life into writing.

I appreciate everybody being suspicious, but I encourage them to visit these other communities, weigh what is good or bad about them, and maybe discuss with the people from other forums. And I also ask them to appreciate whether what we have here is all that precious anymore. I look around and I see some once-enthusiastic and terrific posters for whom their Wordle scores now represent 78-80% of their posting. Our most frequent posters of late have been our most obnoxious. And fun **** like Tabloid Cover Derby and the like are being cancelled for want of participation.

I see contributions for the WHO DIED? thread being forumites just rushing to be the first to post a name after a death is announced publicly, with no commentary, like checking a box. I put up a MEMORIES thread and folks can't be bothered to write a specific memory and just write that a player sucked.

I get rid of our most toxic poster after years of malicious abuse and our best posters leave with him. That's the price we pay and that's their right, but who is going to replace their contributions?

And I can't even talk cowtipper out of posting AI slop.

I appreciate if folks want to contribute to keep the site alive, but please consider that this can't be life. Is this really what you want to pay good money and contribute good time to? Because I think your thoughts and ideas deserve better.

[Cowtipper]

I see contributions for the WHO DIED? thread being forumites just rushing to be the first to post a name after a death is announced publicly, with no commentary, like checking a box. I put up a MEMORIES thread and folks can't be bothered to write a specific memory and just write that a player sucked.

I get rid of our most toxic poster after years of malicious abuse and our best posters leave with him. That's the price we pay and that's their right, but who is going to replace their contributions?

And I can't even talk cowtipper out of posting AI slop.

How many times have you asked me to stop? Once? Perhaps it is those unnecessary attacks and persistent condescension from moderation, which literally happen all the time, that drives a lot of people away?

(I literally only post AI biographies in the single thread.

I started.

And primarily post in.

LOL.

Quite the non-sequitur and dig considering the rather serious nature of this thread.)

Maybe what this forum needs is a change in moderation? Not ownership?

Anyway, these two:

"I see contributions for the WHO DIED? thread being a forumites just rushing to be the first to post a name after a death is announced publicly, with no commentary, like checking a box. I put up a MEMORIES thread and folks can't be bothered to write a specific memory and just write that a player sucked.

I get rid of our most toxic poster after years of malicious abuse and our best posters leave with him. That's the price we pay and that's their right, but who is going to replace their contributions?"

Could possibly be because it's the offseason.

[Edgy MD]

If anyone wants you to be moderator, you have my blessing.

As I write, if folks think things are going well, then that is their choice.

[Lefty Specialist]

I think BatMags chased away more than a few people all by himself over the years. Just saying.

[Benjamin Grimm]

I look around and I see some once-enthusiastic and terrific posters for whom their Wordle scores now represent 78-80% of their posting. Our most frequent posters of late have been our most obnoxious. And fun **** like Tabloid Cover Derby and the like are being cancelled for want of participation.

I see contributions for the WHO DIED? thread being forumites just rushing to be the first to post a name after a death is announced publicly, with no commentary, like checking a box. I put up a MEMORIES thread and folks can't be bothered to write a specific memory and just write that a player sucked.

I appreciate if folks want to contribute to keep the site alive, but please consider that this can't be life. Is this really what you want to pay good money and contribute good time to? Because I think your thoughts and ideas deserve better.

 

Many excellent points there. I think Edgy's opinion matters more than anyone else's here, and I support whatever decision he makes. And if I were him, I think I'd go for it. If it proves to be a disaster we can always regroup elsewhere, although that seems very unlikely to happen. (Both the disaster and, should that actually come to pass, the regrouping.)

[Cowtipper]

Many excellent points there. I think Edgy's opinion matters more than anyone else's here, and I support whatever decision he makes. And if I were him, I think I'd go for it. If it proves to be a disaster we can always regroup elsewhere, although that seems very unlikely to happen. (Both the disaster and, should that actually come to pass, the regrouping.)

Oh yes, because regrouping after the first rodeo really turned out well.

I hate to get harsher, it's totally out of my character as people know me and particularly love me for being a genius (I have a very high IQ and my mom still puts my drawings on the fridge), and also very humble, easy going and never sarcastic, but dude, how short are our memories? Is there now a concerted effort to break up the gang for good? We're just going to get washed away with a complete and total rebrand if a sale takes place. And since there seems to be zero desire to seek alternative methods for more organic, less (culturally) destructive growth, it seems like the goal or at least assumed forgone conclusion is the dissolution of this website as we know it. Why? If you don't want to own it anymore, see if one of the members who actually has some love for it wants to take over. Or at least put feelers out to see if one of the other strong (independently-owned) Mets websites might want it. It seems like the powers that be have it in their heads that there are only two possible outcomes now: Ceding CPF to a third party who will totally upend it and destroy the core of what it is, or just let it die from attrition.

We've already seen one of the most important and in-depth archives of all that is Mets obliterated with the stroke of a domain name transfer and now we want to see it happen again within just a couple of months? We don't post a lot and what we don't have is a lot of posters, for now, but what we do post is some good stuff. My main source of Mets news is the CPF, not Mets.com.

Ben, for the sake of all that is good and holy, even if this does happen please at least maintain the UMDB archive you created.

And Brock, despite my attacks, this is nothing against you personally. I bet you are a wonderful fella with a great personality, and I mean that from the bottom of my heart. "Nothing personal, strictly business."

[Benjamin Grimm]

The UMDB archive will remain indefinitely.

I don't know what last rodeo you're referring to.

[Cowtipper]

So we do have really short memories.

[Marshmallowmilkshake]

I'm among the folks who were posting that people had passed without adding memories or context. I misunderstood the intent there, and apologize. I'll do better!

Batmags was beyond toxic. He didn't just post offensive things, he targeted certain members with the purpose of attacking them and driving them away. No one wants to be part of a baseball forum filled with hate speech, bigotry, and misogyny. There were many times when I wanted to post something, but didn't want to endure the two weeks -- or more -- of attacks that I knew would be coming. I come here for fun and community, and that creates neither. I applaud Edgy for taking the steps he did. I'm disappointed in the people who left because he took those steps, but also recognize they were never the frequent targets of Batmags attacks. They might have felt otherwise if they were. I wish they would return.

If the powers-that-be want to take these steps with Brock, I will happily give the new forum a try. It's their call, not mine. If the powers wish to keep things as they are, and need help with the finances or moderation, I'm happy to assist. Let me know how.

I really appreciate this community, especially as an out-of-town Mets fan. It's been a constant in my life for more than a decade, probably closer to two decades. It's one of the first sites I check each morning, and I peek in throughout the day as a little escape. I love the quirky annual threads, like the Players of the Month with the amazing replica cards. I appreciate the folks who have kept it going.

Just my 2 cents, or more.

[Edgy MD]

We had a game today — the first in months, man — and no thread.

Please just consider that we're living in tumbleweeds.

[Cowtipper]

I think we're more distracted by the fact that another massive change at this board and website we know and love so very much is in the works again. Everything else seems so trivial, ya know? Don't make me go back to holding cardboard signs with my opinions of the New York Mets on street corners again.

[Frayed Knot]

I suppose the cautionary tale is like the scene from LOCAL HERO where the Nigerian/Scottish minister asks Peter Riegert's 'Mac' character, there from the Houston office of a large oil company who has been sent to acquire land for an oil company, "So you want to buy my church?"

Mac: "Well ... not as a going concern."

So let's go back to the beginning for a minute:

 

Wrapping these cool legacy forums in a protective bubble of analysis articles, video, and original content keeps these forums thriving for years to come, and preserves some of the cool, old internet I loved.

 

So the idea is that you acquire the CPF to become the forum in a larger more media intense NYM fan site.

Now, does the forum retain its current format in the new location or is it restructured in the manner of the fora structure you have on your other baseball sites?

For instance, in addition to the main team forum, the others all seem to have (in a kind of cookie cutter sameness) separate threads for minor league talk, draft talk, chat involving other teams, etc. We, as you can see, never did it that way. For the most part all talk about baseball lives in the baseball forum, not just about the focus club but it's also where we talk about the draft, about NYM minor league clubs, also our division rivals as well as in MLB in general, and, of course, our inevitable 'Yanquis Suck' thread.

iow, who decides such stuff, the near 25-year long evolution of the CPF, or would these decisions be a top-down moderators' choice?

[Brock Beauchamp]

So the idea is that you acquire the CPF to become the forum in a larger more media intense NYM fan site.

Now, does the forum retain its current format in the new location or is it restructured in the manner of the fora structure you have on your other baseball sites?

For instance, in addition to the main team forum, the others all seem to have (in a kind of cookie cutter sameness) separate threads for minor league talk, draft talk, chat involving other teams, etc. We, as you can see, never did it that way. For the most part all talk about baseball lives in the baseball forum, not just about the focus club but it's also where we talk about the draft, about NYM minor league clubs, also our division rivals as well as in MLB in general, and, of course, our inevitable 'Yanquis Suck' thread.

iow, who decides such stuff, the near 25-year long evolution of the CPF, or would these decisions be a top-down moderators' choice?

 

I don't have strong opinions on most of this. If you look at the other sites, there is some variance between them, and almost all of those differences stem from the original forums. I think they all have draft forums now, but that wasn't always the case. Some have rumors forums, most do not. They all have minor league forums, but they all came that way. I'd prefer a MiLB forum, but it's a conversation I'm open to having. There are logistical reasons for a MiLB forum, and I'd like to make my case for it, but if everybody replies "nope!", then okay. We need a front page news forum (well, don't NEED, but I think most of you will want one) because that's where threads for the front page news are stored. Otherwise they overwhelm the main team forum.

The one thing I'd like to make a case for is to change the name of the primary forum to match the rest of our sites, but that's because it will help bump our SEO rankings by quite a bit.

The Adopt-A-Prospect forum and all that stuff? Sure, they're great. We had the identical forum on Twins Daily for years before it fell out of favor.

The thing I'll probably make the strongest case for (other than the SEO forum) is the merging of inactive forums. If nobody has posted in a forum for months, it's just kinda dragging things down and should probably be part of a more active forum.

[Brock Beauchamp]

Actually, upon further consideration, I won't even make an argument for a MiLB forum. This forum is small; it's better to keep everything condensed and as-is. Should traffic increase, that's a discussion for another day.

[Frayed Knot]

I guess my main question is this: do you want THIS forum as a centerpiece for a planned NYM site for your growing collection, or merely A NYM forum that could then be morphed into a cookie cutter version of what you have on your other sites?

If it winds up being (more or less) THIS forum, just under a new hosting site and overseen by different folks, then that's one thing.

But if it winds up being altered into something with a different set-up with a different feel and different smells (oh yes, this place has unique scents) for the purpose of looking as close as possible to the collection of fora you already have then the CPF loses nearly a quarter century of what made it the CPF and you're likely to lose a number of those who made it what it currently is.

[Brock Beauchamp]

I guess my main question is this: do you want THIS forum as a centerpiece for a planned NYM site for your growing collection, or merely A NYM forum that could then be morphed into a cookie cutter version of what you have on your other sites?

If it winds up being (more or less) THIS forum, just under a new hosting site and overseen by different folks, then that's one thing.

But if it winds up being altered into something with a different set-up with a different feel and different smells (oh yes, this place has unique scents) for the purpose of looking as close as possible to the collection of fora you already have then the CPF loses nearly a quarter century of what made it the CPF and you're likely to lose a number of those who made it what it currently is.

 

Are you talking about visually? I'm really not sure, so I'm asking. Should this transfer happen, the forum would move to our software platform, which will look much like the other sites. But it also comes with A LOT more robust feature set than what PHPBB offers.

[metsmarathon]

so like, what would you be looking at in terms of a re-name?

[Cowtipper]

Why swoop in and take this one over and not just start a Mets forum and site of your own? That's the question. There's an ulterior motive as to why he wants this site; he's not going to give the full answers because to do so would likely mean saying things that would make more of us say 'no.' There's a reason he wants to monopolize all these sites. Why.

If money is a driving reason why we're considering this move, I'd pitch in, too, to avoid it. If it's low-engagement, then there's other ways to boost traffic. If running the site is just too burdensome and onerous, then find someone with an independent flair who will maintain the feel of an independent website, lumps and all, not someone who wants to turn this into his version of just another baseball forum.

[Fman99]

If the powers-that-be want to take these steps with Brock, I will happily give the new forum a try. It's their call, not mine. If the powers wish to keep things as they are, and need help with the finances or moderation, I'm happy to assist. Let me know how.

 

This is my position as well. I go where my friends go, whether we stay here or try a new spot.

[Brock Beauchamp]

so like, what would you be looking at in terms of a re-name?

I'd want the community's help on that. I should have the word Mets in it for SEO reasons.

We were really struggling with the Jays site name. One of the users came up with Jays Centre, and everybody loved it immediately.

[Brock Beauchamp]

Why swoop in and take this one over and not just start a Mets forum and site of your own? That's the question. There's an ulterior motive as to why he wants this site; he's not going to give the full answers because to do so would likely mean saying things that would make more of us say 'no.' There's a reason he wants to monopolize all these sites. Why.

There isn't an ulterior motive. It helps with building a site around the margins to have an existing userbase, but also unnecessary, as we've found out with Padres Mission and Royals Keep.

Frankly, I just LIKE doing this. It's fun. Injecting new life into an existing community that is struggling is fun for me, and it helps the site grow just a tad quicker. Do I make money in the end? Sure, at least I hope so. Doesn't everybody? We all need it to live.

I pick teams and sites often based on the forums I find, not the team. I chose the Cubs because of North Side Baseball. I chose the Red Sox because of Talk Sox. I chose the Blue Jays because of Blue Jays Message Board (which became Jays Centre).

Other than a few teams I hate (Cardinals, White Sox, Yankees, probably Dodgers) and therefore avoid, I don't go pursuing markets, or teams. I look for communities.

You can choose to believe this or not, that's fine. But not everybody in the world is a mustachio-twirling, nefarious soul-stealer.

[Frayed Knot]

Are you talking about visually? I'm really not sure, so I'm asking. Should this transfer happen, the forum would move to our software platform, which will look much like the other sites. But it also comes with A LOT more robust feature set than what PHPBB offers.

 

No, I'm not talking about fonts and such. How this place winds up looking is fairly irrelevant (aside from, y'know, a healthy smattering of blue and orange).

I talking about the set-ups of the forum(s) itself. Obviously our current set-up -- with all our baseball stuff in one forum for instance rather than separate minor league, draft, other team discussions being forced elsewhere -- is the way we're used to things. Does that stay as it is or does a moderator decide how things are broken out?

Our non-baseball section gets nearly as much action as the BB side but, aside from our movie sub-forum, the non-BB section is just a big catch-all for other stuff. We barely even touch on football, hoops or hockey around here and if we do a thread to two per year is sufficient to the point where a separate sub-forum for each is unnecessary.

All of which isn't to say things have to stay exactly as they've been for ever and ever; we've certainly made changes over the years. But if the idea is that it's better to import a current and working forum than it would be starting from scratch then we'd rather it be imported more or less 'as is' as opposed to finding itself in a new home that doesn't feel like the old one because a top-down restructuring took place so that it most closely mimics all the other properties on the block.

[Brock Beauchamp]

Are you talking about visually? I'm really not sure, so I'm asking. Should this transfer happen, the forum would move to our software platform, which will look much like the other sites. But it also comes with A LOT more robust feature set than what PHPBB offers.

 

No, I'm not talking about fonts and such. How this place winds up looking is fairly irrelevant (aside from, y'know, a healthy smattering of blue and orange).

I talking about the set-ups of the forum(s) itself. Obviously our current set-up -- with all our baseball stuff in one forum for instance rather than separate minor league, draft, other team discussions being forced elsewhere -- is the way we're used to things. Does that stay as it is or does a moderator decide how things are broken out?

Our non-baseball section gets nearly as much action as the BB side but, aside from our movie sub-forum, the non-BB section is just a big catch-all for other stuff. We barely even touch on football, hoops or hockey around here and if we do a thread to two per year is sufficient to the point where a separate sub-forum for each is unnecessary.

All of which isn't to say things have to stay exactly as they've been for ever and ever; we've certainly made changes over the years. But if the idea is that it's better to import a current and working forum than it would be starting from scratch then we'd rather it be imported more or less 'as is' as opposed to finding itself in a new home that doesn't feel like the old one because a top-down restructuring took place so that it most closely mimics all the other properties on the block.

Oh sure. Yeah, I don't care all that much about the forum layout, other than the stuff I mentioned earlier. I'll need a front page news forum but beyond that, I don't see any reason to change much other than the primary forum name for SEO reasons.

It's likely things change in time anyway. On other sites, I've removed, added, and removed forums based on commmunity requests. I've added temporary forums. I really don't feel strongly about this kind of thing; people like their forums arranged how they like them arranged. In time with growth, I'd hope we'd *want* a few more forums to break into their own thing, but that's a bridge you cross when you need to do so.