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

[duan]

Wow!

Folks, I don't get the open hostility to someone making a reasoned proposal, or indeed Edgy for being interested in transitioning towards a situation where The Crane Pool absorbs less of his resources (be they brain power or monetary).

I don't have the time to post very often, but I visit plenty and always take the temperature of the cranepool as one way of deciding how I feel about Mets developments.

I find it hard to believe that I've been making the occasional post and reading for the best part of 30 years if you include the MOFO days.

Ah Ambler how right you were about Rey Ordonez not getting next nor near a .720 OPS.

I am not near enough a participant to have any input in any such decision, but all I'll say is I've always appreciated the chat here, and will continue to pop in - whatever guise it is in.

[Bob Alpacadaca]

I don't disagree that this is Edgy's call and the final decision rests on his shoulders. And he's under no obligation to do as we say or abide by how we feel. But a poll really would be a more honest gauge about how the community feels about it. It's not a deciding poll, it's a feeler to see how people actually, uh, feel. And it was only in this thread that I learned that Benjamin Grimm didn't actually own this forum. My mind was blown and the entire foundations of my existence were shaken.

 

A poll would be about as impactful as a poll asking who the Mets should play in right field. It's not our call.

I trust Edgy to make a good decision and will go wherever the forum goes. Thank you to all who keep the lights on.

[Cowtipper]

Clearly our words and opinions mean something since this thread is still going and a decision wasn't made unilaterally four days ago.

[metsmarathon]

I don’t care if edgy loses money on this forum or if Brock loses money trying to make money on this forum, so long as somebody is out there trying to facilitate my interactions with you fellow metly hill people.

(Actually I care more that edgy - and all of our historical benefactors along the way - is losing money on us).

[metsmarathon]

Has anybody spent much time taking the temperature on the other sites Brock runs?

If so, what do you see that you don’t like?

[whippoorwill]

Ads. That’s pretty much all I don’t like.

[Lefty Specialist]

They're standard team sites. Articles, analysis, I'm sure there's a game preview and re-cap in season. They look to be clean and well-run. Yes, there are ads, but they don't seem overly intrusive. The forums are....eh. Of course, what can you talk about if you're a Marlins fan?

We could probably provide a little je ne sais quoi if we were the Wal-Mart greeters at the new forum. It's inevitable that the CPFishness would get diluted over time. That's life.

[Benjamin Grimm]

Maybe we should look at this as if we were all advancing from Middle School to High School. It will look different, and there will be some new faces, but also a lot of familiar faces as well.

[Cowtipper]

Let's not paint it with too much shine ... "a lot of familiar faces" ... 10 familiar faces in a sea of hundreds of new faces won't seem like "a lot." We're the high school team; We're the secret club. It's those basic nerds we don't want to be like, yet that's who we're careening toward.

[Benjamin Grimm]

I doubt it will be "hundreds". I don't even think it will be "dozens". It will probably be "a handful". Imagine opening a Blockbuster store and expecting "hundreds" of people to show up looking to rent movies on VHS.

[Cowtipper]

If it was just "dozens," Brock wouldn't be doing this. He wants to dilute dilute dilute to get eyes to get $$$. There'd be no incentive for him to do this if it was just dozens.

[Benjamin Grimm]

The forum, as I understand it, is just part of a larger suite of offerings. He wants to be able to serve ads.

This is an earlier post from this thread. You can choose to believe this or not. It certainly seems more plausible to me than "hundreds". I'd rather go this route than sit around and watch this place continue to dwindle.

 

I might as well be 100% transparent. When I mean growth, I don't mean explosive growth. I want slow, steady growth that maintains existing culture. Here is the monthly post reports for Talk Sox, going to back to Jan 1, 2020. As you can see, the forum was in steady decline. The vertical red line is when we took over the site. Since then, the forum is nudging up, but gently. I can count on my fingers the number of new, regular posters I see over there... but there ARE new posters, and the forum is back to where it was several years ago traffic-wise.

[Cowtipper]

What will be, will be, but ...

[YOUTUBE]i28UEoLXVFQ[/YOUTUBE]

[whippoorwill]

When did Brock register? It says Snowy is still our newbie

[Benjamin Grimm]

Edgy had to do something behind the scenes to get Brock registered because of the ongoing registration problem we were having until I finally fixed it late last week. I think he took the ID of an old spammer and renamed it for Brock to use.

[Cowtipper]

So I guess the question is what happens if this change doesn't happen. I think I know the answer and either way CPF as we know it is cooked. If there is legitimate burnout behind owning it and no desire to shift ownership/offload some of the work to other members, then this site's existence will still be short. Since it's just one guys decision to pull the plug or not and that guy is clearly burnt out, the cord is obviously already in his hands as we speak, if you will.

[Johnny Lunchbucket]

What an interesting thread.

People should be happy there will be another place for the room.

It does look like those sites have far too many irritating popups and I wonder if they can be tamed.

People can be skeptical and use AI to express that skepticism in exaggerated ways. I don't see what the problem is. The same guy (I think) advocated moving to a private Reddit room so I'm not sure how serious they are.

I'm skeptical about there being adequate content for a magazine, and I'm not entirely sure this room is actually grow-able. Who wants to hang out with grumpy old farts doing stupid **** allatime?

I didn't bail because Batmags got whacked; I left because there was a guy who called for his execution three posts into his cpf career and it didn't even get remarked upon, and that reminded me there's plenty of ways to make negative contributions to the room-- everyone does it, and most people get away with it. I felt like I couldn't be a part that any longer.

Besides all that with the 2025 Mets, I just had nothing to contribute to the discussion.

[Cowtipper]

That was me, and I was serious about going to Reddit. But Reddit would've been the host; we would have still been in charge; membership still would have been us and whoever we invited or accepted to join; and it looked like this site was on the precipice of disappearing then, too, and my goal was to preserve the community and spirit then, too. So that wasn't in jest.

If the choice is between keeping this site alive in some form or losing it in its entirely, which it seems like that inclination exists, then the first is the less smelly of the turds. But it's still a very smelly turd.

And, whatever happens, as stated, none of it is life-altering.

But this has been a fun distraction for the weekend.

Edited February 23 by Cowtipper

[whippoorwill]

Got it.

I’m glad the registration problem is fixed because obviously without registration there would be no growth anyway.

Guys it’s just my opinion and I’m not trying to diss anyone but I like it here, I like our small numbers I like that I trust you people completely and I like an ad free experience. That in itself is a very rare thing these days.

I miss Lunchie, I miss gf, I miss Willets, and many others (Zvon I really miss you), even batmags when he was been just a Mets fan.

There are some newer people here that I can see are really putting in an effort.

I have absolutely no idea how anyone could possibly have a problem with what Cowtipper is contributing plus he has the cutest damn avatar ever.

Now the baseball season is ramping up and things may get busier. As I said before, just because the numbers are down doesn’t mean those of us still here don’t mean squat anymore I hope.

I can’t watch games and haven’t since SNY and I’m still here so what does that tell you about my loyalty here?

But it’s been very shaken this weekend

[Benjamin Grimm]

I'm not entirely sure this room is actually grow-able. Who wants to hang out with grumpy old farts doing stupid **** allatime?

 

That's what I think too. The fear of us being swamped by "hundreds" of users doesn't seem realistic at all.

 

I didn't bail because Batmags got whacked; I left because there was a guy who called for his execution three posts into his cpf career and it didn't even get remarked upon.

 

I don't know if I noticed that call for execution. Is it possible that it was roger_that? If so, you may have missed it, but he's been banned as well, after he accidentally revealed his true identity.

[Cowtipper]

We do actually have a larger core of active members than I thought. Of this site's top posters, the following have been active within the past couple weeks:

Edgy MD

Frayed Knot

kcmets

Johnny Lunchbucket

MFS62

Benjamin Grimm

ashie62

G-Fafif

Fman99

metirish

Lefty Specialist

whippoorwill

Centerfield

bmfc1

Cowtipper

Marshmallowmilkshake

Methead

metsmarathon

A Boy Named Seo

Gwreck

TransMonk

The Hot Corner

Chad ochoseis

smg58

stevejrogers

cal sharpie

Bob Alpacadaca

DocTee

duan

RealityChuck

rchurch314

It should be noted that a good chunk of the other top posters haven't been active since the 2025 regular season, which implies they really only check this site out when the regular season is going. Therefore...

I would say, at the very least, don't make the decision now. Wait until we're deeper in the regular season to see if traffic rebounds. If it doesn't, make the call then.

I'm not fully amenable to the idea of moving, but if it should happen there is a decent core that could still bring the culture with it, even if we lose a good chunk of them.

I'm slowly shifting from being sentimental to practical. I'm not fully convinced, but if this site is on a lifeline, then you gotta do what you gotta do.

[Frayed Knot]

I'm not entirely sure this room is actually grow-able. Who wants to hang out with grumpy old farts doing stupid **** allatime?

 

That's what I think too. The fear of us being swamped by "hundreds" of users doesn't seem realistic at all.

 

Not realistic in the slightest, IMO, and certainly not in the short term.

And if the room isn't growable then we're essentially talking to the same bunch of dopes under the guise of a different site.

And if it does grow then we've got new participants with new strengths, weaknesses, and points of view.

After all it would do us good to hump a non-cousin every now and then, just for variety at least.

In short, I don't quite get what several here are so paranoid and/or afraid of.

If we choose this route this forum will be moved, essentially intact, and attached to a site containing other NYM/baseball content which we can read, ignore, contribute to, or shield our eyes from. It'll be moderated by folks we don't know but unless they're going to censor FMan's sex jokes or my lame jokes then I don't think it's going to be a problem. Hell, the last time I remember us getting yelled at by the teacher was back when Weisman lectured us (several guilty parties are still present) that we had to stick with baseball talk after one of the threads veered off course into a lengthy discussion of FRAMPTON COMES ALIVE ... and that was back sometime during the ****in' Clinton administration!! And yet we survived, it's probably what led to the Non Baseball Forum being invented, and no one died in the process.

Meanwhile it relieves anyone here of having to worry about registration issues, paying the bills, taking out the garbage, fixing the leaking roof, or dealing with any idiots in the room. All of which were issues that plagued this place from time to time and caused several moves over the years from old out-dated boards and software to slightly less out-dated boards and software.

 

I didn't bail because Batmags got whacked; I left because there was a guy who called for his execution three posts into his cpf career and it didn't even get remarked upon.

 

I don't know if I noticed that call for execution. Is it possible that it was roger_that? If so, you may have missed it, but he's been banned as well, after he accidentally revealed his true identity.

 

Yeah, I have no idea what any of this is about either.

I wasn't one of those (one of the few?) who blocked Mags but I had pretty much given up reading his stuff -- at most I'd quickly scan it ('PC' it for youse old-timers) -- because I pretty much heard every rant of his and didn't really need to know the he thought he was getting picked on again. So whatever it was I probably missed it more than dismissed it and likely wouldn't remember it even it told.

Edited February 24 by Frayed Knot

[Centerfield]

Yes. What FK said. And if somehow we go there and hate it we can always come home. It’s not like they’re gonna throw away the keys to this place.

Anyway. Edgy I’m good with whatever you decide.

[whippoorwill]

Disappointed. Nice knowing ya.

[Cowtipper]

I would like to know if there's actually a chance that this move won't be made or if we're arguing about something that has already been decided in the background.

[Marshmallowmilkshake]

Frampton Comes Alive has some good songs. I had a 45 with “Show Me the Way” and “Baby I Live Your Way” on it. But I listened to the rest of the album a few years ago and though it was pretty “meh.”

[Gwreck]

I read this entire thread just now. Thoughts:

1. I’m grateful for the time and energy and funds that have been put into running this forum. I’m happy to contribute funds and am remiss in not having done so more frequently.

2. As I don’t run the place, I don’t make the rules. If someone asked me, I’d say (a) I think a few posters were given far too much leash with respect to trolling/spamming with AI slop/being *******s; but also ( there is also an ignore function and people could just use that a lot more.

2a. But again, I don’t make the rules. I’m a guest here and have viewed my role as trying to make positive contributions with my posts without being too much of a disagreeable curmudgeon.

3. I’ve never found a smarter group of Mets fans in one place on the internet, and I’m incredibly grateful for the friendships - whether in-person or virtual - that exist because of this place. Even with diminished numbers, this place stands apart. There was a time when I was somehow a “new” member here, having only started posting in late 2005 (?) and somehow that’s been 20 years now.

I’d absolutely hate to see this place disappear and I’d thus of course give any new home of this forum a shot.

[Edgy MD]

Brock has unsurprisingly bailed out of the conversation also.

 

That's what snake-oil salesmen do when they realize

their three-card monte isn't working on everyone.

 

Some grace, please.

[kcmets]

Rub a dub dub, thanks for the grub

Yay, lord...

[Frayed Knot]

There was a time when I was somehow a “new” member here, having only started posting in late 2005 (?) and somehow that’s been 20 years now.

 

Reminiscent (appropriately) of the moment during the E Street Band's induction into the R&R HoF when Nils said; 'I'm the new guy here, I've only been around for 30 years'