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

[duan]

the street we live on is a relatively small terrace of 16 houses. There's a family who between the various elements inhabit four of the houses, then a bunch of people who've had the houses in the family for a long period of time. We moved into the house in 2003, it took until 2021 for someone 'unconnected' to the Terrace to move into one of the houses, so we spent about 17 years being described as "the new neighbours"...

[The Hot Corner]

I just read through this entire thread start to finish, as I am catching up with posting since being away on vacation the past week. As a long time member (aren't we all?) I would hate to see this place die away. I understand that no one member (or group of members) "owns" this forum, but some have put far more time, effort, and finances towards it's existence over the years. So if Edgy, feels he can no longer devote the time and energy it requires to keep this site running, then it is incumbent upon others of us to either step up and help out in any way possible to keep our community afloat, or failing that, we must accept his decision on how the site continues in the future.

I personally, am not computer savvy.* As to my lack of computer knowledge, I had to ask my wife what SEO stood for when it was mentioned several times. Armed with the basic definition she gave me, I can understand why the name CranePoolForum does not appear high on search engine queries for Mets baseball information/sites. Possibly, a name change (or possibly hashtag like links)* to things likes MetsCiti, CitiBaseball or MetsForum may gain more hits and possibly attract new members. Of course, I am speaking out my ignorance, so I not sure if such things are even possible. Is it possible to purchase additional domain names that feed to the same forum site in attempts to attract people searching Mets related content.

I am willing to assist financially, if it will help to add exposure, possibly attract new members over time and keep the place alive.

Another thought, is there a way to reach out and try to reconnect with former members that have drifted away or left? Just knowing their presence is missed (and that some others are no longer here) may get a few to possibly, consider engaging with the site again.

To that last point, it was great to see Johnny Lunchbucket make an appearance in this thread. Pease don't be a stranger.

*=I am certainly one of the least technologically savvy posters participating on the forum. So understand, some of what I a propose in this post may not be possible, but I am trying to keep our "family" intact with the limited computer understanding that I possess.

[A Boy Named Seo]

After twenty-something years, I'm one of the Wordle-only people nowadays (and I think I had a hand in recruiting metirish back and then I bailed. Sorry, homie!). I got away because the toxicity here for a while was just unbearable. I didn't even realize there had been bans.

If it were the same level of discourse and humor somewhere else (and with less headaches for the people who have kept it running for years), then I'd absolutely give the new place a go. And if it were run over with ads or bots or worse -- Facebook-level commentary, I'd bail again and come back here, or return to the solitude of reading articles about the Mets alone and then talking my poor wife's ear off about what I'd just read. You're the real hero, babe.

There have been a few times over the years where I've clicked a bookmark to this place and it hasn't loaded for one reason or another. I'd always considered in those moments that the CPF may be dead for good. That feels like a very real possibility the next time that happens.

I'm gonna try to hang out here a little more often and if a shingle get hung elsewhere, I'll test drive it.

[whippoorwill]

My guess is ‘back here’ will not be an option

[Benjamin Grimm]

It could be, if we make the move and the consensus is that we were unhappy there. My suggestion would be to lock the doors on this place but to leave it otherwise intact. If we then, after a sufficient amount of time at Brock's house, decide that it's not for us we can then unlock the doors here and let everyone back in.

My feeling is that while the software will be different, the community will be pretty much the same. There's not going to be a giant influx of people. I just don't see that happening. But, again, I would advocate retaining the ability to roll things back if necessary.

I don't, however, see having both versions of the forum active and open for posting at the same time.

[Benjamin Grimm]

I got away because the toxicity here for a while was just unbearable. I didn't even realize there had been bans.

 

The toxic guy is gone. Hopefully you'll now decide to linger more often in The Baseball Forum!

[metirish]

It could be, if we make the move and the consensus is that we were unhappy there. My suggestion would be to lock the doors on this place but to leave it otherwise intact. If we then, after a sufficient amount of time at Brock's house, decide that it's not for us we can then unlock the doors here and let everyone back in.

My feeling is that while the software will be different, the community will be pretty much the same. There's not going to be a giant influx of people. I just don't see that happening. But, again, I would advocate retaining the ability to roll things back if necessary.

I don't, however, see having both versions of the forum active and open for posting at the same time.

 

I'm confused, Brock would not be then taking possession of the CPF , but would be starting a new forum and we go along if we choose ?

[Benjamin Grimm]

Well, yes and no.

Brock is offering to move all of our posts to the new place. It would be a new forum, with a new name, but with our history.

That doesn't mean, however, that we'd have to purge what's here. This forum, The Crane Pool Forum at cranepoolcompanion.com, would remain in an inactive state. All posts up to the date of the move would remain in place. If we hate it over at the new place, we could come back here. Let's say we move on April 10. (Completely arbitrary date.) All posts here through April 9 would remain. Now say we stay over there until June 1 and we decide we hate it. We could come back here and this forum would start accumulating posts again from June 1 on. Any posts made between April 10 and May 31, however, would not come here with us. It would be a chunk of lost history.

[metirish]

Oh ok, thank you

[whippoorwill]

That all sounds good thank you for explaining!

How would we communicate our thoughts though?

[Benjamin Grimm]

In that forum, I would imagine.

[whippoorwill]

Not very private…

Listen I’ve been against this from the start but Bens explanation earlier today makes me at least willing to give it a go if we can truly retreat

I absolutely hate the idea of ads but I recognize the fact that Edgy, KC and Ben have put a quarter century into this forum which to me, at least, has nothing to do with the Mets anymore, at all, and everything to do with people I have cherished for a few decades. I know they are ready to move on.

If you all go off and try this new thing I will try too. I won’t say anything one way or another but on June 1 I will start checking here again if I ditch it there. One more thing to look forward to.

And who knows maybe I’ll find relief for my eczema/psoriasis/flatulence/weightgain/hair loss all

in one product.

Though the side effects will suck.

But I’m on record as a hard NO

[Fman99]

Sounds like the inbred hill people of the CPF are ready for their journey to the big city

[metsmarathon]

In that forum, I would imagine.

 

I’m sure it would be possible to share a contact list amongst ourselves.

Or to post a bail out message either in super secret code or via dm

[Lefty Specialist]

So we've been batting this around for 9 days and 8 pages. Most people who frequent this forum have weighed in by now one way or the other. Knowing that this old place won't be totally going away and will be a refuge if things go sideways is a BFD, as Joe Biden would say. A banner indicating the address of the new place would be needed, but that's sitemoving 101.

It'll be easy to screen out BatMags if he decides to sneak in- we all know his style of writing and abuse, so he'd be picked up pretty quickly. It'd be nice to try to contact those who've fallen by the wayside over the past few years but i don't know if that's possible.

I'm ready to load Granny, Jethro and Elly Mae into the truck at this point. It won't be what we had, but what we had is slowly dying, and there's at least a puncher's chance the new place will be better. It'd be nice to get things up and running by Opening Day so we can bitch and moan over things Metly at the new place.

Again, just my .02.

[Marshmallowmilkshake]

Count me in! Maybe a new place with some additional followers and the return of some prodigal friends will mean the return of beloved features like the TCD and Players of the Month.

I'm sure Brock can find a job for Maja if the Stockholm office is closed for a bit.

[Benjamin Grimm]

Count me in! Maybe a new place with some additional followers and the return of some prodigal friends will mean the return of beloved features like the TCD and Players of the Month.

I'm sure Brock can find a job for Maja if the Stockholm office is closed for a bit.

 

Well, I'm afraid Schaefer is done forever. The streamlined voting form that I designed was tied in to the box score data from the UMDB, which I won't have going forward. I suppose there's a chance that the TCD could be revived, but I don't anticipate it happening. Sorry!

[Marshmallowmilkshake]

Count me in! Maybe a new place with some additional followers and the return of some prodigal friends will mean the return of beloved features like the TCD and Players of the Month.

I'm sure Brock can find a job for Maja if the Stockholm office is closed for a bit.

 

Well, I'm afraid Schaefer is done forever. The streamlined voting form that I designed was tied in to the box score data from the UMDB, which I won't have going forward. I suppose there's a chance that the TCD could be revived, but I don't anticipate it happening. Sorry!

 

Bummer - but completely understand.

[kcmets]

It would be a new forum, with a new name, but with our history.

 

Why a new name? This gets worse every day. My offer to adopt

the forum for March stands. I'm sure someone will step up and

pay for April. Baby steps...

[whippoorwill]

Don’t understand new name either.

[Benjamin Grimm]

It's for search engine optimization. (SEO) If the forum has "Mets" in the name visitors are more likely to find it.

And this really isn't about the money at all. Paying for March, or even the rest of the year, doesn't solve the bigger issue. We have ongoing attrition and administering the forum is becoming a burden that nobody seems to want.

[whippoorwill]

Ben please don’t think I’m being quarrelsome. These are things I’ve genuinely wondered.

Why not just add ‘Mets’ to our name? Or NYM or whatever doesn’t make the MLB mad.

How about we split up some of the features and ‘host’ them among ourselves.

Someone to ramp up the song parade, someone to keep track of Shaffer votes, etc

And this especially I ask without malice: why wasn’t the registration problem more of a priority?

[whippoorwill]

Lol song Parody

[Fman99]

Can someone recap for me, did a new name get picked? Are we going with "Inbred Hill People Mets Fans"? We could do worse

[Benjamin Grimm]

Ben please don’t think I’m being quarrelsome. These are things I’ve genuinely wondered.

Why not just add ‘Mets’ to our name? Or NYM or whatever doesn’t make the MLB mad.

How about we split up some of the features and ‘host’ them among ourselves.

Someone to ramp up the song parade, someone to keep track of Shaffer votes, etc

And this especially I ask without malice: why wasn’t the registration problem more of a priority?

 

Well, the registration problem wasn't more of a priority because I didn't make it more of a priority. I got to it when I got to it. It took me about three hours to get it resolved. I simply don't want the responsibility anymore.

I gave up the website that I created and nurtured for 27 years because I didn't want to do that anymore either. Schaefer took up about two minutes of my time each day, but even that was too much effort for something that had six or seven participants. People didn't even want to bother to spend thirty seconds looking at newspaper covers and clicking on the one that they liked best.

I think I've done my share, and while there have been offers of financial support, nobody is volunteering to do the actual work. Brock Beauchamp is painting a rosy picture, and I understand the skepticism, but I'm not aware of anyone else who wants to do this. New software, new forum name, this is just superficial stuff. We'll just be hanging out in a new neighborhood. Maybe we'll meet some nice new neighbors. Maybe we won't. If it's a disaster, we can make our way back here, but the existing problems will remain.

[kcmets]

Well, I'm done with this thread.

If I had to chose between 'we are the crane pool' versus 'we were

the crane pool' I think I've made my choice clear.

[Benjamin Grimm]

Well, I'm done with this thread.

If I had to chose between 'we are the crane pool' versus 'we were

the crane pool' I think I've made my choice clear.

 

You stepped away from the admin role years ago. Are you saying that Edgy and I don't have the right to do the same?

Nobody is volunteering to step in and be a host, administrator, moderator and technical resource. If someone wants to do that, we can have a different conversation. But I understand why nobody is stepping forward. I don't want to do it either.

[Johnny Lunchbucket]

Come on guys. The Crane Pool was a stupid name too. These kind of puns stop being funny after the first 3 times you say it.

There should be a way to incorporate the word "Pool" in the new name.

The Amazin' Pool

Mariano Rivera's Poolboys

The Mets Pool

Met Wetness

[Fman99]

Come on guys. The Crane Pool was a stupid name too. These kind of puns stop being funny after the first 3 times you say it.

There should be a way to incorporate the word "Pool" in the new name.

The Amazin' Pool

Mariano Rivera's Poolboys

The Mets Pool

Met Wetness

 

I think you can guess from this list which choice I prefer

[Lefty Specialist]

To maximize the SEO, I think it should be called the Amazin' Metropolitan Lindor Soto Mets Citifield Seaver GaryKeithRon Piazza Krane-Pool.

Or the AMLSMCSGKRPKP for short