A Decade of Cranepooling

[Frayed Knot]

Well, close enough anyway as there was no official launch date for the CPF. But it was around this time of year in 2001 when things got going so a while back I sort of retroactively assigned November 1st 2001 as the CPF's official birthday. So today makes it ten years ... give or take.

The original genesis of this place actually came about several months earlier but strictly as a temporary refuge from what was becoming an increasingly idiotic level of dialog on a previous (and still existing in a somewhat altered form) site. The idea was that those in the know (I wasn�t one of them - but then I never got to sit at the cool kids� lunch table either) would repair to the nascent CPF to bemoan the idiocy and/or plot strategy for dealing with the escalating �dumbth� in the fan forum section of the �Mets Online� site before going back and fighting it out. What eventually happened - right as the 9/11-delayed World Series was going on - is that it started to occur to folks that they should just stay and talk their baseball at this new place since most of the ones they were interested in talking to were here anyway. The traffic (such as it was) began to pick up right around this date -- http://thecranepoolforum.yuku.com/topic/2277/Check-out-the-rennaissance-here-in-the-Crane-Pool#.TnVfAK7s2XY -- and the place was off and running.

Some historians trace the real beginning to the time when I (LF) showed up a week later -- http://thecranepoolforum.yuku.com/topic/2366/Punks-in-the-forum#.TnVfZq7s2XY -- but opinions vary on that subject.


The next step was to figure out how to handle the new and, as yet, still secret place. Should it stay only for the small group already there or be thrown open to the public? The initial compromise reached was that invitations would be sent out secretly to those over at the old joint who the CPF insiders felt would add to, rather than detract from, the new digs. This sort of slow-growth policy was a bit sneaky perhaps but it did manage to steer a middle ground between staying as a totally inbred crew with maybe a dozen members and inviting an invasion from the same dopes we were trying to avoid. As I recall one objection was initially enough to shelve a potential member�s invitation so, at least at the very beginning, a nomination needed to be unanimous for an invite to be extended.

What happened, of course, was word eventually leaked out and one of the more viscous board wars in the history of the internet ensued, particularly after the discovery of the thread where we were discussing whom to invite and posts like �no way do I want THAT asshole here� became a matter of public record (I can�t find that thread and I suspect it eventually got vaporized) There was even a third board involved for a time (remember GSS folks?) and there was enough shit being slung around here to fill several Congressional committees

Damn that was fun while it lasted!

So happy tenth Poolers, whether you were here during the inception or are one of those �newbies� who have joined since.

[seawolf17]

It's funny that even though I've been around since 2005 and am even a sometime contributor as a moderator around here, I still see myself as a "newbie."

We need to reach out to some of our lost souls and get them back.

[metirish]

Great summary LF, sorry FK......my profile says I showed up in 2004 but I think I may have been a year or so earlier in a different version of this board....I never got to see the Mets Online board.....looking at that thread I remember Willets old toaster avatar....

What's a man to do? Educate them all at once? Bait and switch on them? Confuse them with sarcasm? Flame them back to deadball era? I'm at a loss. My only alternative is working harder at my real job.

Edgy could have wrote that yesterday


according to the old board I joined 07/27/02.......I remember sporting an Irish flag avatar and sig and getting polite requests to remove it.

[Ceetar]

I've been here since 1969!

I don't know why my profile says that, nor when I actually started. I did a brief search and couldn't seem to isolate what my first posts were. it was probably sometime 2007-2008.

[TransMonk]

Ah, I remember the MOFO Wars...good times. I'm glad I got to come sit at the cool kids' table.

This has been, without a doubt, my most visited internet site over the past 10 years.

Thanks!

[Gwreck]

I remember the old Metsonline.net site well although I didn't participate or read the message boards there. I recall reading CPF for a long time before ever posting. I think I finally registered when the switch was made from EZBoard to this place.

[Guest John Cougar Lunchbucket]

10 pretty shitty years of baseball we've endured.

01: Frustrating and ultimately sharply disappointing and unnerving year.
02: Steve Phillips Frankenstein year leads to Valentine firing
03: Howe Era begins, Phillips fired, team sucks cock but Reyes debuts
04: Duquette Era kneecapped from the start, Kazmir trade, Wilpons self-destruct, Wright arrives
05: Omar begins era of showy free agent deals, march toward respectability. In many ways, the best year of the CPF era.
06: Omar completes near powerhouse, but team struggles with injuries and slumps late, falls short of winnable WS
07: Slump continues all year, intensifies in historic collapse
08: Willie gets whacked, 2nd collapse, Omar & Jerry pointlessly re-upped
09: New stadium opens as a monument to management's dismissiveness of fan base and ignorance of relevant history, Bernazard bizarreness, team sucks
10: Jerry lame-ducks the team to new lows, Omar deservedly fired, management discovers fan-friendliness only as a means to shield coming financial disaster
11: Financial woes -- not baseball woes! -- necessitate radical changes and birth of long-term financial and operational turnaround.

[Benjamin Grimm]

It's worse than you think! You actually listed eleven pretty shitty years endured.

I can't be convinced, however, that 2006 was a bad year. Bad ending, yes, but not a bad year.

[G-Fafif]

John Cougar Lunchbucket wrote: 10 pretty shitty years of baseball we've endured.

Commemorative patch: managers' and GMs' bodies piling up under a bus hemorrhaging money...while Daniel Murphy stands on third with nobody out...all set against a Domino's logo.

[Guest themetfairy]

Ten years - wow!

Happy Anniversary Poolers!

[batmagadanleadoff]

Ceetar wrote: I've been here since 1969! I don't know why my profile says that, nor when I actually started. I did a brief search and couldn't seem to isolate what my first posts were. it was probably sometime 2007-2008.

You started posting in 2009, I believe. I joined around opening day, 2008, and you definitely weren't here before me. Vince Coleman Firecracker came on board a few weeks or months after me. Me and VCF are the only regulars, or semi-regulars from the class of '08. You and Leiter started posting in '09. Lefty Specialist came on in '10, I believe. That's five regular or semi-regulars in the last four seasons. Slow growth rate.

[batmagadanleadoff]

batmagadanleadoff wrote: Slow growth rate.

Or maybe no growth rate at all. I can name a few members who stopped posting over the last four seasons: Swan Swan, Zvon, now Willets. There's probably a few others I'm omitting.

[soupcan]

I remember cooby giving me the stealth invite.

Gotta say - I did feel like a cool kid when I got it.

[Guest John Cougar Lunchbucket]

I was definitely inclined to not hang out here and make the old place safe again for intelligent discussion but the "Big Reveal" made everyone choose sides.

[Edgy MD]

I'm a fan of 2001, sucky as it was to sink under the weight of Armando. Bobby did some heroic work guiding that team back into contention. And it's not surprising that he couldn't produce an encore.

What's only passingly referred to as the "Frankenstein year" is the team succumbing to (misplaced, to my thinking) fan outrage througtout the offensively disappointing Summer of 2001, overlooking the autumnal comeback, and doing this desperate rebuild, bringing in Mo Vaughn, Roberto Alomar, Jeremy Burntiz and Beta-Roger Cede�o. With the money left over for pitching, Astacio-D'Amico-Estes provided one year blurs, trying to carry the failed offensive overhaul the first half, but ultimately collapsing in the second.

I got to see some cars blow up in the lot, though.

[Edgy MD]

And for cripe's sake, feel free to celebrate the anniversary with not-so-secret invites to your friends and bloggers and fellow worshipers and seatmates and guys hanging off the end of the bar and stuff.

[Benjamin Grimm]

Question for those of you who've joined in the last few years:

How'd you find us?

[batmagadanleadoff]

Benjamin Grimm wrote: Question for those of you who've joined in the last few years: How'd you find us?

I think I found this place from one of the side links on JCL's MBTN site. I'm still not sure if I should thank Lunchie or hate him.

[batmagadanleadoff]

batmagadanleadoff wrote: Question for those of you who've joined in the last few years: How'd you find us? I think I found this place from one of the side links on JCL's MBTN site. I'm still not sure if I should thank Lunchie or hate him.

You guys might hate Lunchie for that one, also.

[metirish]

batmagadanleadoff wrote: I joined around opening day, 2008, and you definitely weren't here before me.

With this user name you mean?, as a poster you have been around forever right?

[batmagadanleadoff]

metirish wrote: batmagadanleadoff wrote: I joined around opening day, 2008, and you definitely weren't here before me. With this user name you mean?, as a poster you have been around forever right?

Forever's a long time. But no, I never used another handle here and never posted before 2008.

[Ceetar]

Benjamin Grimm wrote: Question for those of you who've joined in the last few years: How'd you find us?

Faith and Fear link. I distinctly remember trying to register and failing and giving up a couple of times. I 'officially' registered successfully and then maybe posted once or twice and forgot for a couple of months too.


I tweeted some of the "vote for best" links. no one bit. I think I linked in a blog post recently as well.

[Centerfield]

To think we still have things to say to each other after 10 years.

[metirish]

batmagadanleadoff wrote: batmagadanleadoff wrote: I joined around opening day, 2008, and you definitely weren't here before me. With this user name you mean?, as a poster you have been around forever right? Forever's a long time. But no, I never used another handle here and never posted before 2008.

my whole world just got turned upside down


this is not you


iramets/Bret Sabermetric...Salamander Q/dog c/Demeter Vs. Phoebus...Doc G/R Kivest


viewtopic.php?f=7&t=307&start=100

[Gwreck]

G-Fafif wrote: Commemorative patch: managers' and GMs' bodies piling up under a bus hemorrhaging money...while Daniel Murphy stands on third with nobody out...all set against a Domino's logo.

Fair and accurate but still...ouch.

[batmagadanleadoff]

metirish wrote: metirish wrote: I joined around opening day, 2008, and you definitely weren't here before me. With this user name you mean?, as a poster you have been around forever right? Forever's a long time. But no, I never used another handle here and never posted before 2008. my whole world just got turned upside down this is not you iramets/Bret Sabermetric...Salamander Q/dog c/Demeter Vs. Phoebus...Doc G/R Kivest viewtopic.php?f=7&t=307&start=100

Not me. So does this change your ... ummm.. perception of me?

[metirish]

Well,no it doesn't, I've never had a beef with you. Why did I think that was you, been accused though right?

Edited November 1, 2011 by Guest

[Benjamin Grimm]

There are numerous similarities. You're not the only one who has made that mistake.

[Lefty Specialist]

Benjamin Grimm wrote: Question for those of you who've joined in the last few years: How'd you find us?

A tip from someone inviting me over from another even more secret, dark and incestuous Met board.

[Guest attgig]

I honestly can't remember how i found this place. but I'm glad I did. I was posting a lot in mofo, but just got frustrated by the idiocy in there. so, then I went the way of the blog, but I got frustrated by metsblog.com and the inability to comment in there. then went back to mofo, to see if folks got a little more intelligent, but remembered why i left there in the first place...

and somehow...I got here. glad I found my way here, however way I found myself...


never did get no invite... but you got me all curious... was I someone's unwanted asshole?