OT: Call out to ALL HF Sens Posters - Why aren't you posting as much?

[Sensinitis]

Prime years of the board were 2005-2007 IMO. Other than the guys already mentioned, I remember some good humour rolling between danishh, spoon, THEO15 (mostly mocking) and the usuals (Nyquil, discostu, Lazarou, SilverCup, etc.).

Yelnats Puc or whatever his name of still goes down as the greatest mod in Sens board history. What a great 24 hours that was.

Been posting since 2007 (has it already been 8 years???), and this year my post count has dropped considerably. I don't know if it's a mix of not having much to talk about (team losing, ownership, etc) and personal life getting busier. The drop in posts has been noticeable and unfortunately, it seems the like forums best days are behind us.

Like many of you have said, it seems the boards have devolved into a hive of negativity. Personally I think this city and by extension these boards are taking on the persona of some sports reporters in this city who seem content to tear down players to generate hits on their blogs or sites (or sell papers). Some posters seem to not see the forest for the trees I guess. It's depressing around here sometimes.

Petersidorkewicz also hit the nail on the head. There was a hilarious sarcastic vibe on the sens board which couldn't be found anywhere else on hfboards or anywhere else on the web. It was a blast, I remember being proud to post on the sens board. I cried of laughter more times than I can remember.

Some of those key posters have popped up in this thread so I won't rename them but I'd give a few more shout outs : Nyquil, discostu, Preds77, PapaLazarou, Murphy, moz, MarsVolchenkov, Silvercup, Voodoo, Hossa, Bingosensfan, DG, Golden (etc) you guys were the best, I know I'm leaving out a bunch, I hope you understand it's not because you aren't on my list (mostly because it's getting late and I'm getting old).

TLDR: I miss the old posters.

Don't forget SALW

I think the board is in a transition phase. Lots of young posters. And by young, I mean young. Like under 19 young.

That community was mostly witty young adults/adults cracking whips all the time. I think the board can get to that once the population ages a bit and becomes less negative.

Ages brings wisdom, and maybe just like the actual Sens team, we have to give the posters some time. My intuition is that the team and board will mature and grow at the same time, reaching their prime simultaneously. Years of success will ensue. Cycle of life *****es.

 

[Ice-Tray]

No reason not to introduce some Darwinism to weed out the weak though.... And those with weird, useless mutations...

 

[Erik Alfredsson]

To be fair, you went through quite a phase where if you complimented any player for anything, you referred to him as a beast mode cowboy You weren't negative though, I'll give you that.

Hey that was in all good fun, it was the offseason. And also, you can't deny that Karlsson is a beast mode cowboy.

 

[Lenny the Lynx]

Level of discourse is what I voted.
I find it's just dominated now by a handful of people who are really negative, don't really know much, and best of all treat this like their personal blog. Every post is 1000 words and quotes 25 posts and responds to every one

I've started being pretty liberal with my ignore list which has helped though.

 

[DrunkUncleDenis]

Because it's an echo chamber and trying to post is rolling the dice on an infraction. I've been given infractions for some things that really shouldn't have happened, it just isn't worth it.

The worst being trying to keep an individual thread for the shooting that happened and being told that it should be in the "visiting Ottawa" or off-topic all while the mod who kept closing it had a thread open about his fantasy team.

The inconsistent moderation is my biggest reason. I'll take bets on how long this post lasts.

Eternity.

Hey that was in all good fun, it was the offseason. And also, you can't deny that Karlsson is a beast mode cowboy.

Hmm. Yes. Yes you have a good point here.


Lately I've tried to bring a few laughs to the board with sarcasm, pictures and gifs, and will continue to do so. I've been staying away from the topics that breed frustration and hate (for example Melnyk's finances), plus the arguments just go in circles. You get less infractions when you don't engage in hate threads. I've learned not to get into it with the problem posters, especially on the main board *cough Torlev*, which is something I always did when I was new, because I felt I had to "defend the team". 2000 posts and counting without the bright blue Rectangle of Doom. *Hope I didn't jinx myself*

It keeps the blood pressure down too, and it makes it more fun to come here.

 

[jason9090spezza]

.....oh my.

The answer to the question is right here. There is no filter for the ignorant here.

Call me ignorant, but that's what I truly felt about the team and the fanbase in general. At least I don't try to justify what's clearly wrong.

And the fact that u call me an "ignorant" without valid reason is exactly why I am so frustrated about this fanbase.

I feel emotional because I love the team, and I just can't stand why the organization and the fanbase as a whole turned into a group of people just damage-controlling over and over and over again.

I'm really tired of this never ending cycle of BS that's been going on since 2009...


And to be honest, one of the guys above spoke the truth, "a boring team is boring". As much as I love the Sens, the team as of now is going nowhere (despite years of so-called "rebuild"), and it's hard to cheer or make positive comments when the team lacks the winning attitude.

Yes, the forum maybe filled with negative comments which is probably why some of the users here are mad, but can u blame that? Look at the team. There are very few things that u can speak of that is positive.

And this whole "quality of the comments/users dropped" quote is so laughable. Sorry if it offends any of u guys but who do u think u are . It's Internet forum users in general, but some users are so pompous, arrogant, and cocky. It's users like this that probably calls other people on the Internet "idiot" or "ignorant". Maybe that's why the users decreased, not because of Senators hockey, but the ATTITUDE of the people in this forum. Sit down.

I'm not a troll or a hater (in case if anyone is thinking about that). I will point out positive things whenever there are positive things happening, but I will never justify/damage-control things that are bad.

 

[King Karlsson]

Sens as an organization are currently very boring, no bonafide top prospects to be excited about and team is about as average as can be. I used to check the prospect thread daily and now I can't remember the last time I read it.

Posters here (not on the Sens board but just in general) seem to post only for validation of their own thoughts and only care about defending them rather than discussing hockey.

I spend most of my time discussing the Sens/Hockey on /r/OttawaSenators and /r/Hockey and I find that it is MUCH better than HF.

 

[Mr Invidious]

More of what has already been mentioned.

It's been a gradual progression these past few years. IMO, several very active posters who are either so incredibly negative, illogical or incompetent have overwhelmed what used to be a core of fans who spoke intelligently and with purpose.

I honestly believe it's just a vocal minority problem that has escalated and some posters, including myself, have just lost interest in dealing with it day-to-day.

 

[jason9090spezza]

Sens as an organization are currently very boring, no bonafide top prospects to be excited about and team is about as average as can be. I used to check the prospect thread daily and now I can't remember the last time I read it.

Posters here (not on the Sens board but just in general) seem to post only for validation of their own thoughts and only care about defending them rather than discussing hockey.

I spend most of my time discussing the Sens/Hockey on /r/OttawaSenators and /r/Hockey and I find that it is MUCH better than HF.

Not 100%, but I'm pretty much on the same line as u are.

This team just has to get better in every aspect. And when I say every, I mean EVERY.

 

[Mr Invidious]

Because it's an echo chamber and trying to post is rolling the dice on an infraction. I've been given infractions for some things that really shouldn't have happened, it just isn't worth it.

The worst being trying to keep an individual thread for the shooting that happened and being told that it should be in the "visiting Ottawa" or off-topic all while the mod who kept closing it had a thread open about his fantasy team.

The inconsistent moderation is my biggest reason. I'll take bets on how long this post lasts.

Ah, add this to the list. Mind you, I'll put an asterisk on it and simply point out that any problems I've had with over-moderation to mainly be Global Moderators randomly roaming the Senators' forum looking to abuse their powers.

But, I digress...

 

[StefanW]

I am not questioning what anyone else is saying because I don't know individual situations, but the talk of over-moderation does not match my experiences. I could have been infracted much more often than I have been, in all honesty.

 

[Big Papi]

Call me ignorant, but that's what I truly felt about the team and the fanbase in general. At least I don't try to justify what's clearly wrong.

And the fact that u call me an "ignorant" without valid reason is exactly why I am so frustrated about this fanbase.

I feel emotional because I love the team, and I just can't stand why the organization and the fanbase as a whole turned into a group of people just damage-controlling over and over and over again.

rarely do teams stay at the top for as long as Ottawa did, we had 11 postseason appearances (97-08) in a row. The other teams that did so around the same time burnt out just like Ottawa has (i.e. Philly 95-06, Devils 97-10, Avs, 95-06),and only 11 other teams have managed to do that since the league expanded. Expansion teams Anaheim, Tampa, Florida and San Jose haven't (although San Jose will tie Ottawa this year if they make the playoffs). Currently there are 9 teams that have a longer playoff drought than Ottawa.

So we were spoiled by our success, so to speak. But fans who were there in the lean years, when Ottawa got only 24 freaking points that first season...the 13-1 losses on a regular basis... I guess that we developed a thicker skin, and since we lived through the building of a team (92-93 to 95-96) into a true contender, we have more patience.

At the end of the day, I just don't see the point in getting a constantly all worked up about something for which you have zero control. Being a fan is a rollercoaster ride, you take the good with the bad IMO. Even if i were a Jets/Coyotes fan, a team that had not won a playoff series in 23 years at one point, or Islanders (haven't won a playoff series since Ottawa's expansion season in 92-93!) or Panthers (17 years now, 95-96...8 teams have a Stanley Cup drought of over 30 years...

I am not saying you always have to toe the line, but I don't see the point to raise the same points in multiple threads on a constant basis. Maybe you are aware that Ottawa is by no means the most deprived franchise and fanbase around, or maybe you aren't, I have no idea. Maybe being straddled by two franchises that will never be sort of cash (Toronto and Montreal), people in our fanbase think we our the odd one out. We aren't Oilers were threatened with being moved, Winnipeg was moved, Quebec City = moved, Calgary lost like 15 million in the early 2000s....

 

[jason9090spezza]

rarely do teams stay at the top for as long as Ottawa did, we had 11 postseason appearances (97-08) in a row. The other teams that did so around the same time burnt out just like Ottawa has (i.e. Philly 95-06, Devils 97-10, Avs, 95-06),and only 11 other teams have managed to do that since the league expanded. Expansion teams Anaheim, Tampa, Florida and San Jose haven't (although San Jose will tie Ottawa this year if they make the playoffs). Currently there are 9 teams that have a longer playoff drought than Ottawa.

So we were spoiled by our success, so to speak. But fans who were there in the lean years, when Ottawa got only 24 freaking points that first season...the 13-1 losses on a regular basis... I guess that we developed a thicker skin, and since we lived through the building of a team (92-93 to 95-96) into a true contender, we have more patience.

At the end of the day, I just don't see the point in getting a constantly all worked up about something for which you have zero control. Being a fan is a rollercoaster ride, you take the good with the bad IMO. Even if i were a Jets/Coyotes fan, a team that had not won a playoff series in 23 years at one point, or Islanders (haven't won a playoff series since Ottawa's expansion season in 92-93!) or Panthers (17 years now, 95-96...8 teams have a Stanley Cup drought of over 30 years...

I am not saying you always have to toe the line, but I don't see the point to raise the same points in multiple threads on a constant basis. Maybe you are aware that Ottawa is by no means the most deprived franchise and fanbase around, or maybe you aren't, I have no idea. Maybe being straddled by two franchises that will never be sort of cash (Toronto and Montreal), people in our fanbase think we our the odd one out. We aren't Oilers were threatened with being moved, Winnipeg was moved, Quebec City = moved, Calgary lost like 15 million in the early 2000s....

I agree with the majority of your points.

And yes, I do know that there are other franchise that has suffered similar situations as the current Senators. But the problem I have with the Senators is the mismanagement that lead to the current team.

I guess I'm being ******** because, as u said, there were great times in the past, and not many teams has had success in the regular season as the Senators. I'm not trying to compare that with the current Senators, but because they force me to lower the expectation every single year, I'm being irritated.

I don't think this whole "patience" thing is the issue. The team started talking about "rebuild" on 2009, tore down the core for nothing (if u look at it now), and ends up being a bad/mediocre team. I wouldn't mind being patient, but when the team takes 6-7 years of rebuild, and is becoming worse/mediocre year by year, than I think that's an issue.

I don't see the end of the tunnel for this "rebuild", and it's been well over 5 years. And when the team isn't showing any improvement after over 6-7 years, than there is clearly a miss management going on.

 

[CanadianHockey]

Combination of factors for me. Busy with my career and have essentially missed the entire season so far. The team is mediocre and that tends to breed negativity around the boards. The big debates don't change and can be infuriating to read because of hyperbole, antagonism, Etc

 

[Erik Alfredsson]

I agree with the majority of your points.

And yes, I do know that there are other franchise that has suffered similar situations as the current Senators. But the problem I have with the Senators is the mismanagement that lead to the current team.

I guess I'm being ******** because, as u said, there were great times in the past, and not many teams has had success in the regular season as the Senators. I'm not trying to compare that with the current Senators, but because they force me to lower the expectation every single year, I'm being irritated.

I don't think this whole "patience" thing is the issue. The team started talking about "rebuild" on 2009, tore down the core for nothing (if u look at it now), and ends up being a bad/mediocre team. I wouldn't mind being patient, but when the team takes 6-7 years of rebuild, and is becoming worse/mediocre year by year, than I think that's an issue.

I don't see the end of the tunnel for this "rebuild", and it's been well over 5 years. And when the team isn't showing any improvement after over 6-7 years, than there is clearly a miss management going on.

Lol we were near the top of the league at this point 7 years ago.

 

[jason9090spezza]

Lol we were near the top of the league at this point 7 years ago.

U mean in 2008?

Not really. That's when the organization started having issues. The "rebuild" thing began shortly after the end of 2009 (I could be wrong but I'm pretty sure it was around that time).

 

[StefanW]

Lol we were near the top of the league at this point 7 years ago.

Yup.

The rebuild started when the team was unexpectedly bad 4 seasons ago in 2010-11.

As for "taking too long", in the first draft after the rebuild started the team selected Zibanejad (1st rnd), Noesen (1st) who we moved in a package for Ryan, Puempel (1st) who is still in Bingo, Prince (2nd), Pageau (4th), and then Claesson and Dzingel among others in later rounds.

The following draft (2012) we picked up Ceci in the 1st, and the draft after we picked up Lazar with our first (2013). There was no 1st round pick in 2014.

We are not at the point where I would expect to see huge payoffs for these picks. Ceci has probably done the best, followed by Zibanejad. Pageau had bounced around a bit, but is clearly an NHL player. Lazar will also be good.

These things take longer than 4 years.

 

[Sensinitis]

At the end of the day you can cry me a river about things you can't control like your fav hockey team's failures, bad weather, what other people think, a bad teacher, etc. but the only person ur hurting is yourself.

Problem is, with a forum like this, dat ass attitude affects the others too and dampens the mood.

Case in point Mr Giggles above me here.

 

[jason9090spezza]

Yup.

The rebuild started when the team was unexpectedly bad 4 seasons ago in 2010-11.

As for "taking too long", in the first draft after the rebuild started the team selected Zibanejad (1st rnd), Noesen (1st) who we moved in a package for Ryan, Puempel (1st) who is still in Bingo, Prince (2nd), Pageau (4th), and then Claesson and Dzingel among others in later rounds.

The following draft (2012) we picked up Ceci in the 1st, and the draft after we picked up Lazar with our first (2013). There was no 1st round pick in 2014.

We are not at the point where I would expect to see huge payoffs for these picks. Ceci has probably done the best, followed by Zibanejad. Pageau had bounced around a bit, but is clearly an NHL player. Lazar will also be good.

These things take longer than 4 years.

It depends which time one would think the "rebuild" started. I say around 2009, when the team began to tore down the core and the media started to use the word "rebuild" on a pretty consistent basis.

The prospects takes years to reach their full potential. I know that. As I said, I'm more mad about the fact that how the management has treated the players.

 

[jason9090spezza]

At the end of the day you can cry me a river about things you can't control like your fav hockey team's failures, bad weather, what other people think, a bad teacher, etc. but the only person ur hurting is yourself.

Problem is, with a forum like this, dat ass attitude affects the others too and dampens the mood.

Case in point Mr Giggles above me here.

Sorry if it "dampened" your feelings.

If u want to be "happy", maybe u shouldn't have read this thread, because this is a type of thread that's probably not going to bring a "happy" Sens fan.

 

[harvey]

U mean in 2008?

Not really. That's when the organization started having issues. The "rebuild" thing began shortly after the end of 2009 (I could be wrong but I'm pretty sure it was around that time).

2007-2008 we were at our peak.
Paddock was coach at atlanta allstar game. I was there.
we were on a role.

Then we played Detroit.. Jan 2008, and Heatley separated his shoulder.
We were leading the eastern conference by 7 points.

We went on a road trip. Heatley stayed home.
Something happened and the team fell apart.
There were rumours...

In my opinion i think the room was poisoned, an internal conflict
between certain players and
none of the coaches brought in could fix it.

The next year summer 2009, Heatley demanded a trade and handicapped Murray... that was it for that era. The rebuild did not start 2009, but rather the start of the decline.

 

[Big Papi]

It depends which time one would think the "rebuild" started. I say around 2009, when the team began to tore down the core and the media started to use the word "rebuild" on a pretty consistent basis.

The prospects takes years to reach their full potential. I know that. As I said, I'm more mad about the fact that how the management has treated the players.

in 2009-10 we still had Kelly, Fisher, A-Train, core guys from the run, we were buyers at the deadline (Sutton, Cullen). Not sure if this matters, but I'd consider the next season, 2010-11 when we traded Kelly, and Fisher, Ruutu, Elliott, Kovalev and Campoli all in one month (and all but Elliott for draft picks)as the sign of a rebuild...clear sellers.

 

[StefanW]

It depends which time one would think the "rebuild" started. I say around 2009, when the team began to tore down the core and the media started to use the word "rebuild" on a pretty consistent basis.

The prospects takes years to reach their full potential. I know that. As I said, I'm more mad about the fact that how the management has treated the players.

Ok, I think I get where you are coming from. I was just trying to make sure I understood your point. I was going from the point where BM and EM both used the term "rebuild."

 

[jason9090spezza]

2007-2008 we were at our peak.
Paddock was coach at atlanta allstar game. I was there.
we were on a role.

Then we played Detroit.. Jan 2008, and Heatley separated his shoulder.
We were leading the eastern conference by 7 points.

We went on a road trip. Heatley stayed home.
Something happened and the team fell apart.
There were rumours...

In my opinion i think the room was poisoned, an internal conflict
between certain players and
none of the coaches brought in could fix it.

The next year summer 2009, Heatley demanded a trade and handicapped Murray... that was it for that era. The rebuild did not start 2009, but rather the start of the decline.

Yah, I meant that. Sorry if it confused other users. But breaking that "core" to me was the beginning of the rebuild, which was 2009 or 2010...so I'm not THAT far off.

And don't forget Emery. Maybe it's only me, but Emery's off-ice attitude was probably the beginning of the team going the wrong way.

It was pretty painful to see a team that had 3 players (Alfie, Spezza, Heatley...but I think one of them got injured) and the head coach being nominated for the all-star game, and completely fell apart after that.

 

[jason9090spezza]

in 2009-10 we still had Kelly, Fisher, A-Train, core guys from the run, we were buyers at the deadline (Sutton, Cullen). Not sure if this matters, but I'd consider the next season, 2010-11 when we traded Kelly, and Fisher, Ruutu, Elliott, Kovalev and Campoli all in one month (and all but Elliott for draft picks)as the sign of a rebuild...clear sellers.

Ok, I think I get where you are coming from. I was just trying to make sure I understood your point. I was going from the point where BM and EM both used the term "rebuild."

Yah...well, u get my point