L'Aveuglette
つ ◕_◕ ༽つ
I've thought about it a little longer, and actually read through this whole thread and considered your posts.
It's funny, just a few days ago someone mentioned that I was one of the old guard and I looked up some of my first posts and was hit with a wave of nostalgia. 10+ years, wow.
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.
You're right to a certain extent jbeck, those were the days. We were on top of the world. I mean god damn, Alfredsson, Hossa, Havlat, Neil down the right side? Chara, Redden (when he was good), Phillips (in his mid 20's), vets like de Vries, and young guys like Volchenkov and Pothier on D? Spezza, Fisher and Vermette all in their early 20's coming down the middle? Man. Amazing. Even the prospects were fun to speculate about. Guys like Kaigorodov, Mirnov, Platil, Schubert were real enigmas, boom or bust, real discussion points. Not to mention Spezza coming up.
Even further, the team wasn't only pretty dominant but it was also involved in several rivalries, the leafs the flyers etc. it was an intense time. The on-ice intensity spilled out onto the boards and I remember massive arguments with leafs posters comparing our prospects or discussing who won a fight or whether a hit was clean.
There was definitely more to talk about, more to discuss.
The quality of subject matter is only a part of the equation. Back then there were far more posters on here with real knowledge and well thought out, and well written opinions. I think nanuuq said it, as a rookie poster you felt you had to really think things through because people would call you out on ridiculous opinions or baseless comments. It felt that your reputation mattered.
I'm chuckling as I'm writing this because I sound like my father talking about old time hockey and respect on the ice but it's the truth. I remember starting out in 2004 and being borderline apologetic about starting threads asking questions I thought might be stupid.
The truth is I learned a ton about hockey by reading these boards. Hashing out different opinions and coming to respect different points of view helped me grow as a fan and as a person. I really appreciate the opportunity this board has given me to learn about hockey and discuss my team.
The truth is, back in the day, to me, the boards were more than that. I remember working on a term paper in an introduction to law class and getting some advice at 3am from more than one poster on here who I knew were lawyers (you know who you are). It might seem insignificant but that advice certainly helped me ace that class and helped solidify my interest in going to law school (I've been a lawyer for several years now). These boards literally helped shape my career.
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.
I guess what I'm saying is that the sens board used to be a community.
Unfortunately, many members of that community have moved on to other boards or moved on to other things in life, getting older, getting jobs or having kids.
What's really sad is that in many cases they moved on because of overly strict and authoritarian decisions by the powers that be and that's really a tragedy. We had a great community here and it's been dismantled much like the dominant sens team of the early 2000's was dismantled. Worse, it's like the Réjean Houle job on the habs back in the 90's.
I got the invitations to other boards, and I felt like a traitor sticking around, but I guess I stuck around out of loyalty to a place that gave me so much over the years. I know the glory days are gone but I do hope the quality around here can improve.
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.
Good post man. Glad to have you around, makes me feel less old.
