[Article] Canucks: Team shuts down popular website fan forums, fans lament the loss

[Ribs]

2 minutes ago, QuantumBunk said:

I think it was. But you're entitled to disagree.

Ooooooook

[RWMc1]

https://dailyhive.com/vancouver/canucks-new-vp-communications-community-loring-phinney

 

The Vancouver Canucks have made a key addition off the ice.

The team announced Loring Phinney as their new vice president of communications and community today. It’s a similar role that Chris Brumwell held until June 2022 and was vacant for the past season.

Phinney will lead the communications and community engagement teams and reports to Canucks president of business operations Michael Doyle.

“Loring will work collaboratively with the Senior Leadership Team to enhance how we communicate with our internal and external stakeholders while reinforcing the significant role we play as part of our broader community,” the Canucks announced in a media release.

 

EDIT: This is from Sept. 6 2023

Edited September 18, 2023 by RWMc1

[Jess]

Just now, RWMc1 said:

https://dailyhive.com/vancouver/canucks-new-vp-communications-community-loring-phinney

 

The Vancouver Canucks have made a key addition off the ice.

The team announced Loring Phinney as their new vice president of communications and community today. It’s a similar role that Chris Brumwell held until June 2022 and was vacant for the past season.

Phinney will lead the communications and community engagement teams and reports to Canucks president of business operations Michael Doyle.

“Loring will work collaboratively with the Senior Leadership Team to enhance how we communicate with our internal and external stakeholders while reinforcing the significant role we play as part of our broader community,” the Canucks announced in a media release.

Would be pretty crazy to make such a drastic decision two weeks into the job, but who knows.

[RWMc1]

1 minute ago, -AJ- said:

Would be pretty crazy to make such a drastic decision two weeks into the job, but who knows.

reports to Canucks president of business operations Michael Doyle.

“Loring will work collaboratively with the Senior Leadership Team

 

It's more likely that the decision was already made.

[Jess]

3 minutes ago, RWMc1 said:

reports to Canucks president of business operations Michael Doyle.

“Loring will work collaboratively with the Senior Leadership Team

 

It's more likely that the decision was already made.

Yeah, probably the case.

[Coconuts]

How much for a #FreeCDC plane over the Rog? 

[nzan]

1 hour ago, Provost said:

I thought about changing my user name to Vintage or Oldnews... 

 

Oh man, could you imagine somebody finally beating Vintage....to Vintage

 

Edited September 18, 2023 by nzan

[Ghostsof1915]

I appreciate the efforts of @VegasCanuck and others. But honestly, it's not that bad that we've been released from the shackles of CDC.

This site is just fine. And it keeps growing. Ownership is basically shooting themselves in the foot. I would not be surprised if it's a directive from the NHL to

eventually close all team message boards. It just so happens CDC was one of the most popular ones.

If we can figure a way to get funds going to Ribs to help pay for everything that's great. As I stated I'm even ok if Ribs makes a profit off of the site.

Ownership and the NHL says no to message boards. So be it. This community might wind up being smaller but just as active.

I just hope Vintage isn't trapped in the Matrix.

 

[Goal_thecup]

I think ownership and management are very thin-skinned now.

Frankie's Family Court topics did not sit well with him.

JR's personal issues were also aired and his handling of beloved Bruce "There it is" Boudreau was horrible and he got beaten up pretty good there.

I personally, and many of us here, attacked the local idiot media types many of which work(ed) for Rogers SportsNet.

It goes on; but now they have even less control over the general public's publicly-posted opinions, so they haven't really done themselves any favours.

Sometimes you get what you deserve out of life, and in this case, ownership and management might finally realize that, karma is a bitch.

All said though, this new site is GREAT!  Thank you very much. And, GO CANUCKS GO!!

[QuantumBunk]

50 minutes ago, Ribs said:

Ooooooook

I wasn't sure what to say after you just said i was wrong and never gave any reasons.

[Ribs]

3 minutes ago, QuantumBunk said:

I wasn't sure what to say after you just said i was wrong and never gave any reasons.

Well, that wasn't really a huge issue when I was admin there. If it was because of that, I think I'd know. I'll post more when I've had more time to think, but I believe control is the main driver.

[Strawbone]

4 minutes ago, Ribs said:

Well, that wasn't really a huge issue when I was admin there. If it was because of that, I think I'd know. I'll post more when I've had more time to think, but I believe control is the main driver.

I'd be surprised if the majority of traffic to the Canucks site wasn't forum-related. They may gain some control, but it seems like they're going to lose a lot of direct engagement. And if the wave of registrations continues here, this site will have more traffic than the official site and they're effectively losing control. Feels short-sighted, but since other teams don't have official fan forums either, it must make some sense from a business perspective. 

[QuantumBunk]

7 minutes ago, Ribs said:

Well, that wasn't really a huge issue when I was admin there. If it was because of that, I think I'd know. I'll post more when I've had more time to think, but I believe control is the main driver.

I didn't know you were a mod there.

I thought the board did a good job of allowing us to discuss sensitive things without letting it get out of control. 

[Gawdzukes]

20 minutes ago, Ghostsof1915 said:

I appreciate the efforts of @VegasCanuck and others. But honestly, it's not that bad that we've been released from the shackles of CDC.

This site is just fine. And it keeps growing. Ownership is basically shooting themselves in the foot. I would not be surprised if it's a directive from the NHL to

eventually close all team message boards. It just so happens CDC was one of the most popular ones.

If we can figure a way to get funds going to Ribs to help pay for everything that's great. As I stated I'm even ok if Ribs makes a profit off of the site.

Ownership and the NHL says no to message boards. So be it. This community might wind up being smaller but just as active.

I just hope Vintage isn't trapped in the Matrix.

 

To me I don't see any noticeable difference. Site looks the same, functions the same. The biggest thing is to somehow get all the users, especially the infrequent ones, transplanted to the new site. Then it would be like nothing is different except the URL. That's my biggest worry is that some users will fail to ever realize there is a new site that's exactly the same.

[Rekker]

29 minutes ago, Ghostsof1915 said:

If we can figure a way to get funds going to Ribs to help pay for everything that's great. As I stated I'm even ok if Ribs makes a profit off of the site

This, a nominal annual fee is just fine and if Ribs can eventually make some profits, good on him. An annual fee may also have the side benefit of keeping the riff raff away. 

[JeremyCuddles]

1 hour ago, QuantumBunk said:

Maybe Rachel Dorrier had something to do with the forums demise. The company probably just doesn't want any libel or legal issues that could arise from owning a forum 

 

[Bob Long]

4 hours ago, bishopshodan said:

CDC wasn't the thing.

We were the thing.

 

We put the roof on top this bitch.

We decide what the Canucks future will be. 

We are the buying public, we are the bosses

We, the fans.

 

Without us, the Canucks dont exist. Without us CDC was an empty room.

 

This brass is attempting control. Going toe to toe with the hand that feeds.

Don't forget your worth fellow fans.

The Canucks are ours, they were with the last 'owner' and they will be with the next. 

 

 

 

 

 

^ this.

I don't know how the business model works to keep something like this going, is 1,000 regular users enough ad revenue? it would be nice if this could be self-sustaining based on the regulars. 

 

[stawns]

2 hours ago, The Duke said:

Yeah, I’d still wager it’s likely a numbers thing.  Wonder if an explanation will ever surface.

It always comes down to cost cutting.

[stawns]

1 hour ago, Ghostsof1915 said:

I appreciate the efforts of @VegasCanuck and others. But honestly, it's not that bad that we've been released from the shackles of CDC.

This site is just fine. And it keeps growing. Ownership is basically shooting themselves in the foot. I would not be surprised if it's a directive from the NHL to

eventually close all team message boards. It just so happens CDC was one of the most popular ones.

If we can figure a way to get funds going to Ribs to help pay for everything that's great. As I stated I'm even ok if Ribs makes a profit off of the site.

Ownership and the NHL says no to message boards. So be it. This community might wind up being smaller but just as active.

I just hope Vintage isn't trapped in the Matrix.

 

Agreed.......we're here and we're clear.

[Rusty Shackleford]

Wonder if we got any of the Larscheider's in here, with the season around the corner.

[VegasCanuck]

I'm copying across what I just posted on the old forum.canucks.com for. Regardless of how this washes out, what I've asked them for is to engage the forum whether it's a part of Canucks.com or if it's over here. They can only benefit from it's existence...

---------------------------------

Okay, so was a generally productive call with Terry, he's the Chief Revenue Officer for the Canucks business side of the organization. 

Generally, this is action of shutting down the forum is coming from Marketing as they only see about 500 fans actively posting every month. I've addressed that in a follow up email to them which I'll post shortly. The Canucks Marketing team meets every Tuesday morning and the Canucks forum WILL be on tomorrow's meeting agenda. 

Some of the concerns that they have within the organization is the amount of negative messaging and even some stuff that they consider racist. This has been creating negative feedback and issues within the season ticket base as well as their advertiser community. I told him that there was always going to be some of that, but that the moderators within this board do an excellent job overall of policing that as do some of the other fans at calling out people who are pushing over a line.

Here's a screenshot of the email that I just sent back to both Michael and Terry. I'm presenting all information back to the base here as, this is the level of engagement and active feedback that I feel should have been coming directly from the team for some time and I told Terry as much.

 

 

No guarantees, but I've asked them directly to open the door and let us (ALL OF US) be a part of the discussion and find a way to evolve the forum into a model for the rest of the league.

[BCNeil]

As a season ticket holder.  Season ticket holders don't renew for the following reasons.  The teams performance over the last decade and if they can resell extra tickets and at least break even.  I know lots of season ticket members.  I don't know any that dropped their tickets, because of racism on CDC.  

[6of1_halfdozenofother]

1 minute ago, BCNeil said:

As a season ticket holder.  Season ticket holders don't renew for the following reasons.  The teams performance over the last decade and if they can resell extra tickets and at least break even.  I know lots of season ticket members.  I don't know any that dropped their tickets, because of racism on CDC.  

ie. out of touch management is out of touch.  

[brownky]

5 minutes ago, VegasCanuck said:

I'm copying across what I just posted on the old forum.canucks.com for. Regardless of how this washes out, what I've asked them for is to engage the forum whether it's a part of Canucks.com or if it's over here. They can only benefit from it's existence...

---------------------------------

Okay, so was a generally productive call with Terry, he's the Chief Revenue Officer for the Canucks business side of the organization. 

Generally, this is action of shutting down the forum is coming from Marketing as they only see about 500 fans actively posting every month. I've addressed that in a follow up email to them which I'll post shortly. The Canucks Marketing team meets every Tuesday morning and the Canucks forum WILL be on tomorrow's meeting agenda. 

Some of the concerns that they have within the organization is the amount of negative messaging and even some stuff that they consider racist. This has been creating negative feedback and issues within the season ticket base as well as their advertiser community. I told him that there was always going to be some of that, but that the moderators within this board do an excellent job overall of policing that as do some of the other fans at calling out people who are pushing over a line.

Here's a screenshot of the email that I just sent back to both Michael and Terry. I'm presenting all information back to the base here as, this is the level of engagement and active feedback that I feel should have been coming directly from the team for some time and I told Terry as much.

 

 

No guarantees, but I've asked them directly to open the door and let us (ALL OF US) be a part of the discussion and find a way to evolve the forum into a model for the rest of the league.

Your point on the loss of traffic driven is a key thing. I have zero reason to go the the Canucks page now. So I won't. I went there, for here.

 

They have no control of the narrative here, no control of 'the rules' as it were. We're all going to talk whatever **** we want anyway, just now it happens to be 'somewhere else'.

 

And if they're looking at the poster counts... are they looking over summer? or during the game day threads in the season? Of course it's slow in the summer. 500 seems impressive. It's not a chat room, it's a forum. Posts / posters make up 'the content' - more is just more, not necessarily better.

 

Anyways, they've made a stupid decision here anchored in the thoughts of 3-5 years ago when "social media was going to take over the world" rather than "facebook is for old people and racists".

I predict a return to particular forums as more people tire of the loud-ass cross-noise of major social media spots. Probably not to the heights they were in the late 90s / early 2000s, but I really think people will go back. The "shlock" that is a reddit thread just doesn't hit the same way as a 1000+ page Clutch post.

[stawns]

3 hours ago, NucksNation said:

Don’t bother, Stawns and half of this board are clueless with things like this. Guy is probably still getting booster shots. 

Indeed I am.