The end of AGM as we know it, and I feel fine

You're absolutely right, and I wish more people were this honest. In past months this site has become less and less actual sports writing, but more "me first" writing, more drivelly lists that add nothing to anything and more then a few articles that were the writer just putting words on a page - not actually writing something. I guess it sucks, but I guess everything has a shelf life.

Bobbyjim, you couldn't me more right. AGM has changed dramatically within the past couple of years. Great users have come and gone, and it makes me feel sad that there isn't much contribution as there used to be here.

Do you want to know the real reason why I agreed to create the "Hottest Sports Athletes" articles with Shrubbery? It's because I thought that if some people out of AGM noticed it, they would look at the other features that AGM has. I thought that we could bring in some good writers. I have looked around for people to recruit. I have sent emails to people right and left, but I haven't gotten any replies, and that's understandable because I understand that they have their own blog and they want to keep writing there.

We seriously need to think of some new ideas that can get talented writers and smart sports fans on here. It was great last year thanks to DNL's recruiting skills, but who have we really brought in this year? I know a couple of rookies this year that have been loyal here, but look at the people who were recruited last year: Falcon02520, MegCCass110, SSreporters, Oneflydude, LASportsblog... the list goes on and on. There were many projects that everyone could help accomplish for AGM. People were getting involved.

Now, I can't seem to find that many people like that. A lot of people have left. To name a few: I am a cpcp, Falcon (at least for a while), Christof, Tylersalt, Insan, Niteowl, Silencer76, Manny Stiles (30458374 times)... all these guys helped AGM become a great site in 2007. When 2008 came along, they had enough of it because of all the bickering here, or some other reason...

What we need is a larger variety of people who can write decent articles. I am willing to help out, but I'm mainly an editor, as I'm trying to update all the player pages right now.

I'd also like to thank all the loyal AGMers who have made huge contributions from the very beginning, whether it be editing, writing (whether it'd be a weekly rant or a statistical article, commenting, and even encouraging people to improve this site.

Thanks Bobby.

Oh, and one other thing I'd like to just point out: there were only two comments within the past day here at AGM.

I'm seriously going to come up with some new ideas for either me or a group of people to write...

Hopefully we can get a bigger audience and AGM back on its feet where it was before...

Well done BJ45 (by the way, when I saw the part where you covered women's soccer THEN got a promotion, I assumed you got to go in the locker room. ;-) )

I'd never thought I say this, but Tyrone Briggs was right. Even HE knew that Armchair was on life support and now it is. I just have a bad feeling this place will shut down for good.

The last good month for AGM was March, when we had Spring Silliness and Sports Illustrated partnered with us, but now it's all gone. The Olympics were decent but nothing more.

It's become a ghost town because of the troll fighting, the selfishness, the drama, I just can't see anything possible happening in the future.

I hope the founders are reading this entire thread to realize what AGM has become in the last few months.

I am still here and hopefully will continue to be here for a long time. The hockey and soccer stuff needs my attention.

I think we need to get back to the beat writing. People will gladly come to read a recap or editorial about their favorite teams if they can be sure there will always be an article following the games. I know FrankD had a decent amount of followers for his Penguins articles. We need more NFL articles not just on the teams, but on the controversies and kornheiserish storylines in and around the NFL. Mike Singletary went on a fantistic rant a few weeks ago and there was no one here talking about it. I have never written an article, but I will help out if I can. I left another dying sports site to come here and I hope the same fate doesn't await AGM. The reason this site is so appealing is because thoughtful and reasoned conversation is the norm. Go check out a yahoo blog or the message boards at your local paper. The comments sections look like they were written by 10 year olds with a vulgar vocabulary. What are they talking about on ESPN or the NFL network? We need articles that have a sense of relevance, that will spark debate. There is not a site out there that can compete with the comments section here at the chair. So, tell me what I can do to help, I love the fact that I can come here to have a quality discussion about my favorite sports. Previously to the chair my online discussions about the Pens/Flyers rivalry was nothing more than name calling. Now that I have met Jut and Falcon I am aware that there is intelligent life in Philly :).

I think we have as many readers as we ever did. We just don't have as many articles as before.

I'll be here for as long as it takes to do the 2007 and 2008 MLB Players Projects. So pretty much forever.

You need me back- bring back FRANK AND JAMEL!!!!!!

Dan's big recruitment drive last year was a colossal failure. Recruiting a bunch of spammers and whatever off JTJ or Myspace is not a way to attract quality contributors. It's like opening a day care center and posting a help wanted ad on a sex offender website. You get what you pay for.

While the site problems pretty much have been ironed out so it seems, in my opinion it's not the lack of quality articles as much as it is the lack of quality comments. Knowledgeable and intelligent discussion/debate is what drives the site, not the articles. Those of us who have been here for a longer period are writing to a different audience now, which has caused us to change our writing style, and that sucks. I would much prefer to write for the same audience, and if that is ultimately somewhere else, so be it.

To spend a couple days researching and writing an article, only to get ripped by people who admittedly have no idea of what was being said is facking annoying. It's almost like we have to "dumb down" stuff now, and that's not fair to the rest of us.

All dicktators die someday- if only you guys had been more openminded, more welcoming, and not so critical of everyone that site would live on to one day be as great as another site out there- namely my wordpress site- well guys I wish you well- and remember- more kids should be throwing curveballs in order to alter their growth plates so they don't become injured later when in the big leagues. PS- I also suggest you if start up a new blog that you have more nudity- lots and lots and lots of nudity- oh- and everytime someone posts you get a free beer- yeah beer and nudity- plus sports = one hell of a sports BLOG!

Well goodnight my friends- I wish you will- since you are all kind of "gay" I feel it would be appropriate to play that Green Day song before this site is 100% shut down.

Peace out- your lovable friend- Jamel Frank Stevenson Bryant

Unbelievable Kelsdad- still blamming others- typical- very very typical- I didn't kill your blog you douchebag- you did- the few remaining members still posting today are the ones to blame-and until you grow up and realize this you are bound to repeat this process over and over again- I wish you will Kelsdad- my god look over you and judge you not- for you do not know any better- shameful indeed

Hey how come this is so much tits and ass on this site- I thought that was a no-no

So come on over to Wheeling.

I'm at Bob Chins

It's not the legs I'd be worried about...

I remember last year when I first joined, this site was busy, but not so busy that it was crowded. And there was intelligent conversation. Different ideas and perspectives about the games themselves, not just teams.

But there was still a less than appealing element to the site. Some new member would post a poorly written article, and somebody (like me) would be a jerk in the commenting. Person A would disagree with Person B so Person A would reply with an insult and nothing more. Somebody would challenge one of the prouder members in some way and find themselves on the receiving end of near obsessive tirades and veiled threats.

Then The Wars came. Arguments about sports would turn personal, extremely personal. I won't name names, but some users crossed BIG lines. Some were banned/blocked for doing so. Some weren't. This turned off a lot of new users, potential users, and old users.

Remember when the format changed? I think this rubbed some people the wrong way. Yeah it looked cool, but the old format worked fine for the rest of us. Some people (me) HATE learning new formats.

Kelsdad and others have been having problems with loading pages. I haven't, but that would turn me off of any website I frequented.

Where are the founders? They've turned into myths around here.

I stopped writing articles a long time ago. I've wanted to do another Life as a Sports Usher article, but it's a big time consumer. And there's only so much writing I have in me every day.

I still enjoy commenting, but there's not much to comment about. The hot athletes articles are nice, but there's not much I can add to a discussion of Jennie Finch except: "I'd hit it"

It's a chain reaction. As one user leaves, or contributes less, then the site loses something. This encourages less contribution at an exponential rate.

The site isn't dead yet. I'll try to start writing an article after the weekend if I have time. That's all any of us can do is contribute, try to get quality new users to join.

It's all about the content. If you write it, they will come.

A few months ago I would've agreed with you, P, but now, the proof says otherwise. Look at Davis' NBA previews, for example. Better than any national magazine or preview show, and all but ignored.

Armchair may not be dead quite yet, but it's on life support, no doubt about it.

The fact there was an attempt to live blog the freakin Presidential election all but proves it, too.

AGM may be falling off it's wheels here, but it's not dead. And I for one, don't want to see that happen. I still believe in this site and it's core goals and values. I do think the founders of this site do need to meet and figure out what this site needs in order for it to bounce back. I haven't written many articles as of late, but have done comments and some live-blogs. Of course when you're helping to Barack the vote as well as work at a Board of Elections in a year such as this. I also think that this election got a lot of attention from even the diehards such as myself. I think this site definitely needs to get jumpstarted, and now that I have a little more time {for now} to spare, I hope I can be a part of it.

With a change in jobs, I changed my AGM name and started working diligently to repair my "role" here at AGM. For nearly two weeks, I was constantly booted out of log-ins, left more "anonymous" comments than I did when I was logged in and had issues posting.

DNL contacted me about the site a few years ago and I've had an enjoyable time posting my wrestling content over here and getting more exposure for the sport I care so passionately about. That being said, good stories, by everyone, got overlooked and things similar to "Manny Ramirez Sucks" got more reads than some very well-done sports articles.

Now, I have to try to find another home for cross promotion of my chosen field ... I don't want to, but that's what it's come to.

If anyone wants to continue contact, my e-mail is jason (at) bryantwrestling.com

Thanks,

JB

As for myself, life has completely taken over and I have no time to write. Hell, I have little time to even surf the 'net or comment.

It's funny because I have a list of over a dozen special interest sports articles that I intended to write.

Maybe some time in the future.

Will visit when I can.

I say "Un-Ban Tyrone!!!" (but still proudly mutter: "Fack Jamel")

As slow as AGM is with it's "issues", JTJ is still the dusty cobweb of the internet!

AGM isn't dead and it isn't "on life support" by any means. The encyclopedia isn't going anywhere and that's where the Anon traffic starts. Lulls come and go, but you can't make what's already here go away! Traffic is transitory, the heart of AGM - even if the founders go away forever - is more solid every day.

The 24 cycle of blah-blah and pooh-pooh isn't what matters here. It's probably the LEAST important part of this site... it blows like the wind.

Don't understimate the blogosphere. Eventually someone with legitimate talent and an ego will stumble upon this pile of wonderment and think "I can smoke this junk here" and start dropping literary bombs - then the regulars turn it up a notch -and then the proverbial revolution takes another turn.

It goes around and it comes around.

It's just sitting here waiting for the next straw to stir the drink to stoke the fire up...

Or at the worst... for the Original Straw to return to flooding this little corner of the World with the "madness" in a few months.

Jesus is Lord over the dictatorship at the armchair !

Jesus is Lord over Manny Stiles

People at the armchair need to repent of their sins before it too late and make Jesus their Lord and Savior !

Bah... ArmchairGm is just STARTING to suck... it has a way to go to catch the rest of the internet!

Don't worry guys, I am making my monthly visit!

I love this place, but I agree...the bickering got out of control. It became a High School hallway where popularity meant everything. Iread and voted on so many articles that were AWESOME but were not voted on because no one had heard of the guy.

I think we can make it what it was, but it is a group effort.