Social Media Killed The Forum Star

Once upon a time, there were quill pens. They begat typewriters, who begat home computers, who begat emails, who begat the internet, who begat websites, who begat forums, who begat social media, who killed the forums.

It may not have happened yet, in this lifetime, but it will happen in the not-too-distant future. Social media is killing forums, especially football-based forums and, it is slowly strangling websites, especially football-based websites. Someday, not too far off, there will sadly be no more need for football club websites or forums because social media would have sucked them all up.

Back in the early 2000s, when I was the proud custodian of the Cray Wanderers' official website, it was the 'go to' place to find out information about the club. We had results and fixtures not only from the then current season but from seasons prior to that. My late friend and fellow long-distance Wands supporter, Gareth 'Ki' Cotterell, then started up a club forum — called 'Waiting For The 229' — which ran alongside the website for a couple of years. This gave purchase for supporters to vent their frustrations and viewpoints about the club, the games or even just the opposition. It was very much like a community and it was quite easy to winkle out imposters and gatecrashers and get them banned from the forum. I think they are referred to as 'trolls' in internet parlance.

Our website also carried quite a large number of historical stories, photos and recollections, as well as updated league tables, all of which I know supporters enjoyed accessing. I was kept quite busy collating so much information and then transferring it to the website; it was an activity that I enjoyed but all good things eventually had to come to an end. Ki closed down the forum first, about a couple of years before I had to hand over the reigns of the website to somebody with a little more time to afford it; my carer duties at home were becoming more and more burdensome as my wife's illness grew worse and I found I had less and less time to dedicate to the site. I had run the official website from 2003, when I took over the position of custodian from Jerry Dowlen, until 2012 when I handed over to Clif White. I think since then there have been a few others who have had a go as well.

But, had we all subconsciously seen the writing on the wall? Had we foretold the advent of social media? Or the effects it would have on the way football supporters would eventually seek out the online information about their particular clubs? Or did our crystal balls deceive us?

Only time will tell.