| Board wars: the slow implosion of WATRB 11:57 - Apr 30 with 33432 views | hubble |
For the denizens of this board the fate of WATRB is probably not much more than an afterthought. It has an interesting place in the Rangers' message board pantheon, catering for perhaps a different demographic than this one. It is generally looked down upon by the more highbrow message boards and politically it is summed up by the fact that it is (as far as I am aware) the only Rangers' board that is majority pro-Brexit.
It seemed to have its heyday several years back, but has persisted as one of a quartet of most popular QPR forums, the other three being this one, the ersatz QPRdot.org and not606. However, in recent times it has been riven by internecine strife, with whole threads dedicated to accusations and counter-accusations, much to the detriment of the board as a whole.
Things reached a head a few months back when two key members of the admin team left to form a rival message board that was free of the in-fighting that clogged WATRB. Having formed the new board they attempted to recruit posters from WATRB, resulting in a Stalinesque clampdown from the remaining admin, which included severe breaches of forum protocol, i.e. reading the private messages of board members. The private message function was subsequently removed all together and left remaining members in a kind of limbo, with the in-fighting and arguing continuing.
I was one of the members who was contacted by the new forum and moved over. In trying to contact a friend from WATRB by simply posting on the forum I was put on the naughty step ( pre-mod) and all my posts either criticising the handling of the whole debacle or trying to reach my friend were deleted.
What I find fascinating about all this and message boards in general are what they reveal about us, about tribalism, belonging, ideas of ownership and connection and loyalty. With larger clubs pretty much the only thing that binds the disparate members of football forums is their allegiance to a particular football team, to which most have no more connection that any other 'brand'. With smaller teams like ours, there is something more profound that binds most of us, a physical connection to the place itself, often through place of birth or strong family connections. At bottom it is about belonging, in a world that is increasingly globalised and empty of value. I wouldn't be surprised if there have been anthropological studies of fan message boards, but if there haven't, there should be.
Of course there are other issues at stake: for WATRB it's about income, footfall driving revenue, hence the desire to cling to its membership and fight off any interference. But the mistake is to alienate your core users in the first place. Where this board succeeds so admirably I think is in its inclusivity: it is by and large a broad and tolerant church. Exclusivity is not useful in a free-to-use forum that relies on numbers.
It's also fascinating to note how different each QPR board is (let alone forums in general) in their unique 'flavour'. This is partly due to how the board is administered, partly due to the look and feel of the board itself. Hiving off non-QPR related threads to sub-forums is attractive to some posters who want their QPR fix unadulterated, but for most, the open, anything goes style of this board is much more attractive. The original (and I think best) QPR forum, qpr.org, was an uncensored and completely open forum which had the benefit of being privately funded. Boards funded by advertising like this one (I think that's its key funding model, please correct me if I'm wrong Clive) and WATRB have to place certain restrictions on posters to avoid falling foul of the dreaded Google adwords bots that flag up things they don't like, such as swear words. These restrictions are fairly easily circumvented by members using asterisks for letters, or creative alternatives to standard expletives. Again, the very fact that this happens is interesting in itself. We are all slaves to the mighty Google and other mass media social media platform purveyors to some extent. Perhaps to a scary extent.
The splinter forum has a witty name if you've been a long-term follower of QPR message board wars: Rangers Fantasy Island. A name that seems apt when refugees from WATRB wash up on its shores. As a fledgling QPR forum it doesn't even register on Google unless searched by name directly. It will be interesting to see (from an anthropological perspective at least) what happens to the various QPR forums over the next few years, especially if the decline in the club's fortunes continues. On here at least there is much outside of QPR to continue to entertain its members.
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| Board wars: the slow implosion of WATRB on 14:18 - Feb 21 with 3769 views | Marc |
Always wondered if that's the case with other similar sized clubs. We would probably top a table for most fan forums, Facebook groups etc. |  | | |
| Board wars: the slow implosion of WATRB on 14:27 - Feb 21 with 3749 views | Northernr |
| Board wars: the slow implosion of WATRB on 14:18 - Feb 21 by Marc |
Always wondered if that's the case with other similar sized clubs. We would probably top a table for most fan forums, Facebook groups etc. |
Mate, try and navigate the online world of Leeds United.
They are massive TBF. |  | | |
| Board wars: the slow implosion of WATRB on 14:33 - Feb 21 with 3725 views | Mick_S |
| Board wars: the slow implosion of WATRB on 14:27 - Feb 21 by Northernr |
Mate, try and navigate the online world of Leeds United.
They are massive TBF. |
Are they as big as Forest are now? |  |
| Did I ever mention that I was in Minder? |
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| Board wars: the slow implosion of WATRB on 14:38 - Feb 21 with 3698 views | Marc |
| Board wars: the slow implosion of WATRB on 14:27 - Feb 21 by Northernr |
Mate, try and navigate the online world of Leeds United.
They are massive TBF. |
Holy crap, the amount of results for Leeds forums with a quick google search  | | | |
| Board wars: the slow implosion of WATRB on 15:01 - Feb 21 with 3639 views | PunteR |
This is the best message board by far. Had a gander on WATRB before it kicked off. Was alright actually. Then last year it kicked off so i never went back..
How's the Fantasy one going then? |  |
| Occasional providers of half decent House music. |
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| Board wars: the slow implosion of WATRB on 15:50 - Feb 21 with 3549 views | CroydonCaptJack |
| Board wars: the slow implosion of WATRB on 15:01 - Feb 21 by PunteR |
This is the best message board by far. Had a gander on WATRB before it kicked off. Was alright actually. Then last year it kicked off so i never went back..
How's the Fantasy one going then? |
The Fantasy one is ok. Nice bunch of posters on there (some post on here as well)
There are not that many of us but it is generally a pleasant environment until it gets political. So just like here really  |  |
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| Board wars: the slow implosion of WATRB on 16:14 - Feb 21 with 3483 views | colinallcars |
| Board wars: the slow implosion of WATRB on 15:01 - Feb 21 by PunteR |
This is the best message board by far. Had a gander on WATRB before it kicked off. Was alright actually. Then last year it kicked off so i never went back..
How's the Fantasy one going then? |
I'm a relatively recent poster - which board is Fantasy Island and why ? |  | | |
| Board wars: the slow implosion of WATRB on 16:38 - Feb 21 with 3415 views | Marc |
| Board wars: the slow implosion of WATRB on 16:14 - Feb 21 by colinallcars |
I'm a relatively recent poster - which board is Fantasy Island and why ? |
A new forum set up by a group that grew tired of WATRB by the looks of it. I went on WATRB this morning, for the first time in well over a year, and did notice something quite wasn't right on there. Especially the lack of many regular posters among those I remembered. | | | |
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| Board wars: the slow implosion of WATRB (n/t) on 17:41 - Feb 21 with 3305 views | distortR |
| Board wars: the slow implosion of WATRB on 14:27 - Feb 21 by Northernr |
Mate, try and navigate the online world of Leeds United.
They are massive TBF. |
[Post edited 22 Feb 2020 0:38]
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| Board wars: the slow implosion of WATRB on 20:15 - Feb 22 with 2953 views | TGRRRSSS |
ONe thing I never understood was QBP actually a real QPR fan?
He seemed to be a an STer for some time but never sure.
God seeing some old names on here - is Pablo Hoopster still around?
Not spoken to him in some time now.
Others known of or met down the years,m Sharpy, Hook, Ted, Dagenham, UUURRRZZZZ.
Going to Chelscum in 2008 with GanjR, Stuart and his old man in the home end.....
Paladini really did bring chaos to the club even beyond when we had the debacle that was the Promotion season under Tango and Cash... INcredible even moments of celebration seem to be a cross between farce and tragedy (in it's way) when following QPR. |  | | |
| Board wars: the slow implosion of WATRB on 21:12 - Feb 22 with 5101 views | smegma |
QBP was romoured to have been West Ham many moons ago while living in a block of flats just off Fulham Road called Little Chelsea House. That's according to some bloke who appeared to be stalking him about 6-7 years ago, | | | |
| Board wars: the slow implosion of WATRB on 22:12 - Feb 22 with 5006 views | Marc |
| Board wars: the slow implosion of WATRB on 20:15 - Feb 22 by TGRRRSSS |
ONe thing I never understood was QBP actually a real QPR fan?
He seemed to be a an STer for some time but never sure.
God seeing some old names on here - is Pablo Hoopster still around?
Not spoken to him in some time now.
Others known of or met down the years,m Sharpy, Hook, Ted, Dagenham, UUURRRZZZZ.
Going to Chelscum in 2008 with GanjR, Stuart and his old man in the home end.....
Paladini really did bring chaos to the club even beyond when we had the debacle that was the Promotion season under Tango and Cash... INcredible even moments of celebration seem to be a cross between farce and tragedy (in it's way) when following QPR. |
Rumour has it he was originally Chelsea. No idea if true or not.
Has he been spotted down HQ since the early part of the decade? If not, then there's probably the answer in there somewhere. | | | |
| Board wars: the slow implosion of WATRB on 22:31 - Feb 22 with 5494 views | AcidPixie |
They we’re both total muppets [Post edited 23 Feb 2020 6:35]
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| Board wars: the slow implosion of WATRB on 22:43 - Feb 22 with 5441 views | ShotKneesHoop |
This board is almost better than being there.
Same amount of fun, but less pain. A lot less expensive anyway.
Clive and most posters here are in another universe. The quality one. Not blind fanatical stuff but just positive quality informed comments.
And the podcast isn't bad either. |  |
| Why does it feel like R'SWiPe is still on the books? Yer Couldn't Make It Up.Well Done Me! |
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| Board wars: the slow implosion of WATRB on 00:14 - Feb 23 with 5354 views | timcocking |
Tolerant bunch? No matter what a person posts on here, somebody will always have a pop... |  | | |
| Board wars: the slow implosion of WATRB on 02:16 - Feb 23 with 5305 views | acricketer |
| Board wars: the slow implosion of WATRB on 00:14 - Feb 23 by timcocking |
Tolerant bunch? No matter what a person posts on here, somebody will always have a pop... |
STFU! | | | |
| Board wars: the slow implosion of WATRB on 10:51 - Feb 23 with 5105 views | TGRRRSSS |
Out of interest how many messqge boards are there now? I guess with facebook pages anmd Twitter etc many of the old ones have died a death as people only really use that.
Not sure if the Dot Org exists but it used to be pretty big. | | | |
| Board wars: the slow implosion of WATRB on 18:54 - Feb 23 with 4944 views | Marc |
You can guarantee Jones will pop up at some point now you've mentioned him  | | | |
| Board wars: the slow implosion of WATRB on 19:05 - Feb 23 with 4919 views | Northernr |
| Board wars: the slow implosion of WATRB on 18:54 - Feb 23 by Marc |
You can guarantee Jones will pop up at some point now you've mentioned him |
He fcking won't. Not on here anyway. | | | |
| Board wars: the slow implosion of WATRB on 22:07 - Feb 23 with 4692 views | PunteR |
Yeh me too. Simmo used to post some brilliant stuff. | |
| Occasional providers of half decent House music. |
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| Board wars: the slow implosion of WATRB on 20:27 - Feb 24 with 4427 views | Marc |
| Board wars: the slow implosion of WATRB on 19:05 - Feb 23 by Northernr |
He fcking won't. Not on here anyway. |
Good to hear it  | | | |
| Board wars: the slow implosion of WATRB on 20:28 - Feb 24 with 4422 views | Marc |
Who is it? What's the story? | | | |
| Board wars: the slow implosion of WATRB on 22:04 - Feb 24 with 4306 views | BazzaInTheLoft |
| Board wars: the slow implosion of WATRB on 20:28 - Feb 24 by Marc |
Who is it? What's the story? |
Spirit of Gregory was a beacon of optimism and truth that Clive cruelly banished because he had about 15 identities and claimed his sister hacked his account or something. |  | | |
| Board wars: the slow implosion of WATRB on 22:16 - Feb 24 with 4280 views | BazzaInTheLoft |
Who really knows.
I post on here as BrianMcCarthy, nix, and NedKennedy. | | | |
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