Anyone know of a good Braves message boards/fan forums?

[SteveJRogers]

I know odd question to ask here, but I'm just looking for something that isn't tied into either a general baseball/sports site like this one, as well as tied into a major thing like SB Nation, ESPN or even the MLB one.

[SamtheBravesFan]

You might be out of luck. There WAS one that I went to, Braves Nation, but it shut down.

[SteveJRogers]

You might be out of luck. There WAS one that I went to, Braves Nation, but it shut down.

I noticed! I think I might be finding that out with several teams. Probably a sign of the times as cyber communities now go more towards the quick snarky quips like on Twitter, Reddit, and whatever is going to replace Facebook as opposed to long, drawn out discussions.

No disrespect to communities at SB, Fansided, Scout.com etc, BTW, but the whole corporate same-ness, especially with "premium services" can be a turnoff when all you want to do is talk whatever team you want, and maybe on the side other topics as well, though I'd imagine it is the "other topics" (especially social and topical issues) that drive users away.

[SamtheBravesFan]

I noticed! I think I might be finding that out with several teams. Probably a sign of the times as cyber communities now go more towards the quick snarky quips like on Twitter, Reddit, and whatever is going to replace Facebook as opposed to long, drawn out discussions.

No disrespect to communities at SB, Fansided, Scout.com etc, BTW, but the whole corporate same-ness, especially with "premium services" can be a turnoff when all you want to do is talk whatever team you want, and maybe on the side other topics as well, though I'd imagine it is the "other topics" (especially social and topical issues) that drive users away.

It's probably more a trend that message boards are becoming outdated when it comes to posting information. That was the given reason for B-N being shut down.

[SteveJRogers]

It's probably more a trend that message boards are becoming outdated when it comes to posting information. That was the given reason for B-N being shut down.

I'd wager non "topic that forum is for" discussions becoming toxic also drives away users, even if they are just there for the topic's content are just as big of a cause. Probably too much "I don't need to be reminded of this" drama.

I'm not intending to steer this into one way, but it seems like the same point a member would come to, as would be someone "unfriending" or "unfollowing" someone on social media platforms because their views on certain polarizing topics are very much the opposite of their own.

Maybe its just seems that "trend" came up a lot in certain heavy handed "journalism" sites last autumn and winter, but I can see that as a trend. You'd want to make your internet experience as "drama free" as possible, so you insulate yourself with others who share the same world view and philosophy as yours.

Bringing it back, of course I wasn't there at B-N at any time (I did have a kick of just joining message boards just to lurk, years ago, not sure if it was the Braves one I found though), so I have no clue if there was any sort of exodus (be it drama trolls being dramatic and looking for sympathy or simply cutting back on visits without telling anyone) due to non-Brave related discussion (or even Brave related discussion that devolved into polarizing political and/or social issues debates (I'd imagine moving from Turner would be one that could devolved like that)), but I wouldn't be surprised if that is just as much the downfall as being able to get information quicker from other social media platforms.

[SamtheBravesFan]

It wasn't particularly divisive there except on matters of advanced stats. The main guys liked to debate and if all new guys had was AVG, homers and RBIs, they tended to get chased off. That changed a year or so before the board closed, but I generally liked the guys that were there. You didn't have to talk about off-topic things if you didn't want to.

[SamtheBravesFan]

For some dumb reason, I didn't think of this until now: there's bravesjournal.com, founded by the late Mac Thomason. He had some Braves articles published in books and magazines.