Article: Five Years of Twins Daily - BYTO Edition

[GCTF]

I Love The Mailbag! Anyone ever get a question submitted?

[Blake]

 

I don't think all of them are dead yet.

Mostly dead? what, no one's included a quote from "The Princess Bride" yet? Who are you people?

[kydoty]

Would have kept Stat around for sure.

Someone briefly made their avatar a nipple and he genuinely asked if it was actually a nipple.

[kydoty]

I joined the ESPN boards back in '99 when I was a pimply faced 16 year old. The first users I remember were rocketpig (Brock), jewscott and Kobs, and I was instantly hooked. And 18 years later, I still have not seen an internet community quite like it. Twins baseball brought us together, but the personalities we brought to the table meshed perfectly.

 

And I think a lot of people who weren't there don't realize was that BYTO was created as a sort of sanctuary from the ESPN boards. BYTO might be seen as the Westworld of baseball forums, but ESPN was far worse. Unless you were doing something illegal, there was virtually nothing stopping you from causing mayhem there. So we wanted to preserve the spirit of the forum without the endless trolling that was interrupting the flow of conversation.

 

Unfortunately, having an almost unfiltered forum even amongst your best e-friends cannot sustain itself forever. So I felt very fortunate that Brock was able to find us a forum with an acceptable compromise of sacrificing some sovereignty in favor of sustainability.

 

But the same time, damn those were some of the best times on the internet. Therapists must love Statfreak. I've never known a person who can overreact to the tiniest thing to go wrong on a baseball diamond. Kobs might be in the top five of funniest people I've ever met over the internet. Dankind was funny until we suddenly realized that the nearly decade long act he was pulling wasn't an act at all. And there was yarnivek, aka manager at Country Kitchen in Winona, who seriously said that he could do a better job of managing the Twins than Ron Gardenhire if he had access to the same information he had.

[Batista4goldgloveLives]

 

Not dead, just don't like the neutered feeling. I'd like to add:

Vervehound
Henry_Blanco
Batista4goldglove
BartoloYourColonIsDirty
CCNeedsABbathia

I live. I figured if I stopped posting aj would stop hanging around outside my daughter's window.

[snepp]

 

I live. I figured if I stopped posting aj would stop hanging around outside my daughter's window.

 

Awesome.

[USAFChief]

I live. I figured if I stopped posting aj would stop hanging around outside my daughter's window.

And did he?

[snepp]

 

And did he?

 

Concur, lay it out for us.

[Batista4goldgloveLives]

 

Concur, lay it out for us.

I'm assuming he did because my dog quit barking.  Thought maybe he went over to Verve's to check out his voluptuous wife.

[aj26]

I live. I figured if I stopped posting aj would stop hanging around outside my daughter's window.

Outside? I've been inside of more than just the window.

 

Glad to see you lurk about. I think we're a Vervehound away from a hot tub reunion

[aj26]

I also know that wzehnder lives as well (in my same podunk town too. You lurking too, Will?

[Kobs]

http://i.imgur.com/jfhleVxl.jpg

[AZTwin]

R I P

 

MackBrownSwallows

Statfreak

Richard McBeef

Narf

rongardenhire

AJ

Trolpo

Klobs

itstimetotakeit

Brock1978

Shorty

Frodaddy

ofx

dankind

Sydney Ponson

I'm one of those posters

[Kobs]

I know I advocated strongly for making the move, and may have suggested it in the admin forum before the offer was made. My interest level was certainly waning for various reasons, and BYTO was dying the slow death that most forums endure; we were too lazy to create content to drive new traffic, and the entrenched user base scared off the few new folks we were getting. Most threads devolved into a tired argument between the same two or three people.

 

I had fun creating some of the content that everyone is nostalgic about, and I'm glad that a lot of the discussion was able to move somewhere more sustainable.

 

I don't have a lot of BYTO stuff stored, but I do have all the rank photos:

 

Edited February 19, 2017 by Kobs

[Brock Beauchamp]

 

I know I advocated strongly for making the move, and may have suggested it in the admin forum before the offer was made. My interest level was certainly waning for various reasons, and BYTO was dying the slow death that most forums endure; we were too lazy to create content to drive new traffic, and the entrenched user base scared off the few new folks we were getting. Most threads devolved into a tired argument between the same two or three people.

 

I had fun creating some of the content that everyone is nostalgic about, and I'm glad that a lot of the discussion was able to move somewhere more sustainable.

 

I don't have a lot of BYTO stuff stored, but I do have all the rank photos:

Well summarized. That's exactly why I pulled the trigger on the integration. We had a great community and I didn't want to see it die a slow death, which it had been doing for 2+ years at that point.

 

Had I simply let things be, BYTO would be gone today either way. Without the front page content, social media presence, and events organized by the writers, keeping a forum self-sufficient in the 2010s is a difficult task. There's too much competitive in the online discussion space from social media.

 

Social media is pretty bad at in-depth discussion but it does a good enough job for enough people that they won't even consider signing up for a dedicated forum anymore.

 

People don't realize it but through 2006-2008, BYTO had similar traffic numbers to the first year of Twins Daily. It was a bustling forum. By 2012, that number was cut in half.

[DaveW]

I'm one of those posters

Hmmm who? Edited February 19, 2017 by DaveW

[DaveW]

Well summarized. That's exactly why I pulled the trigger on the integration. We had a great community and I didn't want to see it die a slow death, which it had been doing for 2+ years at that point.

 

Had I simply let things be, BYTO would be gone today either way. Without the front page content, social media presence, and events organized by the writers, keeping a forum self-sufficient in the 2010s is a difficult task. There's too much competitive in the online discussion space from social media.

 

Social media is pretty bad at in-depth discussion but it does a good enough job for enough people that they won't even consider signing up for a dedicated forum anymore.

 

People don't realize it but through 2006-2008, BYTO had similar traffic numbers to the first year of Twins Daily. It was a bustling forum. By 2012, that number was cut in half.

yeah BYtO was on the way out, but that was because we were all too busy (let's be honest, lazy) to create any sort of real "content" for the site. It was a great forum though

 

I do think forums like this are a great thing though, Twitter is a complete cesspool of humanity, why anyone would try to seriously discuss sports on it blows my mind! It's nothing but trolls and nasty folks as far as the eye can see. FB is a little better, still not ideal though.

[Batista4goldgloveLives]

 

Outside? I've been inside of more than just the window.

Glad to see you lurk about. I think we're a Vervehound away from a hot tub reunion

I'd post a pic of one of the old hot tub parties but then pig would have to ban me.

[crapforks]

 

Where's Dankind at?

A part of me wants to believe that Dan mellowed out and decided to dedicate himself to ABW attributes for a time.

[DaveW]

A part of me wants to believe that Dan mellowed out and decided to dedicate himself to ABW attributes for a time.

spoiler alert: He didn't.

 

Every few months we come across him going nuts on the Twins Facebook page.

[tarheeltwinsfan]

Thanks for everything Brock.

[TheLeviathan]

 

Thanks for everything Brock.

 

Suck up.

[AZTwin]

Hmmm who?

Eh. Rather not say. I was in school back then and the ESPN days and trolled too much. I didn't love the switch over but the mobile site here now is much better than it was when this first started

[tarheeltwinsfan]

Suck up.

I thought I had better say something nice to Brock, since I just absolutely destroyed him on my reply to a reply he made to a post of mine about Zack Granite vs. Grossman. By the way, Leviathan, I am not a suck up, and your posts are the most informative, knowledgeable, well written, witty posts I have ever read. Really, I mean it.

[Brock Beauchamp]

By the way, Leviathan, I am not a suck up, and your posts are the most informative, knowledgeable, well written, witty posts I have ever read. Really, I mean it.

Suck up.

[TheLeviathan]

 

I thought I had better say something nice to Brock, since I just absolutely destroyed him on my reply to a reply he made to a post of mine about Zack Granite vs. Grossman. By the way, Leviathan, I am not a suck up, and your posts are the most informative, knowledgeable, well written, witty posts I have ever read. Really, I mean it.

 

[Twodogs]

After I graduated from college, I moved out to California and started teaching.  After grading a few papers here and there I started to look on ESPN to see how the Twins were looking, etc.... That is when I ran into the ESPN boards, Elysian fields??  Anyway, I quickly got hooked on those boards and generally did not, too often, take the bait from guys like Dankind or Henry Blanco.  But on occasion I did; I would remember making a post and then as soon as I got home I'd have to get back on to see what one of those dudes had to say then I'd once again have to run some more smack talk right back at them.  I also fondly remember the Sl  ts rule thread.  That thread was used often times as a rally thread during the games.  I remember the alleged knife wielding Luis Rivas and Christian Guzman threads.  I just remember coming on the site and as a result I would leave laughing my ass off.  Also, most of this was going on in and around when the Twins were being threatened with "Contraction" and all of that stuff.  I still remember the day I got an email from Brock about BYTO, I was a little bit indifferent about it when I got that email, at that point I was now married, coaching my own high school team and just didn't have as much time to spend reading and typing in stuff.  However, I did participate in BYTO, just not as much due to other life activities.  I really enjoyed finding comments in the paper by Gardenhire about someone busting his butt or battling out there, he wouldn't use the battle his tail off comment anymore because even he knew we were watching  Now with Twins Daily, ehh I don't know.  I have a 1st grader and a 3 year old now so I'm just kind of indifferent about it.  I come on here quite frequently, but I rarely post and anytime I try to be funny at all I get my post deleted, for some reason.  Oh well, i guess I must offend people, so as a result, I come on and read stuff occasionally and rarely post, and it seems like 75% of the content is in someway negativity about the Twins.  I know up and coming writers all feel like they need to break the next big story or they need to make everyone feel like they know best or that everything is the next big disaster like the sky is falling and such.  That is just what I feel like I get, when I tune into Twins Daily now.  Back in the day, it always seemed to be a lot lighter and more positive about the Twins even though most of us were extremely crude about the way we went about it.  So I make the occasional post, but I am no longer itching to see what is being said anymore, it's kind of like I can take it or leave it, but that wasn't the case back in the day.

 

The word filters were awesome!!!  I do miss the comradery of BYTO

 

 

[DaveW]

 

After I graduated from college, I moved out to California and started teaching.  After grading a few papers here and there I started to look on ESPN to see how the Twins were looking, etc.... That is when I ran into the ESPN boards, Elysian fields??  Anyway, I quickly got hooked on those boards and generally did not, too often, take the bait from guys like Dankind or Henry Blanco.  But on occasion I did; I would remember making a post and then as soon as I got home I'd have to get back on to see what one of those dudes had to say then I'd once again have to run some more smack talk right back at them.  I also fondly remember the Sl  ts rule thread.  That thread was used often times as a rally thread during the games.  I remember the alleged knife wielding Luis Rivas and Christian Guzman threads.  I just remember coming on the site and as a result I would leave laughing my ass off.  Also, most of this was going on in and around when the Twins were being threatened with "Contraction" and all of that stuff.  I still remember the day I got an email from Brock about BYTO, I was a little bit indifferent about it when I got that email, at that point I was now married, coaching my own high school team and just didn't have as much time to spend reading and typing in stuff.  However, I did participate in BYTO, just not as much due to other life activities.  I really enjoyed finding comments in the paper by Gardenhire about someone busting his butt or battling out there, he wouldn't use the battle his tail off comment anymore because even he knew we were watching  Now with Twins Daily, ehh I don't know.  I have a 1st grader and a 3 year old now so I'm just kind of indifferent about it.  I come on here quite frequently, but I rarely post and anytime I try to be funny at all I get my post deleted, for some reason.  Oh well, i guess I must offend people, so as a result, I come on and read stuff occasionally and rarely post, and it seems like 75% of the content is in someway negativity about the Twins.  I know up and coming writers all feel like they need to break the next big story or they need to make everyone feel like they know best or that everything is the next big disaster like the sky is falling and such.  That is just what I feel like I get, when I tune into Twins Daily now.  Back in the day, it always seemed to be a lot lighter and more positive about the Twins even though most of us were extremely crude about the way we went about it.  So I make the occasional post, but I am no longer itching to see what is being said anymore, it's kind of like I can take it or leave it, but that wasn't the case back in the day.

 

The word filters were awesome!!!  I do miss the comradery of BYTO

Yeah, I definitely think IMO that "smaller communties" are better, at least when talking about sports and our beloved Twins. That was my favorite part about BYTO, it was a good number of active posters (and guys who would show up once in a blue moon) but you knew who they were, remembered their posting style/hot takes/bits etc and while it was much more "wild west" everyone more or less got along. Even with the long drawn out battles between Lev and Pseudo, you knew they each enjoyed the banter.

For the most part, nobody at BYTO took themselves too seriously, it was sort of like a bunch of buddies from college getting together years later to get drunk and watch baseball at a bar, insults were handed out like candy, but they always came from a place of love. The people that did take themselves too seriously: Stat, Itstime, Rob come to mind, ended up being a nice comic relief for the rest of us. 

I think that was the beauty of BYTO, nobody with the exception of Nick (who was doing his own thing anyways) was trying to be some baseball blogger, writer, or anything of note, it was just a bunch of dudes and a couple ladies who shot the **** about the Twins 365 days a year, and to your point, yeah it never had the "negative" feel to it. Luis Rivas the knife wielding maniac and Nachos Bell Grande Silva came more from a place of love then malice. Of course none of those bits would be allowed at TD because it's much more buttoned up. Additionally TD has a ton of people who are using it to try to be the next big blogger/writer etc, and while I commend people for that, I do think it takes away a lot of the more "fun" aspects of a forum as people tend to take things a little more seriously then they should. I mean, it's only baseball at the end of the day, but as mentioned it is good that a community does exist where new bloggers can perfect their craft, so to speak. 

I definitely see the value of TD, the larger community and the more blogs, and I continue to obviously view/participate, just personally I wish the smaller community was still around, where you knew everyone's "posting backstory" a bit, knew their bits and had long season running memes with word filters and what not. Where you could call someone an idiot (just like you would to your buddy in the bar when he said something stupid) and it wouldn't turn into an international crisis. Basically this is the same reason why I don't use twitter, and curate FB to only see posts from like 20 people, I could really give two ****s less about what random people are talking about, that's sort of my experience here, there are 15-20 posters that I enjoy bantering with, and the rest I could really not care either way about. This is why I particularly enjoy the Wild Thread and Sports Bar Board as a whole, since it's a smaller group of folks.

To go back to your point about negativity, I think a little has to do with the fact that during BYTO the Twins were a really fun, competitive and scrappy (trademarked) team. The last 5 years his org has been a complete dumpster fire, so I get the negativity, though I do wish we could create some fun bits around specific players without people thinking it's some sort of personal attack.
 

[diehardtwinsfan]

I seem to remember more than one poster getting a bit upset about those non-personal attacks that were really just veiled personal attacks.    You needed thick skin to post there, that was for sure.

[DaveW]

 

I seem to remember more than one poster getting a bit upset about those non-personal attacks that were really just veiled personal attacks.    You needed thick skin to post there, that was for sure.

Again for the most part the community got along and didn't take any of it to seriously. But yes, there were some morons that got run off eventually, most stuck around and grew thick skin though. Even itstimetotakeit was in til the end more or less!