The forum is definately going through a lull which mirrors the teams performance at the moment. It seems to happen once in a while, and like the team everyone finds their form again and all is well.
Not only is there too much abuse and belittlement flying around, but the debate which is actually about football lacks the insight of previous times. I appreciate that not everyone wants to get involved in the intricacies of tactics and the rest, but these days those that do are at best swamped in a sea of one liners and interforum squabbles between various members, or at worst shouted down themselves for daring to have an opinion which could possibly contradict the manager.
Those that like Kuyt are slagged, those that don't are derided, those who are pro-styling laughed at, anti's shot down and so it goes on. There is barely a thread on here which manages these days to stay on the topic of football, where posts are about football and not about some petty rivalry. Posters compain about opposing factions "talking sh!te" and then when a post is put out there explaining a stance on a particular subject, are reluctant to engage in any discussion. People question whether other posters opinions are to be taken seriously or not based on their nationality, their sexuality, their coaching experience etc without actually taking the time to state what their own opinion is, what it is based on and how they've formed it.
"Kuyt is sh!t" "No he isn't, you're sh!t" is all very well for a while, but why don't more people explain why they think he's worthy of a starting berth, or not worthy of the shirt etc etc? The forum swings wildly from siude to side on players, various members taking an early stance on a footballer and then defending their position regardless to whats happening on the pitch. Dogma rules and reasonable debate is stifled.
I know some will say "well feck me your the worst for it" and perhaps they're right. Dossena for example I've pretty much made my mind up about, but I have said that "based on what I've seen so far" that I think he's not either a) a good enough, quick enough or resourceful enough player to make a top-class attacking full-back in this country, and b) not a good enough defender to be considered an exceptionally solid one either. My conclusion is that I think we've overpaid for what is a decent left-back, no more no less. I do though very much hope he has more in his locker and proves me wrong. Dogmatic? maybe but at least there's room for debate.
Similarly, Rierra. He made an impression on me at Man City as a foreign player who was unsuited to English football. He didn't look to me as if he had the stomach for the fight, and as such I wouldn't be buying him for 9 million quid. Once more though, I freely admit to never seeing him kick a ball in Spain, and wait in anticipation to be proven wrong.
My point is I guess, a plea if you like, is that people debate the football more than their interforum rivalries. When they do, we might start to get some quality posters back on here. I haven't seen Leon post for ages which is a loss to the forum even though he gets under peoples skin sometimes, JBG very occasionally contributes and instantly lifts the quality by 10%, Ian (Dalglish) made a fleeting appearance the other night and did the same, while another of the moderators (Red) used to illuminate the boards wioth his literary ramblings and alternative viewpoints. I did a post the other day, (quite a long one sorry) and came back five minutes later and there'd been 14 more posts since mine. None of them though even referred to the debate in hand, they were one line put downs between three people. It buries the thread in a pile of pap and makes it a bit boring (me of all people saying that should bring it home).
Anyway, like the team, hopefully it's a blip not a bliiiiiiiiiiiiiip and we're all back to our most fluent and rhythmic best soon.