Fix the ESPN Message Boards

Dear ESPN, Disney, or whom it may concern:

We, the ESPN message board users, former and current, voice our extreme displeasure with the "new" message boards. While we understand the problems arising from the amount of trolling and spamming under the old message board format, entrusting moderating duties to a third party, in this case Prospero, is not the answer.

As a regular to the ESPN message boards, specifically the NHL General board, I have seen our online community deteriorate immensely so much so as evidenced by the time and effort I am expending to create this petition.

Visiting Prospero's website, you are bombarded with the incessant use of the word comminity. Prospero claims: "Designed to work alone or in concert, they [Prospero] provide the stage upon which your users interact and deepen their relationship with your company" It's ironic that Prospero has done nothing but the opposite in raping the sense of community that once existed among the message board users, pushing us farther away from ESPN.

Many of the board regs have simply left, and the boards have quieted down significantly. We can no longer talk about anything that even remotely drifts off topic.

The following are some of the grevences that I personally have, though I'm sure I'm not alone:

-The moderators are Nazis. Posts and entire threads are deleted for no apparent reason, and none are ever given.

-Many of the "forbidden words" border on being just plain ludicrous. I'll give you "dick" despite it also being a name, but words or phrases such as "a whole" (i.e. a whole game, a whole round, etc. I've never seen that phrase used as a substitution for a-hole) "fitzpatrick" (no clue)

-It's wreaked havoc on the fantasy boards, no one knows who anyone is anymore. There is this one idiot who had a million usernames before the board changed format, and likes to create usernames that mimic other peoples' usernames. There was never any confusion on the old boards because none of the regulars got banned.

-You can't post links to anything without having them deleted.

-EVERY board reg has been banned at least once, though our behavior has been no different than is was during the time of the old message boards.

We were all much happier under the old system. The moderators were posters to the respective boards themselves, and were able to use disgression in banning people or removing posts.