I usually don’t respond to snide dumb remarks but decided to do so here. Check out these offensive, uninformed and dumb comments.
In regards to AOL access, the company built the world’s largest network. It supported 36 million subscription customers and had more than 10 million people online at any given time. It is called simultaneous usage.
Even today with AIM and all other products plus AOL subscribers, the company has online - at any one time - millions and millions of customers.
Go to AIMFight.com as an example and see how many people are online right now connected to you just via AIM. Go fight me. Type in “Leonsis” and then your AIM screen name and see how you do.
Tags: AIM Fight, AOL, Ted Leonsis, Ted's Take
Why not just give an explanation as to why you chose to nuke the ABH forum? Caps fans have liked and respected you from the start, and just can’t understand why they’re now being silenced and antagonized by you and the board moderators. Some backlash should have been expected here.
come on ted, no need to respond to comments like these.
now the ones about a 2nd line center and another winger/d-man….those you should listen too!!!
You aren’t serious are you, Ted?
First: who cares? Next: your GM is on record TODAY, the opening of Free Agency, saying that your defense is “fine”. If anybody’s made “uninformed and dumb comments” that should fire you up today, it’s George McPhee! Instead you waste time encouraging web-tards to “go fight” you on some web site? I bet Pittsburgh’s owners put down the Cup just won and log on to AOL right away! Get serious, Ted.
BTW: I went to the web site. I’m not sure what it’s all about. (Probably because I could care less!) Anyway, I entered the name “jeff” and “leonisis” and clicked the button. Evidently, we fought and you won — your ranking is now 16,004. Congratulations.
Are you capable of reaching #1? If not in internet fighting, maybe the NHL?
Nice to see that you have briefly dropped your passive-aggressive silence regarding the Capitals message board.
It would be appreciated if you would continue this sort of directness by actually addressing what is going on with the message boards. How can you expect the message board members to show any respect for you and/or AOL when you and the message board “moderators” are showing them zero respect by not communicating about what’s going on?
It’s disappointing that you have apparently become so resentful of the fans of your hockey team.
It seems like it was just a throwaway comment based on how the washington capitals messageboards slow down with a lot of traffic. I think you might be over-analyzing the comment a touch.
Gary
This whole mess was quite preventable…if only the Caps board mods had displayed just a bit of transparency and advised the members of what was going on instead of all this endless silence, things would be a lot more simmered-down now than they are. But the Anything but Hockey board has been down for over a week now, so things can get out of hand.
You’re in communications - so have your people communicate!
I have to say that I’m a little disappointed. I would have expected you to rise above this. You’ve got hundreds of die-hard fans, confused and angry at the strange occurrences on your message boards. Many requests have been made for clarification on exactly what is happening. None have been forthcoming. Now provocative and irrational posting is taking place in an effort to invoke a response. This, however, is not the kind of response being sought. In as much time as it took you to pen this blog, you could have given your fans the response they seek and deserve.
I don’t know where some of you people get your sense of entitlement. “Tell us what’s going on or we’ll slag you and your company” isn’t exactly a good way to get what you want. So they won’t tell you why? Why cares? You already found another forum. Move on. If the administration wants to keep the Caps board focused on hockey, respect that. It’s been a week or so. Obviously your needs to talk about porn and music aren’t going to be satisfied in that forum.
As far as the board comment, I’d hardly consider sarcasm offensive or uninformed, as it’s sarcasm directed to an audience of a couple of hundred, all of which have the demonstrated combined IQ of a head of cabbage.
Rise above it. Believe it or not, it’s perfectly possible to ignore the truly ignorant without it reflecting negatively on you. Jumping into the mud to wrestle a pig means the pig wins no matter who ends up on top.
Woo!
I’m semi-famous.
[...] keeping an eye on the Capitals Message Boards–what’s left of them, that is–and took offense at some of the snide comments directed his [...]
When I wrote what I did earlier, I had no idea this all related to message board drama. Ted, please. Focus on important matters. Pittsburgh won the Cup. You’ve won ONE playoff series in a decade. Focus!
This is amazing. Why do people think that they are “entitled” to anything on these boards? Do you pay for them?? How many sports owners converse with their fans? The fact that Ted takes the time to view these boards and actually respond is incredibly generous. Those of you that think you are “entitled” need to go away. If you are upset about season tickets being gone?? Well you had 34 years to overcome that problem. Now suddenly you want tickets?? Just a few short years ago you were the ones that allowed the tickets to get snatched up by Penguin, Flyer, and Ranger fans. Ted is the best owner in sports. He is a true fan and lets his Gm and coaches do their job while he does his. Enjoy the fact that he cares enough to respond.
yawn…..abh should have been nuked years ago
Ted- while the comments were a little childish, I’m a bit sad that you didn’t address the main issue- the poor performance, and poor experience of the web site. You are a technical fore runner, and yet our website is from the dark ages, run by seeming bully moderators that live in their parents basement. This is really surprising as you have improved every aspect of the Capitals experience EXCEPT the website. I’m talking about the whole site now, not the meager message boards. I have heard before that the NHL manages the sites, blah blah blah, but if you look at other teams sites, while they all have the same basic look, about 20 other teams have more streamlined and refined sites. It’s odd that someone from an internet background and is fan centered wouldn’t see the value in making the web site- and the fan interactions- better. As I said, people are usually childish in the way they present issues to you- but that does not mean an issue is make believe.
looks like the whole board has been nuked now…
I know that there was a great deal of backlash over the removal of the ABH, but that was just the tip of the iceberg. I think that the potential for things to blow up has been building for some time. I have been a lurker on the Caps forum, posting when I felt the need to say something, but I have read through a great many complaints about trolls, virtually non-existent mods, and suspensions/bans over silly things. Okay, so lately not all of the suspensions or bans could be seen as silly, but in the past they certainly seemed that way.
Tension and negative emotions have been simmering just below the surface and the removal of the ABH sections was just the powder keg that blew it all open. Mismanagement of the boards by the mods and admins certainly helped to foment that because nobody could rely on them to actually do their jobs, and that was a general consensus that I got simply from being on the boards from October 2008.
And instead of things being resolved amicably there was no answer forthcoming from the powers that be. This fosters more mistrust and spurs action, even inappropriate actions on both sides. Needless to say things blew even further, and now the Caps forum is ‘temporarily’ offline. There are even other things brewing in the background that make me wonder exactly what the heck is going on. Makes me thankful that I don’t have Ted friended on FB or anywhere else, for that matter.
Ted, can I have his tickets?