Seems that some people are unaware (while others are very aware ) of the impact that their opinions have on the broader Carlton supporter community.

Let me give it to you in cold hard facts.

Every day over 2000 people read this site (over 3000 people a day during trade week), this figure is growing every day.

Over the month this translates into over 10,000 people.

Over a year this would translate into at least over 50,000 people.

Considering that Carlton Supporters are now estimated at about 450,000 Australia wide the reach is substantial.

Now when you think about the 10,000 that visit here at least once a month, they are the hard-core of support, the true blue-blooded supporters of the CFC.

Now these 10,000 talk to all their mates, who invariably are more marginal supporters than you and I. I know it is hard to believe but there are lots and lots of supporters out there whose support is hanging by a knifes edge.

I think it is pretty common knowledge that if an alternative ticket was put up against the current board that a new board would be voted in very easily at this stage. The 10,000 that visit this site are informed and know what is going on around the club.

So then the point is when the majority of hard-core supporters already know what the deal is why hammer and badger the same points over and over again on TC?

It's like the B-52's that would fly over baghdad dropping millions of leaflets to the citizens in arabic saying 'everything is under control, we will rescue you, let us think for you'.

Information is good. Propaganda is bad.

TC has been getting much more propoganda than information in the last few months.

Information is fantastic. Let the masses know what is going on and bob's your uncle.

It is when the same message is repeated hundred sand hundreds of times that regular posters who do not mind letting everyone know about the positive things that are happening around the club get turned off from posting. All you are left with in the end is a putrid morass of negativity that infects 10,000 people a month, and by the time they tell all their mates about it, it infects the huddled masses that can give or take Carlton in a heartbeat. Well guess what they will give it up. CARLTON!

Those of you out there posting for votes, you already have your votes, change will come. There is no need for further slagging of the CFC brand, the members know what needs to be done. Slagging the brand now just sends a message to the tens of thousands of Carlton supporters out there with a tenuous grip on the club just to give up.

Your work is done, any more slagging of the brand will just end up in negative consequences for the club rather than positive.

Start giving a positive vision of the future and the support will follow.


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Agreed Jarusa i actually like your opinions and i think that sometimes people want things to go bad so they can make a lot of negative remarks .... yer i have criticised but also said well done when appropriate and i guess i am startin to get tired of just the doom and gloom sometimes

hmmm some people need to have bring out your dead on there signatures when they post the same doom and gloom in every thread lol
ahhh well everyone has an opinion

Anyway well said Jarusa

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CFC TAC Squad everyone over 25 must be traded sounds like Loguns Run

jesus Jar Jar what took you so long?

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This type of slight is alien in the more cultured part of the world - Walsh. Its up there with mad dogs, Englishmen and the midday sun!

Nice work, Jars.

Now if only you had have posted this yesterday, you could have snagged the POW!

Do you think the negative propaganda translates into lost memberships, Jars?

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And so while others miserably pledge themselves to the pursuit of ambition and brief power, I will be stretched out in the shade, singing.

after a point yes, it is useful for a while, but if it persists for longer than is needed it is like anything, it becomes a negative influence.

I have absolutely no doubt that the excessive negativity over the last few months has cost the club plenty of supporters and plenty of money.

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You disappoint me, Jars....I was hoping you'd produce a graph!

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And so while others miserably pledge themselves to the pursuit of ambition and brief power, I will be stretched out in the shade, singing.

Very well said, ok - not so sure about your guess-timations in terms of figures but you are spot on as far as how the negativity may affect the club/supporters/memberships... in my opinion, it's not the negativity itself - but the extent of it, how it plagues almost every page I read, how even the most positive of news/threads contains a post of some nay-sayer foretelling the worst for the CFC.

This is one of the main reasons I've began posting on here in the first place, to help counter the excessive pessimism on this site, focus on the good *i.e where we are heading* as opposed to the negative *where we have been*



...just waiting for the cue for a resident doom and gloom merchant to say their piece... (I will refrain from naming names, as most know who I am referring to!)

Go Blueboys!!

Let's pretend everything is rosy then.

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"We used to sit around and talk about how bad the game plan was." Anthony Koutoufides

You know that is not what this is about, and if you do then your comprehension skills are very poor.

Get your head out of the sand.

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Great points.

Let's not turn this into another slanging match though please.

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Congratulations CK95

To a degree I understand where you're coming from Jar, but I'm not particularly comfortable with any suggestion that people 'should' think or post a certain way.

A very big part of the reason our club is in this mess is because for too long we had a completely unnaccountable culture where the membership base were taken for granted, where elections were quasi-secret affairs held after midnight during the waning moon, and where Carlton supporters with no connections to the club other than an interest in it, and a love for it, were left in the dark regarding the true position of the club.

Forums like TC give EVERYONE a voice, and individual readers can decide for themselves where the truth lies after having read differing opinions.

In many ways, the stuff that the 'negative' posters write is merely a counterbalance to the crap that trustworthy and believable and mainstream publications like the Herald Sun publish - puff pieces with smorgo and denis linking arms for the benefit of the members.

Furthermore, I don't believe it's TC's role to paint a nice picture for the Carlton supporter base. It's TC's role to give everyone in the Carlton community a voice.

OK, so a guy like Synbad is pretty single-issue. In that respect, he's really no different to an anti-nuke campaigner, or a climate-change advocate. As a poster, he's not 'balanced'. But in the totality of debate, he's helps to balance those people who don't share his viewpoint.

Personally, I put myself in the 'feeling very negative about the current administration and board' camp - and feel that nothing right now is more important for our future than the recognition by the Carlton community of just how poor our admin currently is.

Anyway, it's a good post and well worth debating in a sensible manner.

It's obvious this is another thread having a go at Synbad. Why not just PM him to discuss these issues?

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"We used to sit around and talk about how bad the game plan was." Anthony Koutoufides

Agreed John. I mentioned here a couple of weeks ago how dissapointed I was that at the last AGM only 1 new board member was voted in, this was basically a message to the board that the supporters think everything is OK. Totally agree that the supporter base has certainly had a history of having it's head in the sand.

It's like the old expression bad things happen when good people do nothing.

I'm all for passion and freedom of expression, like anything though, it can go overboard.

It's just my opinion but I reckon it has been going overboard recently, enough to be actually doing more harm than good.

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That is rubbish, it is having a go at a very wide spectrum of posters on the site at the moment. Synbad has not changed in the last few years. It is more about everyone apart from Synbad, because they have changed.

But you can keep your head in the sand again if you like.

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He has changed though and a wide spectrum of supporters followed him. You know this very well.

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"We used to sit around and talk about how bad the game plan was." Anthony Koutoufides

I think the AGM (at Crown Casino) prior to Black Friday 2002 is a good case in point - the media were expecting a good old fashioned blood letting (and really didnt get it) - the transition from Elliott controlled Carlton to Collo's "Carlton One" was too 'nice' without any real debate or alternative options - look where it got us over the past four years.

More debate and valid criticism is necessary in my view. However I know where you are coming from Jarusa.

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"Hence you will not say that Greeks fight like heroes but that heroes fight like Greeks"?

Winston Churchill

I don't agree Jarusa. I consider TC and CSC also to be appropriately negative given our recent history. 3 wooden spoons in 5 years, another $1m loss (this one without a stand write-off) and the tension from good, young solid players wanting to leave dictates that the Club has lots of problems. Apportioning blame is only natural. The lack of understanding of where we are and where we intend to go is a direct problem caused by the Club's leadership.

Some posters have agendas, most are just upset. As in life, sometimes you don't know who has an agenda and may not ever know.

What we have here is a site to talk Carlton and get out the frustrations. I owe no responsibility to anyone on this site and I don't owe a responsibility to the Club on this site. Insofar as we are upset members having a chat - however negative but within the rules as set up by the mods - there is no overarching requirements on us.

Well said Jarusa.

IMO I think you are trying to make people aware that unbalanced negative commentary doesn't help the Carlton brand.

In addition, the fact that 5 years ago the independent market researchers concluded that there were 650,000 supporters in Australia (only second to C'wood), and is now down to a still healthy 450,000 supporters says something about our brand's appeal. I'm sure there are influences on this from all angles and tarnishing commentary from posters have had some negative impact on the brand.

Posters have to become smarter and more thoughtful in their approach.

I have also been disappointed, (and posted this) in the negative (and I mean really nasty) comments some posters make of our players, rather than making constructive criticism, and arguing alternatives sensibly.

Furthermore, the attack on the present board should focus on the weaknesses of board members in terms of gaps and what is needed, rather than suggesting (without knowing) that the board will be responsible to the complete closure of our club. Radical, emotional and unsupported claims do not help anyone.

Mass hysteria is a by product of Mass Society (or people gathering in groups for security and socialisation purposes; ie society), and we all know that bad news travels faster than good news. Mass hysteria is dangerous...Orange people, Hitler, Salem witch hunts and recently the invasion of Iraq because of the claim they harboured weapons of mass destruction...hysteria not fact! I see similarities with some of the posters on TC.

What I would like to see is posters support their club, and suggest changes for the betterment of Carlton Football Club but keep their comments factual and avoid exaggeration, and to always find a way to criticise without tarnishing the brand.

Go The Baby Blues Brothers.

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Everyone looks good in Navy Blue

Molsey wrote



That's a civil way of putting it Molsey; pity it isn't always expressed in such a way on TC.



Fine, but that doesn't mean that one has to be abusive....and don't take out frustrations on the club, but the decsion, the player's shortfalls...that's the problem with frustration...and yeah that's what happens on public forums....I call them hot heads.



I believe we all have a responsibility to the club, wherever we are performing and whenever we are using the name of our club. It's the responsibility of barracking and supporting; otherwise you can't call yourself a supporter, if and when you actually are tarnishing the brand.

And you're right to say that you're complying within the forum rules, just as is Jarusa is in this thread.

Frustration = Anarchy on public forums.

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Everyone looks good in Navy Blue

Coming on to this site and reading constant drivel about how everything is a'OK and the club is on the right track has just as big of a negative impact on some supporters than someone bagging the club and the board .

I get sick of reading posts about how "X "is developing and how Pagan has a plan in place when the on feild results have been heading in a different direction.

People who choose to ignore the harsh realities have a greater negative impact on me than those who speak up about it.

It is amazing how so many posters have changed there opinion in the past 12-18 months and most of that has been through the so called negative posters

I've got a good feel about the future and next year and at the moment the club now seems to be making moves in a positive direction and not before time to. This change has been brought about by pressure from the supporters and posters from this site

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If you allow the Government to change the Laws in an emergency
They will create an Emergency to change the Laws