Offy and UnOffy - a history?

[jgriffin]

Can anyone enlighten me about the UnOffy? There seem to be some people who go on both (e.g. tigerburnie) and others that seem to have dual identities. When did the UnOffy arise? Is it indicative of a schism (like church sects etc)? I don't know anything about this, being a latecomer to the Offy and largely stopped contributing to the UnOffy within a few weeks.

[tigerburnie]

I don't have all the answers, but a lot of ex posters from here migrated over to the unoffy as it was less hostile and more debate less argument. I go on most of the web sites as a long distance fan it's how I get a "feel" for the games having some banter with the opposition. Have been to some of the grounds and have been on the receiving end of some good banter and sampled a few beers over the years.
Some of the forums are inhabited by very similar people, some are very different and have a different atmosphere all together. The unoffy seems to be a younger group with more of a sense of humour than some on other forums/message boards.

[johnthegriff]

I am not sure when the unoffy started but it is at least ten years ago and possibly was in existance before the offy. Many posters on there would be glad to hear that they are thought of as being younger. There is definitely an "in" sense of humour on that board that I often don't understand and like most messageboards (including this one) they have their share of people with strange opinions that I do not agree with. However like this board they are Tigers fans therefore they are good people and are entitled to their daft ideas.

[tjs10]

The Unofficial forum has been around for much longer than the Official one, though it has been hosted on various different sites over that period.

Originally I believe it was set up by "Denise", the original Unoffy moderator and later migrated to be hosted by Rivals.com for a number of years before Rivals became exclusively a football forum and the Unoffy was moved to Sportnetwork.

The Offy forum had existed in a much reduced & under used format back in the early days of the Unoffy but was not really a chat forum as anyone would recognise it today. When it did pick up in popularity the average age of posters on here was comparatively very young (school/college age supporters at best as I recall compared to the Unoffy's 20/30/40-somethings demographic.) Former Tigers head of communication Sam Rossiter-Stead asked myself & gingergill to become moderators on here as both of us were relatively established users of both the Unoffy and the Offy at the time.

Over time the average age of this forum has increased more rapidly than the Unoffy and there are still occasional cross-over posters between sites but they still generally cater for two different groups of fans in the main.

While I no longer post on either site anymore, I do occasionally lurk on both of them.

Both sites have their own established cliques (for better or worse) and their own in-jokes/pet peeves etc but by-and-large, in my opinion at least, the Unoffy site is a more established group of forum members who have been around together (online) for much longer and see themselves as a bit more anti-establishment, more aligned to the old Members' Association than the Offy forum. Some current Unoffy users such as Rich W & Downsey have been around online since the very earliest incarnations (late 1990's) & many more predate my involvement in either site. I don't think the Offy Forum has anyone of quite that same vintage left posting but I am happy to be proved wrong.

[jgriffin]

Ta for the insight!

[Tigers Tiger]

I was one of the very first to register for this Offy forum, but rarely use it as I was already a long-standing member of the Unoffy forum, where I still mainly post today.
Both are a little different, but everyone should make their own mind up as to which. or both, that they prefer.

[jgriffin]

I made the mistake of looking on there today, looked at the Thompstone thread, and it contained a major slag-off of the Offy by one johns.
Don't think posters on here slag them off.

[tigerburnie]

Some on the unoffy are a bit blunt,JG, bit like me I guess.............

[Gate]

I registered on both this site and the unoffy at about the same time and used to post on both (rather more on here) because I liked the way the two forums have different dynamics. One of the features of the unoffy I've always liked is that it's part of a set of boards including the other Prem clubs, so you can mosey around the other clubs' boards and engage with their supporters. Good fun, most of the time, although that bit more open to trolling. I gradually shifted more onto the unoffy largely because I tired of putting up with the "coach must go" threads (sometimes dressed up a bit as "is this a crunch period for the coach?"). And once you get the particular way of a forum, you tend to stick with it.

But I'd recommend the unoffy for a visit - I know some do pop on there now and again, and it would be nice to have the Beej et al gracing the unoffy now and again.

[Isambard]

I have lost touch with the unoffy but there were very nice people on it.