By Geoff Stoddart, AngelsWin.com Director of Social Media (better known as: @Spirit)

In February of 2004, Chuck Richter, launched the AngelsWin.com site and community forum as a place for Angels fans from around the country and around the world to come and discuss not only the team they loved, but also a wide array of topics that interested them.  As the community grew, the forum became the go to place for Angels fans on the internet to call their home discuss their team.

In the years that followed, two small websites became publicly available and changed the way the world interacted online.  Twitter in July 2006 and Facebook in September 2006. 

It is impossible to overstate the immense impact both of these social media platforms have had on the world we live in.  At first, they appeared to be a pioneering leap forward in allowing people to connect and reconnect with others on the internet. Family members, long lost friends, sports heroes, entertainers and the list goes on.  People shared their photos, stories of their kids, animals, dates and jobs with anyone who was willing to follow them and give them a like.  It started off all so promising. 

But like many things in life, too much of a good thing can often turn ugly.  Such has been the case with both Twitter and Facebook. 

How many times have you logged onto one of these platforms looking for Angels news and/or discussions, only to find yourself having to weed through endless amounts of drama, politics and hate?  If you said, “every time,” then you’re being honest.

As fans of the website slowly began transitioning over to the social media platforms, AngelsWin joined them.  We’ve had fun with discussions, memes, meltdowns and the like.  But over the last couple of years, we’ve seen interest wane.  People are getting tired of these internet cesspools.  And that’s caused something of a shift for our website.  What was old is suddenly becoming new again!  The AngelsWin community forum has continued to see a steady resurgence in activity. 

So, why is this happening?  Why are people migrating back to a format that has been around since the 90’s?  Well, the answer is pretty simple.  They want to engage without having to weed through the madness.

The AngelsWin community forum has everything you want from your ideal social media platforms.  A place for Angels baseball, a place for sports of all kinds, a place for politics, a place for general nonsense, and the list goes on.  But the great part about these forums is that they’re all separate from each other.  You don’t have to engage in a discussion about Ohtani’s recovery, while also having to read that someone thinks <insert politician’s name here> is a Nazi all the while getting a creepy or spam filled DM by strangers.

There are other benefits too …

·        You can easily search for topics or posts from days, weeks or even months before. (Try doing that on Twitter or Facebook)

·        We don’t mine your data and sell it to horrible people who will do horrible things. (I’m looking at you, Facebook!)

·        AngelsWin contests and prizes

·        Fanfest events with former and current players

·        Intelligent discussion threads that are moderated to filter out and hide any trolling that would derail the topic or disrespect others. 

·        Angels live Gameday threads & chat with fans, as well as up to date prospect updates and in-game stat lines through the major and minor league season.

·        Full access to our members gallery to upload and share pictures, calendar to create events, private clubs to discuss topics in a group setting, a private messaging system & chat (coming soon).

·        Easily embed .Gifs just like on Twitter, upload images and videos, and we offer a full set of emoji's to share with the entire community. 

·        We have more than just the Facebook LIKE or Twitter Heart reaction. So take that! 

·        Our mobile experience is modern, responsive and rivals all the popular social media apps out there. 

·        We have exclusive High Definition video interviews with front office members, both active and former players, as well as our top minor league talent. 

·        Angels news quickly populated to our forum via an RSS feed from the OC Register, including interaction & Q&A with Angels' beat writer @Jeff Fletcher.

·        While user accounts are always free, an upgrade to our Premium Member status provides you with an ad free experience.

 So if you’ve never been to AngelsWin.com before, come give us a try!  And if you were a member who has fallen away, come give the site another look. We think you’ll be very happy with what you find! 

The AngelsWin Community Forum … it’s new again!