I think points 2 & 3 from @jimmymelrose are actually a real strength of this place. It hasn’t died out because the mods have done a great job in stopping massive disagreements between posters on things outside of football. I love a good political chat but I use this place as a bit of an escape from the real world. Talking about football has harboured a community spirit that means some other topics have opened up too. To me CL feels a bit like when you regularly sit next to the same strangers at The Valley or you bump into people away games and can have a nice chat. It’s very non toxic
Not wanting to downplay how good this site is but I’ve often asked myself instead ’why are other fans forums so bad?' I don’t look at them much but when I do they all look so messy.
In addition to presentation, the content on here is generally much better too. Often, posters take the time to write thought out paragraphs in a cohesive manner.
The only things I don’t like are:
1. Links to X
2. Threads getting taken down too easily when there has been no good reason. A topic may have the potential to be inflammatory but so long as it hasn’t become so then let it be please.
3. The virtual ban on discussing politics.
4. Too many uses of ’would of’😉
@Admin! Left wing anarchist sounding off . Please remove thread.
My job as a football shirt seller often involves me going into fan forums and asking for details about various shirts, matches, players, signature identification, so on and so on. And they're all shite! Two threads a week, three active users, etc. Why is Charlton Life so massive? It's bigger than a lot of Premier League forums too!There's like 1000 different threads all going at the same time, there's forum micro-celebrities, there's in jokes, there's a nice community spirit. It feels like honestly I could bin off all other social media and just use this and I wouldn't really miss out on anything. Why does this forum stand out in this way?
OwlsTalk is very active.
The Everton forum (Grand old team) is pretty active also.
I remember the old days they had a forum called When Skies Are Grey, and at the time it was probably by far the most active fans forum about.
I think with a lot of premier league clubs, there's too many forums, so the user base gets spread out.
Charlton has always been a unique club where as there is very much a community, family feel. You just don't get that with other clubs. Spurs, been going for home & away for years, have an awful lot of Spurs mates through going Spurs, playing football, university, school and work but it has never felt anything close to what you've got with Charlton. I'm actually quite envious of it tbh.
Combine that with a smaller number of forums with a generally smaller fan base (no offence intended and don't take that the wrong way), its becomes concentrated on the forums and that feel comes across online too. I cant stress that enough.
I've been posting on Spurs forums since the early/mid 90s (SIMB & Spurs Web - both from the old Net Addick days, Spurs Community, COYS, The Fighting Cock to name a few) and the conversations (threads) have never got anywhere near as good as what is on CL. I much prefer posting & reading here and this is usually one of my first ports of call each day. There's a lot of knowledge shared, there's a great mix of people on here and it works perfectly. People feel they can post without judgment in some of the best threads on here. I guess it helps I know a few of you in real life and can put faces to names/usernames more so than I can on some Spurs forums to a degree.
Think you should all take that as a massive compliment.
My job as a football shirt seller often involves me going into fan forums and asking for details about various shirts, matches, players, signature identification, so on and so on.
Football shirt seller? Are you a collector? Is it match worn only type stuff or just general shirts as well.
Im a collector as well, mainly obscure national teams.
Because year on year, the prestigious 'Rate My Plate' 🍽️ competition offers a culinary master class and is becoming increasingly more challenging, the bar set higher each time. It's a Winner, Winner, Christmas Dinner!
Oh, and there's some other stuff about football, and virtually every other subject that springs to mind, debated on the whole with wit, insightful analysis, and pylons.
My job as a football shirt seller often involves me going into fan forums and asking for details about various shirts, matches, players, signature identification, so on and so on.
Football shirt seller? Are you a collector? Is it match worn only type stuff or just general shirts as well.
Im a collector as well, mainly obscure national teams.
I've got a small personal collection but pretty much everything I have is for buying and selling. Most of it is general shirts, when I'm lucky I'll find player issue and matchworn stuff, and sometimes signed stuff too. If you're interested in collecting national teams, I'm in a brilliant whatsapp group of national team collectors that can really help you out if you'd like to join. They often organise big group orders directly from the FAs of obscure nations who's shirts aren't typically available in the UK (recent ones include Liberia, Fiji, Mongolia, Niue, New Caledonia, BVI, Samoa, and North Korea).
CL is the best source of everything to do with my beloved club so I have no need to join the social media circus. This forum is fantastic and the discussions fair (mostly) and lively. Thanks to everone concerned with keeping this going. I am not not good with words which is why I mostly read and don't post very much. I am in awe of some of the lengthy, knowledgable and intersting posts that people seem to be able to put together.
Let's hope next season we have more to smile about than we have to moan about!
Charlton has always been a unique club where as there is very much a community, family feel. You just don't get that with other clubs. Spurs, been going for home & away for years, have an awful lot of Spurs mates through going Spurs, playing football, university, school and work but it has never felt anything close to what you've got with Charlton. I'm actually quite envious of it tbh.
Combine that with a smaller number of forums with a generally smaller fan base (no offence intended and don't take that the wrong way), its becomes concentrated on the forums and that feel comes across online too. I cant stress that enough.
I've been posting on Spurs forums since the early/mid 90s (SIMB & Spurs Web - both from the old Net Addick days, Spurs Community, COYS, The Fighting Cock to name a few) and the conversations (threads) have never got anywhere near as good as what is on CL. I much prefer posting & reading here and this is usually one of my first ports of call each day. There's a lot of knowledge shared, there's a great mix of people on here and it works perfectly. People feel they can post without judgment in some of the best threads on here. I guess it helps I know a few of you in real life and can put faces to names/usernames more so than I can on some Spurs forums to a degree.
Think you should all take that as a massive compliment.
Charlton has always been a unique club where as there is very much a community, family feel. You just don't get that with other clubs. Spurs, been going for home & away for years, have an awful lot of Spurs mates through going Spurs, playing football, university, school and work but it has never felt anything close to what you've got with Charlton. I'm actually quite envious of it tbh.
Combine that with a smaller number of forums with a generally smaller fan base (no offence intended and don't take that the wrong way), its becomes concentrated on the forums and that feel comes across online too. I cant stress that enough.
I've been posting on Spurs forums since the early/mid 90s (SIMB & Spurs Web - both from the old Net Addick days, Spurs Community, COYS, The Fighting Cock to name a few) and the conversations (threads) have never got anywhere near as good as what is on CL. I much prefer posting & reading here and this is usually one of my first ports of call each day. There's a lot of knowledge shared, there's a great mix of people on here and it works perfectly. People feel they can post without judgment in some of the best threads on here. I guess it helps I know a few of you in real life and can put faces to names/usernames more so than I can on some Spurs forums to a degree.
Think you should all take that as a massive compliment.
The layout of the site is so much better than other forums.
The diverse range of subjects covered is my particular favourite.
To expand on the layout thing: I really like that for each comment on here, all you see is the poster's name and when it was posted. Other forums have a box around each post, with the poster's name and a bigger picture plus irrelevant information like when they joined and how many times they've posted (sometimes with a kind of ranking such as Member, Established Member, Veteran Member etc.), and a signature with a quote that might have been funny once, but wears off when you see it under every post. It means there's all this information you have to filter out in order to read the comment.
I think CL often uniquely works the way it does because of its fan base that’s had a history of forgetting their differences and rallied to the call when necessary and fought battles that have literally destroyed other clubs - Fighting local elections to get back to the Valley, taking on dodgy owners - and at the same time carrying on that pub, any topic goes, opinions, questions and banter.
I suspect a little history of the type of forum members it started off with also probably set the tone of what was acceptable and what wasn’t. After that it was all downhill 😀
It was born at a time when the site we were using, Net Addicks, had been suspended because of a Sunday roast -‘rate my plate’ ???, pah, doesn’t even make this particular menu sunshine. So moving across was a natural progression and basically at the core of that was a group of people that probably between them knew or had met everyone else.
There was another thing we were doing on Net Addicks and that was the host forum also hosted sites for other clubs and you were usually able to simply post on those sites without having to re-register until they blocked you - ok, starting a thread ‘is VFR the best football song ever’ on the Spurs site might have been pushing it - so the concept of fans of other clubs sharing their opinions was already ingrained.
My job as a football shirt seller often involves me going into fan forums and asking for details about various shirts, matches, players, signature identification, so on and so on.
Football shirt seller? Are you a collector? Is it match worn only type stuff or just general shirts as well.
Im a collector as well, mainly obscure national teams.
I've got a small personal collection but pretty much everything I have is for buying and selling. Most of it is general shirts, when I'm lucky I'll find player issue and matchworn stuff, and sometimes signed stuff too. If you're interested in collecting national teams, I'm in a brilliant whatsapp group of national team collectors that can really help you out if you'd like to join. They often organise big group orders directly from the FAs of obscure nations who's shirts aren't typically available in the UK (recent ones include Liberia, Fiji, Mongolia, Niue, New Caledonia, BVI, Samoa, and North Korea).
That’s cool. I’m currently trying to build a collection of Luxembourg shirts because I was there for a game last year. It’s easy to get the latest kit because it’s widely available online. However, anything before that, especially from the 90s to the 2010s, is very difficult to find because I don’t think they sold replicas at retail. So, you’re basically chasing after player-issue ones. Even the kits that were sold at retail in the last 10 years disappear as soon as a new kit is launched because they don’t produce them in large quantities for such a small nation. Id be interested in joining that group, drop me a PM
I can only speak from a personal perspective. I basically put up with this shit all year just so I can read the "rate my plate" thread it makes my Xmas !!
I was only saying on Sunday that get all my information and form all my opinions based on reading charltonlife! I was half joking, but it's not that far from the truth haha!
Going on other club forums does make you realise how good Charlton Life is. The breadth of topics discussed, the detail and intelligence of many of the posts. And the level of activity.
I'm currently on a train, posting on Charlton Life. #propercharlton
When I think of Charlton FC, I think of a caring, family club very much part of the community. I think this is reflected on this site. The Southeastern Trains thread makes me genuinely laugh out loud whilst the Cancer and How are You threads have had me in tears.
I've rarely seem outright arguments on here and a strong sense of loyalty and humour comes through which is a credit to this site
Our place, AVFTT separated into a football and non football set up. The non football board is dominated by politics, is boring and often ends in ugly, abusive rows.
CL is on my favourites and I will own up to reading it most days
Going on other club forums does make you realise how good Charlton Life is. The breadth of topics discussed, the detail and intelligence of many of the posts. And the level of activity.
I'm currently on a train, posting on Charlton Life. #propercharlton
Charlton has always been a unique club where as there is very much a community, family feel. You just don't get that with other clubs. Spurs, been going for home & away for years, have an awful lot of Spurs mates through going Spurs, playing football, university, school and work but it has never felt anything close to what you've got with Charlton. I'm actually quite envious of it tbh.
Combine that with a smaller number of forums with a generally smaller fan base (no offence intended and don't take that the wrong way), its becomes concentrated on the forums and that feel comes across online too. I cant stress that enough.
I've been posting on Spurs forums since the early/mid 90s (SIMB & Spurs Web - both from the old Net Addick days, Spurs Community, COYS, The Fighting Cock to name a few) and the conversations (threads) have never got anywhere near as good as what is on CL. I much prefer posting & reading here and this is usually one of my first ports of call each day. There's a lot of knowledge shared, there's a great mix of people on here and it works perfectly. People feel they can post without judgment in some of the best threads on here. I guess it helps I know a few of you in real life and can put faces to names/usernames more so than I can on some Spurs forums to a degree.
Think you should all take that as a massive compliment.
I've a good mate who's a Spurs fan, he doesn't post on here but does like to pop in for a browse now and then.
Charlton has always been a unique club where as there is very much a community, family feel. You just don't get that with other clubs. Spurs, been going for home & away for years, have an awful lot of Spurs mates through going Spurs, playing football, university, school and work but it has never felt anything close to what you've got with Charlton. I'm actually quite envious of it tbh.
Combine that with a smaller number of forums with a generally smaller fan base (no offence intended and don't take that the wrong way), its becomes concentrated on the forums and that feel comes across online too. I cant stress that enough.
I've been posting on Spurs forums since the early/mid 90s (SIMB & Spurs Web - both from the old Net Addick days, Spurs Community, COYS, The Fighting Cock to name a few) and the conversations (threads) have never got anywhere near as good as what is on CL. I much prefer posting & reading here and this is usually one of my first ports of call each day. There's a lot of knowledge shared, there's a great mix of people on here and it works perfectly. People feel they can post without judgment in some of the best threads on here. I guess it helps I know a few of you in real life and can put faces to names/usernames more so than I can on some Spurs forums to a degree.
Think you should all take that as a massive compliment.
When I first joined, we had a regular poster from one of the Sheffield clubs, I cannot for the life of me remember his user name. Miss piggy keeps popping in to my head but I am sure that is wrong!
When I first joined, we had a regular poster from one of the Sheffield clubs, I cannot for the life of me remember his user name. Miss piggy keeps popping in to my head but I am sure that is wrong!
Operation Pig. Think he was Wednesday, but seemed both fanbases called the other ones the Pigs.
The Rochdale lads who came on here when they’d suffered an infestation of Southall were great. A lot of information sharing took place and they greatly appreciate the clout of a much bigger fanbase backing them on Twitter. I am mates with one of them as a result. We finally met up for beers a year ago in Frankfurt of all places. He said Charlton fans will always be welcome at Dale. All down to this forum.
Comments
I remember the old days they had a forum called When Skies Are Grey, and at the time it was probably by far the most active fans forum about.
I think with a lot of premier league clubs, there's too many forums, so the user base gets spread out.
You just don't get that with other clubs. Spurs, been going for home & away for years, have an awful lot of Spurs mates through going Spurs, playing football, university, school and work but it has never felt anything close to what you've got with Charlton. I'm actually quite envious of it tbh.
Combine that with a smaller number of forums with a generally smaller fan base (no offence intended and don't take that the wrong way), its becomes concentrated on the forums and that feel comes across online too. I cant stress that enough.
I've been posting on Spurs forums since the early/mid 90s (SIMB & Spurs Web - both from the old Net Addick days, Spurs Community, COYS, The Fighting Cock to name a few) and the conversations (threads) have never got anywhere near as good as what is on CL. I much prefer posting & reading here and this is usually one of my first ports of call each day. There's a lot of knowledge shared, there's a great mix of people on here and it works perfectly. People feel they can post without judgment in some of the best threads on here. I guess it helps I know a few of you in real life and can put faces to names/usernames more so than I can on some Spurs forums to a degree.
Think you should all take that as a massive compliment.
Im a collector as well, mainly obscure national teams.
Oh, and there's some other stuff about football, and virtually every other subject that springs to mind, debated on the whole with wit, insightful analysis, and pylons.
Let's hope next season we have more to smile about than we have to moan about!
I think CL often uniquely works the way it does because of its fan base that’s had a history of forgetting their differences and rallied to the call when necessary and fought battles that have literally destroyed other clubs - Fighting local elections to get back to the Valley, taking on dodgy owners - and at the same time carrying on that pub, any topic goes, opinions, questions and banter.
I'm currently on a train, posting on Charlton Life. #propercharlton
I've rarely seem outright arguments on here and a strong sense of loyalty and humour comes through which is a credit to this site
Our place, AVFTT separated into a football and non football set up. The non football board is dominated by politics, is boring and often ends in ugly, abusive rows.
CL is on my favourites and I will own up to reading it most days
Season Tickets 25/26 details - Page 6 — Charlton Life
The Rochdale lads who came on here when they’d suffered an infestation of Southall were great. A lot of information sharing took place and they greatly appreciate the clout of a much bigger fanbase backing them on Twitter. I am mates with one of them as a result. We finally met up for beers a year ago in Frankfurt of all places. He said Charlton fans will always be welcome at Dale. All down to this forum.
....When it's annoyingly called Charlton FC...🤦♂️
CA Life...🙄