OT: What is the history of RealGM?

[Young Stapler]

I've been meaning to ask this for a while. Obviously, if you scroll down to the about us link at the bottom you get a very basic description of RealGM but I am looking to go deeper. Mods, admins, OG's etc I want to know: What is the history of RealGM? Who are the people in charge of this site? Did Howard Mass start RealGM? Does any of the leadership post in the GB? I think it would be nice to hear from some people about the beginning of RealGM and what it was like then and how it compares to now.

[KembaWalker]

it was really bad, then tsherkin finally left
now its okay

[Pharmcat]

best website ever, thats all one needs to know

[BadWolf]

There's a really bad Wikipedia article if you're interested.

[amcoolio]

Early 2000s, there was no social media, just forums. ESPN had their own which was the most popular. Fans from different teams were fighting eachother all the time, it was glorious. Then they shut them down for what I presume to be costs because they had quite literally millions of posts. Realgm filled that void quickly and has still remained popular, which is hard to do in the age of Twitter and Reddit.

[Michael Jackson]

I migrated over here from the old Sportstalk boards after espn bought them. That was over 20 years ago egads.

[NyKnicks1714]

Early on the trade checker was a big attraction, which was novel and cool at the time. It still technically exists for some reason and isn't good. At the time, Realgm was also selling services to a few NBA teams (no idea what: software, consulting?), but I don't know if that's the case anymore.

[bbalnation]

First rule of RealGM: dont ask about RealGM.

[bbalnation]

Kidding, neat topic OP.

[JDR720]

Shams got his start reporting for RealGM.

[The High Cyde]

Shams got his start reporting for RealGM.

Still waiting to get my start as a real GM

[Ryoga Hibiki]

Early 2000s, there was no social media, just forums. ESPN had their own which was the most popular. Fans from different teams were fighting eachother all the time, it was glorious. Then they shut them down for what I presume to be costs because they had quite literally millions of posts. Realgm filled that void quickly and has still remained popular, which is hard to do in the age of Twitter and Reddit.

there was usenet before that

Sent from my Nokia 3210 using RealGM mobile app

[Capn'O]

Early on the trade checker was a big attraction, which was novel and cool at the time. It still technically exists for some reason and isn't good. At the time, Realgm was also selling services to a few NBA teams (no idea what: software, consulting?), but I don't know if that's the case anymore.

Yeah - they were kind of the proto-hoopshype as well. The first website where salary information was publicly available and iirc was a tool that Real GMs did use for a few years. RealGM really was a pioneer in the transition of sports viewership from passive to more active.

Early 2000s, there was no social media, just forums. ESPN had their own which was the most popular. Fans from different teams were fighting eachother all the time, it was glorious. Then they shut them down for what I presume to be costs because they had quite literally millions of posts. Realgm filled that void quickly and has still remained popular, which is hard to do in the age of Twitter and Reddit.

there was usenet before that

Sent from my Nokia 3210 using RealGM mobile app

And how!!!

[Egg Nog]

RealGM.com in 2000
RealGM.com in 2001
RealGM.com in 2002

RealGM forum in 2001
GUYS...the General Board here has 15 topics and 44 TOTAL POSTS

[Flash Falcon X]

prerak

[Flash Falcon X]

I feel like majority of us posters here come from the pre social media days, back when forums were the only place people can really discuss sports. Nowadays people can do sports talk on Instagram, FB, Twitter, Reddit, etc.

I first found RealGM in 2005-2006... I randomly googled Baron Davis and a RealGM thread popped up in one of the results. Back then there was only Myspace as a social media platform to potentially discuss sports. There were Myspace groups for sports but people on there weren't too knowledgeable, so RealGM was the best place to go for sports talk. There are also dedicated Warriors sites, but I like how RealGM has fans of all teams because you can get all kinds of perspectives.

Even with the ubiquity of social media, I still prefer discussing or reading discussions on sports on RealGM because other places are way too saturated by random people who don't know much of what they talk about. At least on RealGM there's some substance.

EDIT: There was espn boards but that was too saturated as well. RealGM used to require paid emails or something like that which made the forums more exclusive.

[D.Brasco]

The GB used to have better discussions years past, not the 90% Hot take attempts like it is now.

The PC board is the only place for serious NBA discussion anymore.

[Flash Falcon X]

As a side note, I remember back then forums like RealGM were the only place that athletes would really see criticism from fans and not from the media (tv, newspapers, etc.)

Nowadays, athletes can go on Instagram and Twitter and see a bunch of bad comments toward them, but back in the early 2000s a lot of them were blind to the fan criticism. You'd only get rare instances like that one time Juan Dixon found a RealGM thread called "The Amazingly Sucky Juan Dixon Thread" or something like that, and it motivated him to have a big game.

[infinite11285]

Shams got his start reporting for RealGM.

You hear that, Pharmcat?! You could be up next!

[WarriorGM]

The GB used to have better discussions years past, not the 90% Hot take attempts like it is now.

The PC board is the only place for serious NBA discussion anymore.

For all its faults the GB is more serious than the PC board.