Bengals.com closing their message boards

Since we launched on March 15, 2006, we've seen a lot.

Sites have come and gone; some offered generic Bengals news while others focused their Darth Sidious hate on the Bengals' front office. Others have downsized, revised and become something less than what they used to be. They come, spend their creative fortunes on two months of enthusiasm and slowly depart, realizing that it's hard work to keep people interested. We've seen beat writers come and go from the Cincinnati Enquirer and we were here when the Kentucky Enquirer, originally their own newspaper, closed shop and Neo'd themselves into an agent at the Cincinnati Enquirer.

We've even been around for all but one playoff appearance (2005) during the Marvin Lewis era, the character assassination of 2006, the Chad Johnson drama, the Carson Palmer demands, and all of the stupid ginger jokes between Shayne Graham and now Andy Dalton (red rocket is still not appropriate!).

Yet it's a little weird seeing the announcement that Bengals.com is closing their discussion boards:

After considering a variety of options, the Bengals are following suit with most of the other teams in the NFL by shifting the focus of their fan interaction to social media outlets such as Twitter, Facebook & Instagram. Those are freely available options. This message board, on the other hand, is not. It requires an annual fee for hosting and - as we all know - would be in need of additional funds being invested in long overdue upgrades. It is no surprise that more and more teams have been eliminating their message boards in recent years.

If you have an account over there and talk regularly, invite people to Cincy Jungle. Expand our ranks. Invite them and welcome them to our home so that they're comfortable from day one. They need a new home and we have plenty of room for expansion. Let's help our brothers and sisters find a new home at CJ.

And to those people who may not have known that we existed or simply couldn't stand me, and to the users who comment, we offer you a place to stay; get acclimated and become pals. While we take our craft rather seriously, we're just having fun here, too. We're also here for the long-run.

You need a home; we have one for you.