The new owners of the legendary 2+2 forum have revealed themselves and told the community what they have in stock for the future of the website. Andrew and Max posted an introduction in the News, Views, and Gossip section and listed the key components of their vision.
The New Owners of 2+2 Forum Reveal Themselves
As revealed last week, the pair are the owners and creators of the next generation HUD called Hand2Note. Andrew says that they are both poker professionals, but he considers himself more of a tech guy, while Max is a fully-fledged high-stakes pro.
A Brand-New Era Begins
Immediately, the ubiquitous banner ads have been removed. Most internet users see those as a nuisance and this is likely a quick favour to curry some favour with the crowd before any real changes come in.
It was also made clear that although they are the owners of Hand2Note they will never use the forum as a “marketing ground” for their product. Their rivals Hold’em Manager and PokerTracker will be left unmolested to compete fairly.
What Are the Key Components Of The Future of 2+2 Forum?
As the world’s leading poker forum, there is understandable interest in what the future direction will be. Andrew posted a few pointers to indicate what their vision currently is.
- In the years to come, we are going to build an AI-powered forum platform for the future and host it on twoplustwo.com (instead of forumserver.twoplustwo.com).
- We don’t intend to make radical changes to the current forum (design, etc.) in the short term. We subscribe to the adage that one needn’t fix what isn’t broken.
- We’ll focus on building an international community of professional poker players.
- We’ll also focus on user growth.
- We’ll furthermore address the problem of strict moderation and bans.
- We’ll always prioritize user experience over mere profits.
Firstly, we would love to hear more about what exactly the user will get from an AI-powered platform. Many will say this is nothing but window dressing but is isn’t yet clear what any benefit will be.
Then he writes how they intend to “focus on building and international community of professional poker players.”
This is going to cause much disagreement. For a start, as was pointed out in the replies, real professionals are no longer as keen to hand out advice to their rivals in a tough playing environment.
It’s arguable that the golden years of the forum are gone by more than a decade.
Fifteen years ago, it was possible to use the forum as your only source of poker information and rise through the ranks if you applied yourself correctly.
Those days are gone forever, as confirmed by the almost closing down of the high-stakes MTT and NL cash game sections.
So if that’s true, they’re going to need to be creative in a way that nobody else can see right now.
2+2 Users Concerned About Unethical Data Usage
One of the moderators was quick to point out that with limited options to monetise the forum selling everybody’s email addresses would be lucrative to the right person.
Mason Malmuth always made it clear he would never do such a thing but now that gentlemen’s agreement is no longer valid.
It was also pointed out that the younger generation do not use forums as much as their older peers. Social media has become their go-to environment for the exchange in information. How much will this hinder the reinvention of 2+2?
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