Forum Administration

[entropy]

The real question is.... What would the wiz do?

[The Oracle]

Kill 'em.

[Dr. Strangelove]

That's not what has been said to me. I have spoken with folks via e-mail and in person, who told me that they were tired of insults and childish behaviors exhibited by the contingent from ohio.

I've always held the line at not banning people due to content.

I'm at the point now where I regret taking that stand.

Who would those people be?

[Dr. Strangelove]

And secondly, if you're going to ban for childish and trollish behavior, OP, Wiz, and Stan rarely post anything except insults and what you'd describe as trolling posts. I don't have a problem with what they post, but if the shrinking violets who abandoned the forum are exclusively pointing at me and Talent, well that's simply BS

[lineygoblue]

Strangelove, I'm not going to name individuals, because I have promised to keep those conversations private. The people whom I have spoken to know who they are, and if they want to discuss it here, they will do so. Until then, I consider our conversations to be private.

Stan rarely posts here anymore, but he has never spoken to me as to why/why not. If he HAS said something in here, then I must have missed it because I don't recall seeing it.

Wizard (IMO) doesn't post here enough. I like the guy. I think most of us "get" his sense of humor. And our Nebraska fans have shown a lot of class and mutual respect in their postings here. I enjoy having them here.

I'm considering using the "card" system that is already part of the forum. Just a thought.

[whodean]

Just limit the oLIEo scum to their own thread, then we can easily ignore their puffassery

[Rob F]

I'm considering using the "card" system that is already part of the forum. Just a thought.

Now I AM concerned. Didn't know you were going to go all soccer on us, Liney.

[lineygoblue]

We use those cards in Volleyball too, Rob. Yellow is simply a warning. You can get unlimited yellow cards in a match. Red means you're gone.

I was looking at the system today to administer warning cards. It might be something to consider.

And Whodean, I'm considering your suggestion as well.

[WM Wolverine]

It's pretty much one person who I see as an issue and he's rarely an issue outside of his one discussion. But he's a major PITA when he's in one of his moods and posting outside of the Ohio discussion.

[Tony G]

Do you guys plan or hope to get new people in here or would you prefer to stay where you are with people?

There's a comfort of the known members but it stagnates the discussion to a point.

[WM Wolverine]

With the loss of more than a handful of members, it would be nice to invite some new members here.

[Rob F]

I'm all in favor of adding more, as I agree with you that discussions tend to stagnate . New blood, new ideas,opinions, and perspectives are usually a good thing to add. Sure, there's the risk of occasionally getting stuck with some jerk you regret having around, but most newbies on any forum figure out quickly how to either fit in and find their niche, or realize it's not the place they're looking for and quickly move on.

[Rob F]

With the loss of more than a handful of members, it would be nice to invite some new members here.

I agree, although I'd like to make an observation on the first part of your comment, to put things in perspective:

Yes, we have had some attrition from our forum. Some, like Stan White for example, come and go in streaks (even I've taken a few sabbaticals from here and this forums' predecessor worldcrossing site). Some are active primarily during football season and then only show up every once and a while during the off-season. Others (Sean B. is a good example) reach points in their lives where they simply don't have the time to post here but find us once it's known that we're having another tailgate gathering. And yet others only post "lightly", maybe at most once or twice every couple of weeks and leave you wishing they were much more active on here. Doc Hodgman is the best example that comes to mind for me.

Others leave more or less permanantly, and some have informed Liney and/or me or other moderators in person or by email message as to their reasons(s) for leaving, while others simply disappear. Like Liney stated several posts back, I feel it would be a violation of their privacy to give out specifics for any individual, but Liney is 100% correct that several have left because of the nonsensical bickering that flares up all too often, and that a large portion of it involves the same individuals.

[Jeff Buchanan]

Nonsensical bickering is part of internet forum life.

Aside from picking on osu which only then prompts talent to become Mr. Nasty, I have no interest in discussing anything, except M football and the degree to which osu's revenue sports cheat.

Having a debate about anything else on the internet is a worthless undertaking. I avoid it like the plague. I do like our OT thread and I have a lot of respect, based on the quality of thier posts, for many posters here and I'll therefore enter an off topic discussion but only briefly. I also welcome new members but, as Rob points out, they either find their niche or move on. That's a good thing.

I also like our rules and the idea of cards: Personal attacks should get yellow cards and when they continue, pull out the red card. But that's it. Just because posters respectfully speak they're mind doesn't deserve punishment. I think Linesman has been pretty consistent on that theme. I will say, talent's football, AKA harry boil's, contributions are excellent. He just needs to stop calling Liney a moron and all will be fine.

Anyway ..... football is only a few weeks away. All this non-sensical BS stops then. Thank goodness. Oh, wait, osu cheats. That sentiment IS NOT going away anytime soon here no matter factually, how non-sensical it is.

[hack]

Chrissakes this is insanely ridiculous.

Linesman, you're the moderator here and you're not the type to do it by consensus. It's your house here, and that's the forum's choice and I suspect we as a group more-or-less like it that way. So, fine. What would be nice is to have the same standards for everybody. The nanny-state approach on this forum is personalized and that is what really bothers me. You have different rules for different posters.

DSL brought up Stan, for example. You may deny ever noticing Stan behaving here objectionably but you've responded several times in the past to people being taken aback by his style by saying ``well he's a great guy in real life''. As if that somehow makes it ok for him to shit on people here in ways far worse than what the OSU guys do.

IMO we'd have less of these frustrating episodes if you set the rules and enforced them the same for everyone.