An open letter to the Admins: Is it time to clean up the basketball board?

[edowd26]

i feel responsible for a lot of this. If it pleases the court, i will retire.

 

[orange79]

This is why it's unfortunate if it's true Blue Curtain is gone...and that's obviously not going to be a popular opinion.

He may have had an obvious agenda, but he didn't post anything that was really inflammatory and he never used personal attacks. That's more than I can say for the people responding to him sometimes.

I'd rather have one or two guys like that rather than for this place to turn into a big Pollyanna circle jerk.

No, he just posted the same exact drivel over and over and over again. Perfect candidate for the Ignore button.

 

[br801]

I think the board is fine as is and moderated very well.

If you visit here regularly, it's pretty easy to sift through the threads and navigate through the noise and bad posters. That's part of the fun for me. I appreciate the existence of the "Ignore" function, but have yet to use it.

 

[jekelish]

I don't use the ignore button simply because, quite frankly, it's fun to argue now and then.

 

[orange79]

I don't use the ignore button simply because, quite frankly, it's fun to argue now and then.

Is not, stupid.

 

[HOFCeluck]

No, he just posted the same exact drivel over and over and over again. Perfect candidate for the Ignore button.

Whatever floats your boat I guess. A dissenting opinion makes things more interesting once in a while.

If you put him on ignore, you also miss classics like his "court size" post or his prediction that there will be a lot of disappointed Syracuse fans after the "break the record" game vs nova.

 

[orange79]

Whatever floats your boat I guess. A dissenting opinion makes things more interesting once in a while.

If you put him on ignore, you also miss classics like his "court size" post or his prediction that there will be a lot of disappointed Syracuse fans after the "break the record" game vs nova.

Maybe, but I think I'll survive it.

 

[Orange Barrel]

For those who use the "ignore" feature I would ask: is this how we as a society should treat those with whom we disagree? By "silencing" them?

I think your premise is a little off. I don't ignore anyone just because I disagree with them. I ignore posters who post a lot without saying anything or who post the same thing over and over. I ignore anyone who makes any kind of political statement or opinion. I don't come here for that and really don't care, regardless of what side you're on. I ignore the comic brigades, mostly because I don't find them to be funny. But I realize that others do and value their input. I ignore extreme doom and gloomers as well as extreme pollyannas. I even ignore a couple of people because I don't like their writing style. And yes, I ignore those I judge to be less than intelligent. Shame on me.

Anyway, it's not silencing anyone. It's just not listening to them.

 

[br801]

I'd rather have one or two guys like that rather than for this place to turn into a big Pollyanna circle jerk.

There will always be posters like that around.

Some will choose to leave over time, and others will be asked to leave, but that well will never run dry.

 

[TerryM]

Ill be honest, Im a newer type and a very lighthearted guy. I Love Cuse hoops and like to have some fun banter as well. Ive already been banned for 3 days by the bees guy for no apparent reason and I felt a little stung by this.

There seems to be a bit of a "get off my lawn" aspect by some here. If that becomes the prevailing sentiment, I feel you will see some great posters leave or simply lurk.

 

[cusetown1]

Some of you would really hate to work in a barbershop. You should hear the bs sometimes.

 

[jekelish]

Ill be honest, Im a newer type and a very lighthearted guy. I Love Cuse hoops and like to have some fun banter as well. Ive already been banned for 3 days by the bees guy for no apparent reason and I felt a little stung by this.

There seems to be a bit of a "get off my lawn" aspect by some here. If that becomes the prevailing sentiment, I feel you will see some great posters leave or simply lurk.

All I'm taking from this is that you felt STUNG by BEES.

I see what you did there.

 

[HOFCeluck]

We can't bust heads like we used to. But we have our ways. One trick is to tell stories that don't go anywhere. Like the time I caught the ferry to Shelbyville. I needed a new heel for m'shoe. So I decided to go to Morganville, which is what they called Shelbyville in those days. So I tied an onion to my belt. Which was the style at the time. Now, to take the ferry cost a nickel, and in those days, nickels had pictures of bumblebees on 'em. Gimme five bees for a quarter, you'd say. Now where was I... oh yeah. The important thing was that I had an onion tied to my belt, which was the style at the time. You couldn't get white onions, because of the war. The only thing you could get was those big yellow ones...

 

[MartyCuse]

I lurked for years and I have had a few different handles. I remember the first time I came across a Syracuse fan board back in my apartment in Eastwood, I was using AOL, and I was hooked. Over the years I have changed careers, married, had a couple of little ones, moved, but like all Of you I have remained loyal and interested in Syracuse athletics. These sites have been my go to. Over the years the amount of time I spent online has changed. Now I spend far more time in these boards than I should. The iPhone has made it easier to check out the board where ever and when ever. I truly appreciate all the time and effort over the years that our moderators and IT administrators have put forth for the good of the board. I have always respected their choice as they have allowed some threads and topics to stay and others were removed. Sometimes as quick as they showed up. They have attempted to protect our university and our student athletes while allowing our community a place to interact and reflect on various topics. When there is a big game, win, loss, breaking news or a world event this is one if my first stops. I know there will be appropriate dialog here about whatever topic I am looking for. Sure there is humor but there are also some great discussions. So IMHO even though this place has changed over the years, I still feel it's a community that I want to be a member of. We have always helped to self police lets continue the great tradition of a great community.

 

[OttoinGrotto]

i feel responsible for a lot of this. If it pleases the court, i will retire.

I think you post a lot of funny stuff.

 

[OttoinGrotto]

Or maybe after 15 years people decide they want to do something else.

I post at two forums - this one and anandtech.com. I used to post at more, but 1) My time became more valuable the older I got, 2) talking (doesn't matter what it is) gets boring, 3) I get upset at myself at times for spending hours in front of a computer screen.

Sometimes losing people has nothing to do with the board climate.

Well said.

 

[4evaOrange]

I'm just going to leave for a while and let this board figure out what it wants to do.

 

[Deano]

that's what winning 30 games every year will do to a "fan" like Blue Curtain.

and iggy

 

[Orangezoo]

I said this in the other thread but I think the compromise is this.

1- use the ignore function. And on that note we dont need to name drop I posts to make it seem like its a select society. The clique crap needs to go away. Its what can create unnecessary friction. This is also why I advocate against a pay board. Also note that for the most part some of us that post more now have been around a decade just have been quiet. It does not make some of us thrilled to be put out as uninformed or bad posters. Why not speak up if someone upsets you and not lay out broad sweeping labels.
2- stay on topic and ensure that is the way it stays. All of us have been guilty of veering at one time and we should be helpful keeping eachother on topic in a friendly manner. Its fair game and I say put me sternly on the right track if I veer as I will you. That can be done in a civil manner and help avoid threads going awry.

3- let fun be had but make sure it stays in the humor or off topic boards.

4- zero tolerance for insults. This is one I may feel more strongly about but there is no need to bluntly call other posters dumb. I think insulting players could fall here too but that is generally moderated by posters saying hey thats not cool.

 

[LAOrange]

I'll be the first to admit a lot of this is my fault. This board has been part of my life for close to 18 years. The first search I ever did on the internet was Syracuse Basketball and found the old AOL Board. At that time I did not know one poster on this board. Since then I have many life long friends I have met via the boards here. I have gone on Vacation with posters. I have had Trips and game tickets purchased for me by Board fun raisers for me. I am one grateful and Blessed Man.

In the beginning everything was straight Sports talk. Know one really knew anyone but by their screen names. As technology grew so did the boards. We started to have SyracuseFan,com Tailgates at every home and away Football and Basketball games. We had Big East Tournament blarney rock parties. We had a four day drink fests in New Orleans in 2003 and in Atlanta in April. We have Facebook and Twitter were posters communicate together on a daily basis. All these events have created long and lasting friend ships amongst many posters. This is were you get the inside jokes and certain posters ragging on one another. It's all in good and fun expect to the posters who have no clue what the others are talking about. This has become more common place over the last two years.

We used to have a Pay board were it would strictly be Sports and nothing else. We no longer have that. So now you get everyone together on a few forms that range in age from teenagers to folks in their 80's. This is obviously going to create some generational issues. A half naked lady done in good taste may be appealing to me but will always offend someone.

We have an OT Board a Joke board and several other. But lets face it the basketball Board is the hub of SyracuseFan.Com. Its the most popular board year round except for maybe in Aug and Sept. So your going to get some of the more non desirable stuff on the most used board.

How do we change it I don't know? Maybe bring back a pay board for the Hard Corps sports discussions only. I really don't know.

Jim, you're a Marine. You can do anything you want.
As for the rest of you:
What difference does it make? If you don't like a poster's style, block them. I admit, I sincerely detest the anti-Boeheim threads, but I blocked Igor and Voila! my life is cherries.

 

[Trueblue25]

Don't have these problems on the premium board.

 

[edowd26]

I think you post a lot of funny stuff.

Thank you sir. But if my shenanigans are keeping others from enjoying this board I will stop.

 

[kuethstheman]

Personally, I find that the use, or even existence, of an "ignore" feature is a cop-out. It's like putting your hands over your ears and yelling "LA LA LA - I CAN'T HEAR YOU!" like some 5 year old would do. Sure, if a poster gets consistently personally offensive without provocation, the mods should deal with it. We should all get the chance to fight back a bit. But the freedom to swing your fist ends fairly close to the tip of my nose.

For those who use the "ignore" feature I would ask: is this how we as a society should treat those with whom we disagree? By "silencing" them?

It's probably because I'm getting old but Harrison, your post is a mild version of a type of post that annoys me. In this case, you've accused me (indirectly) of copping out and acting like a 5 year-old. I don't think that was necessary. I realize such things are common (and obviously many times much more severe) on the Internet but I've avoided places where that's the case. This has historically been my refuge.

As to the "ignore" feature, I'm faced with a lot of demands on my time and there are a lot of information sources to choose from. For that reason when I seek information or entertainment, I do what I can to avoid sources that use my time without providing what I'm looking for. For that reason, I don't go to syracuse.com in the hopes of finding the occasional good post and I choose to ignore posters here that consistently waste my time or throw around insults (It takes more than a general statement about acting like a 5 year-old). I've never been tempted to ignore a poster based on a disagreement.

Like I said this is a small issue and you're a good poster but sometimes I just wish we could respect each other more.

 

[Trueblue25]

Thank you sir. But if my shenanigans are keeping others from enjoying this board I will stop.

ahem





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[tee1222]

What is this bizarro thread? Couldn't hijack it if I tried.