Waters Blog Post Outing CTO

[Toga]

Since the day I found this site, many moons ago, it's always been like, idk, a safe haven. A place that no matter how in real life was going, I always had my cusefan.com family to shoot the with. When my dog was sick, I came here, and we correctly diagnosed him. Whenever I need a new phone, you guys help me pick a good one. We've kept peoples family, their kids, in our thoughts in prayers when we've found out their sick. We've mourned the loss of posters together. I've shared my name, location, pictures, with everyone here. Because that's the type of group we were.. A close one. A family. That all changed this weekend.

An old Army Sgt of mine always used to preach "Family polices family". All the posts after the first post in question, the outrage.. is something that I totally expect on this board. And that's OK.

Taking screenshots, and sending them to freaking deadspin, attaching someones real name to their screen name, to people outside of the family.. Ridiculous.

You caught your Aunt smoking a joint in the back yard, and instead of joining the rest of the family in scolding her, you brought the police to the house.

I'll still pop around, because I get pretty bored.. But damn... this place.

I know what I'd do if I caught my Aunt lighting one up and scolding ain't it.

 

[CuseTroop]

I forgot to mention that I literally LOLed at your hypothetical example of an entire family scolding their aunt for smoking pot in the backyard.

I know what I'd do if I caught my Aunt lighting one up and scolding ain't it.

I tried to think of a good example, but at 8am(ish), and a little green on my mind, that was the best I could come up with lol

 

[Frozen]

I'm sure it was a cusefan poster who went to deadspin. To have that kind of background on her? I don't know. Might not be. Big wake up call tho.

The UConn people know her too.

 

[Bayside44]

If my wife ever found out that I have posted here 10,000 times, I think I would just change the subject to I'm having an affair as to not look like a total loser.

Who are you chatting with so late? Umm, some guy named KaiserUEO...

 

[Eric15]

Who are you chatting with so late? Umm, some guy named KaiserUEO...

Kaiser: what are you wearing, Eric from Syracusefan?!
Me: Um, Khakis?

 

[MSOrange]

Wow this thread has just turned from outrage to ... I don't even know how to describe it now. And you guys think you'll be able to stay away from this place????

 

[orangedave]

She made a mistake and apologized end of story. Syracuse.com is click baiting this site for clicks.

The story is nothing but the editors wanted it or Waters wanted it. With the 24 hour news cycle the beasts feed on everything. It's a joke.

If an opinion offends anyone it's attacked. I feel bad for the poster as her known status affected her in the media which is a joke.

Apparently CTO wanted it too since she spoke to Mike when he reached to her. And if the story is nothing, why were there more comments on here than JB has wins?

 

[Alsacs]

Apparently CTO wanted it too since she spoke to Mike when he reached to her. And if the story is nothing, why were there more comments on here than JB has wins?

Because my opinion bothers you.

 

[RF2044]

I don't have anything against CTO. In fact, I LOVE CTO from having had the good fortune to meet / interact with her numerous times over the years.

She made a mistake, and like the true PR professional that she is, she moved swiftly to proactively correct the mistake publically and move past it. Waters's column was a big part of that process, helping to turn what is [for her] a public gaffe into a non-story without legs.

We should be thanking Mike for his story instead of criticizing him, because it helped one of our own.

 

[JoeySimz]

That's exactly right. You don't have to be a member to read most of the forums on this site. On the day Fab passed, no doubt basketball fans from all over found their way to this message board, and many probably read the thread in question. It should shock no one that some might have been surprised by what they saw.

That's why for me it was equally disparaging to see how many of us continued to pile on cto page after page. She was called out sternly and swiftly. We should have gotten right back to celebrating Fab. But the board took on a mob mentality and it was like a competition to see who could dole out the strongest reprimand. Even a few posters namely Llandz and OrangeDW tried to get us back on track but I guess we couldn't let it go. It seems no different than the outrage in the .com comment section. (Unfortunately, ctos apology attempt made it worse)

Anywho, I guess my point is that we inundated that thread with outrage and drama and helped make that the story on a day we should have been celebrating Fab. Ironically, that was the moral undertone of the admonishment directed at cto.

 

[cusefan88]

LOL Mike Waters is a good journalist and covers SU basketball just fine. What a dumb thread.

 

[MSOrange]

I don't have anything against CTO. In fact, I LOVE CTO from having had the good fortune to meet / interact with her numerous times over the years.

She made a mistake, and like the true PR professional that she is, she moved swiftly to correct the mistake publically and move past it. Waters's column was a big part of that process, helping to turn what is [for her] a public gaffe into a non-story without legs.

We should be thanking Mike for his story instead of criticizing him, because it helped one of our own.

Where were you 55 posts ago???

 

[two3zone]

I don't want to hurt anyone's feelings, but if you're a regular Joe Schmo like me or 99.9% of us, no blog on the internet is going to care what you say. You could post right now that you support the Taliban, and no one will care.

"Random SU poster says insensitive things!" is not interesting to anyone anywhere.

This is it right here.

-------------------------------

I have probably read every one of CTO's posts since I started lurking/posting here and I've never seen anything even remotely close to what she posted and was shocked when I read it. I'm not going to get into what I think about it because I already made my posts about that but with all that said, CTO is trustee to the University, has her names on buildings, multiple press photos next to JB, and a plethora of news articles about her connections with the university. Unfortunately for her in this case there is responsibility that comes with that, responsibility that like Eric said I do not have to worry about, I don't have to worry about seeing in a newspaper the next day, I don't have to worry about going to work tomorrow with.

Whether you believe the comments she made were fair or unfair what was said struck nerves around the community and it showed and ended up going mainstream because of who she is, not as much as what was said.

I have zero connection to Fab outside of rooting for him for a couple of seasons, but the comments made really made me think about all of this. I don't really watch nor have interest in any sports anymore because I just don't have the passion and they really have no effect in my day to day life. I think about how wins/losses can have an effect on people to the point it's a main talking point when someone dies. This isn't directed at CTO but to every article that I've read where the poor kid is defined in life by the wins that "he" cost the university. This brings back sooooo much, seeing what the university did and poured it all on him and seeing the treatment he took when in all reality this was probably more on the program than Fab himself. I think a fire that I have for this program and sports went away a little bit the past few days, it just disturbs me a lot on how big and powerful a game can get and how much more important it can be to people, myself included when in all reality it has zero affect on me outside of wasting time watching it and arguing with people on here.

 

[JoeySimz]

LOL Mike Waters is a good journalist and covers SU basketball just fine. What a dumb thread.[/QUOT

I agree that Mike does ok. The op may have misinterpreted what was going on but this thread is one of the better ones. There are real questions about how we deal with online media.

 

[RF2044]

Where were you 55 posts ago???

Working.

 

[Cusefan0307]

Well I know for a fact we have people on this board that work for other sites and have used this site to get content because I was outed about 3 years ago. Because of this you just have to pick and choose what you post if you don't want it out in the public.

 

[310Pigpen]

I'm not saying what happened is right but it wouldn't be very hard to look into who CTO is. I mean just seeing her screen name and seeing administrator would give you a clue that she's important her.

 

[cuse522]

Mike was just doing his job, and he didn't start the whole thing, as far as I know that was Deadspin. I don't know CTO, I've enjoyed many of her posts on here, and I only saw the post in question through Deadspin. I didn't think it was that bad, although I could see how it could be taken that way and she should have thought better of it given that her identity here wasn't particularly well hidden. There was some gray area, where I interpreted it to mean, "Let's not turn him into a big hero of the program historically," as opposed to, "He was a horrible person."

"He's no saint," can go a couple of ways, but I assumed the best. Obviously some people out there are more prone to assume the worst - especially when it's not one of their own, or they don't know the backstories. For example, in this community we'd take that comment to mean something very different if it was directed toward any number of other players, but not toward Fab. To an outsider with no knowledge of Fab who's reading it on Deadspin, it can look bad.

Until this incident, I didn't know who CTO was beyond reading between the lines that she had strong ties to the school/athletics program. I hope she continues to post, although I could see why she may not want to. I do think this will blow over pretty quickly for her, though. Hopefully I'm right about that! She handled it with class in the quotes she gave Waters, which should squash it among anyone worth worrying about.

I hope all of you who are considering leaving or posting less choose another route... I enjoy this community even though I only visit occasionally, but I do lurk more often than I post, too. Living in Maryland now, I don't get to talk 'Cuse sports with many people. So this fills the void for me. If you're worried about people using your posts/opinions in a bad way, there are two changes that should be easy enough:

1. Change your handle, and protect your identity more. Let your friends on here that you know more personally or trust know what you changed it to, and otherwise keep it private.

2. Think carefully about what you post when in doubt. There can be a fine line for a lot of us given the connections/background that tends to surround SU... I often toe the line with holding back opinions or stuff I know about the teams while I was in school, given that I was in the broadcasting program and have worked in the sports media industry. That said, I've posted stuff that, if my name were outed, would be mildly embarrassing... Stuff I heard on the record, but more just shooting the breeze with various basketball people. I was fine to share it, but if they found out it would be funny in an embarrassing way that I used it on a message board since we were really only talking about it since they knew I went to 'Cuse .

Anyway, if you go with #1, you're a lot safer. But hopefully everyone considers that instead of just leaving...

 

[DoubleDee]

Not sure if shared already. Someone wrote on nunes that they are the one who tipped off deadspin, and had been banned from here.

Anyone know any good Syracuse forums besides this place and Syracusefan?

 

[Alsacs]

Well I know for a fact we have people on this board that work for other sites and have used this site to get content because I was outed about 3 years ago. Because of this you just have to pick and choose what you post if you don't want it out in the public.

If you told me Chris Carlson and Bud don't have handles and read this board I wouldn't believe you.

 

[orangenirvana]

no, but it's about who posted it and no so much what was posted

Regardless of who sent the screenshot to Deadspin, I really doubt it would have gotten to that point if so many posters here didn't blatantly attack her for posting her opinion. That brought a ton of attention to it. I was disgusted that so many SU fans could throw someone like cto under the bus for one or two posts regardless of whether or not they felt she shouldn't have posted it. These posters saw an SU board trustee post something they perceived as wrong and they pounced. It probably made them feel powerful for a minute. Regardless of all the good she has done and all she has done for this Syracusefan.com community. So much for loyalty. Pathetic.

I defended cto that night because I understood the point she was making when considering the proper context as opposed to focusing on the literal interpretation of "Melo was no saint" and blindly misconstruing her intentions like many posters did to make themselves feel noble. She still has my full support. (Not that my full support is worth anything. Just saying.)

 

[llandz]

Correct. Joyce approached Mike with her apology and he ran the story, as any good journalist would.

That is exactly what I thought when I read the article. Glad you pointed this out. It started with the whole fact that she wished to apologize, so I thought that maybe Joyce initiated it. Either way i saw it as more of an opportunity for her to say publicly that she was sorry.

I actually have a ton more respect for her now, in addition to the ton of respect I already had. It was not easy doing this. She wanted to apologize in the most public of ways. It takes a very big person to do what she did...

Kuddos, Joyce!!!

 

[pearl31]

Regardless of who sent the screenshot to Deadspin, I really doubt it would have gotten to that point if so many posters here didn't blatantly attack her for posting her opinion. That brought a ton of attention to it. I was disgusted that so many SU fans could throw someone like cto under the bus for one or two posts regardless of whether or not they felt she shouldn't have posted it. These posters saw an SU board trustee post something they perceived as wrong and they pounced. It probably made them feel powerful for a minute. Regardless of all the good she has done and all she has done for this Syracusefan.com community. So much for loyalty. Pathetic.

I defended cto that night because I understood the point she was making when considering the proper context as opposed to focusing on the literal interpretation of "Melo was no saint" and blindly misconstruing her intentions like many posters did to make themselves feel noble. She still has my full support. (Not that my full support is worth anything. Just saying.)

hmm, yeah, and you get to make this post right now with impunity and if an opinion expressing the other side is posted... it's gone :noidea:

 

[UnknownOrange]

If my first name ever gets revealed on this site I will have no choice but to go into Witness Protection.

Omar comin'

 

[Shenexon]

I didn't post about Fab, nor about her comments, nor do I really want to post about it now. I hate tragedy and though I loved the team when Fab was here, his situation was tragic in several ways. His premature death is the ultimate tragedy in his young life and I mourn for his loved ones. I will never be critical of CTO for her personal comments either. She's a generous soul that's made many lives better, including mine. Her list of supporters is long and should be longer. It wouldn't hurt any of us to cut her some slack.