Forum Administration

[Ghengis Jon]

Here's the clear rules for one and all: Being a blowhard is okay but at least be civil. Act your age not your shoe size. Insults are tolerated but attacks are not. And yes, these rules apply to all. The mods have pretty much been hands off as it should be imo. I hope to disappear back to obscurity now that a point has been made and everyone understands the minimum level of civility. If you feel the need be an a-hole, then go post out at Fox or MSNBC where you'll have plenty of company.


Hello everybody. My name is Jon and I don't know jack about lacrosse.

[Dr. Strangelove]

Hurrah for the swift actions of the People's Commissar! Hurrah!

Lurkers! You are directed to post your comments immediately! Your opinions will not be criticized in any manner unless they undermine the People's Republic and the Dear Leader! In which case they will be censored and your name submitted for reeducation.

[Mike]

Ironically enough, I was looking back through that thread right before annihilation and stumbled across hack's comments on S1E1 (hard to get into) and then your comments about being hooked after the chess scene (which was linked and I viewed).

Incidentally, I watched this episode last night. Finally getting around to watching the series.

[Da Geezer]

Well Jon, you are honest, and I wouldn't want your job.

But you admit that emails from people you know personally outside the forum influenced your decision. I have no clue even how to email you if I wanted to, which I don't. I don't know how to make those nice grey boxes around quotes from other members either, so I use quotation marks. But I know that if a person has a problem with what is said on this forum, they should put it on the forum and not use personal email to complain.

Maybe you are the one to give credit to, but this forum stays away from politics and religion. Those areas should be of limits, mainly because there are literally hundreds of forums where folks can go with that stuff. I just haven't seen anything that would fit on MSNBC or Fox here. If that is what this dustup is about, then say so. But if this is crap like "Stan White was the aggressor", then bullshit. If words hurt people's feelings, then I say again, toughen up, bunch of candy-assed, politically-correct pussies.

Kinda slow day for Lurkers too, I might add.

[hack]

Jon, understood and all, but still -- Talent's been more of an ass than usual for a few months now. Then Stan came in and called a bunch of people stupid, and suddenly we're at this point, which we find ourselves at all too often and nothing really changes anyways. It is very hard to agree with the idea that the rules apply to all evenly.

[lineygoblue]

Stan calls me stupid all the time, but I love the old fart. I'd take a bullet for him.

Jon took the action he felt was necessary, and as far as I know, he has the full support of all the mods.

The origination of the "ohio" thread came from a former poster named Paul S, whom I still speak with on another site. He called it the "Borg Resistance Thread" because he was trying to "resist" being "assimilated" into the M-Borg. It was all in good taste and humor when it began. It was intended to be fun. Paul is a classy guy and a good friend. We let the thread stay because we all liked him.

Since Paul left, it hasn't been so nice. Its become something that we tolerate, more than enjoy. Jon took the actions he felt was necessary, and that's fine with me. I would suggest that everyone heed what Jon had to say.

hello..my name is Liney, and I don't know jack about lacrosse ...

[Ghengis Jon]

Let me provide some perspective. Up a few posts I am refered to, in gutter terms, as a part of the human anatomy. No big deal, I've been called worse, everybody's entitled to an opinion. Now someone sits down at the computer with his son and decides to visit to catch up on recruiting news that WM and Talent graciously post. They open a thread and there front and center is someone being refered to as a c*nt. Nice. Usually these aren't one post insults, but pages of an exchange. Who wants to weed through that? What is usually partisan banter has devolved into something infantile. And people go away because of it.

We self police here which is why politics and religion doesn't get discussed. Lets add juvenile exchanges. I couldn't care less if someone's feelings get hurt. Put on big boy pants. But don't post in a manner without consideration to a wider audience. I don't think thats too much to ask. I did what I did to make a point and the point is there isn't enough self restraint around here, more than just recently.

I don't want to be the adult in the room. I don't ever want to grow up. I'm 14 (celcius). But I don't want other kids not coming to the playground because of gasbags and bullies. If you want to get personal and nasty, there's a PM feature on this board. Use it.

Hack you're right when you say that "we're at this point, which we find ourselves at all too often and nothing really changes anyways". Well, I'm trying to effect that change. Or at least get people to try and hold themselves above the fray, instead of instigating it.

[Da Geezer]

fair enough

[Prime2]

Post-Apocalyptic World, I supoose the first 24 hours will be the most difficult.

I for one feel a tremendous sense of relief now that Stan and Talent no longer hurl insults at each other. The latest was far more heinous than anything that I witnessed over the last 12 years.

Now don't get me wrong, Talent is guilty of many things but in this case, Stan was clearly the aggressor and that too IMO is not necessarily a bad thing.

Last, many have left over the years for many reasons but I see no need to make martyers out of them. Freedom of association, have any of these former posters launched their own site with exclusive, invitation-only, membership? It would be fairly easy to keep the so-called riffraff out.

Problem solved. A private Michigan Elysium awaits.

It is really a conard, IMO some people are professional bitchers and like to feign outrage.

Last, I'm signaling out Jon, he has been a stalwart as long as I've been here.

[edindetroit]

unbelievable

Have we sunk so low that we are worried about what the PC crowd calls "microaggressions"? Jon, please remember what Lord Acton said "Power tends to corrupt. Absolute power corrupts absolutely." We are now to the point where Talent cannot attack me and I cannot attack him because of imaginary "LURKING" parties who won't join the conversation because they might get their feelings hurt.

HEY, LURKING PARTIES, NOW IS THE TIME TO IDENTIFY YOURSELF BY SIMPLY POSTING YOUR FORUM NAME AND THE PHRASE "I'M LURKING".

This should be fun.

I'm twerking.

Miley Cyrus

[iam416]

To be clear, I don't much care if Stan hurls his personal insults at me all day. He's been doing it for years -- trying to be as personal as he can get. What I object to is a response post of mine which, at most, makes a tepid allusion to his personal career, being ENTIRELY edited and his post remaining unchanged -- that is, until I raised the issue. And then, when his post is edited his "substantive" material remains -- a courtesy obviously not extended to me. And then I'm blamed by a few horrible mods.

I understand the need for M fans to have appropriate guidelines so that those folks can enjoy M-focused threads. And I've abided Liney's guidelines and would have continued to do so. However, I have posted with this group for over 10 years. I have met some of you in person. I have contributed to numerous discussions. And there is still a glaring double-standard that goes well-beyond simply adhering to Liney's guidelines or otherwise making this forum accessible for M fans. I'm clearly not treated as someone who has been around here for 10+ years. It's tiresome and, TBH, not worth the time.

Finally, the Ohio State thread was always, ALWAYS, a smack thread -- as one would expect on a M forum! The idea that this forum has somehow only recently slipped out of "mature" municpal-roundtable posting is farcical and mind-blowingly detached from reality. Indeed, the most common cited example of someone leaving because of forum decorum is Doug...and he quit posting roughly SEVEN YEARS ago. The reality is that the OSU thread was deleted out of spite. And that finally drove the point home for me. As I said, message received.

Enjoy the massive resurgence of this forum.

[hack]

Jon, if a genuinely family-friendly forum is what you're trying for then that's admirable, but I suspect it'll be a big challenge. If I brought my seven-year-old here and he notices that some people get to be rude and some don't, I don't think he's going to understand that it's because a decade ago there was a guy named Paul S who's not here anymore. I don't have a way to make that sensible for him. I'm also not going to be able to say ``Well yes there's a guy who shows up from time to time here seemingly for no reason other than to be mean to people, but one of the guys who makes the rules here really likes that mean person so it's OK for him but not for others.'' That's the antithesis of what I am teaching my children about how rules work.

[Prime2]

Well, it was made perfectly clear last time the green icon threads were for civil on-topic discourse, remaining threads less strict.

I've tuned into this Bat Channel since the summer/fall of 2001, World Xing, run by a guy named Timmy. And talent, you were here before me. You wanted to bet Avatars on The Game, I told you to get bent, good times.

For me, it has always been about Michigan Football & Smack, they are kind of synonymous.

Whether its in a Forum or real life, we've always played protagonists and antagonists, I doubt one can exist without the other.

In the real world, I have tailgated with Talent and his crew in Columbus which was actually most enjoyable and with many of the Forum Crew at Doug's outfit in AA. I certainly don't wish to lose those friendships over Forum banter and discourse.

[*JD*]

As I said, the message was entirely received. I anticipate huge contributions from the "lurkers" afraid to post and a huge influx of new contributors over the next few months. Congratulations on the direction of the forum.



Ironically enough, I was looking back through that thread right before annihilation and stumbled across hack's comments on S1E1 (hard to get into) and then your comments about being hooked after the chess scene (which was linked and I viewed).

That scene is so great. I'm going to have to rewatch the series sometime soon.

[Ghengis Jon]

Where is it that I have been uneven? The second time I intervene in more than 15 years as a moderator for this forum and somehow I'm now a biased dictator? Stan and Talent just happened to be the recipients of my public love tap, not the root of all evil. Their current exchange was just a convenient example of what we should try to avoid. Nothing more than that. Boorish behavior certainly hasn't been limited to any two individuals.

Talent, if you feel I unevenly applied my mod power, it wasn't my intent. I grabbed the two most recent posts that could serve as example. You've contributed to this forum over the years and there's no disputing that. I dispute that I somehow treat you differently than any other. If I failed at something, I guess I should have run back all the posts in the exchange and hammered each one individually. But as many years of just letting things ride demonstrates, it should be clear I prefer not to intervene at all.

As to hack's point, Stan has been around here for many, many years as has Talent. Sometimes Stan's posting intervals are hours, other times its months. Yes I've met up with Stan on numerous occasions and I like him. If I ever meet up with Talent, I'll probably like him as well. But that didn't play into the equation, at least not intentionally. If I wanted to treat Stan preferentially, I wouldn't have tapped him at all. I should have tapped him in exactly the same way as Talent. My bad. I guess I don't get enough moderating practice. Stepping in to break up a shit slinging session for only the 2nd time in 15 years does indeed make me a horrible moderator. Statistically I will be going dormant again for the next 7-8 years, so there will be plenty of time to collect further instances of my awfulness. And no, I don't want family friendly. I also don't want abusive. There's plenty of space in between.

OP you express my sentiments exactly about losing friendships over banter.


Liney says he would take a bullet for Stan? I didn't know that. Hey Stan, I've borrowed OP's MP-5 and am looking for you...