ANNOUNCEMENT OK - So here's the deal regarding moderation. Pull up a chair.

[Tunescribe]

Just talking to a buddy about what my favorite sports uniforms are. It's a tough call, but for me it's a tie between the Philadelphia Phillies and the classic Anaheim Ducks uniforms. Both are really cool. The Phillies ones are just really timeless, and I always loved those Emilio Estevez movies, so I have a sentimental tie to them. But of the two??? What do you guys think is the better one?

View attachment 25976

But ... But why?

 

[RobertWeathers]

It might help to consider the very real possibility that homie is on the spectrum. I’m being serious. Something is undiagnosed up there. Once I started to consider that possibility, I left him alone. It also provides a hefty explanation for why he is the way that he is.

Nah. He's just an ******* with an identity crisis

 

[Steamer86]

I like moderation, but only in moderation.

 

[maust]

Nah. He's just an ******* with an identity crisis

Too bad you guys aren't tight, you might have been able to help him out. Seems like you have a pretty good handle on who he is.

 

[shmessy]

Look, I'm no fan of the guy, but isn't the continued piling a bit mean at this point?

.

 

[Ice_Ice_Brady]

Look, I'm no fan of the guy, but isn't the continued piling on overly mean at this point?

.

How old are those girls? Asking for a research paper.

 

[Ian]

??? Even in threads where sidebar pops up, the focus rarely leaves the Patriots. And if it does, it usually departs from the thread in an entertaining/humorous way. Not really a need to moderate heavily there either. Especially if you’re going to have a thread the equivalent of a dump in the game day thread every week. Tossing people didn’t kill the ****posting in that thread either. But, as I told him, it’s his board. He’s the one who has to spend hours and hours on this every week. I’m just giving one man’s opinion.

My request when it comes to moderating has always just been to try and get involved in helping try and keep an eye on things, keep disagreements from blowing up at a level that disrupts the spirit and topic of the thread, etc. If it happens, it just goes back to the opening post in terms of how those are handled if posts are deleted. All of them do a great job and we've had some great mods since the beginning and we've definitely got a terrific group currently.

Regarding topics, yes, during the season, I've preferred for anything non-Patriots or non-football be moved out. We have other sections and I spent a lot of time developing the "other forums discussion bar" to help make them more accessible and that seems like it's helped. As you've probably seen, I recently added a tool to allow people the ability to hide threads they aren't interested in to hopefully make others more visible, and I'm also currently adding the ability to pin ones they do want to keep an eye on (up to 3) in here, which people can obviously add/remove at their leisure. We used to have fun having various discussions in other areas and I'd like to get back to that while making it much easier for everyone to do that this time around.

But the biggest thing that I really was working toward is the point you've emphasized the most, and that's just to be better with new posters and make it a better environment overall. It's definitely much better than it used to be, which is obviously a good thing and we're making progress. I honestly don't think people need to worry about any changes, etc. too much. Just be decent to each other but also understand that the mods can also only do so much. If you're going to take a hard line on an unpopular view, you have to be willing to understand that as stubborn as you might be on your side, there will be people just as stubborn about theirs. Just try and do it without the namecalling and the other nonsense that sometimes occurs.

Otherwise, it's really not that tough. If everyone can just kick back and talk Pats, we're good

 

[Zuma]

I’ve had several posts deleted because I mentioned Ring 6 is Andy...and was warned not to continue. I cried myself to sleep that night.

 

[supafly]

I have to block off time just in order to go through all of these and give them the proper attention that they deserve.

You’re doing God’s work, gentlemen.

 

[Ivan]

My apology Ian, I’ll never do it again.

 

[JarOfMayo51]

Wait just a minute... so you're telling me I've been paying the moderators on the side all this time for nothing?

 

[JarOfMayo51]

I simply said that I don't kiss up to power as a general rule. I'll be friendly, polite, and respectful, sure. But I'm not going to type, "Oh Ian, you're a god, you're so great, thank you so much for gracing us with your unbelievable site." That is just considered unseemly in my value system. I'm sorry that this has apparently caused you some distress, but all I can do is follow right as I see it.

You don't have to kiss up to anyone, but just because some people want to show appreciation to Ian and the moderators for the WORK that they do to maintain this site doesn't mean that they're kissing up.

Have you ever built and maintained a website before? This site is run completely off of donations from members and any gaps in overhead costs come out of Ian's own pocket. He's pulled near all nighters performing upgrades to the server to increase performance or implement additional features/enhancements to improve user experience. That takes a lot of time and energy, especially for something that you're not getting paid to do.

Showing appreciation and respect shouldn't be considered "unseemly" to a value system

 

[Ian]

While I see the needling going on, I'd rather not have this continue on and will be closing the thread as it goes against the spirit of some of the things that were mentioned.

Thanks again to everyone who took part and was active in this thread. You can PM me anytime, I'm easy to reach - the button works for everyone