A word from the mods

[HuskyNan]

Internet fan forums are not news sources. Any anonymous schmoe can post something as "fact" with absolutely no obligation to be truthful or accurate. And if someone does choose to post whatever they think is funny, if it damages the reputation of the person involved, even players from other teams, we shouldn't re-post it here.

 

[UcMiami]

Nan - is this specific to anything, or just a public service announcement? I agree with your point, just asking if there is cause for concern? I saw the Baylor/Pope thread which seems to have disappeared, was that it? It made me a little queazy along these lines.

 

[JS]

I saw the Baylor/Pope thread which seems to have disappeared, was that it?

Nan seems to be otherwise occupied at the moment, so I'll take the liberty of answering.

Yes. A general reminder sparked by that example.

 

[UcMiami]

Nan seems to be otherwise occupied at the moment, so I'll take the liberty of answering.

Yes. A general reminder sparked by that example.

Thanks - and a very minor suggestion for the mods: where appropriate, I think it helps us posters to have specific examples of why rules exist or why posts get deleted. It helps us to modulate our own posts, and to help in policing others posts by 'reporting' them.

And for other posters - I do not think 'reporting' a post needs to be seen as negative or as a specific 'charge' brought against a fellow boneyarder - it can be seen as a positive action to ask the 'referees' to make a judgement.

In this specific instance I sort of wondered about the OP, but didn't do anything - in retrospect I should have reported it.
And I did a self report on an OP that I thought might be inappropriate as soon as I made the post because I was unsure and wanted it immediately deleted if I had crossed a line.

 

[KnightBridgeAZ]

I saw it and almost reported it as well.

There are some things that don't need to be spread around, and that is regardless of whether they may or may not be true - because they are things that the truth cannot be determined one way or the other.

Lots of internet "stuff" out there (non-basketball, I mean) that isn't true and only gets legs when it is spread around. Whenever we get sent or read something "suspicous", we check reputable debunking sites on the net. Sometimes stuff is true, more often it is distorted, and most of the time, made up out of whole cloth.

 

[JS]

Thanks - and a very minor suggestion for the mods: where appropriate, I think it helps us posters to have specific examples of why rules exist or why posts get deleted. It helps us to modulate our own posts, and to help in policing others posts by 'reporting' them.

Well, a couple of thoughts on that.

First, as you can understand, we don't have unlimited time to explain everything we do. That includes mostly not citing the rule in question or other rationale, much less discussing why the rule is in place or why the action was taken.

We often hear about it from the poster in question by PM, and are always willing to respond to (polite) inquiries.

Second, as far as specific examples, we sometimes let a problem post stand, together with our comments on it, but that's a minority of the time.

We have a feature whereby the other mods can see what a deleted post said and can read a brief explanation (usually just one to a few words) for the deletion. But that doesn't help with your suggestion of more public explanations. And not even the other mods can see when we edit a post, unless we choose to discuss it.

The Rules are there for the reading. They don't cover everything. They obviously have gray areas and a catch-all or two and require subjective interpretation.

So we mostly act ad hoc and post reminders when something happens that says, hey, we haven't talked about this in a while, or in view of the news cycle makes us think more of it could be coming.

I did post an explanation of the reasoning behind a rule recently and that seemed to be appreciated. So maybe we can do a bit more of that occasionally.

Without boxing ourselves in, of course, or hampering our ability to be completely arbitrary and . . . Well, excuse me . Best not to think out loud. . .

 

[meyers7]

Lots of internet "stuff" out there (non-basketball, I mean) that isn't true

umm I don't think so.

 

[UcMiami]

JS and the other Mods - I wasn't trying to suggest we take up more of your time explaining all your actions. But for me this has been a very interesting week in that there have been a few moderator comments within threads that explained actions taken and two rule reminder threads that included some more discussions on top a private messages that I appreciated. And being the first to ask for clarification in this thread I got a few PMs from others just asking for more detail into what had happened - not specifics but causes.
All of the above was helpful to my understanding and sensitivity to issues on the running of this board and probably to others. So Thank you.
And should you have the time in the future to highlight other issues that arise it is useful.

 

[HuskyNan]

JS and the other Mods - I wasn't trying to suggest we take up more of your time explaining all your actions. But for me this has been a very interesting week in that there have been a few moderator comments within threads that explained actions taken and two rule reminder threads that included some more discussions on top a private messages that I appreciated. And being the first to ask for clarification in this thread I got a few PMs from others just asking for more detail into what had happened - not specifics but causes.
All of the above was helpful to my understanding and sensitivity to issues on the running of this board and probably to others. So Thank you.
And should you have the time in the future to highlight other issues that arise it is useful.

Speaking for my self, I don't really like to go around quoting rules and bludgeoning people over the head with reminders to behave. I would say about 75% of our moderation duties take place off the board via PM or email as most issues are small and easily correctable. If I'd seen the post right after it had gone up, I would have deleted it and sent a private message to the OP but since it was up for a while and had responses, it seemed best to address the board in general.

 

[nan linds]

I, not a tach person, do not understand how to send a "PM" to anyone. I am guessing that it means personal message. The Help at the top of our page certainly offers little assistance. All I see after messages is Like or Reply. Is "OP" offending poster?
Yes, I certainly don't know much .

 

[HuskyNan]

I, not a tach person, do not understand how to send a "PM" to anyone. I am guessing that it means personal message. The Help at the top of our page certainly offers little assistance. All I see after messages is Like or Reply. Is "OP" offending poster?
Yes, I certainly don't know much .

If you want to send a Private Message (PM) to another poster, click on their handle (name) which is on the left of whatever post you're reading. A small menu will pop up. One of the options is to Start a Conversation. Click on that and you will automatically start a PM to that person.

If you need clearer instructions or further help, let me know.

 

[meyers7]

Speaking for my self, I don't really like to go around quoting rules and bludgeoning people over the head with reminders to behave.

Then why are you a Mod? What fun is being a Mod if you don't get to bludgeon people once in a while?

You're given all this power and you don't abuse it. What's up with that?

 

[meyers7]

I, not a tach person, Is "OP" offending poster?
Yes, I certainly don't know much .

Or even tech person.

Well OP usually means Original Poster (Original Post), but you know for the Boneyard, Offending Poster probably works just as well in most cases.