I got an infraction for not agreeing that J.K has done the best coaching of any soccer coach in this world! Im pretty sure Fridel ( the moderator), has a tough life. And only on here, can he flex his guns. Nothing wrong with arguments!! If i wanted to agree with eveyone i might as well have changed my last name to "OBAMA"..ha
Do you mean threads that are started that are out there? Or threads that go off on a non-OP related tangent? In this case, I would suggest to crack down on the personal attacks. Once someone gets into it, thread begin to degenerate. There are other ways of expressing yourself. I opt for more civility. I think rivalries are just an extension of personal attacks and more often that not the trolling is about nothing new that hasn't been discussed before.
When it can't, just let it be? Why? Is it some unalienable right of the internet that diarrhea of the mouth/brain/keyboard are allowed to flow unregulated? Do you people enjoy inane bickering over actual intelligent discourse?
I don't think moderators increase intelligent discourse. They have their hot buttons, and they apply varying standards. Also, you have strictly moderated forums like N &A, where you can pass out your cards, and the rest of us can just vote with our feet (or keyboards). I think what "we people" enjoy is free flowing dialogue and the ability to interact without some moderator getting his undies in a twist if the wrong player or coach isn't given the required level of respect or disrespect. I have no problem with the thought police hanging out over there in N & A threatening to ban anybody who doesn't tow party line. As for here; we have ignore lists, we are generally intelligent, we can disregard threads that descend into "inane bantering". Largely, I think the moderators at Big Soccer are too heavy handed.
Ironically, I've only read a few posts in this thread but I can save some people some time. Bigsoccer, in general, is very strict on moderation. If you stray outside the box you will be slapped. Save your creative writing for another forum.
Depends what boards you are on. On the German boards we are all pretty good about policing our-selves and rarely does a mod even need t get involved, even when the non regular n00bs come in looking to do a little fishing.