If you have to wait more than 24 hours to find out a result, yet can't stay away from BigSoccer, there are issues to be addressed. Come on - it's the score of a sporting event. Is it really THAT important? I didn't want to know the US-T&T score. I didn't come on the site. I didn't go to any news sites. Problem solved. If I hadn't been able to watch the game that night, well, I was gonna be SOL because the world doesn't stop. I was in favor of getting rid of the rule just to be contrarian at first, but the more I read justifications, the more I believe that it shouuld be gone to bring some sanity into the world.
More people should be like me where it's against their religion to take an active rooting interest in a sporting contest after the game has already concluded. That's how chicks start to suck you in to doing stupid crap for them instead of watching the ball game. They say, "Just tape it." Only men understand why it's not the same. If you can't watch the game, you just suck it up, find out what happened, then maybe go back and watch it.
I think it is just a common courtesy. Sure, my life wont be ruined if I see a result. Still, it is a common courtesy on BigSoccer that I appreciate. I see no reason to change the policy.
This is a good point - at this point anyone who hits the front page does so at their own risk. I think FSC occasionally has spoilers as well. Are those suggestive threads you and Andy are talking about really a problem? We edit them on US N&A especially the day of the game, but they're mainly just problem the day of the game. Afterwards they lose some of their suggestive power.
Like I said, everyone has their own opinion about this - I just wish you guys would come up with an argument other than the usual "duh, what's the big deal?" "It's the internet" "Stay away if you don't want to know the result" etc. etc. Does BigTV.com get in arguments about why can't they have "Maggie did it" threads? Or "great movie - just wait til you realize Bruce Willis is dead!" [Steve Martin]I mean we live in a society.[/Steve Martin] But seriously, maybe you don't value the Andy_B PBP threads when Landon Donovan was having those amazing performances and he was about the only person on BigSoccer watching them live. That's fine. And it's fine if you are the type that wants Rossi to succeed. (Inside YA joke.) But seriouslyX2, I'll drop out and try to stop badgering people that disagree with me and let others express their views.
Sorry, but I can't think of any other argument than, ifyou don't want to know the score, don't go where people are discussing it. It's pretty simple to me. I was in those PBP threads. I loved those PBP threads. But PBP threads of games not widely available are much different than people expecting the rest of the site to not talk about the result of a game ismply because they haven't watched it yet. To be honest, if people want to do an [R] as a courtesy, I don't care. But setting 48-hour time limits on certain things in thread titles and writing it into the TOS or making it a hard and fast rule are silly, IMHO. We are a society. And we are adults. Adults should know better than to come to a soccer site when they don't want to hear about a soccer game. You may be sick of that "excuse," but it's pretty simple.
But how do people get to such PBP threads unspoiled if there is no spoiler policy? Many people kept thanking Andy even a week later because they got to read the drama as though it were happening live. Like I said, IMO such events are a part of what makes BigSoccer special. And no one is saying you can't discuss a result elsewhere on BigSoccer, we're just saying don't put the result in a title. Seems like a pretty small thing in these days of multiple games and multiple replays and Tivo/DVRs. The reason I'm not crazy about that oft repeated argument against the policy is that I disagree that it is that simple. We've already covered the PBP threads and the fact that we mods can't always stay away (part of the job, I know) and the fact that not every game you want or are able to see live -- like those games that you save on Tivo to watch during the weekend when wife and kids are at the zoo (not recommending this life choice). In addition to these, there are also situations where people come here as the only means of finding out about how to watch the game -- when and where replays will be, finding out about torrents, or links to stored games, or making arrangements with other BigSoccer users to be sent, well, never mind this last one -- just to name a few. For me, there are only a few games where I absolutely don't want to know the result and will stay away (like US Qualifiers) -- but for the rest, it's not so simple - I won't throw a fit if I were to get the CL game today spoiled, but I still would rather not avoid BigSoccer for a week until I get around to watching it. [result]Actually I watched Chelsea - Barca tonite and boy am I glad I saw it unspoiled.[/result] Sure, we CAN stay away but many of us don't want to have to stay away. But OTOH there are guys like BuffloSoldier who seems to never wait to watch games unspoiled even if it means waiting until evening for a replay -- different strokes and all that. Now don't respond so I can keep my promise of going away.
That man knows what he is talking about. In England we really really couldn't care less if we watch the game or not. The result is the most important thing.
if you are worried about spoilers in a game no one can watch... you got something to think about if you are worried about spoilers in games many people can watch... it's your own fault... either watch it live or deal with it and i'd like to add that i'll make for damn sure to include spoilers in the first few articles of the news whenever i do it in the future... provided i get a machine soon... the last one just bit the dust i hit a lot of soccer sites and if i want to avoid a result (which is rare)... i can do it... and this has happened before... like the rare times i've missed a fire game i could watch live... i taped it, but was somewhere i could hit stuff online... did that, avoided potential spoilers yet definitely went to news sites and forums that would have easily told me the result... i can't miss a result for the nats... i have to know as soon as possible and the whole notion of worrying about someone bumping a thread that says "what about this goalkeeper" (or something similar) is retarded this is bigsoccer, which means there are people on the other side too... so if one guy performed out of his gourd... a poster is going to go back and bump a thread calling for his replacement to spite everyone that said he should sit if you question this... look at the carrieri thread in the mls n&a forum that i started saying "Carrieri's BACK!!!"... as soon as he was dumped... a few posters were there to bump it right back up... and if you paid attention to it... there are bets riding on either side of chris' career... meaning a thread could and would be bumped by people on either side of the debate and the best reason to can the "R"... because soccer is someday going to be very popular in this country and you might as well start accepting that now... which means no god damn "R"'s... spoilers like crazy because the game is done and we have to deal with the result now (be it drinking, screaming, or whatever)
I don't mind whatyou are discussing. I mind sanitizing every thread title for 48 hours to protect a few people. Then create one place where those things happen and don't sanitize the forums that discuss the actual game. Or, tough luck. And there's the clincher for me - it's the choice of the user and I don't think people who choose not to stay away should force everyone else to play by their rules. That's me. And the few times I don't want to be spoiled, I'm outta here. Fat chance. Again, I don't really care if a true result is kept out of titles, but I think making sure every thread title doesn't have a hint of what happened in the game really gets to the root of the word "spoiler."
Can anybody give me a reason why we should change policy other than the Bot? Doesn't current policy work? Personally, I like begin able to come here to BS and not have a result revealed. If I want to know a result, I will go elsewhere. For those of you who think policy should be changed, do you guys ever go anywhere other than BS? I like to be able to come to BS and cruise the front page w/o seeing a result. It makes this place feel different...better. Why should the policy change?
In England we know the result before the game has kicked off. You lot should change it because it's nice to change things once in ten years. pffffffffffffft.
As much as I am in favor of allowing results in titles, it seems that nearly 65% of the people who responded are in favor in keeping the [R] rule. Now, I'm not a liberal, so I can accept that I won't win this arguement, even if I disagree. Sachin
Well, in practice does this really happen? On USN&A we only really do it on the day of the game and most of the spoiler threads end up being fairly short on analysis and merged to the post game thread. It's so busy that we can live without one less "Grown Ass Man!" thread. Funny story - I went to great pains while on vacation in Hawaii (ok, it's MLS so it wasn't that hard) to avoid the score of MLS Cup but my cable box went out so my Tivo recording didn't work. I was going to see if you knew of any way to view the game at MLSnet or via torrent or whatever but when I went to PM you and saw your avatar... Maybe we should add to the rule: Spoilers happen - surf at your own risk. Thanks Jim for going out of your way. I'm serious -- do tv message boards debate spoiler policies?
I think we should discourage results in thread titles and let the [R] be the warning about match results being mentioned. I don't think offenders should be punished, just discouraged from doing this, and the mods can edit the titles as needed. In our forum, if there's an [R] in the title, it means ANY result may be mentioned or revealed, but we try to use the [result tags] when talking about them, but it's not a strict policy to use those tags either.
I don't even know you anymore. As far as DK's question about TV sites - I have no clue. I don't go to any of them. Again, I don't care if it's a courtesy. I really don't care if it's a policy as I don't start a ton of threads. I just don't like the precedent of having a policy sanitizing all thread titles for a minority. If someone's gonna flip out because a thread mentions changing goalies or the rising stock of a striker without the actual result being posted, well, they should know better.
But the precedent is already set, at least on the DCU board. People are actively warned about starting threads with the result implicit in the title and encouraged to post in the post game thread rather than starting new threads.