Message from BigSoccer: All - We are asking all forum members to give us some feedback about the state of our forums. We would be grateful if you would take a few moments to vote in the poll, but more importantly post your thoughts about how things are going in this forum. Anything is fair game - the moderators, the quality of the discussion, the amount of traffic, the forum structure, etc. Voting is useful, but we are most interested in ways you think BigSoccer and specifically this forum can be improved -- what we are doing right or wrong, and your thoughts generally about your use of this forum. Thank you for any feedback you can provide!
Re: State of the Forum Poll It's fine. The main thing is that the most absurd and troll related threads go to the main board.
Re: State of the Forum Poll Mods do a great job of keeping this thread clean of the dumb threads. The more general thread could use the same.
Re: State of the Forum Poll The only alternative from there though,is closing the thread or moving it to WR. That pisses too many people off.
Re: State of the Forum Poll I agree that the mods are doing a good job of getting most of the crap out of this forum pretty quickly. I like that we have a place for free-flowing conversation (USA Men) and this forum for more strict news and analysis.
Re: State of the Forum Poll The site is really slow. The pages are very heavy. Content-wise, it's great. Thanks!
Re: State of the Forum Poll To be honest, I barely use the forums on BigSoccer anymore. Used to be a regular poster here and in MLS N&A. Too much noise to sift through to find some decent analysis and I can find good writing from expert opinions on many blogs (including the BS blogs). If I want to talk soccer I now have plenty of outlets in my area where I don't have to deal with random noobs who started paying attention to soccer <5 years ago. Seems like it's time to shift and provide a way for more filtered analysis and perhaps invite in some 'expert' opinions.
Re: State of the Forum Poll For whatever reason, this little corner of BigSoccer has a history of posts and posters that push the boundaries of civility and the "no personal attacks" rule. Not unlike the ankle biting fouls that go uncalled routinely in the professional game. Appoo does a fantastic job keeping the forum on track. Hats off to him.
Re: State of the Forum Poll I think the forum is generally very good, up until the moment a lineup is announced and for a day or two after a game ends. During that time period the forum turns from nearly civil discourse to mob rule. I don't know what any mod can do about that.
Re: State of the Forum Poll That's definitely the case. I used to just come around on or near game days but found that it's a lot more fun to stick around the discussion all the time.
Re: State of the Forum Poll Please stop the Mexican fans trolling with impunity in the U.S. forums. This has to be my biggest gripe. Granted this comes from a biased anti Bob Bradley point of view, but it seems like any thread that even remotely questions Bob and/or his coaching decisions is deemed not analysis and is removed from the News & Analysis section. It looks like analaysis consist of only favorable pro Bob points of view. That's about the only thing that I can find to b!tch about. I know that it's pretty minor but you asked.
Re: State of the Forum Poll Get rid of all the garbage that is not news and analysis. Require EVERY thread to start with a link to a legitimate article about the US team. If people want to talk about other topics that are not linked to articles, then they can do so in the main USA Men forum.
Re: State of the Forum Poll Is that because the only real analysis is coming from the media? Or maybe it's because the only way for most people to be able to get their information is second hand? There's as much bs written in the media about this team as there is on these boards.
Re: State of the Forum Poll No, it's because I was around when the USA Men: News & Analysis forum was split off from the main USA Men forum, and in fact used to moderate this forum in its infancy. The original purpose for this forum was to analyze legitimate stories about the US team. Not to post lineup speculation, or links to unsourced blogs, or start threads about how much a coach or player or announcer sucks or doesn't suck. When nancyb, Andy Mead and I were the moderators we used to close off-topic threads, or move them to the main USA Men forums. That approach was heavy handed, yes, but bottom line is that back then, there was a lot less nonsense and the forum was a lot more readable. If the admins have decided that the approach is no longer needed, then they should just simply acknowledge the fact that the "experiment" was an abject failure and get rid of the News & Analysis subforum.
Re: State of the Forum Poll I wouldn't disagree with this in principle; but part of analysis is critiquing those players and coaches. Does it get a bit absurd?, yep. If I don't like announcers, I just turn the sound off or, I watch ESPN Deportes more often than not. I would just say that there are more ways to get news about the USMNT than "links".
Re: State of the Forum Poll If the admins don't want to follow the rules they put in place when they setup this subforum, which are rules they've tried to enforce many many times over the years to no avail, then they should just suck it up and get rid of the subfoum. Hell, take a look at this stickied thread that was started 2 1/2 years ago, and is pretty much ignored by everyone. The rules are irrelevant if they're not enforced. Trash the forum. It serves no purpose.
Re: State of the Forum Poll I don't agree. N&A doesn't live up to its strict rules, but I like it. US Men has so much crap that it is pretty much unreadable, but the fact is that we need an outlet for that stuff. N&A sucks during and immediately after games, but generally it's much better. I think a slightly more stringent standard for what constitutes news and analysis could be applied, but frankly I think having a two-tiered system is the only saving grace of the NT discussion on BS. So is the N&A setup great? No. But folding this into US Men would be a nightmare. On certain forums, sometimes there are enough good posters to create a critical mass that engenders a culture of thoughtful posting even without any interference from moderators. This critical mass clearly does not exist on BS. So throw US Men to the wolves and let the inmates run the asylum, but preserve N&A please.
Re: State of the Forum Poll Let em troll, I think we should be able to debate certain topics with the Mexicans. I go over there and post sometimes. I actually like to know what they are talking about and comment on it. Same way I watch Fox News to laugh at Hannity and Beck knowing I don't agree with them.
Re: State of the Forum Poll Too many posts are about what is N&A versus what is not, and I thought moving the post-game thread to the general forum was a mistake and caused more confusion. I think you should just merge the whole thing, and moderate the trolls and try to keep things on topic within the threads. Drawing a line between N&A and not seems like an impossible task. OR failing that, make the N&A line more liberal, not less. OR, another idea, anyone who wants to question the validity of a thread should report the post, not post a reply and make the rest of us read about it and get everyone arguing about it. Kudos to the moderators who do a very good job with an impossible task.
Re: State of the Forum Poll I take the opposite view. Post-game threads are more of an emotional reaction than analysis. By moving the in-game and primary post-game threads to US Men, it cleared the way for post-game defense/midfield/attack/coaching analysis threads in N&A that don't drown in a relentless sea of angry one-line posts. Ditto. I can't imagine moderating the NT boards.
Re: State of the Forum Poll Get rid of the 2382829864563458362863749493573497 Bradley judgment threads and it would be amazing. Now it's only great with some improve room
Yep...too much negativity. IMO, people need to just STFU and cheer the team. (But I guess that may be an extreme opinion here. <shrugs>) This too...way too much tolerance of Mexican (as well as other opposing NT) trolls. I agree with this post. Not that JeremyEritrea will necessarily agree with my motivations, but I come to BigSoccer to read about what's going on with the US team and its players (as well as MLS in the MLS N&A forum). I'm sick of having to sift through all the negativity and irrational criticism (imo) and trolling inflammatory crap to get to the small amount of worthy info. I spend much less time on BS lately as a result and I didn't renew my subscription this time.
Re: State of the Forum Poll There are occasional respectful discussions and then there is World Rivalries garbage.Most of what goes on here for MexNT fan posting is WR-worthy.
FWIW, I completely agree with your post. You've pretty much summed up the very reason the "News & Analysis" subforum was created in the first place. I don't recall the exact date that the split occurred, but I know for a fact that it was prior to qualifiers for the 2002 World Cup. I'm sure the debate that led to its creation was lost in the infamous "BigSoccer Crash" that ate my original user name. The rules were still pretty tightly enforced during 2006 qualifying. I'm too lazy to search for the posts discussing Cory Gibbs' injury and my absolutely justified reaction to the idiots who went nuts when his replacement was announced. Let's just say that the discussion led to the creation of my current user name. Yes folks, even the extremely level-headed yours truly suffered a N&A forum ban for calling people out when they went nuts over Gregg Berhalter's inclusion in the 2006 roster. Bottom line is that when this place was created, the moderators were tasked to get rid of all the nonsense posts/thread/users. Ask any of the oldtimers around here if they remember Sekrah, who was banned and as far as I know has never been allowed to come back I do have to say that if News & Analysis was moderated the way it was in the early 2000s, no one would have to worry about Mexican fans trolling in here. A moderator has to be the biggest douchebag to get rid of all the trolling douchebags in a forum. Oh hai, DK.