All, There are few forums or subforums on BigSoccer better suited for long form, passionate discussion than The Beautiful Game. Indeed, in the early years of the site this was the go-to thread for learning a great deal about players, teams, fan bases, competitions, leagues, and the like. It drew some of the most knowledgeable people I have ever come across. And the key characteristic was almost always respect for the other opinion because participants generally acknowledged there was more than one position that could be taken. We've let almost all of that slip away through lax enforcement of the site's Terms of Service. Part of this is that the moderators have not wanted this to be necessary; we've wanted people to approach the forum like they used to. And part of it is that many people want the ToS enforced on the other guy but see themselves as innocent, and the complaining that befalls comme and/or moishe and/or me on the rare times I have ducked in has been unwelcome. The Site Admins have taken note, and things will change effective immediately. The Super Moderators will take an active role in re-establishing what might be termed decorum - meaning @dark knight and @bungadiri and @Horsehead and myself for sure, and perhaps @el-choul as well - so that space for @comme and @Moishe can be created. You'll see a post here from @dark knight laying out some specific ground rules, and away we'll go. In the meantime I will re-post what comme posted a couple of months ago but that got ignored by many people.
From comme: In recent months I have sensed an ever more aggressive and hostile tone to many posters' approach and as such I think it's time to reinstitute the forum guidelines that were previously in place. Please take note of these because they will be enforced going forward. • Posting Etiquette • Play Nice: You know what that means. If you don’t then consult your mother or your old kindergarten teacher. They’ll happily give you a refresher course. Please try and ask yourself if you would speak to someone in the same way in real life. If not then please refrain from doing so in here. If you are unable to speak to someone in a civil manner then just ignore it and move on. Trolling: This term has its roots in fishing. When a fisherman trolls he trails bait through the water waiting for a fish to bite. Inevitably some foolish fish takes the bait. Trolling on the internet is similar. There is no rule about what is and what is not trolling. But it often consists of posting absurdities, annoyances, contradictions to common knowledge, insults, potshots, belligerent assertions and the like. Trolling isn’t always intentional, and has nothing to do with what team you support. Flaming: To flame is to post personally insulting or defamatory messages. If you want to talk trash then please head over to the World Rivalries board. However, even on that board flames are not permitted. Spam: To spam is to post irrelevant or inappropriate messages. One of the most common varieties of spam is advertising. Threads and posts that flame, troll or spam (as determined by the judgement of the moderators) will be deleted or moved. Please report all suspected instances of trolling, flaming and spam to a moderator using the report post button. Lastly, please refrain from inflaming the flamers and don’t feed the trolls. Just alert a mod to the problem and we’ll take care of things as soon as we can. Off Topic Posts: Off topic posts are likely to be deleted so please think about that before spending significant amounts of time taking a thread further off on a tangent. Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo: Incredibly I actually have to make a specific point about these two players as they seem to dominate almost every thread on the boards. Please ask yourself when posting whether the point you are making has been made before, multiple times before taking a thread off down the rabbit hole. I am going to be quite militant in terms of policing this in order to prevent the same interminable discussions being had again and again by the same people. Duplicate Threads: Please look carefully before posting a new thread to make sure that there isn’t an ongoing discussion on the topic already. You should look through at least the first two pages of threads before posting a new topic. Thread Titles: Your fellow posters are not mind readers. So please be clear and descriptive when titling new threads. Adequately descriptive titles should make the topic of the thread explicit. The moderators will re-title threads when necessary.
All - This forum traditionally has been one of the best places for knowledgable discussion by knowledgable posters with a sense of history of the game. It has since become a place where lots of people have been arguing and calling names and complaining to the point that a very good mod has had it. With that in mind, we are going to be policing this forum much closer and have some suggestions for rules to live by if you want to post here without problems: 1. All discussion should be respectful, without sarcasm, preferably of substance and quality. There is going to be zero tolerance for personal attacks and off topic personal discussions. If you don't like someone, put them on ignore. 2. We have zero interest in hearing long winded whining, complaining, outrage, conspiracy theories, feelings of victimization, why other people need to be banned or unfair treatment, etc. If you get warned, say you understand. If you are forum banned, say "thank you, I probably deserve it". If you think someone has crossed the line, hit report a post once, and move on or use the ignore list. 2. If you can't handle the punishments that we give out, or are confused about what is okay, don't post here. As I say in politics sometimes, civil ********ing discussion or get the ******** out. It's as simple as that. You are responsible for you - if you didn't mean to violate the standards we are enforcing, a quick apology for the misunderstanding is your best choice. 4. If you were punished unfairly, too bad. If "he/she started it!" or if "the other guy got nothing!", feel free to tell your mummy or someone else who cares. Again, don't post in this forum if you can't be an adult or pretend to be one. 5. Complaining about the mods or other such whining about mods or posters as discussed in point 2 above will likely result in a forum ban as we can't bother with people who aren't focused on posting maturely. 6. The mods will be using any and all tools at our disposal for posters that can't get along with others in the sandbox which includes - thread bans for topics that make you lose your mind, forum bans for people who aren't following these rules, yellow cards that have full site restrictions, and red cards for people that continue to be a problem with no apologies. 7. Not bothering to read this won't be an excuse to avoid the above, but if you do get banned, we will show you this and remind you that an apology and a commitment to improved posting may be your only way back in. Thanks.