Open letter to the Chelsea forum members

Discussion in 'Chelsea Off Topic Threads' started by Kerry Dixon's Boots, Sep 15, 2012.

  1. Kerry Dixon's Boots

    Staff Member

    Jun 6, 2006
    77 degrees
    Club:
    Chelsea FC
    Nat'l Team:
    England
    Hi everyone,

    Well it seems that as a group we can no longer be trusted to have mature discussions about football or rather the actions of a tiny minority have dictated what happens to us all. We have also, in recent months lost the interaction with members of other boards which is particularly sad as that is what separates BigSoccer from Chelsea-only forums. Another perspective can be refreshing, annoying, challenging but at least its different and prevents conversation from being stuck in a rut.

    Different posters have different styles of course but I'd encourage people to at least try and see the alternative point of view and not get petty/personal with each other. On the flip side, there used to be more banter but now it seems a board that takes itself way too seriously - it's an internet forum, not the United Nations! I think we'd all benefit from remembering it's a discussion board, not an exercise in winning arguments to demonstrate intellectual superiority.

    With additional success on the pitch of course comes a different level of expectation from the fans and it is this rather than the posters that has changed the tone of content here (notably a lack of patience with players/managers that pervades many threads). Whereas we could be fairly philosophical about our chances previously we now expect to be at the peak and honestly, that in itself makes the business of football more, well, more business like.

    With regards to the recent tone, back in the day, if anything got personal it was swiftly dealt with: yellow cards handed out, offending parts of posts either removed or edited and some PM intervention. This kept things on track and light-natured. By removing entire posts, shutting threads and dictating, rather than moderating, behavior, it is not currently fun to post or take time to write posts with the potential for it to end up in the virtual bin. Clan pretty much put everyone in their place before it got out of hand - an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure imo and some surgical editing would avoid the need for the nuclear options recently imposed.

    Also, on a point of personal preference (and I fully accept this is a me problem, but seeing as it's my post ;)), it's sad that the Other Teams thread never touches on lower league football. Time was this was a fully integrated part of Chelsea's world but is now like another planet. Of course back then we used to buy from the lower leagues so watching the games was more than just interest, it was scouting, but some dialogue about the Championship and Leagues One/Two would be good. I guess I'm an old fogey and need to move with the times.

    Oh well, will see you guys around. Not deleting my account or anything drastic, but will be taking a break so I can just enjoy watching Chelsea without all the BS that now comes from talking about it with fellow fans and getting hammered because I don't appreciate the finer points of the midfield diamond :D

    Peace out!
    KDB
     
    nicephoras repped this.
  2. fernb8

    fernb8 Member+
    Staff Member

    Aug 12, 2002
    sadly it is the latter atm- and we really are working on a solution. I am sorry that we had to close down your new thread but we are waiting a response so we can follow the proper protocols on how to proceed.

    I think you will find that we actually have developed a really good relationship with quite a few of the Utd group and BG always chimes in with some really helpful Continental Info which we enjoyed last season. This is another issue which is being discussed behind the scenes from the Mods on the Other boards as well. Everyone seems to be down a little bit on the traffic from opposing fans.

    As for taking the view that any outside views are banned and chased way- that would quite far from the truth and if anyone needs clarification on that topic I can share the last few infractions/bans for opposing posters and I believe those were more than justified by the assigning Mods

    for example- we had a recent issue with an Athletico Madrid poster who has a history of causing issues and it is a difficult balance between allowing opposing discussion and causing thread derailment with mutliple page arguments. The correct steps were made in addressing that poster and to baselessly acuse the Mods of chasing opposing views away is far from the truth.



    I will try to address the rest with via pm and can only ask you two things

    1. Please be patient as we are curently trying to fix these issues. It is something we probably should have done this summer but things were generally quiet and we had a rather tepid start to the season in terms of volume, activity and issues. Sadly things have gotten worse as you pointed out and hopefully we can resolve things moving forward.

    2. Please do not step away. We need to continue to have quality posters like you around.
     

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