I would like to start by saying that I love this board and that I truly appreciate the contributions of the vast majority of the people who have posted here over the last few years. When I first discovered bigsoccer I felt like I was in heaven. I spent countless hours on multiple boards thrilled to be part of actual soccer discussions for the first time in my life. Unfortunately, after a few months I came to see that a large ammount of it was crap, petty disputes, clique-fights and general trolling. All of this, however, was absent in the Arsenal forum and so while I slowly stopped visiting the other boards I eventually made this one my start-up page. OK, I say it was absent but I'm sure there were a few trolls here and there. That all ended when we won the last Double and a slow trickle of trolls grew and grew and grew into the situation we have now. It's getting harder and harder to have a discussion around here without having someone pop in and try to throw it off course by spouting something inflamatory, and I for one am getting sick of it. If I'm the only one then I apologize to everyone for using up the time it's taken you to read this and the bandwidth needed to post it, but from reading the boards I don't think that I'm alone. The fact that it has gotten to the point where one manu fan has told another to "shut up" in one of our threads (Motterman, you get a gold star in my book for that) tells me that something needs to be done. I've always felt that we have a strong community here, so I started this thread and poll as a means of trying to sort it out ourselves.
I voted for "Ignore them and they will go away". It's always a bit thick a day or two after a match that ends in controversy. So, like I said, ignore them and they will go awa...
Ian, I have created my own website, Arsenalfan.net, that I've offered to be used by the folks @ ArsenalAmerica as the official forum. It's not finished yet, so the jury's still out. However, once it's completed, I think it would be a great way to cut down the number of trolls. I think alot of what happens is that the more popular threads get listed at the main BS login page, and that's where the majority of trolls come from, people who wouldn't normally being visiting an Arsenal board. If you're interested, I'll PM you the URL for the sandbox version of arsenalfan.net.
It's been my experiance that, when notified, the Mod's handle trolls just fine. In Mod's I trust. BTW, if it's a ManUre troll, give'em a Red card, no warning. Next to a Metro Scum troll, they're the worst.
Yeah, I think Motterman's exactly right, just ignore it. And I know I haven't done that these past few days, so I'm as guilty as anyone of feeding them. I think it's great when other fans come in here and add something constructive to the conversations. I can distinguish between a troll and a good post. I hope that doesn't go away. I think it's extremely tiresome when other fans come in with negative comments, name calling, etc. That's what it would be great to eliminate (or at least reduce).
Hey Dave, you've gotta be careful. I resemble that remark as a Metro supporter. I could very well turn that around and ask what you're doing supporting the DC Scum.
I'm as guilty as anyone on giving them more reason to come back. It's just so hard NOT to have fun with them sometimes... Plus, I enjoy being called a thug and "McCrap", I think it was. That was my favorite. BTW, I voted for "sockpuppets" because you just can't beat a good sockpuppet bit. I actually thought the Mods might just card everybody and let it sort itself out.
I sadly will not be in attendence. Instead I'll be at the WWC US v Nigeria match in Philly. However, you can be sure that I'll be saying nasty things about Etcheverry in absentia.