Oh MAN did I miss out on all the fun. Edit: Even so I think I can agree with the sentiment concerning the overall degraded tone this section of the boards has experienced lately. I didn't really mean fun.
Is he younger or something? 'Cause that would be just awesome! We'd get Freddy for like a whole nother year! Maybe even two!
I'm curious. In those sections, you mention that you try to remain "partial". I had thought the first may have been a typo, but it popped up again. Do you man you are intentionally biased in some way, or did you mean to type "impartial"? No this is not a slam... just trying to make sure I'm understanding correctly. Now in general (to all) I may have gotten a small rep her for being "too sensitive" and maybe that's true. Personally I enjoy a lot of types of jokes, up to a point - and unfortunately I see more and more people crossing that line because they think it sounds cute or makes a good soundbite. I think the important thing is to remember that free speech isn't freedom to say anything you want. Abusive and offensive speech isn't acceptable in civilized society - nor should it be here . And while this is a message board in cyberspace - those types of things can affect people in the real world.
Well, this thread has been thoroughly and completely highjacked into a personal bitch session by a few (the same???) folks who always seem to have a need to be the center of attention. Isn't that what it is about? The loudest derogatory comment generates the greatest response? It's Bullsh!!t. Mods, in my view, you should terminate this stuff the instant it seems to become someone's personal, trite little battle. Most of the rest of us don't want to wade through the petty garbage.
That's funny because this thread is why I like this forum. And that's not just to be contradictory. People have made some good posts in this thread.
it was a typo i meant to put impartial. apologies. and @ Imorin. I wasnt given a chance to respond inthe other thread. so i did it here. Dark Knight saw the post and PMed me about it, and had no problem. My point is simply that yes, it needs to be turned down. I, included. and if you attack someone personally, dont be surprised when it blows up in your face. I'll leave this thread now, if someone has something to say to me or my post they/you can reply via PM and I'll respond. assuming you're not on my ignore list of course
glad to see you post about this subject, "personal attacks" happen because some people take it to personaly what they read and disagree. should be reminded that it is ok to disagree with one another and there is no need for personal attacks, but it happens and it will happen, however we should all try to discourage it if you going to post try to post facts, and if you responding to someones post just talk about the subject never about the person who posted and his views for we all read his views, tell us yours, keep it on the subject
It's easy to see how things spiral out of control. 1. You're typically talking about things that can't be proven. 2. People's opinions tend to differ wildly if you gather a lot of them together. 3. The MLS/US vs Rest-of-World agenda brings a whole lot of people looking to grind some kind of axe. -- What usually happens is that people discuss a player's strngths and weaknesses, and someone way, way, way to the fringe of that debate will either tell you that Landon Donovan is a World Player of the Year candidate or that Eddie Johnson is no good because MLS is below the Moldovan Fourth Division. Even if the thread started out 'honest' with people making real, analytical evaluations, it's easy for one troll to come along and insult the league, the US players, and the poster who put some actual work into the thought. That one troll is often the guy who gets 40 responses, because it's hard not to take that kind of thing personally. I think the trolls do it because 4. Civilization can be annoying, and people feel like they need a place in which it is relatively safe to be a total ass.
I like to say to those members that are based outside the USA and post here often, that people here look more to you as the voice from "there" and we expect to hear facts, and tend to belive what you reporting on our yanks. Your opinion has more weight, for that reason i urge not to waste it
I agree with most of what has been said. So to sum it up for me, posters should not have pissing contests for more than a page, because after that, the wind turns on them and the quality of the thread/forum causing it really start to stink after a while. If you want to debate, and I encourage it, try and aviod temptation to create an cyber-stink. (btw, I am guily of this on other forums)
So, I'm reading this post and thinking... "ahhhh... a nice dose of civility." And a few people chime in with the "attaboys." Then, the usual cast of characters that think it's "fun" and "normal" to basically be pricks on a message board chime in. Oh well. There was a time when this was one of the few places on BS.com that you could just root for a player, simply because he wore the YA hat. It was pretty pure. Not controversial, not sexy, not spicy. In other words, it wasn't for everyone. Times have changed. I'm ok with that. I just want some of you advocating against being civil to understand the history and why some of us are a bit saddened by this "evolution."
And, as one of those 6 or 7 and a one time (very lax/absent) mod, this is what I was getting at. The spill-over of tired out Fire Bruce, Landon is Wuss arguments from MNT didn't used to apply here, mainly because the numbers were much different.
I don't think anyone is advocating not to be civil, they're just advocating for the right to disagree with peoples' assessments (hopefully more civilly in the future).
Disagreement is fine. How people disagree is what matters. The key differentiator between a civil board and a Rivalries type board is the use of dismissal arguments. "I think that argument is 100% wrong because X" invites further discussion and is unlikely to lead to battle. "That argument is so silly that I won't even bother responding" leads to wars. If you want what you once had, then realize that "hate the post, don't hate the poster" is not a sufficient dictum. What you need is "hate the argument, respect the post."
This thread is now just weird. Not wholly unenjoyable, though. And while Tree's unhinged post is a bit worrisome, I really did enjoy (in the most positive possible way) his personal feelings about working on YA.com. I think that's terriffic. I say this to the mods... so every now and then a thread degenerates. Big deal? I still say every now and then something really interesting comes out of that kind of invective. REally. When people feel even personally attacked on here, sometimes they dig a little deeper to prove their point in a less superficial way, they get more personally invested and actually, occassionally, say something inciteful. Let it go, mods, let it go.
Metrogo, this thread proves that it's not just the mods who want people to try to stick to the games and players in question in these threads. It's a lot of posters. I know your post is autobiographical, and that you are one of the people here who gets into and seems to enjoy passionate arguments here. I think all I and obviously some others here would say to that is that it might be fun an interesting for you, but some of the rest of us don't think it's that valuable as YA content.
The Dempsey thread was a perfect example of the thread breaking off. When you get 40 posts that are not about the news - and you could probably take those 40 posts from the Landon threads, or old Beasley or Convey threads, or Cooper threads and put them in any potential new yank abroad thread. Maybe we need to do some new sections: Yank Abroad News Yank Abroad Analysis Yank Abroad Predictions
I just realized that Tree is talking about me here, and since he probably won't accept a PM from me, ask fidlerre to forward my response to his pm's. He was on about the same thing and you're both just wrong. I promise mods, I won't pursue this, I'll just say that I'm a civil rights lawyer in NYC, as my public profile shows. I've been Metrogo since 1999. I probably have about 15 posts under the user name "Bora Doppelganger". I've got nothing to do whatsoever with whatever Tree is talking about, though I do remember a guy who posted occassionally on the metros board as "SoccerNova". You have made your business very public on BS's message boards, and that's what I know about it, including having a link to what was once your business. So it's not hard to have some idea about it. I would suggest to you that if you want to continue to attack people the way you do, and you don't want people to comment on your business, you shouldn't trot it out here for all to see. I promise, I am done on this topic.