In 20-plus years of running message board communities, I find two things outside the control of posters that usually contribute to challenging/toxic message board environments. (Actually, there would be a third thing, and that would be "people just looking to pick fights, just because," but hopefully that applies to none of you here. 
). Those things are:
1. A bitterly disappointing season that includes a devastating loss or two that shouldn't have happened.
2. Debate over whether a coach is the right guy for the job.
And here we are now smack in the middle of September dealing with both.
As most of you know, I generally do not censor opinion unless it's obviously rude, or crude, or racist, or needlessly repetitive, or whatever and I encourage our mods to do the same. (And there are times that slips through the cracks because nobody's got the bandwidth to stay on top of it all of the time, and speaking personally, I do other things for a living.)
Anyway, with all that, you're welcome to have whatever opinion you want here within those boundaries. Whether I (or the mods) agree with it or not should make no difference, because that's what message board are for. But I just ask you be courteous about it. Sometimes just recognizing that you're a little on edge before you post something can be the self-awareness to be more tactful about how you phrase things and treat others. (At least that works for me.)
I think we're going to have a challenging season ahead. Maybe there will be a pleasant surprise or two and I sure hope so, as that would certainly help.
But I can't control that and neither can anyone here. And I don't ask anyone to be happy about it, because they shouldn't be, and yes, people have a right to vent within the boundaries of courtesy and reason. How that gets expressed is where problems start.
We'll continue to provide coverage as best we can, and maybe working hoops and baseball into things a little earlier than we planned just to give folks something to look forward to. So hopefully we can help by doing our part there, and I just ask everyone to do theirs in return by not needlessly contributing to a toxic board culture.
). Those things are:1. A bitterly disappointing season that includes a devastating loss or two that shouldn't have happened.
2. Debate over whether a coach is the right guy for the job.
And here we are now smack in the middle of September dealing with both.
As most of you know, I generally do not censor opinion unless it's obviously rude, or crude, or racist, or needlessly repetitive, or whatever and I encourage our mods to do the same. (And there are times that slips through the cracks because nobody's got the bandwidth to stay on top of it all of the time, and speaking personally, I do other things for a living.)
Anyway, with all that, you're welcome to have whatever opinion you want here within those boundaries. Whether I (or the mods) agree with it or not should make no difference, because that's what message board are for. But I just ask you be courteous about it. Sometimes just recognizing that you're a little on edge before you post something can be the self-awareness to be more tactful about how you phrase things and treat others. (At least that works for me.)
I think we're going to have a challenging season ahead. Maybe there will be a pleasant surprise or two and I sure hope so, as that would certainly help.
But I can't control that and neither can anyone here. And I don't ask anyone to be happy about it, because they shouldn't be, and yes, people have a right to vent within the boundaries of courtesy and reason. How that gets expressed is where problems start.
We'll continue to provide coverage as best we can, and maybe working hoops and baseball into things a little earlier than we planned just to give folks something to look forward to. So hopefully we can help by doing our part there, and I just ask everyone to do theirs in return by not needlessly contributing to a toxic board culture.
Last edited:
