Thinning the herd.

[hesscl34]

Originally Posted by mike340

Daseal, I'm sorry to see you go (even though I haven't always agreed with you.) But as someone says above, a lot of the best threads are started by vets. So lets make this a good one.

I have to agree with what Daseal is saying. In that regard, I want to throw out some ideas and see what people think. (I'm a newbie so I'm not going to try to tell people how to do things here.) In addition, I'm sure that the coaches (moderators) have far more experience and information than I do, but perhaps something might work.

(In the following a CN is a combative newbie.)

My first question goes to the moderators and is:
Are some of the CNs people who use multiple IDs on the site? If so, would it be possible to limit them to one ID? (Sort of a "soft" ban.)

Second: I have noticed that a lot of these threads are started and "pushed" by one CN. By this I mean that if they would just (kindly) turn off their computer the thread would die, because the only reason it continues is due to an escalating anger by posters, all driven by the CN. Is it possible to limit the proportion or frequency of posts made by an individual in these threads? Perhaps limits should be more stringent for the CN who initiates the thread? Another possibility is that we can have some signal (I nominate "answer 3" ;-)) to indicate that it would be better for everyone to stop responding to the "flamethrower".
Once someone is namecalling it is clear that they have made their mind up that they are better than the other(s) in the discussion. At this point rational thought on their part is minimal and it is pointless to try to have a rational debate with them.

Third: Can we overcome our anger and hold ourselves to the same behavior standards that Gibbs has for the team (and which is supposed to be respected on this board)? Don't try to win a flame war with a CN (or anybody else.) Who knows, maybe they're fans of some other team and they're just trying to mess with the board. Let's remember we're on the same side here. We will disagree as to how to improve the Redskins, but we all agree that we want them to improve. I recall reading that "arguments among friends are the devil's work." So no more "idiot", "retarded",... comments please. (And "retarted" should get one excommunicated from the board;-) As someone said, it only applies if Smoot holds "Love Boat II".)

Other ideas (alternatives to the above):
Can the mods indicate which are contentious threads of this type? And if so, can they indicate how much to read to get the meaningful content of the thread? (It may be better to open this up to the members via a poll for these threads.)

I cannot recall a single instance where even a well-thought-out idea changed the mind of someone who was "passionate" about their position. (See the old Brunell-Campbell threads.) So I think we can hope to express our arguments to explain our position, but I don't think we should expect to change someone else's mind. (Many women try to change their husbands with limited success; how can we expect to do much better on this board?) If we keep this in mind we may be able to improve the "vibe" of this board.

Can we remember that this is a game and entertainment? (Even if it does impact our mood from Sunday until ...) Does it make sense that we feel down after a game and so we go out and kick ... other Redskin fans?

Can the mods talk to mods of other fan boards (especially of losing teams) to see if they've uncovered some techniques to handle the negative situations we run into on this board?

I hope this gives some food for thought and helps spawn some ideas to mitigate the problems which are currently plaguing the board.

Fourth - ban all women! LOL

Seriously, I've wanted to bail more than once on this site, but the truth is that I love the Skins and I love discussing them. I've learned that when things get heated I TRY to stop reading that thread that has lost it's way, and I step away for a day or two and then return after things have calmed down. The fact is that when we lose people take out their anger on this site.