RealGM

I wanted to comment on some criticism on the job our mods do, particularly on the Hardaway thread going off track from a pure basketball standpoint.

I've been a mod for awhile, but I totally prefer to be hands off as much as possible. We come to the board for discussion and to share opinions, and as long as we are being respectful of each other, we should be good to cover any topic. If you don't think a topic is relevant or you don't want to discuss it, then don't participate in the thread.

The fact that the Hardaway thread was six pages long and still going clearly shows that there was interest to discuss him and attitudes that he has publicly expressed. There are certainly strong feelings on differing sides of the topic, but hopefully those that participated got some insight from what others posted.

All that being said, moving forward, I am certainly going to continue to let topics develop and evolve. I'll let the other mods speak for themselves, but I feel we are on the same page with this, which makes this board as good as any on RealGM.

Just my humble opinion, but every moderator should be more like you. I don't wanna throw dirt of anybody else, but some of these guys are so full of themselves it's sad and hilarious all at the same time. I love your approach to the "job," and your obvious understanding that it shouldn't be taken as serious as a real, paid gig. Probably off topic, but I've been wanting to say it for a while and now's a good as time as ever. Kudos to you sir.

The way things are being ran is great. As long as insults are being hurled at one another, why not have an off topic conversation if it can be done civilly? I approve of the TBL way.


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I would like to apologize to SnakeBites for calling him/her out publicly. I should have pm'd him regarding this.

To explain myself, i think what errked me was the fact that it was a mod was letting the thread go off track. And personally i hold the mods to higher standards since you guys are the ones enforcing the policies. Overall i love our mods, i think you guys do , do a great job letting discussions go and eliminating troublesome posters. It was just a personal opinion i've mine that i handled poorly.

I want them to be open, however I feel certain mods did a terrible job of keeping maker_84 in check. He trolled this forum for months without any warning or suspenion. Beyond that the open policy is awesome

The people that whined about the Hardaway thread going off track only had to scroll 5 threads down to one about all the new additions to the coaching staff (including Hardaway).

Link for the lazy: viewtopic.php?f=14&t=1339881

If people really wanted to talk about Hardaway all they had to do was click on that thread. Instead those people spent two days complaining rather than actually posting in the other coaching thread. If people were so desperate to talk about Hardaway the why hasn't there been a single post in that other thread since Friday afternoon?

Might I recommend that in the future if a thread goes off track and becomes completely about something that is OT that one of the mods simply adds a "Now OT:" tag to the thread title so that people can avoid it. Pretty simple solution especially if there is another thread on the first page dedicated to the exact same topic.

JD43320 wrote:The people that whined about the Hardaway thread going off track only had to scroll 5 threads down to one about all the new additions to the coaching staff (including Hardaway).

Link for the lazy: viewtopic.php?f=14&t=1339881

If people really wanted to talk about Hardaway all they had to do was click on that thread. Instead those people spent two days complaining rather than actually posting in the other coaching thread. If people were so desperate to talk about Hardaway the why hasn't there been a single post in that other thread since Friday afternoon?

Might I recommend that in the future if a thread goes off track and becomes completely about something that is OT that one of the mods simply adds a "Now OT:" tag to the thread title so that people can avoid it. Pretty simple solution especially if there is another thread on the first page dedicated to the exact same topic.

I absolutely agree. I felt like those complaining just wanted the thread to end for personal reasons, not "for the good of the board," but that's my opinion. I don't see any other reason why they would be complaining. One poster even said he wanted it closed partially because he didn't like some of the arguments being used despite them being very civil and logically presented.

I love the openness of this board for the most part. I hope it stays that way. I also think JD3452345 presented a good solution to this problem too. It's nice being able to talk about some other stuff in a civil manner, especially when the offseason is so slow right now.

I supported the sway in the topic in the spirit that TBL expressed here. We believe that we have a forum full of good posters who can handle difficult and controversial topics with civility and reason, and it is with that in mind that I (and the other mods) chose to allow that topic to continue on its present course.

It was locked not because I felt that this was the wrong decision, but because there was clearly negative backlash against that particular topic being discussed on this forum at all. I do not believe the backlash was because people were dying to discuss the merits of the hire and felt that they had been robbed of a place to do so. As evidenced by JD, there WAS such a place where that discussion could continue to take place.

I did not feel that the thread had "gotten out of control", it had merely gone in a clearly established and focused direction that wasn't necessarily the original intent of said thread. I didn't see that as a problem. This isn't a board where politics and ethics are frequent topics of discussion and I was interested in discussing and reading about these matters from a group of people who's views on social issues I had never seen before.

I didn't think it was the wrong decision at the time. In principle, I still don't. I just felt that the tone of the board and gone against that discussion taking place.

I am interested in seeing what other forum members think about this issue as it may inform future modding decisions.

I've already had this conversation with Snakebites privately, but I'll publicly go on record as saying he handled that thread exactly the way I'd like to see it handled and I have nothing but respect for him.

I prefer an open forum where we are free to debate and express opinions, even when they go a little off-topic. Provided of course they are done in a civil and respectful manner, which I believe was the case. Yes, this is a "Pistons" board, but I'd like to think that after years of posting alongside many of you that we've moved a bit beyond that. We're a community.

I understand some people where uncomfortable with the topic, and agree with Snakebites decision to ultimately lock it after those feelings where made known. As mods part of our responsibility is to listen to our members and do our best to meet your needs. But if not for the comments made on the last page I would have been perfectly comfortable allowing the discussion to continue, and the truth is I'd hope that given the respectful nature of the debate that if you didn't want to participate you'd have simply skipped over it.

Non of that is to say I want the board overrun or flooded with off-topic discussions. It does make sense in many instances to direct people to the appropriate board and or lock/merge threads as needed in order to create an environment conducive to bball related discussions for both our new and old members.

After years of being a major mod contributor I have greatly enjoyed sitting back and doing virtually nothing, but I honestly believe the board could not be in better hands. We have an outstanding team that seamlessly navigates the balance between encouraging free & open debate while maintaining a friendly and inviting atmosphere. Something not easy to do. And something I sincerely hope will continue.

/.02

Honestly, what you guys are doing is fine.

What I like about this particular forum is the fact that we CAN have occasional off-topic discussions and not let them boil over completely in a horrid fashion. Don't get me wrong, that thread was completely off-topic but it wasn't getting out of control with insults being thrown in or people going on an arbitrary tangent. I thought it was fine until it was loudly called for it to be closed since most of the posters were being civil.

I think as long as users are being completely civil and not being dragged down to the lowest common denominator, the discussions should be allowed to continue, even if it does get off-topic since without the original thread's topic, it wouldn't have gotten to that point anyways.

Great posts everyone. I wasn't feeling too good after looking at the last page of the Hardaway thread, but feeling really good about the board after reading this thread. I like JD's idea to clearly rename a thread if if goes way off topic. And I like Cow's comment that we've been around a long time and are a community, and we are likely to chat about things other than the Pistons from time to time. Ok, big group hug, and now we can get back to the endless summer of "when is Monroe going to sign?"

I definitly dont mind ,and I also like the mods here.to make everyone happy,we could have opened another thread to discuss the topic that morphed from the original.Honestly I didnt care either way,but iam not the only poster on this forum.As a man who has family who are gay,I didnt like alot of the comments or thoughts on the subject,but thats the beauty of a thread,you dont have to particapate if you dont want to.

So keep on doing your thing.Quite honestly,this place has been alot better since some posters are gone and that was really my only complaint.

I can see both sides of the coin on this one. On one hand, I participated in the discussion. But on the other hand, it's not a topic that I generally like to discuss behind the veil of a username on an internet forum. This forum has a great group of posters, and I didn't expect to get the backlash that I would in other places, so I felt more comfortable doing so.

I wouldn't have minded the discussion being redirected to the thread topic, but at the same time, I think it was handled well by the mods, and this forum is a broad collection of people and not just myself.

A suggestion I would toss out there to the mods for future hot topics such as that: I appreciate that while some hold a "moderator" title, they are still involved in the discussion, you're one of the posters first, and a moderator on the side. In situations where any mod becomes involved in a debate that is in question, perhaps another mod be the one to make the call. I want to make sure that I say Snakebites did a fine job in handling this particular situation, but this would hopefully prevent any "conflict of interest".

From my experience threads that stray towards politics, race or sexual preference almost always turn sour... it was handled well... no problems... keep up the excellent work fellas.

I was never sure why the thread was considered as going off topic. The question was Hardaway's hire, and the main basis for objection was his past homophobic comments. That seemed relevant to how people were evaluating the hire. A wide range of feelings and beliefs were shared, and it only becomes a problem when people stop discussion and get into dismissive name calling. I prefer a tolerance for wide ranging discussions, even if they are tangential to the fundamental question. It can be part of the fun provided it doesn't degenerate.

You can try and be more lenient but this place will never be like SpursTalk lol. That place is pure gold

Maker_84 wrote:You can try and be more lenient but this place will never be like SpursTalk lol. That place is pure gold

It's okay, although it mostly just seems like another forum. The Pistons forum there (why does it exist?) doesn't seem all that elevated. I hope you're right, and this forum stays pretty much focused on Pistons related matters. Thanks for sharing.

I was suspended for calling a particular article garbage in the Heat forum. I have no problems with how things are here.

The Heat mods are fairly strict but that was because so many trolls were visiting and knocking the big 3 constantly, thus the mods got used to banning people.

This board is different than it was back during the title run as it was stricter back then when we would entertain many trolls here too while the Pistons was the 3rd highest post total of all RealGM at the time.

Oh my have things changed as it is a ghost town compared to the olden days.

As far as the mods here are concerned, I never ran into a problem and like to see threads not be locked if they entertain good discussions. But, people should be allowed to disagree with each other.

And, I actually enjoy when posters from other teams boards visit for their constructive criticism and they shouldn't be blasted vehemently for doing so if they visit with honorable intentions.

As long as the policy is: "Attack the post, not the poster," then all is fair.