Mass Dispatch 41.0: Want All of Your Warnings To Disappear?; News On General Board Changes

[Howard Mass]

[b]Mass Dispatch 41.0[/b]

In this edition of Mass Dispatch................

The Mass Matter is the long-awaited Competition “Clean Slate”.

For the first time in RealGM History, Users will have a chance to compete for an opportunity to have all of their Warnings, Signature/Avatar Violations, Suspensions and Individual Board Bans wiped away in one fell swoop.

Some Users might win a warning or two off of their record but only one User will have a chance to win a “Clean Slate” on the RealGM Forums.

All of the details on how to enter “Clean Slate” is provided.

We also have an update on “Beat The Commish”

In Ask Howard, A User has a question about site performance issues and ads

We then have our Mass Dispatch User, Thread and Moderator of The Week

Inside The Administrator's Office has some more details on changes coming for The General NBA Board Policy along with some news about Global and Senior Moderators.

Let's get right to the Mass Matter..........................



The Mass Matter: “Clean Slate” Begins

It's finally here.........

The opportunity that many of you have been asking about is finally here.

From now until October 15th at 3 P.M. U.S. EST Users may send in their application for a chance to win a “Clean Slate” On RealGM.

A “Clean Slate: would mean that ALL of your Warnings, General NBA Board Strikes Signature/Avatar/Location Line Violations, Individual Board Ban (s) and Suspension (s) wiped off your account in one fell swoop.

While only ONE User will get the opportunity to win a “Clean Slate”, others could be awarded some of the above off of their profile records and yes, every User has a file with all of those things that I mentioned above.

For those of you interested in applying, here are the Three Qualifications for “Clean Slate”


- Valid E-Mail on your RealGM Account. If you need to change the E-Mail on your account, just let me know and I'll do it for you.
Users must have an appropriate Signature, Avatar and Location Line if they choose to use one. If you do not, you need to change the inappropriate ones before you send your PM.

- If an Applicant has a Duplicate and/or second account (s), they must disclose it in their account. While the other account (s) will be banned, The Applicant will have immunity and not have any action taken against their main account nor will it disqualify them from the competition. If this is your only account, just type “NO”

- After you list your answers to the above three qualifications, each applicant then is to in 100 words or less write why they feel they deserve a “Clean Slate” for their RealGM Forums Account.

Just in case anyone is confused, here is an example of what your application should look like as if I were filling out one for myself.

“Clean Slate” Sample Application

Username: Howard Mass

- My E-Mail address is Howard.Mass@realgm.com. and it is a valid E-Mail address.

- I have an Appropriate Avatar and Location Line. I do not have a Signature at the moment.

- Howard Mass is my only RealGM Account

Why I deserve a “Clean Slate”

Then, I would type in 100 words or less why I deserve a “Clean Slate”.

No one is getting any pointers though but if the response is even one word over 100, your application is null and void.

Applications may be submitted up until October 15 at 3 P.M. U.S. EST.

A Committee of Moderators, Retired Moderators and Respect Users will then pick 3-5 Finalists to move on to the next round.

Some Users who do not make the cut could still also win some notes off of their profile. More details on that along with the Finalists will be revealed in the next edition of Mass Dispatch.

If anyone has any questions, feel free to post them in this thread.


“Beat The Commish” Update

We are three weeks into The “Beat The Commish” NFL Weekly Picks and I must say it's been more fun for everyone by doing it against the spread instead of straight up.

The great team running this year's contest bwgood77, Hopping4Wiggins and Mr.E are getting the overall updated standings together and should have them updated on the “Beat The Commish” Forum soon.

For now, I want to acknowledge the Users who “Beat The Commish” In Week 2 and Week 3.

[b]Week 2[/b]

Hopping4Wiggins 10-5 66.67%
bondom34 10-5 66.67%

Geoffrey P 8-7 53.33%
NyCeEvO 8-7 53.33%
XNewYorkMadex 8-7 53.33% 
ATL Boy 8-7 53.33% 
Dirk Nowitzki 8-7 53.33%

papfankon 7-8 46.67%
Greatness 7-8 46.67%
El Turco 7-8 46.67%
dream34 7-8 46.67%

[b]Week 3[/b]

SD2042 13-2 86.67%
The Regime 13-2 86.67%

Hopping4Wiggins 12-3 80.00%
bwgood77 12-3 80.00%
hermes 12-3 80.00%

Mr. E 11-4 73.33%
Wo1verine 11-4 73.33%
XNewYorkMadex 11-4 73.33%
ATL Boy 11-4 73.33%


I want to congratulate of the Users who “Beat The Commish” and it is not to late to make picks with us. If you are interested, just come to the “Beat The Commish” Forum before Sunday's kickoff and make your picks in the Week 4 Thread.

I look forward to seeing who can “Beat The Commish” in Week 4.


Ask Howard


If you have a question about anything RealGM, just send me a PM or leave your question in the Ask Howard thread on the Mass Dispatch forum.


qjz123 Asks

Howard I've noticed that within the past month or so you've added ads which appear as a small window near the bottom of the display when viewing the site on a mobile device. While I have no problems with the ads themselves I do have concerns about the fact that they hinder the sites performance. 

Things like scrolling and even typing have become painfully slow especially whenever I load a new page. Once I dismiss the ad with a down swipe it seems to improve but before that it is painfully slow and clunky. My mobile device is an IPhone 6 plus by the way so it isn't like its an old device.

I was just hoping that something could be done about this. Once the NBA season starts up I like to post in game threads from my phone as the games going on but as things stand I think it'd be rather difficult.
I hope these performance issues can somehow be addressed.


Howard's Response

I am glad that you asked this question.

Over the past two months, we have been working behind the scenes to fix some bugs on the forums.

Our Programmers are aware of this issue along with a few others and are working to solve them before the start of the season.

We regret any inconvenience to anyone effected by this and encourage Users to report any issues they experience on the “Forums Bugs and Account Issues” or The “All Advertising Questions” Thread



Mass Dispatch User, Thread and Moderator of The Week

It is time for this week's Mass Dispatch Awards. If you would like to nominate a User, Thread or Moderator for an Award, please send me a PM or put your nomination in the appropriate thread on The Mass Dispatch forum.

Mass Dispatch Users of The Week

ATL Boy and XnewYorkMadex

These Users were the only Users to beat me in Week 2 AND 3.

After a great Week 1, Week 2 was crap for me while Week 3 was pretty good but not as good as I expected.

Still, I admire Users who can beat two straight weeks and while I plan to beat them both this coming week, it never hurts to get on my radar.

Congratulations to our Mass Dispatch Users of The Week..........

[b]ATL Boy and XnewYorkMadex[/b]


Mass Dispatch Thread of The Week

The General Off-Topic Board's “OTB Fantasy Basketball Registration 2015-2016 Thread”

Fantasy Basketball League's can really bring a community together and that's why I love seeing forums do their own fantasy leagues each year.

Several Team Forums are doing them this year and I'll recognize one of them in the next edition but I love how our General Off-Topic Board has one every year and judging by this thread

viewtopic.php?f=42&t=1406159#start_here

you can tell how excited they are for this year's league and I am going to raise the stakes.

This year's Winner will get a special Championship Title under their user name and maybe even something else.

A little food for thought...........

Congratulations to our RealGM Off-Topic Board Users

Mass Dispatch Moderators of The Week

Newly Retired Moderators Alucryts, Mark K and Morten Jensen

Since our last edition, three really good Moderators to hang them up so they could focus on their non-cyber everyday lives.

Alucryts, Mark K and Morten Jensen all moderated on our Chicago Bulls Forum and had other RealGM duties throughout their tenure on as Moderators including Moderating on our General NBA Board giving each at least two of the toughest assignments on RealGM.

Alucryts brought a lot of energy to his moderating duties earlier in his tenure to the point where I could not hit the sack at times during nights when Users were out of control as when I got done processing his suspension request, he would have another and then........ Another. This helped influence me to isolate General NBA Board violations to that forum and doing so dramatically dropped the amount of three-day and seven-day suspensions on the Forums. Eventually, non-cyber life caught up to him about a year or two ago and had he kept up the activeness a tad longer, Alucryts would have become a Global Moderator.

When I first came across Mark K on our General Off-Topic Board, I just knew he was moderator material. Mark K started off as a Moderator on our Australian Sports and Discussion Forum and then dramatically rose up the ranks to become a General NBA Board Moderator, A General Off-Topic Board Moderator, A Chicago Bulls Moderator and finally a Global Moderator. Mark K was outstanding as a Moderator and proved that I definitely still had my touch in hand-picking Moderators.

Morten Jensen moderated on our Chicago Bulls and then General NBA Board before becoming a Global Moderator. Morten played a big role in helping shape the current General NBA Board Policy. He was one of the Moderators who came to me and said, things on the General NBA Board are getting very difficult to handle and we needed a change. His honesty and not being afraid to come to me are qualities that I like from all Moderators.

The group though is still young and all have open invites to return as Moderator at any time. I wish them nothing but the best and all have very bright futures ahead of them.

Congratulations to our Mass Dispatch Moderators of The Week................

Alucryts, Mark K and Morten Jensen


Inside The Administrator's Office

Things continue to heat up on possible General NBA Board Policy changes. Some ideas being thrown around include some minor violations becoming “Soft” Strikes while hardening things on violations like Personal Attacks along with Racist and Homophobic remarks.

The proposed changes are still a work in progress but the goal will be to adjust things so Users get some more warnings before they get strikes for minor offenses while cracking down on offenders who are just there to cause trouble.

I am hoping to have things finalized by the middle of October along with some new Moderators to help out the current group.

Speaking of the Moderator front, after some recent retirements, the current number of Global Moderators stands at 18 plus Tommy Udo 6 who left us too soon three years ago.

Before the beginning of the NBA Season, I plan to define all of their roles so all forums have enough coverage and could also make some changes to the overall role of The Global Moderator position.

In addition, more Senior Moderators will be appointed to forums between now and year's end with potentially added responsibilities.

So, lots is going on behind the scenes as we prepare for another great NBA season. It's time for me to get back to doing that.

Contact Mass Dispatch

If you have a question, feedback, feel a user, thread or Moderator should be recognized or something they would like to see in Mass Dispatch, please post it on The Mass Dispatch Forum or send me a PM. You could even send me a note on Twitter @homassrealgm