A moment please, folks

[HuskyNan]

The board seems a tad cranky these days. Maybe it's the result of the post-holiday blues, maybe it's the loss to ND, or possibly it's 3rd and 4th stages of grief after Newtown. Maybe all three. But we, collectively, aren't behaving in our (mostly) civil manner. Some things to remember going forward:

• Newbies, please read the board rules in the thread titled "Links to blogs, Official Site, Recruiting, BY rules, etc" that's tacked to the board
• If anyone has a question about administrative action, please contact Biff, JS or myself via PM or email rather than on the board
• Before giving in to the urge to insult someone or call them names, please consider just putting them on Ignore. Engaging them in a back and forth feeds their ego and feelings of martyrdom. Ignore them and they'll go away. The bonus is that you also avoid potentially breaking board rules.
• If someone gives an opinion that you believe is ill-informed or result of lack of knowledge of basketball, don't ridicule them. I hear from lurkers all the time that they're terrified of posting because they aren't as knowledgeable as some others on the board. They're afraid they'll get attacked if they post - let's not prove this to be true.

Briefly, on the ND game, yes, it sucks to lose to them again. But consider this - UConn played craptastically with some key players MIA yet they lost to a Top 5 team with with one of the best players in the country by only one point. UConn is young and immature; it can only get better.

 

[Sargassoc]

Thanks, Nan. I was thinking we had become more snarky recently, and I, for one, am not comfortable with that. It's one of the reasons I have enjoyed this board so much.

 

[UConnFan23]

Thank you Nan! I used to find myself into the board several times a day, but with the tone, pissing matches, one-upmanship, name calling, etc. of recent days I simply stopped opening threads that got derailed (which seemed to be most of them) or, based on the title, did not open at all those that were clearly not going to be pleasant or informative. It's perhaps indicative that we had Moriah deliver a great performance and it got very little traction on the BY, presumable because crankythreads were dominating. THANKS AGAIN for your insight and initiative!

 

[semper]

Thanks, Nan. The back and forths were getting really kinda mean, and I had stopped reading. You are the best!

 

[CL82]

go away. The bonus is that you also avoid potentially breaking board rules.

• If someone gives an opinion that you believe is ill-informed or result of lack of knowledge of basketball, don't ridicule them. I hear from lurkers all the time that they're terrified of posting because they aren't as knowledgeable as some others on the board. They're afraid they'll get attacked if they post - let's not prove this to be true.

I've heard this on from lurkers on the men's side, of course, there it's true. My answer is to think about what you want to say and give it another shot, just try not to be inflammatory. There's a big difference between "Tyler hasn't found a rhythm this year" and "Tyler sucks." The latter will almost certainly result in a cavalcade of criticism.

 

[HuskyNan]

I've heard this on from lurkers on the men's side, of course, there it's true. My answer is to think about what you want to say and give it another shot, just try not to be inflammatory. There's a big difference between "Tyler hasn't found a rhythm this year" and "Tyler sucks." The latter will almost certainly result in a cavalcade of criticism.

That's very true. It's often not what a person says, it's how he says it.

The lurkers I speak with, though, would like to get involved with discussions on strategy and shooting, etc but don't feel they know enough AND are afraid to ask because they're afraid of being ridiculed. If someone puts forth an opinion that Player X's shot looks flat, for example, there's invariably some wiseass that's going to say, "You're an idiot. The shots are going in so who cares if they're flat" or something to that effect. Why would anyone want to post if they believe they're going to feel stupid after being shot down by a know-it-all?

 

[Samanthabrown3]

The lurkers I speak with, though, would like to get involved with discussions on strategy and shooting, etc but don't feel they know enough AND are afraid to ask because they're afraid of being ridiculed. If someone puts forth an opinion that Player X's shot looks flat, for example, there's invariably some wiseass that's going to say, "You're an idiot. The shots are going in so who cares if they're flat" or something to that effect. Why would anyone want to post if they believe they're going to feel stupid after being shot down by a know-it-all?

And how are those of us who don't know as much about the game going to learn it unless those of us who do know explain it?

 

[ChicagoGG]

Thanks, Nan. As someone who had their first post attacked as veiled reference to something else (it wasn't and I said so), I almost left the board to go back to lurking, having been made to feel less than welcome by a long timer. I gave it some time tho, and am glad I did. But lately some discussions have been a little mean....your reminder is timely and needed. Go Huskies!

 

[Lynx23]

It's nice to see you address this issue. I've been posting on occasion since 2006 or so and, as much as I enjoy watching college basketball, I've never considered myself an expert, so I often refrain from posting or responding to a post. I imagine this is the case with most "lurkers", as you may call them. The truth is, there are many times this board presents like an exclusive club whose long-time members use this forum as a chat room to communicate with each other, and heaven forbid a "newbie" or "lurker" intrude on the conversation. When I do post, I make sure my post is well thought out and has some merit so I'm always amazed, but no longer shocked, when my opinion is slammed down by an individual who feels he or she knows more than I do and has a need to make sure I know it. At that point, it's back to lurking because I have no interest in engaging someone who is not going to be open-minded to a different perspective. I do believe there are a few cyber bullies on this board, individuals who have not advanced past the 5th grade in terms of their ability to communicate in a civil way with other individuals who may not share the same point of view. As much as I hate to say it, oftentimes the historical number of their posts is directly related to the degree of incivility. There are many reasons individuals may choose to "lurk" rather than post, but I would expect that the intolerance shown to contrasting opinions that often prevails on this board is a primary reason.

 

[CL82]

I've heard this on from lurkers on the men's side, of course, there it's true. My answer is to think about what you want to say and give it another shot, just try not to be inflammatory. There's a big difference between "Tyler hasn't found a rhythm this year" and "Tyler sucks." The latter will almost certainly result in a cavalcade of criticism.

...and Tyler goes goes off and has an outstanding game today! I may have to post about on the women's board before every game!

 

[Biff]

...and Tyler goes goes off and has an outstanding game today! I may have to post about on the women's board before every game!

That block at about 30 seconds sealed it.

 

[Tonyc]

Nan the timing of your post is perfect. The board needed it. Thanks for taking the time and thanks to you Biff and JS for keeping this board of the highest respect.

 

[Shenandoah]

It's nice to see you address this issue. I've been posting on occasion since 2006 or so and, as much as I enjoy watching college basketball, I've never considered myself an expert, so I often refrain from posting or responding to a post. I imagine this is the case with most "lurkers", as you may call them. The truth is, there are many times this board presents like an exclusive club whose long-time members use this forum as a chat room to communicate with each other, and heaven forbid a "newbie" or "lurker" intrude on the conversation. When I do post, I make sure my post is well thought out and has some merit so I'm always amazed, but no longer shocked, when my opinion is slammed down by an individual who feels he or she knows more than I do and has a need to make sure I know it. At that point, it's back to lurking because I have no interest in engaging someone who is not going to be open-minded to a different perspective. I do believe there are a few cyber bullies on this board, individuals who have not advanced past the 5th grade in terms of their ability to communicate in a civil way with other individuals who may not share the same point of view. As much as I hate to say it, oftentimes the historical number of their posts is directly related to the degree of incivility. There are many reasons individuals may choose to "lurk" rather than post, but I would expect that the intolerance shown to contrasting opinions that often prevails on this board is a primary reason.

well said, Lynx. The intolerance for other opinions on here really gets out of hand, at times, and when the keyboard commandos (ie: cyber bullies) disengange their civility, and kick their egos into overdive, well, it's just not worth the trouble even coming here at times.

 

[CL82]

For what it is worth, if you post your opinion on message board, you are inviting conversation, which may mean people agreeing or disagreeing with you. That isn't a comment on you individually. It is just a conversation. Could not agree more that it ought to be civil but I do think that new posters may need realize that difference of opinion is not necessarily a personal attack.

 

[Shenandoah]

Again, I agree with you, but statements like "that's one of the stupidest comments I've read on here". crosses that line, in my opinion. I always figured that, before I hit the "enter" key, I need to ask myself, "would this statement get me punched in the face, in the real world?" If so, I rethink it. I have no problem with a difference of opinion. I may learn something.

 

[doggydaddy]

Again, I agree with you, but statements like "that's one of the stupidest comments I've read on here". crosses that line, in my opinion. I always figured that, before I hit the "enter" key, I need to ask myself, "would this statement get me punched in the face, in the real world?" If so, I rethink it. I have no problem with a difference of opinion. I may learn something.

Can I tell someone their state is ridiculous without offending?

 

[VAUConnFan]

Agree. We should be encouraging discussion and encouraging more varied and diverse participation.

 

[doggydaddy]

Agree. We should be encouraging discussion and encouraging more varied and diverse participation.

I would beg to differ. It's what this board is all about.

Discussions: 7,709
Messages: 121,097

I'm sure there were some messages out of the 121,097 and counting that were varied and had diverse participation.

 

[Sonny44]

The fact is that there is a cadre of long time posters on this site who consider themselves the "elite". Some half dozen or so who continually agree and support each other ad nauseum. Some keep a list of statistics at the ready to "prove or disprove" their points of view or other's point of view. They jump on some one they think is weak or new and the other sharks quickly move in on the kill. You can tell them by their responses to this post.

 

[Joe6cats]

The fact is that there is a cadre of long time posters on this site who consider themselves the "elite". Some half dozen or so who continually agree and support each other ad nauseum. Some keep a list of statistics at the ready to "prove or disprove" their points of view or other's point of view. They jump on some one they think is weak or new and the other sharks quickly move in on the kill. You can tell them by their responses to this post.

Ouch! Sharks moving in on the kill? Maybe they just want a bite of y0our sandwich.

 

[HuskyNan]

:-(