The Influx of Crazies on TF & the logic behind allowing it

They just have to have the right mindset and kind of a hard shell. Nobody wants to be bashed and some folks around here just bash rivals mercilessly. Even Deceks is careful what he says and to who . . . and he has the protection of the buoy.

Most "Premium" forums are strictly for home fans only. I think this one should be for all contributors and rivals are always welcome. People like USCVball and Bayoutiger were once contributors who tired of the rival-bashing. I think they might also find refuge in a contributors forum as a way to talk football with the most serious of us without taking excess guff from the peanut gallery. SabanFan will still insult them, of course, but that's become a rite of passage around here. You aren't a TF veteran until you bear the scars.

Contributors have dropped off, now that everybody can access all forums, have avatars, give reputation, and see who gives it. There are very few perks left for contributors anymore. An All-Contributors forum could be an important one.

 

I don't think we've had serious issues with censoring sunshine pumpers or gloom-and-doomers either. To me, the recent problem is not about the fans being upset, it's about the vitriol, the invectives, the vulgarities, and the insults. When a thread goes over the line from complaints to inflammatory rhetoric, then moving them to "bitch and rant" seems justified. It just might make people keep it down a notch to keep the thread on the main board. The criteria should not be the subject, but the civility of the discussion.

If they can't keep it civil, then it gets moved. That's far less censorship than deleting them. Brett may have to set some clear lines for mods to follow. There was a time that "moron" and "idiot" were insults that would get a post deleted. Now, it's like the SEC officials calling holding--they can call it on every play. If we start deleting every moron and idiot post that happens now . . . we're going to need a lot more moderators.

The other issue is new guys who have been here just a few days trying to take over the board with multiple inflammatory threads and raising the level of rhetoric to fighting words and bashing respected long-term members who don't deserve it. It ends up with many of our most serious members, often contributors, having to leave the board for a while because they have no interest in the TD-like atmosphere. The people that still give this site hits in the off-season need to be respected in our efforts to accommodate the angry new guys who are here for another week.

I like the idea of limiting the number of posts that members of less than 1 month can make in a day. Perhaps even letting new members make no posts at all in the first 24 hours. Let them lurk a bit and get a feel for the forum before jumping in with full Tiger Droppings mosh-pit style.