and I love sharing information and visiting with everyone here, but I'm beginning to sense it is being frowned upon to have fun on here. I'd like to address comments made about a handful of members since I will accept the blame cause I am the one who started the back and forth. To say threads are hijacked is truthful in a few instances, like the Jimmy Ott (Who I have no idea is) but I have not posted in most of the threads on the page: Mel Kiper, Cox, Tweety. A moderator did politely call our attn. to that, and since he is usually very direct, I even appreciated and respected his discreetness in doing so. Most of our posts since (Late yesterday) have been in threads started by the ones the comment was towards.... Here's the funny thing though, we seem to have plenty of company on the general, open threads we begin too- and I hate to use the word "We" but it's no secret which of us are being referenced- cause "We" are all members and "We" come here out of a commonality of loving LSU. I thought everyone was having fun and meant no offense to the respect of the forum or the fellow members. It's really slow right now......I mean come on, the busiest thread is about a "Rumor" but, and I think I can speak on behalf of the others when I say, we were just having fun. When you see some people's user name at the end of a post you expect a butt chewing and others a razzing.....Some people enjoy the forum for making friends, some simply for sharing specific knowledge, others like to police both of the first two. Surely none of the ones joking around percieved the chit chat to be in the context of "A clic" and neither have nor had any intentions of monopolizing the discussion(s). What I witnessed was that the farther it continued, the more people were chiming in and wish everyone took the attitude that they could be joked around with by others........would make forum more comfortable for the MANY members who have been on for 1, 2, and 3 years and have ZERO posts, to get involved. Allowing a little latitude gets people involved and creates goodwill and increases the number of members who feel they are part of the forum. I respectfully say that I see the real clic is 3 or 4 of the veteran posters here who disect posts by newer members and discourage people from posting. I visit other forums too and there are threads on everything from birthdays to prayer lists and didn't realize it was so improper to mix it up in fun and although some do it more than others, most do it from time to time.....if I crossed the line my apologies to anyone who felt like it detracted from the protocol of the forum, but it was sure o.k. to veer off the week of and/or after the Arkansas game with the coach's and qb's name so let us know how much is too much. I have more of a problem with the person(s) leaving comments that another member should "Kill themselves" like one member shared, or telling people they are "Stupid" calling them "Gay" even refering to them as reproductive organs in the open forum, to mention a few that I've heard......there's the one's we should be pointing a finger at IMO, but it doesn't bother me one way or the other cause I don't let others define my self-concept.
A good post worthy of discussion. I saw those threads, and I participated because it was fun, its the off season which can be slow anyhow, I'm off this week and had some time on my hand. I was glad to see the joking and activity. I was jus passing a good time, yeah. I didn't see anything against the rules. If a thread was hijacked, just bring it back if you want to. I didn't see anything wrong, just folks having a good time sharing friendship on the internet. I've seen real problems on a board once, and this wasn't one, IMO.
Well put tiga. I know I am just as guilty as you are for the "hi-jackings". My apologies to all who got p!$$ed because of our foolishness. I've really enjoyed the banter, and the fact that some posters who I had never had a conversation with before got involved. I'm thankful that we could have this fun time, instead of like the ND boards that are so tight you can hear them squeak from here. This down time between games is killing me, and I am getting extremely antsy to whip some Irish @$$!
Yeah, things are slow and conversations drift a bit which is different from a true hijacking. But, the effect is often the same and is annoying to many, especially those with limited time who scan the forum for LSU information and have to wade through dozens of off-topic posts. It's not about having fun, it's about being courteous to the others. Some times a thread forks and one path should become a new thread. Sometimes a clique of friends take a series of personal discussions across several threads where others are disinterested and they should create a private forum. Most often the rambling fun threads just need to be in the Roundtable and not in the Tigers Den. Nobody is trying to stifle any fun, the mods just try to keep a little order. The Grad made useful suggestions to you, amigo. It's not really that big a deal to keep the birthday sub-threads out of the LSU sports forum. One fellow's fun and games bores the krap out of the next guy. Making a new thread is easy. I've seen this, too. I suggest that you tell the rude veteran what you think and encourage the newbie yourself. I have done so on more than one occasion. New guys should always be forgiven for being naive. They don't yet know what the controversial topics are, they don't know the subjects we are sick of hearing about, and they don't know the sensitivities of the local gang, a few of whom are rough on newbies despite otherwise being voices of reason.
First things first. If you're on a forum and you are not having fun then something is wrong. The "clique" I referred to is definitely enjoying their time on here. That is a good thing. On the other hand, it is sometimes a bad thing. Some of this back and forth banter has been pretty risky and filled with innuendo. From the perspective of a moderator that reads through as much of the forum as possible, that just adds more work. Yeah we actually do stuff productive to keep the forum in order, imagine that. Not only does it add a high volume of posts to scan through, it also entices others to add fuel to the fire. Most of the posts by y'all have been good natured so I am not saying they are all of a bad nature, just a small few of them. As far as I know, none of those types of posts have been even deleted by anyone. As I said earlier, people should have fun when they are here. I'm not one to go after fellow tiger fans and tend to cut those that bleed purple & gold a lot of slack. I feel confident in saying that the rest of the moderators are the same. I am glad you did not take offense to my comment yesterday. Brett has said that he likes the forum to be family friendly. That is a good thing to keep in mind when posting on here, or any similar public forum for that matter. The virtual image of yourself that you present to people is all they really have to go by. While you may be having a great time, others may not be laughing alongside you virtually. One more thing: :geauxtige
That hadn't occured to me either and red also raised a great point about courteousness for members who don't have a lot of time to scroll through/read all the posts. I appreciate the candidness and being on on the level from the mods and think it shows a lot of character. I also think a lot more good comes out of situations handled up front with no wiggle room than anonymous comments. All the respect to you guys! Now let's get back to backing our Tigers huh! :thumb:
A good post. I like to forum because I learn a lot about what is going on in LSU sports and the SEC, but I also like the exchange of opinions. And yes, some of us make stupid statements and resort to name calling. I don't like it, but I guess it is all a part of free speech.
