META: A surrender in the battle for nice things
As I posted in the "Y IZ U SO FASCIST I THOUGHT THIS WAS AMERICA" thread, I have reached my braeking point, and have informed Brian that I will no longer be able to serve as a mod. And by that I mean, "I am able, but can't deal with humanity anymore."
I was planning to take a step back when my wife gives birth to our first in a few weeks, but I couldn't last that long. Most of you seem like great people who come here for the conversation and the community, and I have no beef with majority of you. But I couldn't deal one more day with the complaining, the immaturity, and the inability to just be reasonable. People's continued insistance on acting like children has sapped a lot of the enjoyment from this board for me.
None of us mods enjoy being a babysitter. Nothing makes me happier than a bunch of insightful, rational discussions. But those are becoming rarer by the day; instead, the board has taken on a certain Drew Sharp-esque quality. And maybe part of it is my fault. I've been a rather involved figure around here, and lord knows I've got some rants under my belt. But for whatever reason, things have taken an MLive turn, and I can't take it anymore.
I'm not asking any of you to change your internet ways, because it's no longer my problem. But I would say that you can only pee in the pool for so long before you're just peeing in an in-ground urinal. And this is a pretty nice place we have here, so please think twice before you drop trou.
I wish Brian, Ace, Heiko, Seth, and everyone else here nothing but the best, and I apologize to the remaining mods for leaving you in the lurch. I would also like to thank the majority of you who allowed me to survive three years in South Bend without losing my mind, and for the many conversations, jokes, and cats. I would also like to thank the cats, but I don't speak their language.
/cool story bro
/TL;DR
November 11th, 2012 at 4:05 PM ^
So are leaving the board all together or just not going to mod anymore? Your well-timed wit would leave a large void.
November 11th, 2012 at 4:10 PM ^
But somewhat less frequently, given the family responsibilities and the lack of mod responsibilities.
November 11th, 2012 at 4:08 PM ^
it seems like an uphill battle when 100 points is the cutoff for posting.
Tell me you at least banned that asshat on the way out
November 11th, 2012 at 4:08 PM ^
I am Legend
November 11th, 2012 at 4:09 PM ^
Sorry to see you go I think that you have preformed admirably in your time as a mod. Congrats on the kud and enjoy the freedom.
November 11th, 2012 at 4:09 PM ^
November 11th, 2012 at 4:11 PM ^
November 11th, 2012 at 4:22 PM ^
November 11th, 2012 at 4:13 PM ^
November 11th, 2012 at 4:17 PM ^
Why wouldn't you hope he enjoys it just as much as you have?
November 11th, 2012 at 4:18 PM ^
You have something against subsequent kids?
November 11th, 2012 at 4:17 PM ^
Thanks for the efforts and congrats on the new family.
November 11th, 2012 at 4:18 PM ^
and thanks for all the fish!
In all seriousness, congrats to you and Mrs. BiSB on the baby! And thanks for scooping poop for so long - it's a crap job, we all know.
November 11th, 2012 at 4:18 PM ^
November 11th, 2012 at 4:22 PM ^
November 11th, 2012 at 4:21 PM ^
Sad to see you go. I agree that the board has turned a little in the past couple of weeks, but I still think the nadir was during the latter part of the RR era when people just lost their minds every day.
This place can have civil discussions, and most people do. The couple of nimrods who learned about this site from someone at work and thought their MLive personalities would play well here are idiots, and I'll throw my entire tough-guy Internet reputation behind that. We have enough sports radio stations for people to be goobers at, but MGoBlog is supposed to be a cut above.
Again, sad to see BiSB leave as a mod. Hopefully you'll keep posting.
BTW: Congrats on the soon-to-be new Wolverine.
November 11th, 2012 at 4:22 PM ^
Congratulations to you and your family!
Thank you for all you have done for this place. I hope you don't disappear from here forever. The board is better when you're around.
November 11th, 2012 at 4:26 PM ^
Crap, you might be my favorite poster here.
Your frustration is understandable, though I think this is what happens when a blog breaks through as clearly the go-to place for Michigan sports. You no longer just get people with a certain sense of humor, style, brain, etc. -- you get a much larger and more representative portion of the internet-active Michigan fan base. As much as everyone dumps on MLive, I hope that site thrives, if only to provide two very different Michigan sites for attracting different types of Michigan fans.
Good luck with the family, and I hope that you continue to post in your new role as a non-mod normie.
November 11th, 2012 at 4:25 PM ^
VIVA LA BEAVIS
November 11th, 2012 at 4:29 PM ^
You will participate in nothing for the rest of your life that will have as much fundamental human importance.
As for the issues on the site, I think it's far, far, far from being MLive. However, it is closer to that hellhole than it used to be, and I think the decline stems from two factors:
1). MGoBlog is an amazing internet success, and therefore falls prey to the fact that the internet is flypaper for morons. You can't avoid it entirely if you have message boards.
2). The change several months ago to a system wherein idiot comments are not truly dealt with via community policing. On occasion it could be cruel, but in general the idiots received quick punishment via negbanging. One problem with MGoBlog that has never been dealt with is gratuitious negging, wherein some routinely neg other commenters, regardless of what the nature of the comment is. IMHO There should be an individual cost to negging, and should include the temporary loss of posting privileges if it's abused beyond a certain stage. Points themselves should not be important except as a measure of the ability to post and comment.
November 11th, 2012 at 4:34 PM ^
I agree that a system whereby stupid posts (not just comments) could be democratically deleted would be great. It would keep embarassing or brainless stuff off the site without the need for constant policing by mods. Perhaps if a post gets -50 net points it's automatically deleted, and if a poster gets a sufficient number of net downvotes that poster gets banned.
The only problem with this is that the idiots could still post late at night when there aren't enough users around, but perhaps that wouldn't be a big deal.
November 11th, 2012 at 4:29 PM ^
It's probably worth emphasizing that although we all love freedom of speech, an individual website that allows complete freedom to its denizens stops being a place for reasonable people to hang out as soon as it gains a modicum of popularity. The internet breeds assholes. It's not "censorship" to keep such trash from overrunning one's community. Mods are the janitors of the internet. There are plenty of internet sites that don't have janitors, so it's not like there's nowhere to throw your shit just because you can't do it here.
November 11th, 2012 at 4:32 PM ^
I'd say their role needs to be closer to that of law enforcement.
November 11th, 2012 at 4:29 PM ^
We will always have the Monkey Rodeo memories at least.
November 11th, 2012 at 4:30 PM ^
November 11th, 2012 at 4:30 PM ^
First TomVH, now BiSB. I haz a sad.
November 11th, 2012 at 4:30 PM ^
Sooo... Can I have your Mgopoints?
/s Congrats and good luck!
November 11th, 2012 at 4:34 PM ^
You've been one of the best for a long time.
Until we get real voting back, the mods will have a near-impossible job.
November 11th, 2012 at 4:35 PM ^
November 11th, 2012 at 4:36 PM ^
I dont get how whining and being critical about the coaches gets you banned, but calling people asshats is somehow okay? If someone is offbase on their opinion, the board will let them know.
November 11th, 2012 at 4:56 PM ^
We let Blue Blue Blue know his opinion was offbase and that didn't stop him from making another awful thread 6 hours later to discuss the same points as the first one.
November 11th, 2012 at 7:57 PM ^
are just begging to be called asshats.
November 11th, 2012 at 4:50 PM ^
November 11th, 2012 at 4:58 PM ^
Thank you BiSB for your contribution to this blog. I have a greater appreciation for the time the mgoblog employees/contributors and the mods spend here now. I was inspired at one point to provide a weekly contribution to this blog, but have found time to be too short as of late. High quality, well informed, and humorous posters make this blog one of the best out there. You are one of those that make this a better place.
I wish you the best with your new baby and leave you with this final thought -
November 11th, 2012 at 5:26 PM ^
I find this strangely creepy.
November 11th, 2012 at 9:47 PM ^
Last night we went on a romantic walk together. Only problem is that you didn't know I was there.
November 11th, 2012 at 5:00 PM ^
Babies are SRS BSNS so that more than justifies a change in duties.
I appreciare the explanation and am sorry you reached the breaking point. The problem is that the people who are going to care about this thread are not the ones who are causing the problems. The jerks are not going to read it, or they are going to interpret it as a huffy flounce, or they are simply going to be pleased that there is one less jackbooted thug mod around here.
But hey, I am not one of them.
November 11th, 2012 at 5:04 PM ^
I'm confused, what does a mod normally do beside act tough and complain?
November 11th, 2012 at 5:08 PM ^
Thank you for all of your work around here. I tended to agree with you about 99.4% of the time. Hope to see you on the board still from time to time. You are appreciated...by me at least.
Congrats also!
November 11th, 2012 at 5:19 PM ^
November 11th, 2012 at 5:19 PM ^
November 11th, 2012 at 5:27 PM ^
November 11th, 2012 at 5:28 PM ^
Maybe you're just following guidelines or some sort of protocol for this site, but I do think the Moderators go too far.
I think Brady Hoke has done a lot of great things for this program. I have been pleasantly surprised with him...
But should it make him immuned from criticism? Absolutely not.
I know that everybody makes mistakes, there is no perfect coach. I just disagree with censorship of unpopular opinion.
Definite groupthink issues on this board
November 11th, 2012 at 6:04 PM ^
This is where I'm at.
November 11th, 2012 at 7:03 PM ^
between voicing an unpopular opinion and being a troll. The problem is that most trolls don't know the difference.
People are free to post unpopular stuff. Section 1, who I disagree with almost every time he posts, and who is about as contrarian as anyone, remains free to post despite being negged at every turn. What people CAN'T do is post threads designed to start fights. For example, starting a thread to bitch about a decision from the offseason that came to fruition 15 days ago, and throwing in a RichRod reference for good measure, is a recipe for disaster.
I do find it hilarious that after a full year of "WHY DOES BRIAN HATE HOKE SO MUCH HE'S BEING UNREASONABLE," we've moved swiftly into "WHY DOES BRIAN LOVE HOKE SO MUCH HE'S BEING UNREASONABLE"
November 11th, 2012 at 8:46 PM ^
November 12th, 2012 at 9:52 AM ^
Double post woo hoo!
November 11th, 2012 at 8:57 PM ^
November 11th, 2012 at 10:01 PM ^
Politely state your case in disagreement or ignore it and it will die on its own.
...and I laughed and laughed...