META: Off topic season is OVA
Kids! Fall camp has started and that means we are in season mode on MGoBlog. Off topic threads are now verboten with limited exceptions.
Those exceptions are: Detroit pro sports threads in moderation. End of list.
As a reminder, the following things are on topic:
- Michigan sports
- Big Ten sports
- Michigan opponent items
- College football/basketball/hockey in general
- Things about the university or Ann Arbor
- META is not on topic, but it is not offtopic. It is META.
Putting an OT in front of these makes me a sad panda.
Happy posting.
August 5th, 2013 at 11:26 PM ^
you're correct, but I think Dr. Who might have pushed Brian over the edge.
August 5th, 2013 at 11:30 PM ^
I seem to remember one week before the first game.
It was always the Sunday of the first game week. But it's not like there's a lot going on this August, so I'm not sure we're missing much. (One Shark Week thread was probably enough).
August 5th, 2013 at 11:07 PM ^
...now have a week for Brian Cook. They never call it OT.
August 5th, 2013 at 11:27 PM ^
Is news about former Michigan players who are now in the pros (or doing newsworthy things otherwise) on topic, off topic but allowed in moderation, or verboten?
August 6th, 2013 at 12:00 AM ^
Former Michigan players are on topic.
August 6th, 2013 at 12:11 AM ^
Articles germaine to the pro careers of Michigan athletes and substantial (as in a major news outlet is covering it) coverage of a non-sports career are welcome. Random articles about former Michigan athletes need to rise to a higher standard of general interest.
If it's Tom Brady talking about his time at Michigan or Denard talking about his good friends on the team, it's on topic.
August 6th, 2013 at 12:45 AM ^
I believe we are all ready for some football and more on topic discussions. Not to say some other topics haven't been interesting at times, but getting into the football, basketball, etc seasons is always the best.
= beginning of sports. WOOOO The summer of no sports is almost over! (No offense baseball fans)
can you quickly tell me (maybe in code) about any upcoming visits to the Palace?
So that means if you don't want to read something about Ohio State or MSU, you're welcome to not read it. But don't complain that it's OT.
I guess the official end of the off-season for OT posting also marks the official end to the promise of restoring the old voting system during the off-season as well.
Sad old Panda is sad.
ND: Always Returning to Glory
MGoBlog: Always Returning to Posbang/Negbang
Ouch.
How about Brian's new avatar?
How hard would it be to create an OT sub forum?
Why create a subforum here instead of just going to somewhere else? For example, wouldn't a music post be better done on a music blog? I guess the problem I see is it would get out of hand, especially for the moderators, and this is MGoBlog fergodsakes.
But nowhere else has the high level of discussion that MGoBlog has. This place is special in that we are a massively (relatively) educated online community that polices each other well.
I'll never go anywhere else to read Game of Thrones because there will be people purposefully spoiling things.
Also, if you goto a specific board for, say, a TV show - those boards/threads get out of hand and turn into what a game thread looks like here.
If moderating is an issue, then....
I think the people on this blog are pretty smart. I'm trying to buy health insurance on my own for the first time and I'm utterly lost and the broker is useless and the rest of the internet has been as well. I thought about creating an OT topic but then I saw this and did not. You have a lot of smart people here from many backgrounds who give solid advice and opinions. I personally think limiting the talk so much so just to sports isn't the best idea but I respect it. You have to draw the line somewhere I suppose.
August 6th, 2013 at 10:38 AM ^
on buying any health insurance until the health insurance exchanges come online in the next couple months. When you are thinking about health insurance (or really any insurance), think about what you are insuring yourself for. If you are young, the odds are that you need mostly catastrophic coverage (get in a car accident, need your appendix removed, etc). As you get older, and the problems multiply, and you need better insurance. It is really complicated (needlessly, in my opinion) but once you get the idea of the basic differences (HMO vs PPO, HSA vs regular plan) and nomenclature (deductibles, copays) it makes more sense.
Technically, I'm sure it'd be quite easy. But the mods would have to moderate it, and there is pleeeeeeenty to moderate already during football season. As a former mod, I can confirm that the workload would suck.
Also, the Internet is a vast and diverse place. You can find places to discuss damn near anything. This doesn't have to be that place for everything.
While this is true and a problem, I think I have two counterpoints. 1) Wouldn't that subforum be a little more lax on what was needed for moderation? 2) I think we all do a pretty good job here of calling people out on the crap that is racist, sexist, homophobic, wrong, etc. On other forums I've used, there's been a report feature. Mods get an alert. Maybe that can lighten the load a bit?
August 6th, 2013 at 10:07 AM ^
OT stuff is the stuff that tends to devolve the worst. A debate about Borges doesn't tend to trigger Godwin's Law nearly as quickly.
But I think the broader point is that this is a Michigan sports blog. And while it makes sense to talk about the rest of the world when there really aren't many Michigan sports happenings to discuss, this is football season at MGoBlog.
August 6th, 2013 at 10:23 AM ^
I feel that cuts both ways. I think its just as bad (or worse b/c its petty) to have a million "Urbz said/did this" threads.
We're all reasonable people, though, and I feel with very few exceptions we all understand what does and doesn't push the boundaries. I don't think anyone is asking for random ass threads to be allowed, but reasonable stuff: like USMNT or the final season of breaking bad. That's something like 1-2 OT threads per week (throw in Tigers stretch run and it gets higher). I don't think there's enough Michigan talk to be had such that those OT threads burden anything.
Long story short - I feel it's never been an issue in the past.
August 6th, 2013 at 10:34 AM ^
Which is why stuff like Tigers open threads or USMNT game threads or Lions open threads and whatnot are fine. And while the vast majority of us are reasonable people, the small minority of troublemakers are the reason we can't have nice things.
FWIW, this is the same rule that has been in place in recent seasons.
August 6th, 2013 at 11:54 AM ^
Yeah - just the "strictly verboten" directive coupled with the... shall we say more aggressive moderating lately has me worried.
Frankly, I'm not one to obsess over 17-year old Tweets, so I am just worried that I simply won't find the board very interesting if we're are only discussing football non-news.
But again, we're on the same page and I'm worrying too much when I should be focused on football. And cats.
August 6th, 2013 at 12:11 PM ^
yeah, i think the bigger point is that this will drive some people off the site at certian times, which I can't believe would be described as good policy for a blog.
of course, I don't think #s are a problem around here during the season
It takes about 5 posts for someone to compare Borges to Hitler.
More seriously, it may not quite be politics doomed, but an on-topic post loss thread make my head explode more than most of that other stuff. Thank you again for the snowflake threads.
I eagerly await for this META post every summer!
HURRAH for the Yellow and Blue!
Hurrah to FOOTBALL SEASON!
I learn how to make an extra 1,500 bucks a month on my PC?
August 6th, 2013 at 10:49 AM ^
shit, what do i do with my jesus vs mohammed: the final debate thread now?
August 6th, 2013 at 11:22 AM ^
Huzzah! This was one of the longest OT seasons in recent memory. RIP.
After OSU to now, instead of an additional 3 weeks till CMU. And with the basketball team doing stuff, there was even more on-topic stuff to talk about longer. But maybe because of that it just wants you to have it all come back all the sooner.
August 6th, 2013 at 12:09 PM ^
So no Breaking Bad thread this coming Sunday night?
EDIT: Oops, I see this was already brought up. I say we just start one either way. This isn't life or death here.