Apparently I have to say this: treat recruits with respect

Has made their name public and chose to switch their usernames to their name does in fact give the impression that they're ok having their names out there. That there was ONE staff member who didn't want it....even though he didn't notice it was done on the front page makes it not only indecipherable, but an illogical assumption to assume that was his mindset. It was not the same case as you at all (or the other current mods who still use usernames).  And now that he's made it very clear that's his feelings it should definitely be one that is respected. But if Seth says tomorrow "I never really wanted my name out there, because, like, it's the internet" I wouldn't believe someone should get dinged for what they do today.

And this site doesn't even see the act as a morally wrong one...as was pointed out that Brian did it to a teenage kid giving out his contact info. His response wasn't that it was wrong; just don't do it to my guys. Other people, fuck respect.  And that's what most are saying....they think there should be more respect out there. And that means not contacting 15 and 16 year olds without going through the respectful channels, like a school, coach, or parent.  But those standards of respect don't seem to apply. Don't be sleezy internet guy, or maybe worse, sleezy media guy...everything this site stood against and railed against.

I wouldn't hold myself up as some example of board etiquette. Frankly, not chitown either. We're combative.  Last Hoke says that serves a purpose making dumb people feel dumb so maybe they won't be so dumb anymore, or least show us they're dumb. I don't really see myself as some crusader though fighting the good fight.  Dumb annoys me; hypocrisy annoys me more. As I said to the guy above someone like CRex and a number of other posters I could mention might have some moral authority because of the way they carry themselves so they should be listened to. Because if I say something and you want to discount it, fine.  But if guys like him and Last Hoke and others see a problem, there might be something there.

I'm doing a bad job at letting this die down, but no matter how differently we see things at times my respect for you and the job you've done certainly warranted a response to your thoughtful post.

I believe that this situation remains fluid and open for numerous interpretations and actions; this is but a blip in the otherwise-cordial discourse that goes on here.  To act as if this will inevitably bring about sweeping changes, given the site's history, seems overly pessimistic.

I don't know if what TomVH did is the same as what Brandon is doing.  I don't believe that we are complaining so much about him doing his job, but the way in which he is doing it.  Also his flippant dismissal of concerns that contacting children without the prior knowledge of their parents is possibly a bad idea.  I know I'm annoyed because of that piece of information.  I had never clicked on his twitter link before last night, because I honestly don't really care about twitter all that much.  But after clicking on it, I was able to understand more fully the complaints about how he is going about contacting kids.  

Brandon's recent jump to the site and the community's relative awareness of him definitely played a factor in this issue mushrooming.  Personally, I've always given the recruiting side lesser importance on a day-to-day visit to the site because (a) I tend not to follow recruits until they sign up, and (b) I'm apparently too old to really care what teenagers think.  I respect guys who can build and grow these relationships; I'm certainly not going to overreact as if we are robbing the youth of America of their innocence because some people are asking football players about football.  Riding the subway to work every day, I see teenagers sharing far more information to complete strangers simply by flashing their phones or carrying on loudly.  

oh hell yes. for me, it's 90% this ridiculous painting of a couple long standing commenters as being (even the slightest bit) insulting to that kid. IT JUST DIDN"T HAPPEN. Chitown didn't make a specific comment about that kid, but rather focused on the meta-debate of recuriting posts for such young kids. GOBREWMOM made a completely innocuous comment about a kid who clearly has a young appearance (even for a 15/16 year old) that was based on the front paged pic. NO malice was intended, and that was obvious based on the CONTEXT of the discussion.

• it's pretty clear that Brian has wanted to ban chitown for other things, and used this as the excuse. fine, ban chitown... your blog, your random-ass banhammer rules. just don't piss on someone's back and tell everyone it is rain, Brian.
• MGOBREWMOM has been insulted more than the kid ever was. that was Brian's fault by labeling her as disrespectful, which many then went on a roll from there thus making her guilty by association. That's bullshit.
• Not even acknowledging that there is some responsibility of the BLOG to make better editorial decisions regarding recruiting posts (the pic, the policy of contacting recruits, the allowing comments on recruiting posts) is passing the buck at best and petulantly idiotic at worst. clearly, if calling a kid youthful-looking can be construed as ban-hammeringly insulting and can lead to Brian getting reamed-out by the UM AD, then maybe Brian should rethink the recruiting coverage and delivery- blaming MGOBREWMOM in any way, shape or form makes Brian look like a petulant child.

I hope Brian's response to the UM AD was something along the lines of, "it's my blog, it's my responsibility, my staff and I will re-evaluate what MGOBLOG can do to prevent this in the future." Unfortunately, based on his reaction here, I doubt that actually happened.