Apparently I have to say this: treat recruits with respect
Brandon posted an article about 2016 recruit Teryn Savage, and this is his takeaway from his experience at MGoBlog:
https://twitter.com/TerynSavage/status/382644691738451968
So congratulations, leftrare, MGoBrewMom, JuggernautRides, and chitownblue2, and the other people in that thread who insulted the kid for no reason. Guess what: people are interested to see what people say about them on the internet, and now a potential recruit doesn't want to talk to Brandon.
If you think that 2016 is a magic land from which news cannot come, don't read it. We're going to report on kids that are being recruited.
Going forward, anything that could be interpreted as an insult to a blameless high school kid will result in a no-warning ban. Even if that interpretation is crazy. Any "pedo" references will also result in a ban.
In conclusion, guh.
September 24th, 2013 at 11:53 PM ^
A few thoughts...
a) Brandon Brown did a solid job at the M Block in this sort of work so I'll cut him some slack while he figures his new role at MGo.
b) Classy is kind of subjective.
c) For better or worse the recruiting cycles move further and further ahead. This necessitates recruiting guys to interview younger people. It does seem a bit creepy but it is kind of the new economics of recruiting.
d) the neg is actually the best tool for self policing if it's not on a ridiculously conceived min. Point system +\- 2 either way. The "old days" of the neg bang punished the idiots (see: McFarlin etc. etc.). Ultimately that is on Brian since things are Wild West Haloscan era crazy of late.
September 24th, 2013 at 8:20 PM ^
We can direct message other users?
September 24th, 2013 at 8:24 PM ^
e-mail, so technically no.
September 24th, 2013 at 8:19 PM ^
I wasn't aware that was a possibility around here.
September 24th, 2013 at 7:54 PM ^
Additionally Brian, I would be willing to offer to deliver a swift kick to the dong (or punch to the ovaries) for those who make an ass of themselves in this way.
September 24th, 2013 at 10:16 PM ^
Can you do that for anyone who uses the "fergodssake" meme?
September 24th, 2013 at 7:59 PM ^
/Sticky.
September 24th, 2013 at 8:00 PM ^
In defense of those posters, he does look quite young in the picture. You could say the same about Spike Albrecht who I might mistake for a high school student if I saw him in the streets. I don't think that's an insult.
September 24th, 2013 at 8:11 PM ^
In the opposite of defense of those posters, I didn't think that the way a kid looked had anything to do with their ability to play ball. I also didn't think it had anything to do with building a relationship with a player.
Just because he's class of 2016 doesn't mean he's too young to recruit. It's better to get to know the kid over an extended period of time to see how he develops on and off the field, is it not? You know.. like getting a larger sample size? If he can play, I don't care how young he is when the coaches contact him.
September 24th, 2013 at 8:15 PM ^
I completely agree but I suppose some posters felt like it was odd to interview and post his comments on forum with 20-50 year old men to read. Personally, I don't care about that.
I didn't speak to Brian or to the recruit but based on his tweet, he was offended because some readers thought he was 12, not because he was too young to be interviewed. I'm just suggesting that it's not offensive to think someone is younger than they really are.
September 24th, 2013 at 8:43 PM ^
We all think lots of things, some of which others may be thinking as well or would agree with, but perhaps we need not post all of them behind fake names and avatars on a message board that represents our fan base when it could insult a kid that the very school we root for is trying to recruit.
September 24th, 2013 at 9:16 PM ^
... saying someone looks young is not an insult. But not my blog, so I don't make the rules.
So is it okay to say that you are not impressed with a recruit's highlight videos? What if they kid made a really bad rap video? Or posted a tweet about how his coaches take care of the grades? Or posted a picture of lots of cash? Because we've made fun of a lot of recruits no longer considering Michigan (or never considered by Michigan) for these types of offenses.
So, is the issue that we shouldn't make fun of recruits we are actively recruiting or is it we shouldn't make fun of any recruit under 18? I'm fine with either policy, because I don't often make fun of anyone I know is that young, but I honestly want to know the opinion of Brian et al on the bounds of this policy. Is it in place to support Michigan recruiting or is it for a higher moral reasoning? If it's the latter, the policy needs to extend pretty far to include content that even hits the front page.
September 25th, 2013 at 12:58 AM ^
"some posters felt like it was odd to interview and post his comments on forum with 20-50 year old men to read"
These are my thoughts. I generally do not follow recruiting, and certainly not in depth news about specific recruits. I trust our coaches to do their job, and will watch the players when they play for Michigan. However, I will not go into a thread about a recruit and comment about it. I'll just completely stay away, as it is not interesting to me.
September 24th, 2013 at 8:03 PM ^
The behavior of many people who use the internet as a semi-anonymous cloak to express their ugliest thoughts and impulses disgusts me. I may sound like an old "get-off-my-lawn" type for saying this, but there needs to be more respect for other individuals in society. That such respect is going away (and not just here, or even on sports sites, or even on the internet) makes our society notably worse.
Maybe I'm just a bit more sensitive about it because I work with kids, many of whom get truly awful things said about them or to them; some people on boards like this say exactly the same types of things but think its okay because it's the internet.
September 24th, 2013 at 8:10 PM ^
Spot on. I actually can't stand it when people are disrespectful towards Fitz, Devin, or any other current player who suits up for our beloved Wolverines. Be respectful towards everyone!! Including those young men or women who may suit up for us! Why does this need to be said??
September 24th, 2013 at 10:09 PM ^
No one playing for Michigan is a kid. Also, criticizing is not the same as being disrespectful.
September 24th, 2013 at 9:34 PM ^
I said he looks young! I didn't question his playing ability, his integrity, his drive, his anything! How is that ugly??
I can see how being called young could hurt a Hs kid's pride, and I am sorry for that.
I am getting called out, and that's fine. I will not make that mistake again. But please don't demonize me for saying he looks young. Maybe start practicing your own brand of respect.
September 24th, 2013 at 9:48 PM ^
is probably a strong word, but at that stage of a young man's life the last thing he wants to be compared to is some random person's 10 year old daughter. I don't think you did it with malicious intent but I think it highlights that we all need to be careful on what we say here as it's obviously at times making it back to the source. That and the kid probably gets this all the time. So he's all juiced up to read an article about him and his ability and you're "disturbed"
September 24th, 2013 at 9:59 PM ^
In my opinion you did nothing wrong... Just a lot of kettles in here calling the pot black because one kid took offense to a harmless comment. We walk on eggshells now. Brave new world.
September 25th, 2013 at 4:20 PM ^
Absolutely. The kid does look young. Just like Jeremy Gallon looked like Snoop from the wire. The only difference is only one of them took offense on twitter
September 25th, 2013 at 2:49 AM ^
Agreed. When I saw the OP I was expecting much much worse than he looks young.
September 25th, 2013 at 7:56 AM ^
should have been worded a little differently by the OP, maybe, "Hey, some kids read this, let's make sure to always be respectful going forward", which would have worked better than calling people out for saying someone looks young. That does seem silly. I think especially after the last two weeks, people have been just brutal to others on here. And it has not been constructive criticism.
September 27th, 2013 at 12:07 PM ^
Without getting in to my personal feelings about whether or not these posts should exist, whether Brown is a good guy, etc..
Someone suggested disabling comments on these posts. That is absolutely a good suggestion. Calling a kid 'young' is hardly the worst thing that could be posted. The kids can and will interpret comments in a negative way. They could view the article and comments at any time, perhaps seeing something before a mod has a chance to get rid of it.
Alternative: mods approve comments on these posts before they go live. That's still dangerous - will mods even know to remove a post that ends up offending a kid? Prior to Savage's negative twitter reaction, would a post like 'he looks young!' have drawn any attention whatsoever?
September 24th, 2013 at 10:07 PM ^
Amen. This is a giant issue with me as well. When did not respecting others and blatantly criticizing people, despite having zero intimate knowledge of a situation, become acceptable?
September 24th, 2013 at 10:18 PM ^
When did ... blatantly criticizing people, despite having zero intimate knowledge of a situation, become acceptable?
Have you read a UFR?
September 25th, 2013 at 1:27 PM ^
I agree with this. I, for one, would appreciate the banhammer being used more often to preserve civility. Some of the people that have come into this community are downright vile, the kind of people who tweet "f off and die" at famous people.
September 24th, 2013 at 8:05 PM ^
Yikes......Glad he posted this. THESE ARE KIDS. THERE IS MORE TO LIFE THAN FOOTBALL.
September 24th, 2013 at 8:48 PM ^
Then maybe we shouldn't be interviewing them and obsessing over them...
September 24th, 2013 at 10:08 PM ^
You equate interviewing with exploitation? Then I suppose we should eliminate TV, radio, newspaper, and magazine reporting on any sport involving minors.
September 24th, 2013 at 10:27 PM ^
And your comment in no way addresses his about it just being a game and they're kids.
So if one is true they both are. And I wouldn't eliminate any of that. Except maybe doing it without an adult's permission. That you'd reasonably expect a police officer to go through you but not some Internet stranger seems really off to me.
September 25th, 2013 at 1:01 AM ^
Bingo.
September 24th, 2013 at 8:06 PM ^
Wait, why is this policy only limited to recruits? Why is it okay when goddamn half of this very blog insults the team (player X sucks, player y should be cut)? Does something magically happen in between high school and college where people stop caring what people think about them?
September 24th, 2013 at 8:18 PM ^
I would agree that insulting players is not okay, but I think constructive crticism with evidence on why one player could/should be played over another should be fine. The problem is people often times let their emotions take control of their posts, especially on game day probably because of having too much to drink.
However, I think that a no warning perma ban for "Wow gardner sucks." after he throws a pick in a game would probably be a bit much.
September 24th, 2013 at 8:19 PM ^
LOL, constructive criticism?! You think any players would read mgoblog for pointers on what to improve on? Go look at a UFR and do a search for a word like 'terrible' and pay attention to what to said. Most of the comments are no where close to constructive criticism.
September 24th, 2013 at 8:43 PM ^
Looking at the Akron Offense UFR myself, most of the comments at least provide reasoning to their assessment. The negative comments are usually based in the UFR (For example Brian's assessment of Fitz and Miller). While the large portion of comments aren't necessarily rooted clear obvervation and analysis, they aren't completely baseless.
Though I do agree the comments are largely negative.
September 24th, 2013 at 8:36 PM ^
Glad you said it!! The way some of the blog members talked about Devin the last couple of weeks really got up under my skin and I hate to lose just as much as anyone. As if he's all of a sudden forgotten how to play football and become a terrible person since the ND game. People need to get their heads on straight.
September 24th, 2013 at 8:46 PM ^
The age of 18.
September 24th, 2013 at 8:50 PM ^
You understand that some true freshman in college can be 18 right?
September 24th, 2013 at 8:57 PM ^
So it's ok to insult them when they're seniors in high school?
September 24th, 2013 at 9:20 PM ^
is to do something (usually ban right away) anything that goes outside the scope of the game. "Gardner fucking shit the bed tonight" isn't something I would post, and it's not pleasant to see 39483948 of those comments in the game threads, but it is providing some sort of opinion on his performance on that big grass rectangle. Anything like slinging personal insults or demeaning a player's character gets mod attention.
September 24th, 2013 at 9:30 PM ^
Take whatever position you want on that piece, but even if you thought it was all of those things it's kind of unfair to expect mods to take down front page posts, no?
September 24th, 2013 at 9:36 PM ^
That was pretty obviously a criticism not of the mods but of the folks responsible for making the editorial decisions about the front page.
September 24th, 2013 at 9:41 PM ^
Listen, I think it's a little odd that we care this much about a Michigan recruit's feelings while utterly trashing a recruit that (for a while) was going to go to MSU. You don't see the possibility of looking a little hypocritical there?
September 24th, 2013 at 9:44 PM ^
I see exactly what your point is, but I just don't find it relevant to my reply. I had assumed the original comments were in regards to comments and board posts, and tried to write something that explained my thinking on it. If you and others were referring to front page comment then it's my reply that was irrevelant.
September 24th, 2013 at 10:32 PM ^
DFW - The remastered Vapor Trails comes out next Monday. Don't forget to order it.
September 24th, 2013 at 10:38 PM ^
Are you kidding me right now?! I've always hoped that would be remastered since anyone with ears can't listen to it without getting a headache.
Man, you made this entire thread (for me at least)!
September 24th, 2013 at 10:03 PM ^
The magic is they sign their LOI. Once that's done, its open season.
/stopping now, before I get banned. Bunch of hypocrisy on these boards.
September 24th, 2013 at 8:11 PM ^
If you insult kids who are just sophomores in high school, you need to reevaluate your life. Especially if you are a parent yourselves. I'm a freshmen in college and much closer to these kids age brackets and you don't see me bad mouthing them. Y'all need to get a grip.
September 24th, 2013 at 8:13 PM ^
What a bummer.
We should have a similar but less stringent policy for current student-athletes as well. I still feel guilty about a comment I made saying Jack Miller didn't look like strong enough given his weight.