META: A surrender in the battle for nice things

Submitted by BiSB on

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

MGoBoard

ken725

November 11th, 2012 at 3:46 PM ^

Thanks for the work you put in.  Hopefully you still post here, but I understand you will be busy now.

Hopefully we can find a good mod to replace you.  If I were a mod, I would be giving out so many neg bombs.

Joined: 10/26/2008

MGoPoints: 32857

a2_electricboogaloo

November 11th, 2012 at 4:59 PM ^

Although this is a good idea, it could be exploited.  Some posters have serial-negbangers—a person who downvotes them repeatedly no matter what, despite having generally high quality posts.  This would then give a poster essentially the ability to silence someone they don't like, by removing a large chunk of their points, and if they are extremely persistent remove all their points and make them unable to start threads.

Joined: 04/21/2011

MGoPoints: 9660

Feat of Clay

November 11th, 2012 at 6:50 PM ^

It could also kill dissenting voices on emotional topics, and that's not good.  A bunch of riled-up mgobloggers could essentially silent a voice of reason.

I'm thinking about the Demar Dorsey situation as one example.  There was a staggering amount of mis-information flying around and people were pretty heated up.  I could easily imagine the Director of Admissions himself coming in to post useful, factual stuff (not that he would, but suspend disbelief for a moment) that would correct the prevailing view--and immediately being stripped of hundreds of points in the heat of the moment.

Joined: 08/10/2009

MGoPoints: 3759

LSA Aught One

November 12th, 2012 at 9:31 AM ^

and I disagree.  While both your and A2's points are very valid, they are the outlier scenarios I think.  I know that people tend to pile on from time to time, however I don't think it has ever progressed to the point where it would destroy somebody's account. Here are a few thoughts:

  • The most offensive threads usually get about 50-80 downvotes.  This is perfect, because it will discourage someone from posting something stupid/offensive/inappropriate/misdirected after working so hard to accumulate 500 points.

 

  • While there are people who make a concerted effort to downvote specific others whenever possible, the threshold of 500 would require someone to have been around for a long enough time to be able to vote.  I would hope that this person would have learned to not be an asshole by that point.  If not, mods could handle that type of situation on a one-off basis.

 

  • In general, the long time posters (1,000 points+) have a good grasp on the rules.  With the 500+ rule, these people would essentially do the moderating with their individual votes.  This would essentially create a trusted user status as determined by your peers.  If you are willing to spend the time to earn the points, they will know you well enough to trust you.

 

  • In relation to your point about being the voice of reason and getting slammed by a group of trolls, that would likely not happen as much.  Upon accumulating 500 points, most people have realized that this is not a place to come simply to bitch.  The likelihood of multiple 500+ users getting cranky and piling on is slim and with the reduced number of people eligible to vote, the damage would be much less.

 

Joined: 08/24/2011

MGoPoints: 28255

Two Hearted Ale

November 11th, 2012 at 3:47 PM ^

Will you give me a pile of unearned points?  Think of it like a Presidential pardon.  Yeah, those guys are totally guilty but they gave a bunch of money to the campaign and you aren't running again anyway.

PS.  Bringing back the old point system might prevent a future moderator meltdown.  Let us police each other.  We won't abuse it...I swear.  

Joined: 06/10/2011

MGoPoints: 1773

SAvoodoo

November 11th, 2012 at 3:50 PM ^

This wouldn't have happened if Rich Rod were still the coach...

 

seriously though, thanks for everything.  Always enjoyed you're mod'ing.  good luck with the little one.

Joined: 01/10/2010

MGoPoints: 3841

Wendyk5

November 11th, 2012 at 4:04 PM ^

Maybe it's not the board. Maybe it's living in South Bend. I can't imagine being there this season is easy. Also, maybe you're experiencing a sympathy hormone surge from your wife's pregnancy. In any event, best of luck on the birth, and hopefully your reasonable ways will be back after the baby is sleeping through the night. You're going to need an escape. Trust me. 

Joined: 11/20/2008

MGoPoints: 67469

Njia

November 11th, 2012 at 4:28 PM ^

So you're saying you don't expect to see him until sometime after March Madness, when the baby weighs about 12 lbs (give or take)? Personally, I suspect it will be much earlier ... Like during those 3 AM feedings when his choices for entertainment are either MGoBlog or TV ads for Extenze. 

Joined: 09/15/2009

MGoPoints: 35773

a2_electricboogaloo

November 11th, 2012 at 4:01 PM ^

BiSB, You've consistently been one of my favorite posters on the board since I've started coming here a couple years back. I'm sad to see you go, but at the same time, I absolutely understand where you're coming from (especially with a kid on the way). The board has been infuriating in the last few days, and I'm sure that's been hell for the Mods. I hope you still comment here/maintain some sort of presence, rather than doing a full TomVH-esque disappearance. I just wanted to thank you for all you've done for the community in your time here. Best of luck, Bisbiño.

Joined: 04/21/2011

MGoPoints: 9660

snoopblue

November 11th, 2012 at 3:53 PM ^

As mgoblog becomes more popular, you have to expect more idiots to register and post. Obviously it's annoying as shit, especially after games, but that is the beauty of the forum. I kind of enjoy stupid posts and their OPs getting ripped to shreds. It deters future stupid posts. (You would think, right?) So my question is why do those posts get locked? Do they consume way too much bandwidth for a very unnecessary reason?

Whatever the case, thank you for your moderating and wish you the best.

Joined: 11/11/2009

MGoPoints: 2126

aaamichfan

November 11th, 2012 at 3:54 PM ^

This makeup of this board is 25% incredibly intelligent individuals, and 75% people whose reasoning skills make me fear for society(many of which claim to be Michigan students and alumni). I've always wondered why the 25% bend over backwards to be cordial to the 75%.

Joined: 10/23/2009

MGoPoints: 14362

BlockM

November 11th, 2012 at 3:54 PM ^

Also, I'd like to take this opportunity to shamelessly plug my Ultra-MGoBoard Chrome Extension. It's linked in my signature, and will let you hide any posters you want so you never have to see their ridiculous comments. Works pretty well if I do say so myself, I haven't seen anything from about 30 posters for quite a while.

Joined: 07/03/2008

MGoPoints: 40711

HHW

November 11th, 2012 at 3:56 PM ^

Don't blame you.

I've started visiting less and less over the season.  But that's equal part other members and Brian worried about music, matching away jerseys, and the "why don't we try Bellomy" meme early in the season.

It's Brady's second season and he's 18-5.  I'll take that without all the bitching.

Joined: 10/26/2008

MGoPoints: 7777

hart20

November 11th, 2012 at 4:03 PM ^

I hope you do, I'm pretty sure that I laugh at just about everything that you post. If not, I hope you reconsider, but best of luck to you and your family and your lawyering ways.

Joined: 05/25/2011

MGoPoints: 5692

mejunglechop

November 11th, 2012 at 4:00 PM ^

Congrats on the kid. Sorry to see you go. The mods in general do a fantastic job. I don't think the board is what it used to be, but it still sure beats the Scout free board.

Joined: 07/09/2008

MGoPoints: 6618

MGoStrength

November 11th, 2012 at 4:04 PM ^

To be honest I am a new member so I have no clue who you are.  But, I really enjoy being on this board and having the chance to communicate with other Michigan fans.  It sucks being a UM fan living in CT....all I hear about are the Jets, Giants, and Patriots...they don't even like the college version here...it's awful.  Anyways, I hate to see anyone go because of the negative attitudes of the board.  One the one hand, it's terribly difficult to watch the team you love struggle repeatedly and not voice that frustration.  It takes a lot of patience and maturity not to let your emotions speak.  However, I like most, have allowed that to happen many times.  I can only imagine that has taken place more in the last 5 years than in the previous 20 (not sure how long this board has been up).  But, I would just ask that you try to have a positive attitude while remembering that often times when people do stupid stuff, it's often the same thing we'd do in their situation.  That doesn't make it any better, but it does make us human.  We all show love, pride, and support as well as frustration, dissapointment, and hatred.

Joined: 07/29/2010

MGoPoints: 20002