Definitely On Topic: OT Posts

Submitted by Raback Omaba on

These OT posts are getting a little too out of hand now. I know the season is over and everything, but can we reel them in a little bit?

I mean, c'mon - posts about your dog's anal infection or taco bell commercials don't do much to enhance the MGoBlog experience........

Brian?

jtmc33

January 6th, 2010 at 9:54 AM ^

Best thing about posts that are titled "OT" is that it gives everyone notice that it is not football/UM related. And, therefore, the reader has an informed choice whether to read it knowing full well it is not "on topic".

So, don't read them if they bother you.

What you actucally did with your OP is write an "OT" bitching about "OT".

It's like screaming in a crowded riot "EVERYONE NEEDS TO SETTLE THE FUCK DOWN FOR CHRIST'S SAKE... WE"RE ALL GOING TO DIE!!!!"

Counter-productive.

EDIT: I personally am not a big fan of the "OT" posts; however, I am a big fan of this board and it seems that 75% of members either post "OT" or enjoy reading them. So, I think the "don't read it if you don't like it" argument is fitting for OT

EZMIKEP

January 6th, 2010 at 9:57 AM ^

except for the fact that there are so many OT post each week cluttering the board that it takes up too much space. Im not in a huff, just making a very valid point. Your dogs anus has no place on here. I totally agree with the OP. There has to be a bit of pressure applied to people posting about their wife's awful cooking.

jtmc33

January 6th, 2010 at 10:08 AM ^

First of all, I don't have a dog.
Socondly, my dog Patches was hit by a car when I was 10 and you just made me sad thinking about him.
And C, I agree that clutter is annoying and has increased since the season ended.

Obviously, the solution is to be selective when posting "OT." And/or, don't post drunk.

StephenRKass

January 6th, 2010 at 9:47 AM ^

Please put up posts on recruiting, Basketball, Hockey, UM, Olympic Sports, alum in the pros, Big 10, local pro teams, but some of the OT stuff is way OT.

The standard disclaimer is always, "If you don't like it, don't read it." True enough. But the OT posts clutter up MGoBoard so much that it is a pain to scroll down to relevant posts. There may be something I'm doing wrong: I see 8 - 12 posts on MGoBoard's front page, and have to use the arrow to go to past pages. Every time I exit a post, I automatically go back to pg. 1, making it a pain to go back to an older page again. Not only that, if posts were around pp. 1 - 2, there could be 1 post about whether Denard is enrolling early or not, 1 post about Vinopal's stars, one post about Grimes, etc., etc., instead of multiple posts on the same topic, every two - three pages.

"Get off my lawn, punk."

03 Blue 07

January 6th, 2010 at 12:22 PM ^

You can navigate the board by clicking on the "MGoBoard" link at the very top of the site's homepage, just below the "MGoBlog" banner and to the right, between "MGoStore" and "Useful Stuff." It takes you to http://mgoblog.com/mgoboard and you can navigate the Board in a different way there, which has the posts ranked in order of most recently commented on first, and so on- for navigating the MGoBoard, it is better. (Though I admit, I don't use it myself- I do the same thing you do and click on the little box to the right if I see something interesting). But this other way to navigate is an option if you are so inclined.

Zonereadstretch

January 6th, 2010 at 1:25 PM ^

"StephenRKass;" Maybe I’m misinterpreting your gripe, as you state you only see 8-12 posts on the board’s front page, and have to use the arrow key to go to past pages…but I ask then; what do you do during the season? There's way more posts during the football season, than they are now. During football season traffic to the site is at its apex, and I for one have scrolled a good 3-4 pages just to keep up with everything that was posted that day. Filter out the OT posts from then and I’d tend to think I’d still be scrolling at least 2-3 pages. Now during the offseason I’d be hard pressed to say I’ve had to scroll more than a page and ½ unless I took a small hiatus from the board. Granted the OT posts are more prevalent this time of year, due to everyone's boredom, but so are recruiting posts. All in all I’d have to say during the offseason Brian isn’t going to be turning away visits to the site by limiting posts be it on or off topic.

EZMIKEP

January 6th, 2010 at 9:51 AM ^

And I tend not to be very picky about stuff. I could care less if someone posts about other sports or has something to talk about that is extremely newsworthy and is looking at the MGO community for input, but anything about dogs anuses or BS like that is simply a waste of space & not something to post on here. There are a MILLION forums, chats etc. etc. on the net. Use them, not MGBLOG.

03 Blue 07

January 6th, 2010 at 12:14 PM ^

I see what a lot of the "This OT shit is getting way out-of-hand" crowd is saying. I think the suggestion that we have an "OT" and "non-OT" section is the best way to go. Honestly, I, for one, respect the people on this board. For the most part, they are intelligent and somewhat rational, many times are alums of the same University as I, and, therefore, if I had a question that needed some group input, I wouldn't know where else to go on the internet. Yes, I realize, that's what asking friends/people is for. But at least for me, this is the only "online community" or whatever I participate in. The "OT" stuff is part of what gives this place its charm, and, in some ways, it gives it a net increase in utility to me- I've learned stuff (probably more than I realize) from the "OT" posts.

All I am saying is that this site has evolved to the point where I find the "OT" stuff sometimes informative, as well as sometimes interesting, and don't have a problem with it. The "don't read it if you don't care/see 'OT'" argument is valid as well.

I do agree that I really didn't like seeing a headline about a dog's anal infection, though.

BigBlue02

January 6th, 2010 at 4:04 PM ^

Shouldn't "off topic" be "off topic?" Just because you don't like it doesn't mean that there isn't a dog's ass sniffing fetishist out there who didn't love it. What if Brian's childhood dream was to become a vet and he is fascinated by the topic. What happens if I hate Randy Johnson and I can't stand to look at a thread with his name on it? Does that mean the "Big Unit retiring" thread should be taken down because I hate it?

dmblue

January 6th, 2010 at 9:59 AM ^

Another idea is break up the mgoboard into on and off topic sections

One way to show this on the main page would be to incorporate an OT tab next to or instead of New/Popular/Hot

Zonereadstretch

January 6th, 2010 at 1:33 PM ^

"dmblue;" Good suggestion and I think this solution has come up in the past, probably around the same time last year. Not that I'm opposed to it in anyway, but I feel most of the community would still click on the "OT" tab after viewing the "New" tab simply b/c there's not enough info to address our fixations with UM during this time of year, so by default we'd look into the OT tab b/c we enjoy the board so much. Guess I just feel while this is a viable solution for all those up in arms about "OT" posts, in more ways than one I see it being a wasted step.

NHWolverine

January 6th, 2010 at 9:57 AM ^

It's the offseason so I very little issue with OT posts, but sure sometimes people use an MGoBoard post as a substitute for googling something or reading consumer reviews.

I know it would be a nightmare for the mods and probably a hassle to build in Drupal but I think it would be neat to have 2 boards - the MGoBoard and the OT-MGoBoard.

Big_G

January 6th, 2010 at 10:06 AM ^

Been lurking here for years but only started to post recently but the OT posts arent a big deal to me as long as they are labeled "OT" beforehand. I think that people need to remember that this board and website has grown from just a Michigan-centric site to something that is growing into a website still focused on Michigan related topics but to a lot of us, MGoBlog is now a way to meet people and interact with them on a social level. To some of us who havent started their own blog or signed up on Facebook, this site probably encompasses one of the social interactions we all have in our day-to-day lives. How many posters here now are well known, and respected people whose opinions do matter in the realm of this board? Sure its for the most part strictly in regards to Michigan-related issues, but if you grow to respect someone's responses well enough on one topic or a range of topics, its not a stretch to me to see these same well respected people relied upon to bring their views and opinions on topics ranging decidingly non-Michigan, in other words Off-Topic.

Raback Omaba

January 6th, 2010 at 10:31 AM ^

I agree that OT posts give me the opportunity to decide whether or not I want to read them, but there are way to many OT posts.

Bottom line is, OT or not, a canine anal infection has no place on MGoBlog, On or Off Topic.

Huntington Wolverine

January 6th, 2010 at 11:15 AM ^

So how do you purpose distinguishing between "OT" and "so far OT that I have no business posting this"?

I think Brian's parameters leave a lot of leeway intentionally because sharing other aspects of life helps solidify the overall community on here.

I, for one, saw the "OT" noticed the key words, "anal infection" and decided to go back to pretending to work without reading the thread.

evenyoubrutus

January 6th, 2010 at 10:32 AM ^

is not that actual off-topic posts are going up on the board (which I could care less about) but the fact that many posts labeled "OT" are not actually off-topic. That was addressed by Brian on the board and seemed to have no effect.

So I would rather see any post that is labeled "OT" that isn't actually off-topic deleted until people get a hold of themselves rather than reeling in posts that are actually off-topic.

Noahdb

January 6th, 2010 at 10:33 AM ^

If they were displacing something you actually CAME here to read, I could see the problem. In about three weeks, there will be all kinds of stuff to read as we approach NSD, basketball season gets going hot and heavy and the NFL playoffs come to a close.

On January 6 though?? It's a dead-period for recruiting, conference play in basketball hasn't quite gotten caught fire, and nothing's happening yet in the NFL.

What information are you being denied? The Taco Bell topic is up over 60 replies and the "My Dog's Butthole" topic is up over 20 replies. There's obviously SOME interest.

lbpeley

January 6th, 2010 at 11:05 AM ^

From what I can see on my page there's four of ten OT on the board now. I go back a page and there's three of ten. The next two pages have none. I only looked for an "OT" on the title - not if the post was actually OT or not - except for the Denise one. That's seven out of forty. Not exactly a shit ton. There's far more OT topics that are immensely entertaining over ones that suck donkey balls.
The dog one was a train wreck that I couldn't take my eyes off of. There seemed to be a fair number of people responding to it and they had no problems.
Sometimes there's a little too much sensitivity to OT vs "on topic" here. It's the off-season. If we only allowed "on topic" things we wouldn't have near the traffic or entertainment value here.

iawolve

January 6th, 2010 at 11:18 AM ^

of interest, its ok. I was wondering about Taco Bell chick myself last night since I have never, ever seen her. Your dog's butt, balls, etc do not qualify unless he was on TV during the game or played in it like a Disney movie. Posting about your child's first words coming during a M game, needing a high five for nailing your girlfriend while watching M play football, fine, have at it. Outside of some relation to sports or it being really hilarious, this starts to look like the Rivals board.

mgowin

January 6th, 2010 at 11:27 AM ^

I go to work to be productive. I go to bed to be reproductive. I go to MGOBLOG to read about UM sports AND things that are funny and WAY off topic. Keep the OT Denise type posts coming please.

GRBluefan

January 6th, 2010 at 11:55 AM ^

I come here not only to learn about all things michigan, but also to be entertained. I think that the OT posts provide approximately 90% of the humor on this board, and therefore they are fine by me. No sugarcoat.

SysMark

January 6th, 2010 at 12:49 PM ^

The OTs don't really bother me. However sometimes there are so many, both OT and otherwise trivial, it obscures the ones that actually have some relevance. It used to be you could come back to a post you read the day before pretty quickly - now you have to scroll back through 5+ pages.

Some restraint would probably be a good thing. Creating an OT section is actually not a bad idea.

Colt McBaby Jesus

January 6th, 2010 at 12:43 PM ^

YOU CANNOT COMPLAIN ABOUT CLUTTER!! READING CLUTTER IS AVOIDABLE, THEREFOR ASKING PEOPLE NOT TO INCREASE THE CLUTTER MAKES YOU AN ASSHOLE! Seriously, I tried asking a poster to stop saying "thanks for the post" and was negged over 100 points. Not that I care about the points, but it just goes to show that everyone else is apparently not bothered by it, and so to be bothered by it makes you an ass.

Steve Levy Sucks

January 6th, 2010 at 12:59 PM ^

a thread that that says 'Stuff not important enough to get its own thread' and then every one can post all of their off topic stuff there. It's really a simple fix. When a topic in that thread starts to get a lot of discussion, a MOD can break it off and put it in its own thread. This happens all over the internet

Clarence Beeks

January 6th, 2010 at 1:45 PM ^

After reading all of these posts, one obvious problem with a lot of posters is the lack using the "MGOBOARD" link (http://mgoblog.com/mgoboard) instead of the scrolling option on the front page. MGoBoard has 8 OT topics that show up out of 50 threads. If you just look at the front page version, yes, there is a lot of OT topics, but in reality there really isn't that many.

M-Wolverine

January 6th, 2010 at 7:44 PM ^

....I feel that most of it doesn't pollute my eyes as much as the OP writing "FUCK BRAYLON EDWARDS" 135 times in 3 threads...

imablue

January 6th, 2010 at 9:55 PM ^

I had a slight debate on another blog with an
OSU fan, and I asked that he lift his dog's
tail and it would be just as though he was
looking in the mirror. That's why I clicked
on the the post. I thought it would be sarcastic.
Sorry about your dog.