Mgoboarders on unreadability

Submitted by CarrIsMyHomeboy on
My God, people. Elitism is one thing, and--in the right (read: self-aware) doses--it can actually be cute. This board-flagellation over misorganization/du-/triplication of threads isn't cute, though. It's depressing and old-hat, fellas. It is a nice idea in moderation (who doesn't like some reasonable streamlining, after all?), but--my God!--Mgoblog is badly overdosing on the idea of each of us being a manilla-folder-post-filing secretary. And with the board growing--with new and unfamiliar members filing in in droves--the self-hate and neighbor-hate grows proportionally. It's lame. It's so lame, in fact, that it's even lamer than this post of mine** about how lame it is, which is really lame. **which, I'm certain, is a du-/triplicate of some other misanthropically self-absorbed "look how cool and smart I am because I can tell you certain things about this board suck" thread. [/rant] [initiate negbangs]

Beavis

March 14th, 2010 at 7:14 PM ^

I am by no means a message board monger or anything like that - but MGoBlog does a pretty good job policing itself. The complaining isn't going to get anything fixed - if anything you're just adding to the clutter.

Magnus

March 14th, 2010 at 7:14 PM ^

I think it helps keep things in line. People who "double post" things now actually search for a topic first, even if they don't find it. Also, the post earlier that was titled "This would be interesting to say the least" or something like that (which was actually about holding the spring game at night) was silly and should be mocked. There's a reason newspaper headlines don't say "This is really interesting!" or "Something exciting happened!"

CarrIsMyHomeboy

March 14th, 2010 at 7:18 PM ^

Magnus, I'm not disagreeing with that. I don't; I agree. The Mgoboard page itself is nice-n-neat. But at what cost? Half of the threads to which it links are mired in commentary and apologies about breaking rules, not breaking rules, thinking about breaking rules, and fey apologies for breaking rules. That isn't fun, either. I wish there was a way to wave a wand and find a happy medium. There isn't, of course.

BlockM

March 14th, 2010 at 7:30 PM ^

I don't think the cost outweighs the results in this situation. If a post is a repeat of something that's already been discussed, and those involved are sane, it will contain three replies: 1) Someone saying "3... 2... 1..." 2) Someone linking to the original relevant thread. 3) The original poster saying "Whoops, my bad. Sorry about that." All is well, no harm done. Imagine for a moment what would happen if no one policed anything... Every time an article is written, an event happens, etc. there would be a dozen posts about it and we'd have to wade through it all and try to decide which thread is most worthy of the actual discussion. It's a little frustrating at times reading through post after post of "THIS IS A REPEAT THREAD!!!" but that only happens when someone is just way too anal about it. Double posting happens, it's policed, no big deal.

CarrIsMyHomeboy

March 14th, 2010 at 7:35 PM ^

I think my greatest implied complaint is that I come here for the thing this board better provides than any other CFB board I've found: wit. (Anyone out there well respond to flattery? Huh? Huh?) I'd argue there's a lesser proportion of wit on board these days than there was 2ish years ago. And, yes, I understand that the reason for that (if true at all) is multifactorial. For instance, the mass immigration of newcomers newly aware of the board meets the criteria for being one of that reason's factors. Still, it seems the policemen of the board are the board's aboriginals--the witty ones who were here from the beginning. And it strikes me that, today, they spend less time on witticism and more time policing. That's disappointing. It's hard to find room for wit when you're reading-eyes or typing-fingers are constantly rubbing figurative elbows with soliloquies and apologies regarding the substancelessness of not doubleposting. I understand that many disagree with me; I respect those opinions and feel the way I do in spite of them. That's all, I guess.

UMFootballCrazy

March 14th, 2010 at 9:06 PM ^

The Dyslexics that I know can actually spell. And I know how to write a date. I simply aberviated Brian's own 2008-06-30 into 08-06-30. But, I suppose, whilst looking for cheep +1s, you thought you could score and easy zinger. You should be very proud of yourself. Not to mention, its no longer cool these days to use someone's disability to make fun of a person.

Zone Left

March 14th, 2010 at 8:27 PM ^

The internal policing is a lot better than having 50 threads after each big event. Besides, this creates an atmosphere where people who are more self-aware and interesting get rewarded, which is an incentive to post new, interesting content. This community is also the only serious college football board that doesn't routinely fall into angry name-calling after each bad event. It often tries, but the system seems to stop it.

WildcatBlue

March 14th, 2010 at 7:42 PM ^

Minimum points to post should be bumped from 20 to 50 or 100. There has been serious inflation in the MGoPoint market, such that a single somewhat funny reply will often bump a newbie into posting rights territory*. Or there could be a combo threshold, factoring both points and time elapsed since joining. Not sure how complicated that would be to implement. *Full disclosure: as a poster who never ever posts anything substantive I am a chief beneficiary of this inflation. Edit: I just had a migraine, so I'm not thinking clearly. My post assumed that most duplicate threads were created by noobs, which is obviously not true. But still I'm serious about the inflation.

Tater

March 14th, 2010 at 7:44 PM ^

I have mixed emotions about duplicate threads, but I sure am glad we have some grammar, punctuation, and white space police here. It helps seperate us from boards like RCMB. There might be friction from time to time, but this is usually the most readable of any message board I have seen.

bronxblue

March 14th, 2010 at 8:01 PM ^

Rarely does the policing reach the level of LOUD NOISES! anger you see most places. Sure, sometimes multiple duplicates posts receive some angry follow-ups, but for the most part the community keeps the site clean and moving pretty efficiently.

Don

March 14th, 2010 at 8:07 PM ^

As long as it doesn't morph into self-abuse, we'll be OK. And a "manilla-folder-post-filing secretary" would be a welcome addition around here. My office is a mess.

1972cuda440

March 14th, 2010 at 8:46 PM ^

I found something interesting last week about OSU and spring practice. But, i'm sick of all the a-holes on this board giving me neg points. now i'm like f-u find it on your own!

CarrIsMyHomeboy

March 15th, 2010 at 1:58 AM ^

I happen to like myself a lot. The self-'bang felt good--symbolically (striken by a sense of being alone with these feelings). Take this however seriously/offensively you wish.