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 8:14 PM ^
Wow, Brian finally saying something about the rapidly growing douchiness of the MGoBlog userbase, but only when it directly hurts his product. Guess what, this has been a long time coming, ever since you got rid of the ability of us to self-moderate. I'm honestly surprised you didn't step in earlier, as this board becomes more and more of a dump and transitions into MLive 2.0. I'm sure I'm not the only older (and I didn't even come from the Haloscan days) user who frequents it less and less, as the inanity, vitriol, and douch-level has exponentially taken off in the last few years.
September 24th, 2013 at 8:16 PM ^
-1 Flaimbait, oh wait can't even do that. :(
September 24th, 2013 at 8:20 PM ^
The lack of self-moderation is key. It's been a free-for-all in these parts ever since that system went away a few weeks ago. I've been going over to r/CFB for a much healthier, friendlier, collegial discussion of college football, and it has been a breath of fresh air.
September 24th, 2013 at 8:31 PM ^
Absolutely. It has rapidly surpassed MGoBlog for me for that exact reason.
September 24th, 2013 at 8:49 PM ^
September 24th, 2013 at 10:24 PM ^
There are some seriously funny people over there. Even the Buckeyes over there make me laugh more often than not. Like this guy from the first half of the UConn game: http://www.reddit.com/r/CFB/comments/1mv5bn/game_thread_15_michigan_uco…
September 24th, 2013 at 8:27 PM ^
September 24th, 2013 at 8:42 PM ^
I was about to go off, thinking about all the dumb crap i read on the net and how a lot of people dont understand the difference between opinion and facts anymore and how i cant visit most sites because of it. Then I seen your pic, the "Truffle Shuffle" and everythings good again.
September 24th, 2013 at 8:54 PM ^
I don't know. Sometimes the comments are really good, comments from the UFR posts and picture pages are about as good as it gets on the internet. The only time the comments on here are awful is gamedays when it turns into RCMB 2.0. Go look at some of the posts from Saturday, a good 20-30 people should've been banned for what they said. The front page content and diaries are still fantastic, though.
September 24th, 2013 at 9:09 PM ^
Game days are pretty bad, and that's nothing new. This weekend was even worse than usual, probably because it was a night game. I think the quality of the commentary would probably be a lot better if people could try to refrain from commenting on the game until they've had a chance to watch a replay of it sober.
But that's asking a lot. Never mind....
September 24th, 2013 at 8:56 PM ^
It's been a cesspool.
September 24th, 2013 at 9:17 PM ^
It was actiually just a few days ago I realized that there seemed to be more flamebait/trolling within comments on MGoblog. I feel like everythread I scroll down I run into a 20 comment back forth between two douchebags about a topic that becomes a complete tangent from the original post. Then I remembered, back when we could moderate, those conversations would have been hidden, grayed, and marked as flamebait/trolling. I could scroll past and ignore.
It is frustraiting me, because everytime I glance at them, I get angry. So you're not alone in feeling alienated from this site as a result.
September 24th, 2013 at 9:33 PM ^
You wouldn't think that having that gray bar would help SO. DAMN. MUCH. but it really does.
September 24th, 2013 at 9:31 PM ^
I could not agree more.
September 24th, 2013 at 11:57 PM ^
Wild West then. It's that again.
September 25th, 2013 at 12:47 AM ^
Been around since the Horror and I definitely agree. The comments on the board are getting ridiculous.
September 24th, 2013 at 8:14 PM ^
Been frustrated with lots of negative stuff about recruits & lots of complaining in general. Props to Brandon for being willing to make those calls & regardless of what happens, best of luck to him.
September 24th, 2013 at 8:23 PM ^
The teenage does look young. Maybe phrase it as he could get served for the 12 and under menu? This is pretty mild. Are you going to ban me if I say..Coach Hoke looks to be losing a little bit of weight? If he is offended by that comment are you regulating that comment? Maybe the issue is that this teenager is being exploited by the masses (including myself) for entertainment purposes and maybe instead of regulating speech we should stop having blog posts/articles about kids under 18?
September 24th, 2013 at 8:25 PM ^
We have free speech in America but doesn't mean you have free speech on MGoBlog (see terms of service). If you are a UM fan, do you really want to offend potential recruits & especially good recruits? Even from a selfish perspective, it doesn't do your cause any good to say negative things about recruits.
September 24th, 2013 at 8:25 PM ^
September 24th, 2013 at 9:08 PM ^
that matter except in your home? The speech police are coming. Uh oh, here they come now. Better be polite or else a very sensitive recruit will get offended or even worse that blogging site will lose football visitors. Shhhh. I better never be critical of a bball recruit like Vince Edwards who committed to Purdue. I said (please forgive me) that I wasn't that impressed with his game.
September 24th, 2013 at 10:22 PM ^
September 24th, 2013 at 10:25 PM ^
It isn't often I get to say this on MGoBlog, but your post is a great
September 24th, 2013 at 8:25 PM ^
You realize that this isn't a public forum to spew off whatever garbage you want to. It's owned by the (author) who can deny access to the site for whatever reason he chooses to. Free speech exists yes, but that doesn't mean that people shouldn't be banned for saying whatever they feel like.
September 24th, 2013 at 8:34 PM ^
Anyone complaining about "free speech" or the First Amendment has no idea what the First Amendment says (hint: the First Amendment requires government action).
I second the comment above that this place has turned into MLive. I miss Haloscan.
September 24th, 2013 at 8:47 PM ^
Perhaps you do not realize who the OP is? His blog his rules. Like it or GTFO. Go practice your free speach elsewhere.
September 24th, 2013 at 9:32 PM ^
Admittedly, some stuff gets missed but this blog is someone's property and not exactly a democracy (or as someone reminded me, it could be one except that it has a single voter). There are controls and precedents which are meant to at least mitigate the amount of detrimental speech, and rightfully so given the scope of this blog.
September 25th, 2013 at 12:19 PM ^
Your post isn't coherent enough for me to know what your point is, but free speech is not relevant here. This blog is Brian's property, so obviously he has every right to prevent someone else from coming over and taking a dump in his living room. I thought even the dullards had learned not to cry about freedom of speech at this point.
September 24th, 2013 at 8:22 PM ^
Having just now looked at that thread, I see nary an insult. In this thread, I see an over the top overreaction on the part of the MGoProprietor.
In the original thread, I see people making harmless comments about a kids age based on a photograph that...makes him look very young. God forbid someone says you look young, what a horrible insult! In this thread, I see terrible misrepresentations of what was said by MGoBrewMom, et al.
In the original thread, I see people debating, in a civil manner, whether or not contacting 16 year olds is appropriate. By the very fact that the recruit is, in Brian's words, "insulted" by innocuous age jokes gives some validity to the side of the argument that there should be some cutoff on reaching out to early-teens.
And if this post is somehow subject to a "crazy interpretation", well, it's been nice knowing y'all.
September 24th, 2013 at 9:24 PM ^
Your accusation of political correctness is so typical of folks who are faced with a opinion with which they they don't agree, yet are in no position of power in regards to the arena in which it is expressed. It's funny and sad, but mostly sad.
September 24th, 2013 at 9:55 PM ^
But if the wimminz and teh browns and teh gheys get equal treatment, that means they were taking it away from the manly white man's right to be a bigoted asshat and that is not fair!
September 25th, 2013 at 12:22 PM ^
That's twice now you've confused this blog with the United States of America. Are you eating paint chips right now?
September 24th, 2013 at 8:27 PM ^
I generally agree about your point about the misrepresentation of what posters on that thread were saying (I looked myself, too), but given the high possibility that comments could be misinterpreted by the interviewee, maybe just locking any interview threads is the best approach.
September 24th, 2013 at 8:35 PM ^
I think part of the issue is that people used a post documenting an interview with a recruit as a forum to get on a soapbox about the ethics of recruiting in general, and the impetus for doing so was the fact that the recruit happened to look pretty young in the picture of him that was posted.
I can see why Teryn might have taken that as an insult. MGoBlog posts recruiting stuff literally several times a week, and the time we pick to go off on a tear about whether recruiting isethical is right on the first post ever about this kid.
Newsflash: 16 year olds get ticked when you tell them they aren't old enough to be considered worthy of dealing with adults. And they have a point - especially ones like Teryn who are making some big decisions and being held responsible for those decisions in the public eye.
September 24th, 2013 at 8:44 PM ^
That's why I think comments should just be locked on interviews like this if Brian's concerned about recruits being insulted. That was, apart from the guy who made some hur dur comment about "if that was a girl," a reasonable conversation that arose organically about the ethics of the publicization of recruiting.
But I can also imagine how he would be insulted that his interview was the trigger for that conversation. Just lock the comments.
September 24th, 2013 at 9:04 PM ^
September 24th, 2013 at 8:46 PM ^
Wow, an excellent suggestion. Does every bit of content need its own comment thread?
September 24th, 2013 at 9:25 PM ^
I'm on the wagon. This is a great idea.
September 24th, 2013 at 8:28 PM ^
Concur.
September 24th, 2013 at 8:32 PM ^
+1, "Profiles In Cronyism" 2.0.
September 24th, 2013 at 8:37 PM ^
I agree for the most part, though I do think that comparing the recruit to your 10-year old daughter is not a wise move. Most young men would be offended by that.
September 24th, 2013 at 9:07 PM ^
September 24th, 2013 at 9:16 PM ^
watch it, you might get BANNED
September 24th, 2013 at 9:54 PM ^
September 25th, 2013 at 12:32 AM ^
September 24th, 2013 at 9:16 PM ^
I meant that you were comparing him in terms of age, not gender. And I agree he looks young. I don't think your comment was that bad.
September 24th, 2013 at 9:27 PM ^
September 24th, 2013 at 9:27 PM ^
I just read your comment, and I think this whole post by Brian is absurdly, uncharacteristically childish and irresponsible. MGoBlog publishing an interview with him is 1000x more to blame for his response than you essentially saying "he looks young."
I'm in complete agreement with Brian that we should be careful not to upset these kids, especially when they're so insanely young. Aside from disabling comments or not running the stories, I don't know how to do that, since it's so hard to predict what will upset a 14/15-year-old.
September 24th, 2013 at 10:02 PM ^
MGoBlog publishing an interview with him is 1000x more to blame for his response than you essentially saying "he looks young."
jesus crist, thank you!