Is NASO discouraging bulletin board discussions?
 

We all learn a lot and share a lot of valuable information on this and other bulletin board site. However, it appears NASO is discouraging using these type forums for play discussions that we encounter because of the ease in which others can access the information.

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NASO’s Board of Directors adopted the following social media guidelines for use by officials and organizations:
■ Consider social media communications as public at all times — even if created with private intentions. If you are going to use social media in any form, consider your communication may be read by anyone at anytime.

■ You represent the officiating industry, your associations, your assigners and your partners. Act accordingly.

■ Promote officiating in a positive light and with a general feeling of pride and professionalism. You are an ambassador for officiating.

■ You have a unique access to information. The same ethical restrictions that apply to any form of public speech also apply to social media. It is inappropriate to communicate specifics about your assignments,other officials, conferences/schools, coaches, players or any related personnel.

■ Do not engage in specific play and or ruling evaluation/commentary, whether it be of a game you worked, one that you witnessed or in general about the impact of officials in any sporting event.

■ Communications among officials for learning purposes should be done privately and not through the use of social media. Be mindful that email and other forms of direct communication can be made public.

■ Be very sparing in the sharing of your personal information, including photos. Adjust security settings accordingly. Reportfake profiles or posts to the appropriate authorities/governing bodies in atimely fashion.

■ Follow specific conference, school and/or governing body social media policies.

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I know that some here have no use for NASO because of the issue with this site and them a few years ago. That being said, bulletin boards are too valuable a tool to not use them. I feel NASO may need to have a "foul" called on this with the bullet item about play discussion. I do agree with the overall thought process that they are trying to instill (that of nothing is private on the internet).

I received a similar note from a different organization, I take it to mean a couple of things.

A. When posting to the forum, don't say, "I was working Green Bay East vs. Green Bay West, when the West Coach said, "you idiot....." - can you believe that guy, he's dumber than a box of rocks.

or

B. Post on Facebook, that Green Bay West coach is an idiot.

This boils down to common sense. The analogy that was used was, if you were going to go have a drink after the game, be careful that you are aware of your settings and your discussion as it might be overheard.

The forum is great, probably a good idea to keep the names, teams, etc. hidden from the discussion.

Interesting. I read something quite similar about a year ago ... different sport, different org. But VERY similar.

However, the one you highlighted was a bit different, in that it specified not to mention specific schools, dates, players, officials, coaches, AD's or other such identifiable data or personnel when discussing plays on sites like this.

This seems reasonable to me - the one you quote above from NASO does not. I wonder if they got their initial list from the other one I saw (or they both got from a common source), and then NASO specifically made this change.

Re: the highlighted point in the OP...so what will NASO "do" to those of us who do post a video that shows team names on uniforms or something like that, and then comment on a poor call made by the official in that game???

These are nice guidelines to follow, but that one is really sort of out in left field, IMHO.

Forget posting, this seems to make it unethical if someone discusses a play in a meeting and uses video as well.

I put little stock in what NASO says anyway as it relates to officiating. Yes they might be an organization that oversees the world of officiating, but they certainly have no say in what states to or follow unless they choose to adopt this stuff. And in this new world where video is shown all the time on social media or places where officials discuss video plays often. I think the way we discuss should be an issue, but certainly not just simply discussing plays or training officials. We should never publicly say that a coach is an idiot or cannot coach. In private conversations, well that is a different story.

Peace

That one bullet point seems heavy handed and incongruent with the tone of the rest of the document. I wonder if there is a specific incident that led NASO come down this way.

No Blind Official Jokes Please ...
 

Our local IAABO board secretary treasurer has been warning us against posting on social media for several years now. He gets his information from IAABO (International) conventions.

First of all this is a NASO document, not a TASO document.

Secondly they have no power to tell others what to do as it relates to social media or other forms of media for that matter. It is an interesting discussion point, but I would violate this directive in my basketball class that I teach every fall. And anyone that buys some of the videos from NASO as well would be in violation of this directive for sure.

Peace

As the directive specifically applies to social media, it would not apply to a class or instructional videos.

It does? The directive does not even use "Social Media" in their wording. It says that we should not engage in specific play and or ruling, evaluation/commentary.

I gave a presentation a few weeks ago called, "You make the call" and I went over all video and plays that have either been discussed here or video from games I have officiated. That did involve commentary, rulings and certainly involved specific plays. Even if my state came out and made this statement, I would take issue with them about such a stance. And my state seems to be in violation, because they give all the clinicians a DVD of plays and situations where officials did good and bad things at their State Finals. And the DVDs are to be used at LOAs to train the officiating community on proper mechanics and procedures involving specific situations and giving interpretations.

Peace

Rut, the entire thing is about social media and the interwebs.

Yes.

OK, good for them. They do not control what officials discuss or do not discuss. And yes officials will discuss and continue to discuss plays on social media and groups are already in place to discuss plays and situations that are on TV or personal videos of plays. Not going to change anything honestly.

Peace

Agreed.

"NASO’s Board of Directors adopted the following social media guidelines for use by officials and organizations:"

Reading is Fundamental.