Forum Ettiquette

[BktBallRef]

Originally Posted by BillyMac

Thank you. I put a lot of hard work, and I continue to put a lot of hard work, into that list. Wait? I'm being told ... What? Who? Hey Smitty. It was me, not BktBallRef.

Ah, no it wasn't. I wrote a series of articles called "Dispelling the Myth" before you even knew this forum existed.

Google Dispelling the Myth Tony Haire and you'll find them. They've been published on several different sites.

[BillyMac]

Originally Posted by BktBallRef

I wonder how long that lasted?

In reference to frequent (maybe more than frequent), off topic, images? It lasted a long time, and continues. Especially in terms of frequency.

[BillyMac]

Originally Posted by BktBallRef

Ah, no it wasn't. I wrote a series of articles called "Dispelling the Myth" before you even knew this forum existed.

BktBallRef: I apologize, and stand corrected. I thought that he was referring to something valuable that was posted on the Forum in regard to myths, so I immediately thought of "my" list. Was your series ever posted on the Forum? If not, it should be. I only read the "over the back" article, and it was excellent. I will read the others over the weekend.

[Smitty]

Originally Posted by BillyMac

Thank you. I put a lot of hard work, and I continue to put a lot of hard work, into that list. Wait? I'm being told ... What? Who? Hey Smitty. It was me, not BktBallRef.

Not yours. Tony's. He wrote up an excellent paper on certain myths that was very different from yours.

[tjones1]

I usually take a break from the forum during my off season (summer). But, it would be nice for things to stay on topic. Although I do understand that it may be difficult during the off season since we don't have many plays and you can only hash out the new rules so much. I do admit that I like to have a little fun and go off topic sometimes but there has to be a line somewhere.

Either way, it's good to be back and gearing up for another season.

[The_Rookie]

Originally Posted by BillyMac

I hope that it can be both enjoyable, and useful, which is why the Forum is the first thing that I go to when I get up in the morning, and the first thing I go to when get home from work every afternoon.

However, if the powers to be, or the Forum membership, decides that this Forum will be 100% serious, then I can go along with that. The old NFHS forum, that some of us posted on, was a 100% serious forum, and those that posted on that know that I was, and can be, serious all the time when it's expected.

But when I log on and see a few tidbits of off the topic material from other Forum members, maybe funny, or an inside joke, or something else along those same lines, then I feel that I have the right to join in. Yes I post these tidbits more frequently than others, I was not aware that there was Forum limit to such postings. My son is a sociologist, who specializes in popular culture, so I have a interest in popular culture as well, and will occasionally spice up my posts with some popular culture references (television shows, song lyrics, quotations, etc.)

Basketball, for me, has always been about fun. First as a player, then as a coach, and now as an official. I do realize that as one of only a few paid participants on the basketball court, that I must take the game, and it is a game, more seriously than the players, and I do, but officiating is still fun for me.

When my local officiating colleagues get together for a board meeting, or for some adult beverages after our games, or even if it's just for a few minutes before, after, or between games, we have fun. We tell jokes, we yank each other's chains, insult each other in fun, etc. I feel the same sense of kinship with all of the veteran posters on this Forum. I accept all of you, warts, and all, and hopefully you can accept me, warts, lots of warts, and all. And I've always tried to be polite, and when I've screwed up, and, for some reason, have been impolite, I readily apologize.

Through a series of unfortunate circumstances, my life changed, for the worst, about ten years ago. An encouraged career change (luckily I got a golden parachute), a divorce, financial problems related to the career change, the divorce, and the stock market recession. I developed some serious medical problems, and my daughter developed a serous, possibly fatal disease. I became clinically depressed, and had suicidal thoughts. What saved my life? What kept me going? My three adult children, two with spouses. The Catholic Church, and my faith in Jesus Christ. A great doctor who prescribed lots of medication for me. And basketball officiating. Yes that right, basketball officiating has helped to save my life. It's been a long road, but I'm no longer clinically depressed, and I'm no longer suicidal. I still have problems with obsessive compulsive disorder, and anxiety, so I will have to be on the medication for the rest of my life, but that's a small price to pay, and I'm a lot healthier, both mentally, and physically, now than I was several years ago.

Try to separate the silly stuff from the serious stuff that I post. I'm a thirty-two year veteran official, who has, over the years, worked games on every level, recreation, travel, AAU, middle school, freshman, junior varsity, varsity, boys, girls, men. I've served on my local board's training committees, both of them, rules, and mechanics. I am a retired middle school science teacher, honored as my school's teacher of the year, and as a finalist for the Connecticut science teacher of the year. I've got a lot to offer this Forum. I know the game of basketball, how to play it, how to coach it (twenty-five years coaching middle school basketball), and how to officiate it. I know rules, and mechanics, and, most importantly I know how to teach others how to be a good basketball official. I hope that I serve, and can continue to serve, as a valuable, contributing, member of the Forum.

I live, alone (two of my three adult children live out of state, and I have no other family), with my cat, and two chickens (pretty pathetic, huh?), and, although I do have a few hobbies (gardening, raising chickens, kayaking, astronomical photography, officiating basketball) to keep me busy, posting on the Forum is one of the highlights of my day. Please don't take this away from me. Yes I can tone it down, but I only, and always, have good intentions.



Me too. Unfortunately, my brain filter doesn't seem to work as well as most, and it's often quite easy to just hit "save", or "submit reply".

Billy..Thanks for laying it out there and your heartfelt words..I hope some members of this forum can throttle back a bit on the critical comments on this topic of posting

[The_Rookie]

Originally Posted by Smitty

This is the byproduct that bothers me the most. I have missed BktBallRef's opinions and insight. I still carry copies of his Myths writeup in my bag to hand out to people on occasion - it is outstanding. The selfishness of one person. who a few posts back wrote paragraph upon paragraph about himself to make excuses for his annoying behavior - falls on deaf ears for me. This post by BktBallRef is the fallout from the nonsense that is allowed here.

As Rodney King said..Can't we all just get along?

[The_Rookie]

Originally Posted by BktBallRef

Actually, that not what happens.

The majority of the time, your off topic remark, joke, "funny" pic, etc. is the FIRST such post in a topic. Many times it completely derails the topic of discussion or ends the discussion. That's the real issue I have with such posts.

For years, I've complained about jokes and off topic crap that derails good discussion. I started the notorious "Moderators" thread in September 2008. A couple of people didn't speak to me much after that and basically I stopped visiting the site. Even now, I don't visit more than once or twice a week, perhaps a little more during the season. I'm sure that makes some people happy. But for me, the fact that the OT posts derail good discussions is why I don't visit like I used to.

Billy Mac, I'm sure you're a good guy and a great official but your off topic posts annoy the hell out of me. I probably miss out on some good stuff you post but I can sort through the other stuff to find it. No offense meant to you, that's just how I see it.

Just my 2 cents.

I get annoyed by folks who ALWAYS need to be in the center of the circle..is that what is going on with Billy Mac? That's a different question.

[BillyMac]

Originally Posted by The_Rookie

Critical comments on this topic of posting

They were deserved. Sometimes I just get "silly". Silly Billy? Certainly not a good name for a .. err ... someone of my age. Definitely not a good name for an official.

[BillyMac]

Originally Posted by The_Rookie

I get annoyed by folks who ALWAYS need to be in the center of the circle..is that what is going on with Billy Mac?

No. I've always been a follower, not a leader. I hate center stage. I hate it when someone hands me a microphone. When I have to page another chemist at the laboratory, I always ask someone else get on the public address system, maybe due to shyness, but also for fear of making a mistake, or saying something stupid. Most of you probably know a few officials who love being on "stage", with their dramatic voices, and theatrical signals? That's not me (except the and-one-count-the-basket signal, I love that one, it's my favorite). However I do like being on the circle, along with the rest of the guys. I would hate to be outside of the circle. Wow, I'm getting better at using metaphors, I didn't mix them up this time.

I've thought about running for our local executive board, but if elected, I would have to move through the chairs and, in several years, would eventually become president. Not for me. No way do I want to sit in front of 325 officials, with microphone, with everybody looking at me. We recently added an elected position to our executive committee, an at-large representative, who serves for two years and then ends his term. I may be interested in this position.

[JRutledge]

Originally Posted by The_Rookie

Billy..Thanks for laying it out there and your heartfelt words..I hope some members of this forum can throttle back a bit on the critical comments on this topic of posting

This is not about our personal lives. This is about what is acceptable or not acceptable on this site. People come here to discuss issues in officiating, not see pictures and videos that have nothing to do with the topic at hand. And if it keeps up, the criticism is not going to stop. What might happen is those that want to be here might just go away and that is not a good thing. Go to a comedy board if you want to make jokes all the time and derail or hijack threads with nonsense.

Peace

[BillyMac]

Originally Posted by JRutledge

This is about what is acceptable or not acceptable on this site. People come here to discuss issues in officiating, not see pictures and videos that have nothing to do with the topic at hand.

I'm sure that there are many Forum members who only want to discuss issues on officiating, and absolutely nothing else that could distract them from those issues, probably a very high percentage, and at one time, in the past, I was one of those members, but I've changed my opinion.

But not everyone. There is, at least, one member who disagrees: "Lame jokes have a place in a forum. They give a forum a sort of personality." Charles Michael “Mick” Chambers (1947-2010)

Warning: Please do not click on the link, below, unless you want to view an on topic, but not basketball related, video. Old timers may enjoy it, younguns may learn something, most will certainly hate it. Being just a little younger than Mick, I'm going to guess that he would like it, but I never had the pleasure, or honor, to know Mick in person, so I'm probably wrong. If you choose to open the link, and you find it distasteful, offensive, or worse, a waste of time, then simply close the video and it will magically go away, probably going somewhere into cyberspace. If you have dial-up internet access, or pay for your internet access by the minute, then you may not want to open the link. To those members who are more curious than a cat, well, deal with it, but I do promise that the video, probably, won't kill you (unless your modem, or computer, gets struck by lightning while you're viewing the video, but that's an act of God, and it wouldn't be my fault). Please note that I chose to post the link rather than to embed the link. The link takes up less space on your tiny computer monitors, and probably takes up less bandwidth, but I'm not sure about that.

http://youtu.be/pHn2DVdS-rQ

[Brad]

Moderators employ the old "do as I say, not as I do" method

FYI — this has been addressed.

If there is a single job that is more thankless than officiating I would say that it is being a moderator on a forum dedicated to sports officials! For the most part I would say that the mods have done a good job of figuring out how to handle the different issues that pop up on the forums.

I started this board in 1999 (pause for h&#y s#&t moment) for fun and because I loved officiating—and that's the spirit in which I would like it to continue. I don't want it to be a no fun zone where everything is super studious, technical, and boring. I also don't want it to be a bunch of randomness and funny pictures of cats.

Just like in officiating, there is a balance. Also, there are different styles amongst members—and some people are here for different reasons. Just like on the court there is the young official trying to move up, the guy with 4 kids just trying to make some extra cash, and the old veteran who knows he is close to (or maybe even past) retirement age, but is hanging on for the camaraderie.

There is room for everybody. But, just like on the court, there isn't room for personal attacks and discussions that completely detract from what we are trying to accomplish here: Get better, make friends, and have fun in the process.

You miss calls. The mods will miss posts.

One poster will get away with something that another doesn't.

Thems the breaks.

Be nice. Be civil. And if you really get riled up about something just remember that you are arguing on the internet and that's like… well, it's arguing on the internet.

If something is bothering you, PM the mods. If you think it's a bigger problem than they can handle, email me.

The mods have a group where they communicate and I keep up with them on any issues that come up. So, for all of the faults you may find with them, I assure you that they are committed and trying to do the best job they can—for no pay and little thanks!

Hope everyone is having a great off-season!!