Forum Ettiquette

[Smitty]

It all boils down to what are the priorities of this forum? This is the best place I've found to gain more knowledge about officiating basketball. While I might not agree with some of the more opinionated posters, they always make me think about situations and points of view I wouldn't naturally think about. It always helps me to be a better official. I don't post much because I often have nothing to add that would benefit anyone else and I loathe "+1" responses because I am pretty sure no one else cares if I agree with what someone else says or not. But when you have longtime and well respected members like Bob Jenkins, JRutledge, and BktBallRef, among several others complaining about someone who very rarely adds anything thought provoking to officiating discussions, then you, as moderators, have to decide what's more important for this forum. Keep this place the best place for those of us who really want to get better and learn and challenge ourselves.

[johnny d]

I don't mind billy mac's posts. I think everybody here takes officiating pretty seriously. Sometimes I think perhaps too seriously. For almost everybody here, officiating basketball is an avocation, not their full time job. I don't see any problem having some levity in the discussions. If I am not in the mood for his goofiness, I just skip his posts and any that are responses to them. It isn't that hard. Additionally, it seems to me that his long post in this thread was sincere and that his participation in this forum goes beyond just thinking about basketball and has helped him get through some difficult times. Billy, my prayers are with you and I hope you continue to do well. For the rest of you, I say lighten up Francis!

[Amesman]

Originally Posted by johnny d

I don't mind billy mac's posts. I think everybody here takes officiating pretty seriously. Sometimes I think perhaps too seriously. For almost everybody here, officiating basketball is an avocation, not their full time job. I don't see any problem having some levity in the discussions. If I am not in the mood for his goofiness, I just skip his posts and any that are responses to them. It isn't that hard. ... I say lighten up Francis!

+1


Good grief, we're supposed to be able to focus and cut through various guff for 48, 40, 32, 28 or however many minutes and yet we can't simply just "change the channel" or hit the "skip" button when needed?

And it's not as if Billy doesn't ever bring worthwhile discussion to the forum. That's painting with far too broad a brush. (And this is posted regardless of the guy's personal circumstances.) Lighten up, indeed.

[Nevadaref]

Originally Posted by johnny d

I don't mind billy mac's posts. I think everybody here takes officiating pretty seriously. Sometimes I think perhaps too seriously. For almost everybody here, officiating basketball is an avocation, not their full time job. I don't see any problem having some levity in the discussions. If I am not in the mood for his goofiness, I just skip his posts and any that are responses to them. It isn't that hard. Additionally, it seems to me that his long post in this thread was sincere and that his participation in this forum goes beyond just thinking about basketball and has helped him get through some difficult times. Billy, my prayers are with you and I hope you continue to do well. For the rest of you, I say lighten up Francis!

I'll echo these sentiments. I hope that my opinion here carries some weight as I have been one of the most active posters over the past decade. My post count can substantiate that.
I've had agreements and disagreements with many different posters on this board and learned something from each experience.
If this forum has helped and continues to help Billy Mac in his LIFE, then that is wonderful and far more important than the time it takes me to scan a few of his silly pics or joke posts. While he is known to stray from the topic, he is never mean or rude to others and I will never put him on my ignore list.

[BillyMac]

Originally Posted by tomegun

"In my little corner of..." wasn't funny to me the first time.

Good thing, because it was never, ever, meant to be funny, just another way of saying, "When in Rome ...", combined with some very strong encouragement from my interpreter, and board secretary, to all of our local members, that we not divulge our real identity, and, especially our local board affiliation, on any form of social media. I'm IAABO, from Connecticut, and my day job is as an environmental chemical analyst. That's all I can give you, and maybe that's too much. I have divulged a lot more information about myself (real name, local board, email, phone number, home town, etc.) to those who have contacted me by private message, and hope that those members keep my identify a secret.

Note: I have a tremendous amount of respect for those Forum members who use their real names. Unfortunately, I usually do what I'm told to do by my local board and can't post under my real name. I'm not hiding behind my pseudonym, but it does seem somewhat cowardly. You may not believe me, but I would post the same thing if I were posting under my real name.

[JRutledge]

Originally Posted by asdf

...amongst others....

Sad to see this going the way of McGruff's and the FED forums.

Let us not be overly dramatic. This place is nothing like those places. This place actually has moderators. And we can dispute over a decision or two that the moderators make, but they are active. Those places you could not figure out half the time who was watching and the kinds of disputes were not anywhere near what is going on here now.

Peace

[BillyMac]

Originally Posted by Smitty

I still carry copies of his Myths writeup in my bag to hand out to people on occasion, it is outstanding.

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.

[rockyroad]

Anyone else remember the squirrel image that would pop up every now and then??? Ahhhhh, those were the days.

Needs to be some room for fun and games on here, without going to far into ridiculousness.

Seems to me that the moderators are doing a fairly good job of, well, moderating things around here. If something is annoying to you and the mods don't jump on it? Don't read it.

And as someone else posted...there are a lot more annoying things to me than the jokes and pics one person posts. There are several regulars on here who 1) flat out lie about other posters, or 2) take their points into the realm of assininity by refusing to back down from their stand even when it is refuted by rule, case, interp, etc...and instead going to the weary "in my area" argument.

C'est la vie.

[BillyMac]

Originally Posted by rockyroad

Anyone else remember the squirrel image that would pop up every now and then??? Ahhhhh, those were the days. C'est la vie.

Speaking of which, whatever happened to the annual off topic baseball thread. My Red Sox are having a great year and I need a place to brag about them.

[HawkeyeCubP]

Not that I have a vote, per se, but I'm completely fine with the way things are currently running.

And I think imposing a limit on how many times one could post on a thread in an hour would be detrimental, and probably more annoying than having to wait 30 seconds between searches. When there's a good discussion, and I have input/insight/opinions/perspective I'd like to share, I want to be able to do so immediately if I so choose after seeing the reply email pop up in my inbox.

[BillyMac]

Originally Posted by rockyroad

Ahhhhh, those were the days.

Those were also the days when some Forum members would bully others, and name calling was a common thing. I actually just "observed" this Forum for several months, before I decided to join, and post, because I was actually afraid that some would try to bully me if my opinion didn't quite agree with their opinion. I am not a type of person that likes to get involved with a lot of name calling. Since then the moderators have done a great job of cleaning up that negative aspect of the Forum. Last week JRutledge, and I, had a heated debate and not once did either JRutledge, or myself, resort to name calling. Keep up the good work moderators (except Mark T. DeNucci, Sr., who spends most of his time on the water polo forum).

[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

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.