Forum Ettiquette
 

Not the place for a referendum on the merits of any individual poster.

Why not, we do it here all the time? Sometimes I am confused what goes too far and what does not.

Peace

With all due respect, how are we supposed to let you moderators know how irritating it is that the same person posts 95% off topic? Why do you continue to allow it?

Exactly. Then it is not allowed for me to make a joke about that person making off-topic posts, but that same person makes jokes or comments that have nothing to do with the topics at hand. Sorry, I just am confused why that is over the line and others have been ripped a lot more than what I said.

Exactly. It's a place to discuss officiating which sometimes rarely happens here.

It actually happens here a lot. But we have a person that thinks he is at the Copacabana in every topic.

Peace

We’re trying to strike a balance between allowing for some leeway and levity, and keeping things on topic. What we don’t want is threads devolving into a 20-car pileup with one member on the bottom. For those who think a particular member is getting carried away, you have a few options (and some have taken advantage of them).

1. You can send a PM to the person individually to address it.
2. You can send a PM to one of the moderators; maybe one you have more of a rapport with, but any of us will do. Probably not Brad, though, he rarely checks his PMs.
3. You can report the posts you feel are inappropriate.

Again, what we're not wanting is what amounts to a public flogging (yes, I realize I'm exaggerating.)

These options are perfect for someone who posts something out of the blue that is offensive or inappropriate. But come on, you all know how annoying this one person is. Sure we can put him on ignore, and I have, but I can't ignore the quoted nonsense that often follows. His off topic posts are never funny and always inappropriate. And they make up the vast majority of his posts. We shouldn't have to get to the point where we have to complain about it publicly. That's what you moderators are here for. Please do something about it.

I completely agree and well said.

And it would be nice if even the jokes are related to the topic, but they never are.

Peace

You forgot option 4: set user to ignore :D

Unfortunately, there is also an Option 5, which is those that take such offense and are so unhappy might depart the Forum and not come back as they are too angered and don't find the Forum enjoyable or useful.

Hope it doesn't come to that. :(

I didn't note the ignore option for a reason, you can't ignore someone's quoted comments.

Part of the pm option, however, includes requests / reminders to pull back the reigns a bit.

In trying to strike the balance, we sometimes miss and are open to communication in that vein.

Also, some of you have off board contact info for some of the moderators. I've had lots of feedback through those channels.

Along the lines of what Adam said, during the "offseason" that balance will get shifted...meaning we'll let more go (and sometimes, that'll mean too much as has happened in this thread) than when the season picks up for everyone and more threads are started. Regular season picks up, number of off-topic posts that get deleted picks up.

Coming Clean ...
 

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".

Good start would be not to reply to your own posts and not to have 3 posts in a row. Those are good indicators of being too frequent.