Peak: a proposal

[ratking17]

I don't want to be overly critical as personally, I think you do a fabulous job on the radio and other platforms being extremely fair in your analysis of Pitt. One of my highlights of game day is being able to on my 4+ hour journey listening to you on the Panther Pre-game show and also your weekly Trib spots.

That said, the tolerance of certain threads and topics is out of whack in my opinion. We allow so much game day criticism from our own "fans" that who needs rivals/enemies at that point as our own "fans" do a good enough job for them.

That said, I am tired of certain narratives running against Pitt. It appears that anytime a thread critical of Penn State pops up, it is deleted less than 24 hours later. If PSU can have a propaganda machine, then why can't we do the same for Pitt?

My proposal is why not just have a separate board that we label "Penn State discussion" or better yet just
"Pitt Rivals." There we could have discussions specifically related to our rivals. I look at the locker room board and see completely polar opposite beliefs being debated. I see borderline racist comments being made, and if I were to guess, no one notices because no one really looks at that board. I understand keeping these threads separate from Pitt football discussion, but if we can't discuss opposing football teams, then message boards lose quite a bit of fun. I would even volunteer to moderate the board...

Just food for thought for those of us that like to discuss football with our rivals and against our rivals using half truths to always put us down...

 

[Pghfan]

I don't want to be overly critical as personally, I think you do a fabulous job on the radio and other platforms being extremely fair in your analysis of Pitt. One of my highlights of game day is being able to on my 4+ hour journey listening to you on the Panther Pre-game show and also your weekly Trib spots.

That said, the tolerance of certain threads and topics is out of whack in my opinion. We allow so much game day criticism from our own "fans" that who needs rivals/enemies at that point as our own "fans" do a good enough job for them.

That said, I am tired of certain narratives running against Pitt. It appears that anytime a thread critical of Penn State pops up, it is deleted less than 24 hours later. If PSU can have a propaganda machine, then why can't we do the same for Pitt?

My proposal is why not just have a separate board that we label "Penn State discussion" or better yet just
"Pitt Rivals." There we could have discussions specifically related to our rivals. I look at the locker room board and see completely polar opposite beliefs being debated. I see borderline racist comments being made, and if I were to guess, no one notices because no one really looks at that board. I understand keeping these threads separate from Pitt football discussion, but if we can't discuss opposing football teams, then message boards lose quite a bit of fun. I would even volunteer to moderate the board...

Just food for thought for those of us that like to discuss football with our rivals and against our rivals using half truths to always put us down...

So you want any posts that you disagree with to be deleted and any posts that don't interest you moved to another forum. Anything else we can do for you to make your stay here on pantherlair more comfortable?

 

[ratking17]

You completely misunderstood what I was stating. Any time there is a post about PSU, it gets deleted. I hate censorship, so in lieu of deleting these posts, let's just create a separate board for them

 

[pittdan77]

Maybe a follow-up question is, what makes a particular "PSU" topic or post unsavory?

 

[HailtoPitt]

The Pittsburgh media is mostly controlled by Penn State marks, so anybody attempting to enter the business must make nice with them. You see the result, unfortunately.

 

[OriginalEther]

No.
Do we really want to give those guys that much attention?

The issue is not that something critical of PSU is posted, it's that whenever there is something, one of them rushes over and runs his mouth. And instead of immediately banning the troublemaker - which isn't too hard to figure out early - and deleting his posts, the decision has been made to remove the whole thread, since apparently it's far less work.

So now, unfortunately, someone here has positively reinforced to these jokers that, if something mean is said about PSU, you can come here and if you raise enough of a fuss, it will be removed.

 

[HailtoPitt]

No.
Do we really want to give those guys that much attention?

The issue is not that something critical of PSU is posted, it's that whenever there is something, one of them rushes over and runs his mouth. And instead of immediately banning the troublemaker - which isn't too hard to figure out early - and deleting his posts, the decision has been made to remove the whole thread, since apparently it's far less work.

So now, unfortunately, someone here has positively reinforced to these jokers that, if something mean is said about PSU, you can come here and if you raise enough of a fuss, it will be removed.

That is what volunteer moderators are for. So that all of the work doesn't fall on the shoulders of one person.

 

[OriginalEther]

Fair enough, but I don't seem to recall this being such as issue on the previous boards.

 

[anon_4dfwm2pijbr0a]

Ha... buddy there already is a board to discuss PSU. It's called BWI. Come on over some time.

HaHa...good one buddy. The vast majority of us are banned on JGI, Joseph Goebbels Insider.

 

[Chris Peak]

The Pittsburgh media is mostly controlled by Penn State marks, so anybody attempting to enter the business must make nice with them. You see the result, unfortunately.

Wait, I want to be sure I'm understanding this correctly:

Your theory is that the moderation of this message board is driven by a desire to be accepted by the PSU cabal that runs Pittsburgh media?

That's great. I can honestly say that's the first time I've heard that one.

 

[Chris Peak]

You completely misunderstood what I was stating. Any time there is a post about PSU, it gets deleted. I hate censorship, so in lieu of deleting these posts, let's just create a separate board for them

The same problems would pop up with a separate board; it would just mean there is an extra board for me and the other moderators to keep an eye on.

While the moderation is looser here than it is on the premium site, our goal is to encourage reasonably civil discussion. All kinds of threads that get out of hand get deleted, not just those about Penn State. It just so happens that those posts often become a mess, so a lot of them get deleted.

It's not censorship; it's trying to run a somewhat-reasonable message board.

 

[HailtoPitt]

Wait, I want to be sure I'm understanding this correctly:

Your theory is that the moderation of this message board is driven by a desire to be accepted by the PSU cabal that runs Pittsburgh media?

That's great. I can honestly say that's the first time I've heard that one.

I probably went too far, so I apologize to you.

But... are you admitting that PSU marks have too much control over the local media?

 

[Chris Peak]

I probably went too far, so I apologize to you.

But... are you admitting that PSU marks have too much control over the local media?

I am not admitting that. The cabal is your theory, not mine.

 

[The Loaded Italian]

I don't want to be overly critical as personally, I think you do a fabulous job on the radio and other platforms being extremely fair in your analysis of Pitt. One of my highlights of game day is being able to on my 4+ hour journey listening to you on the Panther Pre-game show and also your weekly Trib spots.

That said, the tolerance of certain threads and topics is out of whack in my opinion. We allow so much game day criticism from our own "fans" that who needs rivals/enemies at that point as our own "fans" do a good enough job for them.

That said, I am tired of certain narratives running against Pitt. It appears that anytime a thread critical of Penn State pops up, it is deleted less than 24 hours later. If PSU can have a propaganda machine, then why can't we do the same for Pitt?

My proposal is why not just have a separate board that we label "Penn State discussion" or better yet just
"Pitt Rivals." There we could have discussions specifically related to our rivals. I look at the locker room board and see completely polar opposite beliefs being debated. I see borderline racist comments being made, and if I were to guess, no one notices because no one really looks at that board. I understand keeping these threads separate from Pitt football discussion, but if we can't discuss opposing football teams, then message boards lose quite a bit of fun. I would even volunteer to moderate the board...

Just food for thought for those of us that like to discuss football with our rivals and against our rivals using half truths to always put us down...

Great POST!!!

Ive been saying this for years, I often will watch the Pitt game and be on line to look at the stats on espn or yahoo, and also have a window open here to really just see if there is any insight, injuries, or news more Pitt based that I wouldnt get from the national tv announcers. What ends up happening (win or lose honestly) is I am fighting a legion of trolls that only show up when Pitt is playing poorly. And frankly, the post arent about a play or a drop or a missed call... its always "WE suck", "Chryst is a fat loser", "We cant beat Akron", "Attendance is so poor"... and you just know it is not Pitt fans, they are complete trolls, but yet this is allowed to stay up... then if you post a sensible rebuttal and open up very good points about how Pitt is far superior to the state penn, those 'fans' then escalate and cuss, and the post gets deleted... its their MO... they get what they want... a negative UPS or WVU thread deleted and their swill still on our board because our moderators wont delete it because the real Pitt fans like myself wont sink to that level to cause a thread to get deleted.

It is pretty obvious when you look at it what are actual discussions that are trying to stimulate reason and response and what are flames... they should be taken care of immediately.

Someone posted a link to the penn state board last year about some fan over there saying something goofy about Pitt, and I clicked to read it... only to discover that I am banned on that board... now... mind you... that was the VERY FIRST time I went on that board, I never posted, never visited, yet I was banned. It sucks, but it works... look at those cult followers. They had the worst scandal in history of football, hired an idiot as a coach, and had several bad years, and they still get fans and have a thriving posting community, whereas our theory here is just making the common fan pessimistic and tired. I hate reading all the negativity, I hardly come on here anymore. I agree with the original poster that some of this flaming stuff needs to go and some posters need a banning. I am a professional working guy with a family, and just want to enjoy my saturdays and Pitt football, which i do win or lose... I am a Pitt fan, and I enjoy watching them play, and I am ALWAYS optimistic about each year, this year included. We should be able to post without the trolls constantly ripping apart every positive point we point out.

Civil discussions indeed

 

[Chris Peak]

I agree with the original poster that some of this flaming stuff needs to go and some posters need a banning. I am a professional working guy with a family, and just want to enjoy my saturdays and Pitt football, which i do win or lose... I am a Pitt fan, and I enjoy watching them play, and I am ALWAYS optimistic about each year, this year included. We should be able to post without the trolls constantly ripping apart every positive point we point out.

Civil discussions indeed

And most of those posters you are talking about do get banned, just like most discussions about Pitt football continue to exist on this board. Do some well-intentioned threads get torpedoed because some people can't interact in a civil manner? Yes, and that is most unfortunate. Do most threads discussing Pitt sports in a rational manner stay on the board? Yes, they do.

Message board moderation is not a perfect exercise, and quite frankly, it would be great if the board didn't need to be moderated. But it does, and usually the moderation that happens just takes out the trash and leaves whatever good discussions there are. Sometimes something mostly-good gets deleted too; it happens. But it's not the norm, the majority or even a common occurrence.

 

[The Loaded Italian]

Well, that is great then, I hope it continues.

I know we do have our fans that are just stuck in negativity, where it seems other universities have these rah rah guys that are always positive (maybe that is like me), I am in alabama and tennessee... and win or lose, good year or bad year, fans come out and fans are pumped for the new year, maybe that wore off on me a bit and I am more like that now.

Hope things turn around this year, if I have to hear a million times how we lost to Akron so how do we think we can beat X university, or here how our new coach sucks because we may lose on a last second fg to Iowa this year I will just go spider monkey on someone
If we want to build a community where top recruits want to go and fans want to gravitate to, then you want to promote positivism and a place where people can go to feel good for a little while. Other flamers know this as well, and that is why they try to bring down the community, just as Pitt fans WOULD PROBABLY do if they were allowed to post on BWI