Irony of ironies--this came to pass just when one subject emerged in the Locker Room on which everyone seemed to agree: What's-her-name and her tape recorder. (Bye, Felicia.)
Off-topic posts
- Thread starter Chris Peak
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But it was not about sports. It was a board, and granted it was like playing Tic Tac Toe, but it what it is, and if you knew that, you just didn't have to go on it, read it and participate it. So what harm was it?
There is a difference. Over the years, you essentially build a community, where you kind of get to know others, you kind of have that cyber bar where you have a drink and discuss politics and current events. Again, if you didn't want to, if all you want is to read about Pitt sports, there are those boards and the Locker Room didn't interfere with that. So......it was an outlet, granted it reflected the ridiculousness and divisiveness of politics today, but that is another issue.
For folks that didn't like it, you didn't have to read or participate, it had no effect on your lives or site enjoyment. And as for the Mods, those who participated on that board knew the score and understood that some disagreements would get personal. And you dealt with it.
Out of all the things I would do to make Pantherlair better......eliminating the locker room would not have been in my top 100.
I hope you stay true to your new “policy” and delete all threads about politics.
If you really wanted to make a change for the better:
1.) find a way to prevent posters from having multiple handles.
2.) find a way to limit non Pitt fans from posting here. A 10 day wait period imo is a good way.
3.) find a way to limit the PSU threads and ban them like the political posts for good in 2 years after they are no longer an opponent.
I hope you stay true to your new “policy” and delete all threads about politics.
If you really wanted to make a change for the better:
1.) find a way to prevent posters from having multiple handles.
2.) find a way to limit non Pitt fans from posting here. A 10 day wait period imo is a good way.
3.) find a way to limit the PSU threads and ban them like the political posts for good in 2 years after they are no longer an opponent.
One other thing, or two things.
1) It is kind of ironic since politics has and will continue to make it way into sports. So now how do you deal with this?
2) There is a reason why many sports journalists start to delve more into politics, because sports.........sports becomes boring over time. Athletes are boring, mostly uninteresting, spoiled humans which we idolize way too much. Most are more contemptible or at least as contemptible as politicians. I mean, there is just not enough "Pitt stuff" to keep a vibrant community going 365 days a year.
1) It is kind of ironic since politics has and will continue to make it way into sports. So now how do you deal with this?
2) There is a reason why many sports journalists start to delve more into politics, because sports.........sports becomes boring over time. Athletes are boring, mostly uninteresting, spoiled humans which we idolize way too much. Most are more contemptible or at least as contemptible as politicians. I mean, there is just not enough "Pitt stuff" to keep a vibrant community going 365 days a year.
Or how about this....don't read those? And those repeat and known offenders (like certain people with Penn State), just place them on ignore. Seriously, makes life nicer.
The CMU leftist is the culprit..
I haven't read thru all of these.. we'll see if the leftist replies.
I’d be glad to “not read them” if Peak could push a .net developer to create an “ignore thread” button. I’m tired of seeing dumb stuff on the board about psu and posters who only know how to make Pitt look good by putting other schools down.
I agree with you on this matter. But I also realize it is just where we are as a program. So....I mean it doesn't kill you.
Wonder where if Pitt coaches/players were to make postings of a political nature or a "spotlight topic" via social media would fall? Open debate? Deleted and masked immediately?
Easy. Start a thread with "Wow that Hugh Green was a great one". Man, just imagine how great this board would be with posts of nothing but these.
J
JGregor
Guest
I wasn’t in the Locker Room for over a week and I’m trying to figure what broke the camel’s back to cause this shut down? For years there was very heated political discussion. This could not now be the reason?
But could there have been racial slurs posted that were very offensive? Particularly at This time it would be at the detriment of the University and its image, and it could hurt recruiting. This is what I’m wondering about.
But could there have been racial slurs posted that were very offensive? Particularly at This time it would be at the detriment of the University and its image, and it could hurt recruiting. This is what I’m wondering about.
And folks, we have a winner. It's called being personally responsible.
I didn't like the political nature of the Locker Room, so I didn't go there. Even when a post from here was moved over there, I wouldn't go back to follow up.
And, to make this board readable, I have my share of goof balls on ignore.
The one thing I find humorous from reading this thread is the number of folks who think that board was only littered with folks from one side of the spectrum. I'd say both camps were equally represented. Or, both extremes were evenly populated, because there was no middle ground.
It is where we are today. If you don't think like me, believe in what I believe in, you are an idiot and you are horrible. I mean, all we want is to talk about things we all agree with, read about things that we agree with, watch movies and TV about things we agree with, watch news that slants to what we agree with, listen to music by artists who think like we do, visit websites that spout only what we agree with, have our cookies link newstories to what we agree with......we essentially create a bubble of nothing but people who think and believe what we do.
Isn't that dangerous? And to whatever is we don't agree with, label it as "hate speech" or some label like that. Demonize those you agree with, then eventually dehumanize them. That is where society is in the Mid East. That is what leads to civil wars. And the media loves this, because it is great for business. There is no room for middle ground because it is boring. I try to be middle ground and was called "lacking principle". LOL I wasn't mad, I found it amusing. But again, if you didn't like the stuff on the forum, you didn't have to post on it.
There could be a group of Pitt fans who LOVE NASCAR and Country Music, and they create their own forum on here called I dunno, the "JIM BOB FORUM". I ain't going on it and participating in it, but if people wanted to do this, more power to them.
Lots of smart people there. You would have been surprised im almost certain.
I only visited a few times. It was a hot mess of regurgitated social media and when the stupid opinions ran out, people yelled “snowflake” instead of “nitter troll”. It was about as intellectual as the VFW at 2 AM.
Who cares what the people were like or whether you liked it or not. The board served it’s purpose. Posters who wanted to talk politics, went there and got the product they were looking for. The problem is the main Pitt football board, where posters come here looking for a product and have to sift through garbage to find the product they came to a specialized board looking for.
Big swing and a miss by Peak imo.
Big swing and a miss by Peak imo.
I agree to say it was eliminated “because we don’t want political talk” is nonsense. There were some very derogatory Ebonics in one of the threads about cops. Like you said, stuff like that was probably reported and rather than out who brought it up to him, Peak just gave a coverall excuse. This is why we can’t have nice things.
Yeah no Lefties there. Lol
SMF , the TDS gang, Souf , Temple ,Goldberg ( not Bev ) CMU HOF and others posted as much as anyone.
Some whiny SNOWFLAKE could have shut it down. Stupid move on your part Peak.
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1. With the ability to get different emails and mask IP addresses/use VPNs, that's not possible. If someone is committed to doing it, they'll do it.
2. We have mechanisms in place similar to what you're describing, but our general policy is to let rival fans post on this board until they get out of hand. I thought you guys liked the back-and-forth with them.
3. Remind me in 2 years.
There have been plenty of reported posts from the Locker Room board, but that was only part of the decision. Overall, it just doesn't seem like this site is the place for those discussions, in my view.
Again your site...but as a paying customer, no I won't do that. But I disagree. It becomes a community and inevitably many more topics are broached and discussed because people become familiar with each other. Was the Locker Room over the top politically? Sure. But the downside to this, there are going to be many more OT posts that are going to upset people. People are going to complain. You, as the proprietor of this site, are going to have to deal with those complaints, and then more rulings will have to come. And decent OT posts will now be in jeopardy, because let's face it, people like to bitch and wield influence. Just my 2 cents.
forbid they have to do their job.....
What a silly and completely see through excuse for the shutdown
I'll say it again so you can see it on both boards:
This decision was one I made as a result of my experience reading and moderating the Locker Room board. There was not one reader or subscriber who suggested that the board be removed; I made the decision with the best interests of the site, as I see them, in mind.
As for getting more complaints...eh, I get plenty of those already. And given the fact that we really don't ban many regular posters, I would say I do okay holding up against the "complainers."
Overall, I think we're pretty lenient when it comes to board moderation; we try to let most things go. But I felt this move needed to be made, and if it means an influx of OT posts on this board that we have to delete, so be it. We won't delete every OT post, but I do think we'll try to stay away from political stuff.
Keeping or removing the Locker Room forum is actually not a new topic. It has been discussed at times in the past. Ultimately, what ends up happening is that people realize that it is good to have it there, because without it, we end up with more and more non Pitt football related topics on the Football board, which means more and more arguments about Obama, Trump, etc.
There is a good reason why both the WVU and PSU sites have an off topic forum. Of course, in typical Pitt fashion, when fans enjoy something... it has to go. Ultimately, this is the type of decision that could start the downfall of these sites. Just give the fans what they want. Simple.
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I can tell you what happened. There was a post about the 2 cops struggling to arrest a black man in Eastern PA and the black guy got a gun and shot both officers. I made a comment that included the words “Dinndu Nuffin” and immediately was berated by the Lefties for being racist. One of them complained to Chris and Chris shut it down. Apparently, racist overtone has been a long standing issue on that board, mainly from the 3 leftists on the board.
I am going to miss @Swervin27 posts the most. You had a little more liberty to say what you wanted over there, and his posts were amazing.
It's your board Sir, so you can do as you please. But you haven't said anything here except you wanted to eliminate the board. The purpose of websites is to draw traffic. The Locker Room did that. So I'm just wondering how this moves benefits the site? FWIW it appeared you did a very fair job monitoring that board. I'm sure it was a headache for you at times, but not much more than the other boards.
I think JGregor made an insightful observation. I can understand your motivation if you want to simply avoid political controversy. It's the PC world we live in. AntiFa may be lurking, right?
Again, it's your site. If you don't want to say why you eliminated it, then that's fine.
I come here to see recruiting news, but I don't post much on the sports boards because I have no inside info to add, But I do follow politics and the Locker Room was a guilty pleasure. I will miss many of the posters I loved to hate.
You are a pretty arrogant dude. Seems odd to me for someone running a site to make money. You open yourself up to the kind of posts that made you respond this way due to the weak "excuse" for shutting down the board. It was by far the most active board you have.
thanks my man. Im disappointed too but it's Peak's world and we just live here. I too don't understand why people want it gone, just don't go on it. I appreciate you taking credit for the demise of this board but I'd like to think my sharp wit and straight forward opinions and blunt honesty helped incite the left a bit, brought out that daily TDS, which ultimately played a part in this decision as well.
I am not a fan of many topics on here but instead of running to mods to ask it be deleted, I simply stay away. But that's me, im much better of a human being than most on this board so it's a tad unfair to use me as a measuring stick..
Hopefullly pitt football will give us enough to talk about and of course, argue about..
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The problem is...Check out the traffic on the football and basketball site this summer. It’s dead, there is nearly nothing to talk about.
Some people inject the "kneeling" issue into every NFL discussion, it's an obsession to a certain type of people.
I can see the traffic and those boards are not dead in the summer. There was plenty to talk about.
J
JGregor
Guest
Thanks for your open courage and honesty to say that.
well hopefully our new hoops coach will keep us entertained til march. then, things get slow. to no fault of anyones. I start seeing trout season posts up, we know we are all in trouble.
But you probably think the Establishment Democrats and DNC are "liberals" when they are actually RIGHT OF CENTER MODERATES.
It was not the most active board, not by a long shot. And I’m not being arrogant; I was just curious what people thought the underlying motivation was.
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