Specific topics vs. Generic topics Discussion

[JJFIVEOH]

I have always been a fan of letting the conversation go where it goes. Over the past couple days it feels like 30% of the posts I've read are about how other posts are out of place. I understand that there will be growing pains in any sort of change on the board, but it's really hard to read right now.

 

I agree, there's too much talk about fixing things that aren't even broke in the first place. Anybody who is on any internet forum knows that it is the natural flow of internet discussion. You will never, NEVER get people to fall in line 100% with the original topic no matter what you do. It will never happen. This board is one of the better ones I'm on that actually say close to the original topic. You're not going to fix it, you're not going to make it any better. Even if we have threads for each individual player, it's not going to prevent anybody from talking about that player in another thread no matter how much you want to police it. I'll say it again, this forum is much better than most out there............ there is nothing to fix. More general topics? Sure, it would be nice to have. But it's going to come down to posters telling others to take their opinion to the proper player thread at the first mention of the name in another thread. It will cause more friction.

[Sabrejak]

Hello posters,

I lurk here a lot, and post very little. If you look at my profile, it seems recent, but I have been coming here and to TBD for a heck of a long time. The level of hockey knowledge is high and that's what I like about coming here. It does seem as though there are a core of posters who have become accustomed to conversing among themselves to the exclusion of others. Perhaps this is more evident during the off season. Some threads are extremely long and it is difficult to wade through the twists and turns that some do take. There are examples of very good threads that stick to the original premise -- like the prospects thread, I love that one.

 

I lurk a lot on TBD, too, under a different name (SNAFU. I often wonder who is who between the two sites, but that's a subject for a different thread). I feel as though the football knowledge there is not as high as the hockey knowledge here, but I like the fact that there are regulars there who seem more welcoming to new or infrequent contributors.

 

In both cases, just because someone does not post often should not automatically equate to the perception of regulars that the "new guy" doesn't know what he or she is talking about. That's a small-minded way of thinking. Like those who moan on TBD about requiring a post limit before being allowed to start a thread. I've read a lot of stupid things from people with thousands of posts.

 

As for specific vs. general threads, it is my opinion that there should be a good balance between SS and TBD. The SS threads are seriously long and there is no way to really stop them from wandering when they go on and on. It is a problem for people who want to jump in with a thought thirteen pages into a thread, only to realize that the subject was fully discussed on page six. TBD has seemingly more active moderators, but that does not stop people from starting repetitive threads about some small nuance that's contained in multiple other topics.

 

Specificity when titling a thread is really very important.

 

Perhaps -- and I don't know if this can be done or how much harder it would make the moderators' jobs -- if a particular thread starts going off topic couldn't someone just break it out into a new thread. If two similar threads can be merged then can't a divergent thread be split off the main thought? A new, specific title could be made also with a reference to where it originated.

 

One last thing for the grammar/spelling police...really does it bother you that much? I notice it, too but I don't feel that it is so important to point out.

[Eleven]

Hello posters,

I lurk here a lot, and post very little. If you look at my profile, it seems recent, but I have been coming here and to TBD for a heck of a long time. The level of hockey knowledge is high and that's what I like about coming here. It does seem as though there are a core of posters who have become accustomed to conversing among themselves to the exclusion of others. Perhaps this is more evident during the off season. Some threads are extremely long and it is difficult to wade through the twists and turns that some do take. There are examples of very good threads that stick to the original premise -- like the prospects thread, I love that one.

 

I lurk a lot on TBD, too, under a different name (SNAFU. I often wonder who is who between the two sites, but that's a subject for a different thread). I feel as though the football knowledge there is not as high as the hockey knowledge here, but I like the fact that there are regulars there who seem more welcoming to new or infrequent contributors.

 

In both cases, just because someone does not post often should not automatically equate to the perception of regulars that the "new guy" doesn't know what he or she is talking about. That's a small-minded way of thinking. Like those who moan on TBD about requiring a post limit before being allowed to start a thread. I've read a lot of stupid things from people with thousands of posts.

 

As for specific vs. general threads, it is my opinion that there should be a good balance between SS and TBD. The SS threads are seriously long and there is no way to really stop them from wandering when they go on and on. It is a problem for people who want to jump in with a thought thirteen pages into a thread, only to realize that the subject was fully discussed on page six. TBD has seemingly more active moderators, but that does not stop people from starting repetitive threads about some small nuance that's contained in multiple other topics.

 

Specificity when titling a thread is really very important.

 

Perhaps -- and I don't know if this can be done or how much harder it would make the moderators' jobs -- if a particular thread starts going off topic couldn't someone just break it out into a new thread. If two similar threads can be merged then can't a divergent thread be split off the main thought? A new, specific title could be made also with a reference to where it originated.

 

One last thing for the grammar/spelling police...really does it bother you that much? I notice it, too but I don't feel that it is so important to point out.

 

Solid feedback.

 

On the first bolded paragraph, this has happened a few times, but SS has only three moderators, and as far as I can tell, they're quite busy. Two of them don't even post much anymore, but I have the feeling that they're still around moderating.

 

On the second: Most of us are ok with it because we like inkman. But there's actually a grammar and spelling topic around here somewhere.

Edited June 29, 2014 by Eleven

[LTS]

If a silly joke meant to lighten the mood is worthy of deletion, it might be time to move on. I certainly don't want to have to go over each and every one of my posts to make sure the mods find it worthy. You really need to join a forum that needs moderation to see how civil this place is.

 

But thanks for the mature response. Stay classy my friend.

 

JJFIVEOH - I am quoting you here because it underscores my biggest problem with this forum. You are not the only guilty person of course.

 

That said, it's the escalating snark of this board that really starts to turn me off. The same people seem to pop up in thread after thread battling each other over petty crap. It gets tiring. The name calling, the lame responses, THOSE add no value to the conversation. In fact, when a response is directed at only one person and doesn't really deal with anything I think it's safe to say you probably should either PM it or just let it go.

 

The self-acclaimed thread police are a bit over the top (as are the grammar police). A thread like this goes a long way to promoting healthy discussion (mostly) about how people feel about the topic. Posting in each thread that it's duplicitous and unnecessary is ridiculous. Same with the grammar. People generally type fast on here (or on a mobile device) and while you may not like it, mistakes will happen. Let it go.

 

I'd love to see people try to take an approach to further conversation rather than shut it down. If a group is engaging a conversation on a topic or a variation of the topic and you've clearly stated elsewhere your opinions on that topic there is very little need to jump in and attempt to stifle the conversation. Let the people who disagree with you continue to discuss. If you are interested in what they have to say you might learn something new. If you completely disagree with them and you couldn't change their mind before why bother doing it again?

 

Overall this is a great forum but far too often I feel as though people think there are some kind of faux achievements to be had by taking certain actions. The "Fixed that for you" achievement does not exist.

 

I assume the purpose of everyone here is to discuss hockey and specifically the Sabres. I assume that everyone here wants to have their opinions considered. I would think that everyone would realize that taking approaches that work against those goals would be counterproductive.

 

We are all guilty of going over the top at times. Some of the people on this board get there faster than others.

 

Finally, be aware of how you are perceived. If you are perceived as commonly being a snark-fu master then you should realize that your actual harmless joke might not be taken the way it was intended.

[Ghost of Dwight Drane]

The major problem the past few years is that the on-ice product has been so meaningless, asides become more prevalent than actual breakdown about the on-ice product. The seeming constant soap opera in the front office hasn't helped either. When the car has a blown transmission, it doesn't make sense to worry about the 3 flat tires, broken windshield, and poor alignment. That car ain't goin nowhere....

 

At least now HOPEFULLY there is a new decisive direction with the team where the players and games will matter sooner than later. This will focus people, bring on a greater sense of comradery, and encourage new posters.

 

And remember....everyone is communicating through writing....unless you have met somebody, you end up creating a voice in your head as to how you hear a poster. 99.9% of the time I would think people don't want to hurt anyone's feelings on here, and if it looks like it, that's where self-policing is good. Someone here may read a poster in the voice of a grumpy Jerry Sullivan, where in fact it may be in the spirit of Drunken Uncle on Saturday Night Live.

 

And we need more females here. Someone needs to cook the hors d'oeuvres for the Sabrespace meetup.......

[Andrew Amerk]

Three things that I think detract from the board

 

1. Thread Police

2. Spelling Police

3. Internet Explorer. Can't tell you how many times the IE refuses to honor the "post" button.

 

I hope we are a welcoming board. I hope people would be encouraged to post and not be run off.

 

I like seeing, and being a part of, the spelling police - as long as there is some humor involved. Most of us make type o's

[biodork]

I like seeing, and being a part of, the spelling police - as long as there is some humor involved. Most of us make type o's

 

Especially when it's player names. Loved when SDS had the filter autocorrect misspellings of Pominville to Pommenstein, lol. (And it's Myers, not Meyers!!)

[Stoner]

Especially when it's player names. Loved when SDS had the filter autocorrect misspellings of Pominville to Pommenstein, lol. (And it's Myers, not Meyers!!)

Dollars to doughnuts, Pegula spells it "Perrault."

[LabattBlue]

I don't remember my stance on this when I was a mod, but IMO the worst thread is the "everything NHL(outside of the Sabres)" thread. This is a hockey board. Does all NHL news really have to go in one thread for a period of 10 months or so?

 

I've posted very little over the last year or so, so maybe it is not as extreme as I've described above. Correct me if I am wrong.

[z-man]

Perspective from a frequent reader/rare poster:

 

1. Having more topical threads makes the board easier to navigate and find the content you are most interested in. I think that's why forums are set up this way, otherwise it's basically just a giant listserv with everyone replying to the same 4 emails for 12 months.

2. If you haven't checked in for a week or two, it's much easier to catch up using topical threads than trying to sort through a dozen pages of two or three broad threads, which may have several discussions/arguments going on at once.

3. It's easier to go back and find content from a few months prior

4. When the threads are broad, I think there is some confusion where things should go. For example, a post about Marcus Foligno's contract status, does that go in the free agent thread, the roster thread, etc. (I'm sure there's an answer there and I think I know what it is, but I'm unsure and that's my point). Another example: if it's a FA signing on another team, is that in the FA thread, or the around the league? That example is actually less clear than the first one to me.

 

That said, there's definitely a place for general discussion threads, and I think a mix of the two is helpful. You definitely also want to avoid having a new thread every week on the same subject, but I wouldn't think that would be a big problem on this board for some reason, like it is on the Bills board or other large forums.

[spndnchz]

Perspective from a frequent reader/rare poster:

 

1. Having more topical threads makes the board easier to navigate and find the content you are most interested in. I think that's why forums are set up this way, otherwise it's basically just a giant listserv with everyone replying to the same 4 emails for 12 months.

2. If you haven't checked in for a week or two, it's much easier to catch up using topical threads than trying to sort through a dozen pages of two or three broad threads, which may have several discussions/arguments going on at once.

3. It's easier to go back and find content from a few months prior

4. When the threads are broad, I think there is some confusion where things should go. For example, a post about Marcus Foligno's contract status, does that go in the free agent thread, the roster thread, etc. (I'm sure there's an answer there and I think I know what it is, but I'm unsure and that's my point). Another example: if it's a FA signing on another team, is that in the FA thread, or the around the league? That example is actually less clear than the first one to me.

 

That said, there's definitely a place for general discussion threads, and I think a mix of the two is helpful. You definitely also want to avoid having a new thread every week on the same subject, but I wouldn't think that would be a big problem on this board for some reason, like it is on the Bills board or other large forums.

 

Around the NHL thread: Used for news mostly. This guy broke his arm, etc kind of stuff. Generally something that doesn't warrant a conversation about or require a new thread. i.e If Crosby gets traded to Tampa it's a new thread, not in Around the NHL.

 

It is difficult to stop people from conversing and thus possibly going on a tangent from the thread title. Even more difficult, though not impossible, for a mod to start a new thread and clip from another thread to move the whole conversation to the new thread. By the time it takes to do this the conversation may be over! LOL

 

Again, if you feel the news or whatever statement or question you have is deemed worthy of a new thread (meaning it has a good discussion that may follow) go ahead and do it. 99% of the time I am not going to close or delete a thread, I'll just move it or merge it if needed.

[Hoss]

I think this thread has definitely served its purpose. I like the way the new threads are more often but always on a solid topic. Hopefully we can keep a similarly low number of new threads with good discussion generators in each.

[SwampD]

I like the number of threads. I like the tangents. On this busy weekend, it got a little messy, then got cleaned up, not unlike my house. Seems like the system worked to me.

[spndnchz]

I think this thread has definitely served its purpose. I like the way the new threads are more often but always on a solid topic. Hopefully we can keep a similarly low number of new threads with good discussion generators in each.

 

This. Solid topics.

 

I think the new threads would be more abundant on SOLID TOPICS if you guys would just start them instead of posting tweets in any thread and "tangentizing" them. Tweets are fine for news but I'd like to know if posters have an actual opinion too.

[Hoss]

I think the new threads would be more abundant on SOLID TOPICS if you guys would just start them instead of posting tweets in any thread and "tangentizing" them. Tweets are fine for news but I'd like to know if posters have an actual opinion too.

 

Well I think the tweets are normally just the minor news that shouldn't really get a new thread and wouldn't generate much discussion. Generally anything major becomes a new thread. Anything worth discussing normally starts as a tweet and then turns into discussion.

[shrader]

I'm late to this party but I want to throw one comment out there when it comes to threads going off on crazy tangents. The easiest way to avoid that is the PM. I don't know how often people use them, but if you've got a comment for someone that is completely unrelated to the thread topic, just send them a PM. It drives me crazy anytime I see something like "Hey, you went to high school X, so did I. When did you graduate?" Then it is followed up with 5 or so more posts. Just do it over PM and you can get into far more detail privately in case it turns out that you do in fact know the poster (ie. less Hank stalking old man PA style posts).

 

On that note, I just read Swamp's most recent post. Yes, the tangents can be entertaining from time to time. There is a right time and place for those though. The awesome thread or the complaint thursday thread have become really good places for stuff like that. The best of all is the thread with a completely ridiculous premise. I hope we never move away from the way we quickly derail those ones.

 

 

And I'm completely with chz on the twitter thing. The place has felt very robotic to me for a while now with the constant cut and pasting of tweets. There's so little thinking going on most of the time, or at least it feels that way to me. Maybe that's why I'm flocking towards the random conversation threads lately. You really can't cut and paste a random story from your day.

[Hoss]

I still think posting tweets is a good thing. It gives some verification. You COULD just say "the Preds acquired James Neal," but a tweet makes it more official so there is no question. As long as you make sure you check the tweet first.

[shrader]

I still think posting tweets is a good thing. It gives some verification. You COULD just say "the Preds acquired James Neal," but a tweet makes it more official so there is no question. As long as you make sure you check the tweet first.

 

It's fine until a thread starts to resemble a transaction listing because there is nothing but tweet after tweet. I also don't think we need people posting the same information over and over from three different sources.

[dEnnis the Menace]

It's fine until a thread starts to resemble a transaction listing because there is nothing but tweet after tweet. I also don't think we need people posting the same information over and over from three different sources.

 

This. It gets tiring reading all the tweets. Most of us see the tweets ourselves. Just put the tweet link and re-word it for your own thoughts.

[26CornerBlitz]

Who needs pepto? Quit the bellyaching about how people choose to share information and be happy that they are willing to share. Sheesh!

[Hoss]

 

 

This. It gets tiring reading all the tweets. Most of us see the tweets ourselves. Just put the tweet link and re-word it for your own thoughts.

 

It's easier to copy a tweet than the list generally.

 

I would like more analysis, too, but I don't think that every move will draw the interest of many.

[nfreeman]

I think 26CB and Tank (and others) have done a good job with posting relevant tweets and I appreciate it. Certainly no one needs to read the same tweet multiple times but I don't think anyone posts duplicate tweets intentionally, nor do I think anyone posts irrelevant tweets.

[MattPie]

I feel like this is an important topic, so I'll chime in on various things brought up.

 

I'll often post things that get no response. I figure either the point wasn't very good or my logic was so unassailable that there was no point in discussing it further. Please let me think it's the former. I suppose if you're a new person that might seem cold.

 

Grammar police: if I see a poorly worded (or spelt) post, I know that I discount the opinion somewhat. I probably miss out on some good things, but really this is fun-time and I'm not going to force myself to do unpleasant reading. I do make an exception for our few international posters, of course. There/their/they're (and with the Buffalo accent, I'm surprised we don't get more "dare"), however, drives me up a wall. To be honest, I think that's the way of the world so being able to coherently express yourself in writing is more important than having your feelings hurt on the internet. I rarely correct anyone on here, but I hope anyone that sees issues in my posts speaks up and corrects me. I need to learn as much as anyone.

 

Threads: I like fewer threads because I'm going to read everything and it reduces the number of duplicates. The worst was when every. single. thread. inevitably ended up discussing how much Darcy/Lindy sucked and you had to read nearly the same post from probably the same poster in 4 different places, and then *HAD* to respond to clear up their misconceptions. ;) Fewer threads seem to reduce that tendency.

 

I like the culture of this place, it's intelligent and usually reasonable as long as you don't post something ridiculous.

Edited June 30, 2014 by MattPie

[Eleven]

I feel like this is an important topic, so I'll chime in on various things brought up.

 

I'll often post things that get no response. I figure either the point wasn't very good or my logic was so unassailable that there was no point in discussing it further. Please let me think it's the former. I suppose if you're a new person that might seem cold.

 

Grammar police: if I see a poorly worded (or spelt) post, I know that I discount the opinion somewhat. I probably miss out on some good things, but really this is fun-time and I'm not going to force myself to do unpleasant reading. I do make an exception for our few international posters, of course. There/their/they're (and with the Buffalo accent, I'm surprised we don't get more "dare"), however, drives me up a wall. To be honest, I think that's the way of the world so being able to coherently express yourself in writing is more important than having your feelings hurt on the internet. I rarely correct anyone on here, but I hope anyone that sees issues in my posts speaks up and corrects me. I need to learn as much as anyone.

 

Threads: I like fewer threads because I'm going to read everything and it reduces the number of duplicates. The worst was when every. single. thread. inevitably ended up discussing how much Darcy/Lindy sucked and you had to read nearly the same post from probably the same poster in 4 different places, and then *HAD* to respond to clear up their misconceptions. ;) Fewer threads seem to reduce that tendency.

 

I like the culture of this place, it's intelligent and usually reasonable as long as you don't post something ridiculous.

 

Ah those days.

[SDS]

Threads: I like fewer threads because I'm going to read everything and it reduces the number of duplicates. The worst was when every. single. thread. inevitably ended up discussing how much Darcy/Lindy sucked and you had to read nearly the same post from probably the same poster in 4 different places, and then *HAD* to respond to clear up their misconceptions. ;) Fewer threads seem to reduce that tendency.

 

I think this is the wrong way to think about that issue. Perhaps it was the only cure given the state of the Sabres, but that's the tail wagging the dog. Topics should generally stay on topic and hi-jacking should be discouraged. That's the way it should run to benefit the most people. Now that the situation has changed over at FNC, we don't really need to herd the anger and we should get back to more typical way of discussing topics.