Hockeybuzz needs some new rules...
Posted 3:16 PM ET | Comments 30
...i am very happy with the popularity of the site. hockeybuzz has proven itsself, imo, to be the best source of information on the web regarding hockey. its truly a wonderful idea and have been proud to be readinf since the beginning of last year.
but with its popularity comes cracks in the armor.
i really enjoy reading a good blog and posting and discussing it with fellow hockey gurus. really cool indeed. but recently, it has become kinda annoying to rifle through 10 posts by angry kids or irresponsbile adults in order to find 1 good post worth discussing. kinda takes away from the interest level for me.
i think the site could do itself justice by making it mandatory to join hockeybuzz as a season ticket holder in order to post comments. i think this would cut down on the ridiculous stuff a little and make it a better forum for those interested in talking REAL hockey.
your thoughts are welcome. good or bad.
but with its popularity comes cracks in the armor.
i really enjoy reading a good blog and posting and discussing it with fellow hockey gurus. really cool indeed. but recently, it has become kinda annoying to rifle through 10 posts by angry kids or irresponsbile adults in order to find 1 good post worth discussing. kinda takes away from the interest level for me.
i think the site could do itself justice by making it mandatory to join hockeybuzz as a season ticket holder in order to post comments. i think this would cut down on the ridiculous stuff a little and make it a better forum for those interested in talking REAL hockey.
your thoughts are welcome. good or bad.
Love the idea.
It's a great idea but the thing that drives traffic to this site is the interactive nature and it's the traffic that gets the ad $$$...so I don't see that happening. The other option might be setting aside a separate board for STH to go and post...maybe a set of message boards.
i take it all with a grain of salt. i'm probably one of the offenders that you speak of but the actual number of folks on here that really know their hockey are few and far between. when faced with trolls, i troll. when i want to talk serious hockey, i buy a flat of beer and invite the boys over.
Here's an idea.... perhaps "Season Ticket Holders" could rate each post and thereby have the good stuff ranked higher in the forum than garbage posts?
Definitley need a solution here... the back and forth "your an asshole and your city sucks" stuff is really annoying and makes me ignore the forums at times.
hm..doesn't becoming a season ticket holder cost money? I'm sure there are intelligent hockey fans who can't afford it...seems a little bit snobbish (although I admit there is a problem).
Unfortunately, this is the internet, where it's easy to be an asshole to someone you don't know when you don't have to show your own face. The immature BS gets annoying, but I think the best thing you can do is ignore that stuff and focus on the good stuff. As they say, don't feed the trolls!
Speaking for the Moderators... we do our best. Please don't hesitate to use the "!" button to report people who are just here to be morons. We'll deal with them....
One option (which I'm not sure if it's possible but I've seen on some message boards) is to have the ability to block certain users. So if you notice that it's the same people writing comments that you don't want to read, you simply click on "block". From a technical standpoint not sure how tough that would be to setup - may be worth mentioning though...I don't want to speak for Ek but I don't think the solution is to only allow paid users to post. Just my opinion!
yeah. you are probably right regarding the paid users. i just think for what, $10 a year, that is would keep a ton of the BS out. but it is not a real option, as predjoe pointed out.
I think 'Cleon' has a good idea. A lot of other sites (Slashdot comes to mind off the top of my noggin) actually have mods, or other high ranking members, 'rate' the contributions from users. You are then able to filter comments (e.g. I don't want to read anything under "4 out of 5 Stars"). Might be a major overhaul to the site, though, possibly expensive?
Well, I've recently been banned, due to my own poorly worded comments in response to unrealistic or otherwise provoking comments made by rival fans who dont like a certain team and feel the need to rip the team with unrealsitic statements. Obviously, its easy to get drawn into these provoking comments and want to respond in kind. Being someone who prefers to engage in intelligent hockey talk, myself, and yet someone who has been drawn into provocative comments made by others, seemingly more interested in talking nonsense about other teams, I think its wrong to expect perfection from anyone. I dont think requiring members to become season ticket holders would correct the problem, because its just as likely adverse and provocative comments would still occur, and in turn lead to more povocative remarks. Rating comments so they filter to the top, actually, sounds like a good idea, but would be taxing on administrators. Still a good idea, though. Therefore, I think its up to all of us to police ourselves and each other, or to at least skip over and ignore the provocative stuff. As much as I disliked being abnned myself, it is there for a reason, and it send a message to all to keep the discussion clean and intelligent.
I'd be more than satisfied with the ability to ignore specific users so you never have to see their posts. Another option is volunteer moderators for each blog.
Maybe Ek can setup a penalty box, in which a person has to go to after so many people mark the message abusive?
An Ignore option might work too. But I've never really been able to stick to using them on other sites, just because I wanted to see what those people were saying, especially if it may have been in regard to something I said -- honestly. The Penalty box sounds like a good idea, where the banned people are listed for everyone to see. Then the banned poster should be required to apologize for being banned, before being allowed to post again.
I like your idea about they have to apologize to regain access.
Don't Feed the Trolls!!!!
Great ideas here for ways to prevent this type of behavior through chaning hockey buzz. But we, the users, must also take responsiblity. We cna discourage it in our posts, report people, and set the tone of what this site is about. I agree that the childish "my dad could beat up your dad" is a problem but the solution must start with us. I recently read a post where someone called gomez a racist name because they were mad that he had left their hockey club. Another user posted a respectful post about being civil. The original poster apoligized and the issue was resolved. However, in todays article by Tim P. he begged the fans to get into an arguement over whether the islander or flyers would be worse this season. While I enjoy Tim and his articles he created a situation where many fans were trying to stop the disrespectful bashing but could not. Maybe EK should politely ask the article writters to not create such issues. This also begs the question...are there times when the users just cant patrol eachother and themselves and someother outside force needs to step in..aka could EK just stop a thread if it is going in a negative and unproductive manner? (or should the responsible users just stay away at that point?)
It's a problem because people can't help but respond to the trolls. We say ''Don't feed the trolls'' but there's always one person who does and it causes a huge pointless argument. Personally, I think Dan Tolensky's idea is perfect.... it would help with alot of the BS that goes on sometimes. Just stay classy and all will go well is what I say :D
Yeah, then college kids like me who can't afford to spend money on things like websites get left out. I'd be favor of a pre-requisite IQ test though. Not that smart people aren't idiots too.
Can't help but agree with Coffee Junkie... When the people posting blogs go out of their way to put down other teams and cultivate negative commentary its not surprise that this pervades the posts. Lead by example at the top, and the people will follow.
I do agree, we need more policing on the forums because its horrible sometimes how good threads degenerate because of one single person.Perhaps make a "trolling" area where people could do this there, but anywhere else its unacceptable? As in, you know theres only one place to do this, and first strike you're out for X weeks, no ifs ands or buts.I'd rather lose 100 posters who never contribute than have the drivel on the forums. Another thing I've seen on another site is that for any rules change for the forum or whatever, before a person must post he must accept that the rules change, as in reaccept the posting guidelines that every member must follow. He cannot post until its accepted, and all changes are in bold or whatever so its quick to see. That "prevents" the defense that "I didn't read the rules." Ignorance of the law is not a valid counterargument sorta thing.Also, it must be remembered that for every "enhancing" of the rules, people are going to cry out against it. But I really do believe that if we don't want Hockeybuzz to become the cesspool that alot of sport sites have become, we gotta do something.Man, I'm long winded tonight.
there really is no point in banning or a penalty box or what have you. all anyone who was banned or thrown in the sin bin will have to do is create a new account. so he might need to create a new email, but how hard is that, the best advice has been repeated a few times already in these posts, dont feed the trolls
There is a difference between freindly banter and agressive posts, but the "your team sucks" and "you're an idiot" stuff really shouldn't bother you if you're an adult. For real, are we playing in a sandbox? If someone says my team is crap, well that is their opinion. I enjoy intellegent posts and insightful hockey forums just like the next fan here, but we can't eliminate these type of posts when there are 30 teams out there and some are strong rivals. Like someone stated above- ignore the trolls. The season really needs to start because this is getting, well, kind of childish. Toughen up fans trolls are everywhere, just ignore them.
donmega. no doubt you make good points. my 'blog' was posted in response to the flyers schedule release blog by tim panaccio. there was basically 230some posts that had little to do with the schedule, and all about a bunch of idiot flyers fans and islanders fans bantering about this and that. it was just annoying and i threw out this message to get some people talking about it. as for the college kid. c'mon. $10? even in my poorest days, $10 was not going to break the bank for a year subscription to a website. i agree with bluesfan44 and those who try to be proactive. but my concern is that hockeybuzz will continue on into something like the hf boards and will eventually see the really excellents posters move onto different venues. over the last 3 months, i have seen nothing but a regression in quality of posts. here's to hoping that changes for the good.
While I agree with Donmega, I would love to see an "ignore user/poster" option. I've seen it on other boards and it sure makes the experience there more enjoyable.
With out reading any of the above posts why not allow people to delete other peoples posts and develop some sort of feedback system. Cap it at 3-5 deletions per 24hrs per user so that no single person can sabotage a whole thread, allow people to counter with a complaint if they feel their post was wrongly deleted. Yes we can delete posts in myHB but not bloggers comment threads, you can only mark it with a complaint.
Donmega, agreed, it's a fine line. but here's the way I see it -- "Your team sucks" can be friendly banter.... but when it crosses into "YOU suck", now you got a problem. Try to talk about the game, and not each other.
Absolutly agree with all above. I too read Tim P's schedule post and I had to stop after a page or two, and I agree it was far too much. There are plenty of sites that allow garbage to post and that's why I chose this site as my #1 hockey site becuase it didn't have too much trash on there. At times I see and I am hoping that it's just becuase we are all bored hockey fans waiting to see our teams take the ice. I will tell you a good example of a troll in in the Flyers forum listed as 31 should be retired. There was a guy attacking peoples cities, intellect, and ethnic background. Agreed that must go and the boards can stand a little cleaning up. In the mean time, is it pre-season yet?
I think you nailed it, BluesFan44. The banter between teams in a friendly manner isnt the real problem, but rather when offensive language is directed to a person making a post. Thats where I went wrong, for sure. But, I also think it helps if everyone realizes every person here has a favorite team, so it helps to keep the banter friendly and respectful, because to continually criticize another team, without consideration to the positive aspects of the team can not only lead to escalations in emotion, but also its not realistic, since every team has something positive going on.