Author Topic: CelticsBlog has lost its way.  (Read 43632 times)

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CelticsBlog has lost its way.
« on: August 26, 2009, 02:25:07 PM »

Offline celticmaestro

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I was disappointed to see a post from Roy earlier saying "what would CB be without drama" - drama is exactly what CB shouldn't have and it's the likes of Roy and the other mods who should ensure there is no drama instead of, in some cases, instigating it. Add to that the whole CB draft episode (why did it make it to the front page? I certainly don't think a fun-in-theory fantasy game belonged anywhere near real basketball news, even during a boring offseason) and the banning of members and CB has lost its way.

We're Celtics fans, the Celtics organization has never changed so it would have been nice for CB to emulate that. But it failed. I started reading and posting on this blog (still the only blog I ever signed up to) because it was great, diverse and the morals were always there. Now nearly three years later those qualities are fading into the background of a big mess and I feel the need to address this in the hope that I'm not the only active poster who stops posting (following a line of many, for various reasons).
« Last Edit: September 04, 2009, 12:52:45 PM by Redz »

Re: CelticsBlog has lost its way.
« Reply #1 on: August 26, 2009, 02:33:45 PM »

Online JSD

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celticmaestro, while I agree with some aspects of what you wrote I still think the community is in tact here. I hope this isn't you walking away from CB because you'll be greatly missed.

Keep posting CM. We're still strong.
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Re: CelticsBlog has lost its way.
« Reply #2 on: August 26, 2009, 02:35:17 PM »

Online JSD

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Plus, the C's season is right around the corner! The dog days are almost behind us! :)
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Re: CelticsBlog has lost its way.
« Reply #3 on: August 26, 2009, 02:37:38 PM »

Offline Roy Hobbs

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1) The "drama" comment was a joke, and I believe was taken as such;

2) I just don't see the big deal about advertising the draft on the front page.  Many thought it would be a fun distraction during the slow time of the off-season.  I'm not sure what the issue is with that, especially since the two draft finalists okayed the idea.  Since we've got front page posts dealing with trade ideas and similar user-initiated activities, I think it's completely fair to give publicity to an activity that garnered close to 100,000 page views;

3) We don't discuss discipline of our membership in public, and I hope you can respect that.

Obviously, if people want to stop posting, that saddens everyone on the staff.  We don't want anybody to feel unwelcome here.  That being said, from time to time there will be staff actions that many find unpopular.  Generally, this stems from posters who have built up a niche here being disciplined, and then mischaracterizing that discipline to the rest of the board.  Unfortunately, we're not really allowed to defend ourselves against those charges, but I'd ask reasonably minded posters to understand that they're not seeing the entirety of the facts and circumstances.

I think Celticsblog is still a great community.  If people don't feel that way, again, I'm disappointed.  We're always open to discussing ways to make the blog experience better for people, but at the end of the day, it comes down to each member's personal choice about what they're looking for.


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Re: CelticsBlog has lost its way.
« Reply #4 on: August 26, 2009, 02:39:36 PM »

Offline fairweatherfan

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Maestro, I respect the heck out of you and always like your posts, and I'm sorry you aren't happy with the way CB is going. 

But, isn't making a post like this creating a bit of drama yourself?  I think conflict happens here but the mods generally do a great job of nipping it in the bud.  90+% of it is pretty good-natured and quickly forgotten, too. 

Any site that's primarily user-driven is never going to stay the same, because the users will keep changing.  All the staff can really do is try to keep a semblance of order, but ultimately the content of the site will be driven by its members.

Re: CelticsBlog has lost its way.
« Reply #5 on: August 26, 2009, 02:41:14 PM »

Offline Jeff

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while I'm far from an impartial viewer here, I'll offer some quick two cents

the offseason is long - we go through this every year - we look for ways to fill up the space and time with things that amuse us

we have a "humor" category for just that reason - we have the highly combustible Off Topic forum for that reason as well - it is just a way to pass the time

sometimes these things get out of hand, and the mod staff is doing their best to keep things under control - but it is an inexact science

hold tight folks, we've got another month or so of the OFFseason to get through :)
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Re: CelticsBlog has lost its way.
« Reply #6 on: August 26, 2009, 02:41:47 PM »

Offline indeedproceed

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I'm disappointed you feel that way, CM. I've always liked having you around, and if you do decide in the end to quit posting, then you will be missed. Beyond your concerns, which I'm not dismissing, am I correct (i've read your message like 6 times) in thinking that you hope others will follow suit and stop posting in these forums? If that is the case, I'd say I overestimated you.

What would you have us do? Get rid of the off topic forums? Quit doing the draft? People are going to disagree, and sometimes hypersensitive people will take it personally. Then they'll attack back because they feel they're being unfairly attacked..then the original offending party will attack back..and on and on..

Its the vicious circle of the internet. Every forum every where has these problems. As mods, its our job to take care of these things.

I know I spend like 4-6 hours on here, reading posts, talking about stuff, posting (not as much as I'd like), and generally busting my butt to make sure that the drama you're talking about doesn't get out of control. I'm not alone either. There is a whole staff, an unpaid staff, motivated only by the sense of community and friendship this place, this team, this environment mods before me have created.

If you do decide to stop posting, I'm sorry. We love having you around, you're a funny insightful guy. But I won't stop, and I hope others don't either, because I freakin love this place, and I freakin love you guys (profanity rules sometimes limit my expressions), and I wouldn't trade this place for the world. You say we've lost our way, I counter we're trying to find our way in an increasingly hostile internet landscape, and I'm proud of the job we've done and continue to do.

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Re: CelticsBlog has lost its way.
« Reply #7 on: August 26, 2009, 02:44:41 PM »

Offline BudweiserCeltic

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I don't think there's any more drama here than there's anywhere else. I've always been against the banning of members unless someone is really becoming a disturbance. Since I don't know who has been banned and for what, then I can't really comment on it. But as a forum adminstrator and moderator in other places, I always try to be as strict as possible, but as merciful as possible in regards to bans. Maybe some temp bans of one or two weeks here and there.

As for the drama? Well, can't really tell what you're actually reffering to... I do notice that some members seem to get easily offended and make a big deal about things that shouldn't be.

In all, I don't see much of a problem for the current state CB. If anything, I wish I had some mod powers to clean some topic titles up... just a pet peeve of mine.

Re: CelticsBlog has lost its way.
« Reply #8 on: August 26, 2009, 02:46:04 PM »

Offline celticmaestro

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I'm disappointed you feel that way, CM. I've always liked having you around, and if you do decide in the end to quit posting, then you will be missed. Beyond your concerns, which I'm not dismissing, am I correct (i've read your message like 6 times) in thinking that you hope others will follow suit and stop posting in these forums? If that is the case, I'd say I overestimated you.

What would you have us do? Get rid of the off topic forums? Quit doing the draft? People are going to disagree, and sometimes hypersensitive people will take it personally. Then they'll attack back because they feel they're being unfairly attacked..then the original offending party will attack back..and on and on..

Its the vicious circle of the internet. Every forum every where has these problems. As mods, its our job to take care of these things.

I know I spend like 4-6 hours on here, reading posts, talking about stuff, posting (not as much as I'd like), and generally busting my butt to make sure that the drama you're talking about doesn't get out of control. I'm not alone either. There is a whole staff, an unpaid staff, motivated only by the sense of community and friendship this place, this team, this environment mods before me have created.

If you do decide to stop posting, I'm sorry. We love having you around, you're a funny insightful guy. But I won't stop, and I hope others don't either, because I freakin love this place, and I freakin love you guys (profanity rules sometimes limit my expressions), and I wouldn't trade this place for the world. You say we've lost our way, I counter we're trying to find our way in an increasingly hostile internet landscape, and I'm proud of the job we've done and continue to do.

No, absolutely the opposite.

I also love the off topic forums.

It's just I can't help but feel a lot of CB is going downhill. It's not what it was. One can say it's expanding, but it's losing its uniqueness. Really. Arguments are rife and disrespect is common all of a sudden. And I don't like that.

Re: CelticsBlog has lost its way.
« Reply #9 on: August 26, 2009, 02:54:51 PM »

Offline Drucci

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I've been on CB since last March so I can't say anything about the "good old days" but I do not feel that the blog is losing its way. I don't even understand what "drama" you're talking about, maybe you could describe it and quote examples to give us details?

Personnally, I appreciate the fact that CelticsBlog is more than a blog about the Celtics : I love to read posts about "light" subjects (praise the squirrel, off topic thread, etc) but also interesting debates about politics, education, the news...

Of course the best part of the forum is about the Celtics, that's what gathers us all in here at first, but the community has developped well beyond the Celtics and I'm sure we can all agree that many members share a special bond, that you usually don't create on the Internet.

I can understand your disappointment or your concerns during a very slow offseason but I don't think that posting links to the CB draft on the frontpage is a proof that the blog lost its way. If the idea is interesting and basketball or community related, why not post it? Especially when there is no news during a slow offseason, it's all good.

Hopefully your feelings are just temporary and not founded, because it would suck to see you leave the blog or stop posting. I've known such feelings, like "Oh God this community was sooo much better before", and I can't say if you're right or not on this one since I'm a recent member of the blog, but I know for sure that sometimes you have the tendency to elevate the past memories as great ones while the present isn't really different from the past.

Re: CelticsBlog has lost its way.
« Reply #10 on: August 26, 2009, 02:55:52 PM »

Offline Hoyo de Monterrey

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Tough topic to address. CM, I have nothing but respect for your opinions and viewpoints, and I personally was sickened by the sheer volume of unnecessary drama in what was otherwise a fun and insightful CB Draft. However, I also know I learned more about the NBA from the homework I did for that one exercise then anything else I've ever done, and I loved every minute of it. It was a great exercise to kill a MISERABLY LONG offseason, and 98 percent of the posts were conducted in that fashion. However, the 2% really killed the experience for a lot of people, I'm sure.

I don't see a way that an Internet website can ever do a prolonged competitive feature while maintaining complete and total civility. That's the nature of the Internet. Respectfully, don't click on it. I understand too that the front page was an issue, but the fact that it made the front page made me feel like it was even more of a community feel because at that point in time, that one particular feature was far more important to me at least then Day 83 of the fruitless Marquis Daniels watch.

It all comes down to if it's a problem, don't click.

However, your original referenced idea of serious strife and drama in the CB Draft was very well taken, and there were SERIOUS roadblocks to everyone's enjoyment of that exercise. I agree with that. However, if that's enough to make you leave, then it's a sad day for CB because they've lost a quality poster.
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Re: CelticsBlog has lost its way.
« Reply #11 on: August 26, 2009, 02:56:03 PM »

Offline Green17

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I'm disappointed you feel that way, CM. I've always liked having you around, and if you do decide in the end to quit posting, then you will be missed. Beyond your concerns, which I'm not dismissing, am I correct (i've read your message like 6 times) in thinking that you hope others will follow suit and stop posting in these forums? If that is the case, I'd say I overestimated you.

What would you have us do? Get rid of the off topic forums? Quit doing the draft? People are going to disagree, and sometimes hypersensitive people will take it personally. Then they'll attack back because they feel they're being unfairly attacked..then the original offending party will attack back..and on and on..

Its the vicious circle of the internet. Every forum every where has these problems. As mods, its our job to take care of these things.

I know I spend like 4-6 hours on here, reading posts, talking about stuff, posting (not as much as I'd like), and generally busting my butt to make sure that the drama you're talking about doesn't get out of control. I'm not alone either. There is a whole staff, an unpaid staff, motivated only by the sense of community and friendship this place, this team, this environment mods before me have created.

If you do decide to stop posting, I'm sorry. We love having you around, you're a funny insightful guy. But I won't stop, and I hope others don't either, because I freakin love this place, and I freakin love you guys (profanity rules sometimes limit my expressions), and I wouldn't trade this place for the world. You say we've lost our way, I counter we're trying to find our way in an increasingly hostile internet landscape, and I'm proud of the job we've done and continue to do.

No, absolutely the opposite.

I also love the off topic forums.

It's just I can't help but feel a lot of CB is going downhill. It's not what it was. One can say it's expanding, but it's losing its uniqueness. Really. Arguments are rife and disrespect is common all of a sudden. And I don't like that.

CM - please feel free to help us moderate by using that report to mod button when you see something that violates our rules.  
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Re: CelticsBlog has lost its way.
« Reply #12 on: August 26, 2009, 02:57:42 PM »

Offline Kwhit10

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CM I hope you continue to post here.

With that said, I must say this is the forum that I frequent that has the LEAST amount of drama of all that I have come across.

Personally, I don't take the internet too seriously, of course there are differing of opinions but I don't think there could be anything that would make me stop posting from the many forums I frequent.

This forum is very well run and as a whole the community is very respectable.

Re: CelticsBlog has lost its way.
« Reply #13 on: August 26, 2009, 02:58:46 PM »

Offline RAcker

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Frankly, I have no idea what any of this is about and at this point I think that ignorance is bliss.  I'll just say that I hope that everyone involved hugs and makes up.  Everyone I've seen post in this thread would be missed if they left.  I hope it never comes to that no matter what the beef is.

Re: CelticsBlog has lost its way.
« Reply #14 on: August 26, 2009, 03:00:24 PM »

Offline Rondo2287

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I hear what your saying CM.  My only thing is that since putting the Draft on the front page we have had more activity at in the voting including saying that people want to participate next year.  So basically I think it accomplished Roys goal of increasing activity in some of the events that we have going on here in the community so I think it was a good thing.
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