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I've been following this thread most of the morning, but haven't had a chance to collect thoughts yet. A few things come to mind after reading all of this. Again, most of them have been covered, but I'll reiterate anyway in the interest of building the sample set of opinions.

As far as skepticism of newbies is concerned, I tend to agree with NJ-Buckeye. That's life. I've found that the degree of skepticism with which a new employee, new boss, new kid in school, etc. is treated is largely dependent on the attitude the newbie brings in with them. I'm sure many of us here have experienced a situation in which a new employee came in to the workplace with the attitude that they already knew everything and had nothing to learn. I'm guessing that in 99% of such cases, that new person was met with a certain degree of resentment and hostility, not because they were new, but because they refused to take a moment to learn local practices and procedures. The global image of the American tourist also comes to mind for me. I hate nothing more than the ignorant idiots who bust into foreign cultures without ever taking a moment to have respect enough to research local customs. I think they deserve every bit of the negative backlash that is handed out to them.

Similarly, BP is, in a way, its own culture. If people aren't going to check things out first or lay low for a while until they get a feel for the place, they should be brought into line in some way. That said, however, I do believe there could be less harshness in the way they are reprimanded. I like the idea of a gentle PM giving suggestions or pointing the new user to the recently improved FAQ section. After a gentle warning like this, however, all bets are off. As someone (Clarity, perhaps?) said earlier, some people will just never get it, and perhaps the community is better off without them. I have always been, and continue to be, greatly impressed with the overall caliber of people here, and I would hate to see that compromised. I think we, in general, could adopt more of an 'innocent until proven guilty' mentality (it seems that we've had the opposite), but in the end, if someone is guilty, they should be convicted.

As far as racism/homophobia goes (I've never perceived an issue with sexism at all), I don't think any of those have ever gotten too far out of hand, at least not until recently. However, I've gotten to know the personalities of most posters, and I understand that most of the comments are meant completely in jest, but I could see how someone would totally misinterpret things on his or her first visit. The only reason I see this as a problem is because of the recruits/families/friends issue.

My question is this: Of the people that stop by as visitors (i.e. un-registered users), how many venture beyond the main forums? The main forums seem very well under control, and questionable material is removed quickly. Is it possible to keep Open Discussion limited to members only? I'm not actually sure this would be a good idea, just throwing it out there for discussion...

Edit - even the grammar nazi makes mistakes sometimes...
 
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I just want to quickly expand on my earlier comments.

The "mob rules" issue I think we can address with more then one option. Is it possible to limit the number of times a post can be repped? At say.. Three? This would prevent one post from being the downfall of a potentially informative and valued poster.

Another option is to either limit the maximum rep damage on a poster under 50 posts or disable a new posters rep to non-mods. Meaning only mods can rep them for the first 50 posts or so. The would encourage the use of PM's a little more with regular members.

As for the homophobic overtones, they don't really bother me as they don't apply to me. But as some have already mentioned, recruits visit this board. So do their parents (a la Mama Taz). As a fan base, is that how we want to be represented to out of state recruits, their families, and their coaches? I'm willing to bet at somepoint, Mama Taz has read a thread or a post on here that curled her hair.

The intolerant homophobic bashing does not represent this city or school, as Columbus is considered one of the most tolerant cities of alternative lifestyles in the this great nation.

We as fans need to police ourselves. And as Michael Jackson once said, "If you want to make the world a better place, then look at yourself and make a change."

Go Bucks!!
 
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Bucktastic said:
Peach: "Is it possible to keep Open Discussion limited to members only?"

I think this is a very good idea.
Click to expand...

How does everyone feel about this? Certainly it's possible, would it afford us the freedom to have easier speech in those areas, and then we tighten down a bit in the main sports and recruiting areas? "Tighten down" isn't the right language, but we watch ourselves more in there?
 
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Clarity said:
How does everyone feel about this? Certainly it's possible, would it afford us the freedom to have easier speech in those areas, and then we tighten down a bit in the main sports and recruiting areas? "Tighten down" isn't the right language, but we watch ourselves more in there?
Click to expand...

To add to my agreement, we have the Graphics and Mili's Clips locked down, I see no reason why a guest should be able to goto Open Discussion, personally.
 
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Clarity said:
How does everyone feel about this? Certainly it's possible, would it afford us the freedom to have easier speech in those areas, and then we tighten down a bit in the main sports and recruiting areas? "Tighten down" isn't the right language, but we watch ourselves more in there?
Click to expand...

I would say there is probably a couple forums we could limit to members only... "miscellaneious archives" for example. maybe to keep it easier to remember, if you're is a sports forum, be on your best behavior...
 
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Over lunch I chewed on much that was said in this thread. I come back and then read OilerBuck's great post. His thoughts were very similar to mine.

Policing needs to have a unified front and that front is from the moderators. When a new poster gets 10 different posts/PMs from different people telling him what he did wrong vs what he needs to do I would get intimidated to. If a "regular" sees a new poster and see he did something stupid that person should post a mod or two to let them take care of the issue. This way the "public" face of the community is upheld. Because however you slice it moderators tend to define a site. If moderators join in of the fun of hazing a newbie it seems like that behavior is accepted. That may turn off some people, or worse yet once that person becomes part of the group they then start looking forward to the day that they get to "haze" a newbie.

So to solve this the moderators need to be beyond approach. Like Oiler said they need to be held to a higher standard. Is this fair? Like for how many times I saw Spiderman on TNT "With great power comes great responsibility".

Along with power is also the rep system. With the new upgrades the long list of medals of reputation to me seems to be getting overinflated. It is hard to miss which posters have a long list of medals. The problem is alot of those people got that rep inflated by just being friends of other posters and power repping. So while new posters look at this they feel intimidated when a group of high reputed members start criticizing everything they do.

Basically reputation while a great idea is well manipulated and given a large prominent role on this site. Like Oiler I see it as more fun and games and I don't really care about my rep. (As you can tell by me only having 1 medal) But I do take my rep seriously when I give people rep. I might only rep someone once a month or two but it is for a good reason.

How to solved this issue? That is why this thread was created... to gather these views together and then once all the views are put forth ideas can be created.


On another note about the racism/sexism on this site. The only thing I see that we have gone over the line is what happened to Tibor. No matter what that person did they should not deserve the taunts that were brought on to him. On the other end is how we throw "homo" around like anything. It has almost become a catch phrase. It should be stopped but alot of it has been said in jest and humor. But then again we are approaching that line where it needs to be curtailed and controlled.
 
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Clarity said:
How does everyone feel about this? Certainly it's possible, would it afford us the freedom to have easier speech in those areas, and then we tighten down a bit in the main sports and recruiting areas? "Tighten down" isn't the right language, but we watch ourselves more in there?
Click to expand...

I think this is fine. I've always been 'looser' in the Open forum. Although I've restrained myself somewhat after becoming a mod.

It seems like there are 4 areas with different levels of 'accepted' behavior:

1. Recruiting board
2. Football/Bball/Pro forums
3. Open forums
4. Romper Room
 
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Clarity - you already have my de facto vote on the roasting restricted zone whether its RR or OD, though I think it would be good thing to do for a limited time, then see how the change is received.

One thing I would like to say is that we should remember how this site was for us (or as this purely a personal perspective your self) when you joined the site.

Two things come to mind for me that I'll gladly share now.

First, why BP? For me the balanced tilted during that whole perfect storm of the esPIN revelations and its confluence with a poor start to the Buckeyes season last year. Back then BN had its own moderated beat-down going on. Basically anyone who was not as negative about Tressel, tOSU and all other actors, as the worst BN board personalities, was in for a hard time starting or contributing to the discussion in a positive manner. Here at BP I found many who - though not happy with these diverse troubles for the Buckeyes - were not marching to the 'Shoe, torches and pitchforks in hand. There was an absence of lynch mob mentality that could little but turn off a newcomer, let alone a recruit or their family. Why do I mention this? Because it goes counter to the impression that Clarity is (I think correctly) conveying about how we might be letting ourselves be perceived from the outside in with the recent hazing of new members.

Second, how did I get here? Well for me it was a PM suggesting I investigate the site from one osugrad21 - now don't you all ding him at once :biggrin:
The importance of that manner of introduction was that it gave me an immediate sense of involvement, and accountability.
So to my next (hopefully constructive) suggestion. Could we have a structured shepherding of newbies? A designated hand-holder for a newcomer? That hand-holder and guide need not be a Moderator, as I feel their plates are pretty full. Perhaps this could be done via a round-robin assignment of a veteran to the newcomer for his early interaction with the BP world.
 
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I concur, the Open Discussion or just the whole Varied Interest Forums should be members only. As that whole area is more for the looser side of all the personalites of BP and in addition not needed to be shared with just the open public.
 
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Clarity said:
How does everyone feel about this? Certainly it's possible, would it afford us the freedom to have easier speech in those areas, and then we tighten down a bit in the main sports and recruiting areas? "Tighten down" isn't the right language, but we watch ourselves more in there?
Click to expand...

Very good idea. As someone who has been targetted by some with name calling and racist garbage (despite no one knowning what race I actually am), I can honestly say that the crap spewed at me didn't bother me at all. In fact, I found some of the insults and dings really amusing b/c they were so hilariously dumb. However, it's pretty clear that a newcomer would have looked at what was going on and possibly been offended, outraged, and embarrassed for being a Buckeye alum and/or fan. As an OSU grad, I want the world to see how great our school is and how great my fellow alums and fans are. A little "tightening" would be a great idea, as it's hardly restrictive and would present our great school in a better light.
 
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