An interesting discussin.

[Thinking Skins]

I posted this as a side comment to a reply in another thread, but I thought it deserved its own thread:

This site has changed greatly over this past season. I don't know if its the merging with the Redskins or whathavenot, but in the past I have raised similar questions and been able to get some good 3 or 4 page discussions going. Now The statement is that I'm an idiot cause I 'disagree' with Gibbs.

Can we discuss things any more without being called stupid? Maybe its because the site is too big to have just intellectuals and somebody's gonna just say STFU. But one of the best parts of being a fan is being able to sit around with friends and brainstorm about possibilities of good and bad and just talk about them. Thats what I'm trying to do here, But do I need to go to a different message board to brainstorm?

Even if I post a thread with a stupid idea, but I come with supporting arguments to make it a logical discussion instead of just a one-liner. Why do I get called stupid or ignorant? I mean, we're watching football here, not doing complex analysis. This stuff, especially the offseason is where the fun is. Being able to say "WE SHOULD CUT PORTIS AND SIGN _____" and list a bunch of reasons why and just talk about it, people don't see fun in that? (And for those of you who are going to respond to this, NO I AM NOT SAYING WE SHOULD CUT PORTIS)

But instead of going with the discussions, the thread always gets spammed with 100 responses of the famous "THIS THREAD SUCKS". I can even understand one or 2 of those responses, but when you see that somebody else has already said it, there's no need to say it again. and again. and again. and again.

I remember the thread when Jimoh got hurt and somebody said "did he get burned" and all of a sudden there were like 20 responses of "Man you're insensitive! He could have died".

We should all know that football is not the sport to watch for the center of compassion

And every idea will get called crazy til Gibbs does it, and all of a sudden there are 30 threads about it.

I'm just asking (rhetorically) are people allowed to discuss stuff that YOU think is stupid? If not, then I'll just start a message board for stupid discussions about the redskins. But if so, then whats up with everybody calling the thread stupid and not committing to the thread?

[Die Hard]

I posted this as a side comment to a reply in another thread, but I thought it deserved its own thread:

This site has changed greatly over this past season. I don't know if its the merging with the Redskins or whathavenot, but in the past I have raised similar questions and been able to get some good 3 or 4 page discussions going. Now The statement is that I'm an idiot cause I 'disagree' with Gibbs.

Can we discuss things any more without being called stupid? Maybe its because the site is too big to have just intellectuals and somebody's gonna just say STFU. But one of the best parts of being a fan is being able to sit around with friends and brainstorm about possibilities of good and bad and just talk about them. Thats what I'm trying to do here, But do I need to go to a different message board to brainstorm?

Even if I post a thread with a stupid idea, but I come with supporting arguments to make it a logical discussion instead of just a one-liner. Why do I get called stupid or ignorant? I mean, we're watching football here, not doing complex analysis. This stuff, especially the offseason is where the fun is. Being able to say "WE SHOULD CUT PORTIS AND SIGN _____" and list a bunch of reasons why and just talk about it, people don't see fun in that? (And for those of you who are going to respond to this, NO I AM NOT SAYING WE SHOULD CUT PORTIS)

But instead of going with the discussions, the thread always gets spammed with 100 responses of the famous "THIS THREAD SUCKS". I can even understand one or 2 of those responses, but when you see that somebody else has already said it, there's no need to say it again. and again. and again. and again.

I remember the thread when Jimoh got hurt and somebody said "did he get burned" and all of a sudden there were like 20 responses of "Man you're insensitive! He could have died".

We should all know that football is not the sport to watch for the center of compassion

And every idea will get called crazy til Gibbs does it, and all of a sudden there are 30 threads about it.

I'm just asking (rhetorically) are people allowed to discuss stuff that YOU think is stupid? If not, then I'll just start a message board for stupid discussions about the redskins. But if so, then whats up with everybody calling the thread stupid and not committing to the thread?

When you sit in a crowd of 50,000 people and express your opinions.... then you also realize that those 50,000 people will have opinions about your opinions. And they have a right to express those opinions.

If you can't handle the "This topic sucks" responses.... than you need to move on or develop thicker skin.

Engage the people that engage you... and ignore the rest. It's that simple.

[Thinking Skins]

Its not that I cant handle them, but why do we need 100 of the same post

I know that the topic sucks to many before I make it up. And if you dont find it interesting, just let it die. Like I said, Its probably because the site has grown so large, but I just dont understand why it happens.

[bnacpa]

seems to be 4 groups that have emerged:

1.) The nay-sayers who prophesize doom and gloom after every loss and look for the negative in everything. Some people just put out their concerns, but there are some who always seem to point out the negatives.

2.) The In-Gibbs we Trust folks who are like bible thumpers who believe that JJG can just do no wrong and that he is human. Yes, he knows more about football than any of us ... that is completely obvious so to use it as retaliation to someone's wondering questions or discussions is really sad. How about "let's see how things play out" or "I think we will be ok because of yaddy yaddy" ... but instead we get a whole line on why we aren't a HOF HC and he is and why we must not be true fans since we question the great one.

3.) The in-betweeners who add content and like to discuss things to appreciate other people's points of views even if it is not their own ... you never know but you may change your opinion based on other people's well educated points that you haven't considered

4.) The control-freaks who bash and get nasty when people just don't agree with them. They aren't always negative, but they really don't have much tolerance for opposing views.

At least this has been my experience. I truly try and have discussions with as many people in Group 3 as possible.

[bnacpa]

When you sit in a crowd of 50,000 people and express your opinions.... then you also realize that those 50,000 people will have opinions about your opinions. And they have a right to express those opinions.

If you can't handle the "This topic sucks" responses.... than you need to move on or develop thicker skin.

Engage the people that engage you... and ignore the rest. It's that simple.

great response.

[Monte51Coleman]

I'm just asking (rhetorically) are people allowed to discuss stuff that YOU think is stupid? If not, then I'll just start a message board for stupid discussions about the redskins.

If you do end up doing this, please let me know the url. I will pass it on to those here who would be perfect to help get it off the ground correctly.

[RabidFan]

You weren't the guy who kept asking during the playoffs if David Patten could play were you?

[Die Hard]

If you do end up doing this, please let me know the url. I will pass it on to those here who would be perfect to help get it off the ground correctly.

There are already 200 Redskins forums out there. Why start another one? Surely one of those must've found the secret formula. :laugh:

I've always encouraged people to start their own forums. Really. Most people don't have an appreciation of what goes into building, maintaining, and growing a Redskins website.

[Thinking Skins]

I think it was back in the late 90's when I first started doing Redskins discussions. I remember it was a mailing list. I guess that people didn't want to send the 100 responses of "this topic sucks" because it would flood people's inboxes. But we used to discuss and argue about some of the wierdest topics, some bashing Redskins players, some saying which coach we needed to get, some talking about JKC and the 'new' stadium.

But I remember that it was a bunch of people and everybody got to express their ideas without everybody else calling them stupid or banning them from posting any more. Some had their loyalty questioned, but thats natural to a guy who makes a post against Redskins players. Those were the days.

[G-Prime]

I agree with the OP but feeling that you are so important your hurt feelings need their own thread is a bit ridiculous

[Monte51Coleman]

There are already 200 Redskins forums out there. Why start another one? Surely one of those must've found the secret formula. :laugh:

But, which one is dedicated to stupid questions about the Redskins?

[Die Hard]

But I remember that it was a bunch of people and everybody got to express their ideas without everybody else calling them stupid or banning them from posting any more. Some had their loyalty questioned, but thats natural to a guy who makes a post against Redskins players. Those were the days.

Well then, start your own mailing list. What are you waiting for?

[Thinking Skins]

I agree with the OP but feeling that you are so important your hurt feelings need their own thread is a bit ridiculous

haha, I like the way you put that.

[Die Hard]

But, which one is dedicated to stupid questions about the Redskins?

You're right. He might be onto something Hey, it might help us out too.

[[[ghost]]]

I posted this as a side comment to a reply in another thread, but I thought it deserved its own thread:

This site has changed greatly over this past season. I don't know if its the merging with the Redskins or whathavenot, but in the past I have raised similar questions and been able to get some good 3 or 4 page discussions going. Now The statement is that I'm an idiot cause I 'disagree' with Gibbs.

Can we discuss things any more without being called stupid? Maybe its because the site is too big to have just intellectuals and somebody's gonna just say STFU. But one of the best parts of being a fan is being able to sit around with friends and brainstorm about possibilities of good and bad and just talk about them. Thats what I'm trying to do here, But do I need to go to a different message board to brainstorm?

Even if I post a thread with a stupid idea, but I come with supporting arguments to make it a logical discussion instead of just a one-liner. Why do I get called stupid or ignorant? I mean, we're watching football here, not doing complex analysis. This stuff, especially the offseason is where the fun is. Being able to say "WE SHOULD CUT PORTIS AND SIGN _____" and list a bunch of reasons why and just talk about it, people don't see fun in that? (And for those of you who are going to respond to this, NO I AM NOT SAYING WE SHOULD CUT PORTIS)

But instead of going with the discussions, the thread always gets spammed with 100 responses of the famous "THIS THREAD SUCKS". I can even understand one or 2 of those responses, but when you see that somebody else has already said it, there's no need to say it again. and again. and again. and again.

I remember the thread when Jimoh got hurt and somebody said "did he get burned" and all of a sudden there were like 20 responses of "Man you're insensitive! He could have died".

We should all know that football is not the sport to watch for the center of compassion

And every idea will get called crazy til Gibbs does it, and all of a sudden there are 30 threads about it.

I'm just asking (rhetorically) are people allowed to discuss stuff that YOU think is stupid? If not, then I'll just start a message board for stupid discussions about the redskins. But if so, then whats up with everybody calling the thread stupid and not committing to the thread?

i agree. i understand the repetitive posts things (cus that is pretty retarded), and i know people have a right to express their opinion, but do it intelligently. dont go "hah, you idiot. i hope you get banned." react intelligently, most of us have a high school education, lets actually use it now.

[28rdsknsfn28]

I agree that it is to bad that the threads get so long with "repeat" threads like you listed above. What I do find interesting about this comment, and others on the same topic, is that no one complains about the repetative positive comments, what I call "non-comments" (i.e. just a smilely face), or the entire post quotes. If a person is going to comment on a specific item in a post I can see doing the quote thing, but if you are just going to make a general comment why repost the entire post?

[SkinsNut73]

This thread sucks....

....sorry, couldn't resist

[TK]

I'll just start a message board for stupid discussions about the redskins.

I believe that www.stupidredskinsdiscussions.com is avaible.

[Thinking Skins]

This thread sucks....

....sorry, couldn't resist

I wasn't expecting that.

:laugh:

I just hope your fan base doesn't follow.

[LD0506]

Not to rock the boat but I feel like there is some validity in this. I sign on and the first thread I read begins"As most of you already know, we mods have been making a concerted effort to discourage personal attacks and insults on this forum." Doesn't this fall under that umbrella? I don't hear a guy complaining that someone disagreed with him, but that they found it necessary to insult him for his opinions. This would be so dreary if everyone thought the same thing, like talking to yourself in a mirror, but I for one would enjoy seeing more people take it to heart that being a Skins fan and being a Skins fan HERE means a little more than just an idle association. I don't want or need the mods to be my mommy, nanny, den mother or warden, I would like to think that no one else needs this either. We are all willing members of the same tribe, isn't it reasonable to believe that we can act that way?

[Thinking Skins]

As an example of what I'm talking about, consider this thread:

The Brainwashing of our players

He brings up an idea, which he acknowledges is wierd, and people question his football intelect, call for him to be banned and clowned? Back in the early days of Extremeskins we could have had a serious discussion about this. In fact we have had serious discussions about this, particularly about Steve Spurrier and about Norv and about Marty. Is this discussion banned now that we have Gibbs?

I'm not saying to ban the "THIS THREAD SUCKS" comments, but when you flood the thread with them, then it makes it really hard for anyone else to actually discuss the topic.

And its not just those comments, but also the "GIBBS IS BETTER THAN GOD" stuff, (AKA, GIBBS IS IN THE HOF, GIBBS HAS 3 SUPERBOLWS, GIBBS KNOWS MORE FOOTBALL THAN YOU EVER WILL, etc). When they're used to stengthen or weaken an argument that's one thing. but when a portion of the extremeskins community feels that its necessary to post a one-liner about how great gibbs is, its unnecessary flooding of a thread just because this portion doesn't like a topic.

If I were to start to just flooding messages like that I'd get banned. So why can a couple of guys do it together. Its the same principle, and it hurts guys like me who like to talk about these interesting posts.

[ZoEd]

I too must agree to some extent. Most of the veterans on this board bash your opinions with counterpoints or do some research comments that add some substance to the topic. But there are a lions share of posters who just make idiotic "what are you smoking" or "you're and idiot" posts that have absolutely no relevance to the thread at all.

It's simple, if you think the thread is stupid then don't post, ignore it and move on. On a different note getting pretty old coming onto the site and seeing thread after thread about the same things. People really need to do a little thread searching before starting another, what jersey do you have thread.

I love this site! Thank you ES for making me a better person.

[Die Hard]

If I were to start to just flooding messages like that I'd get banned. So why can a couple of guys do it together. Its the same principle, and it hurts guys like me who like to talk about these interesting posts.

Um, no, you wouldn't get banned. Not sure where got that idea. There's no double standards.

And it doesn't hurt people who want to discuss intelligently. The scroll button is your friend. So is the ignore button. Not sure why you don't use your discretion a little more...

The fact is... it's not going to change either. People have different reasons for being on the board. Each member may contribute as much or as little as they wish.

If you want to start your own board and monitor the quality of messages... go right ahead. I'll visit your site every so often to see how you're doing

[Jumbo]

seems to be 4 groups that have emerged:

1.) The nay-sayers who prophesize doom and gloom after every loss and look for the negative in everything. Some people just put out their concerns, but there are some who always seem to point out the negatives.

2.) The In-Gibbs we Trust folks who are like bible thumpers who believe that JJG can just do no wrong and that he is human. Yes, he knows more about football than any of us ... that is completely obvious so to use it as retaliation to someone's wondering questions or discussions is really sad. How about "let's see how things play out" or "I think we will be ok because of yaddy yaddy" ... but instead we get a whole line on why we aren't a HOF HC and he is and why we must not be true fans since we question the great one.

3.) The in-betweeners who add content and like to discuss things to appreciate other people's points of views even if it is not their own ... you never know but you may change your opinion based on other people's well educated points that you haven't considered

4.) The control-freaks who bash and get nasty when people just don't agree with them. They aren't always negative, but they really don't have much tolerance for opposing views.

At least this has been my experience. I truly try and have discussions with as many people in Group 3 as possible.

I'd suggest we get identifiers for each poster so you know what group they're in except that my experience with the majority of people has been that as soon as you think you have them pigeonholed they'll run over to visit a different group :laugh:

The truth for me is that it is just a very few posters who are just "one-way" and even then it's possible to converse. Most people have dipped their pen in all the wells you described at different times, though using different labels. The "gibbs/bible" people are doing the same behavior as the "lavar is god" people for instance. So, IMO, similar to what Die Hard has said: We have the power of choice, and in the end it's mainly our responsibilty for the quality of experience we have on the site.

[Burgold]

There is to some degree a pack mentality in some of the threads. One guy says something and then ten or fifty guys jump in saying more or less the same thing. If they're all ignoring the thread's subject and just going after the poster or saying what's the point I kind of agree, but if they are just disagreeing en mass than defend yourself or move on. I have seen some folk get very rudely ambushed for asking a fairly reasonable question.