Can't we all just get along?

[Riggins Seventy Chip]

Here is a private message that I just got from Art. Just in case I am kicked off the board, people will know why. Apparently, Art feels as though I have "lied" when reporting what his opinion was. I didn't realize that when paraphrasing others' viewpoints on this message board, it was necessary to hire a lawyer to review the wordings first, so that everything is in proper context. I will make sure to hire someone to proofread all of my quotes from now on! Just kidding. I'd like to enjoy this board without this nonsense. Seriously, I'm interested in what others think of this message from Art.

"Etiquette.....

I'm all for a good fight and don't mind your personal name-calling in the slightest. However, I do not allow openly misleading statements to be made on the board if they amount to lies. You had several in your last post that could qualify:

1. You wrote I said we probably wouldn't get a first or second for Gardner.

In fact, I wrote: "It might be very true Gardner only merits a third-round pick if we were to trade him because as the draft approaches teams covet their picks more and more and would merit a higher pick after the draft for next year. "

Your task is to apologize for falsely characterizing what I said, as my words and yours don't match up and mine are the definitive meaning of what I said. You do not have to do this. Your other choice is to never say it again. You've now said it twice that I said something other than I did. I explained to you and you ignored it. If you falsely characterize again, you won't post again. You can be silent, or you can apologize. If you perpetuate, I will give you time off.

2. You wrote I changed my position to say Gardner may not be a No. 1 receiver. In my first post in this thread to you, I wrote the following:

"Gardner may never be a guy who has the next level of production possible. He may never hit the 90-catch mark for 1,200 yards. But, we certainly can't say it's impossible considering how many receivers evolve after three years in the league into something much better than they'd been."

As this is the first reply in this thread to you, you see I never altered my position from the start. I always stated Gardner may never be a No. 1 receiver. However, I pointed out that he may be as well and that we can't discount the evidence of receivers who are and yet who were lesser receivers at the same stage in their careers.

Same rules apply here. You either openly state you were incorrect. Or, you go silent. In either case if you continue to perpetuate it, you'll be openly lying and I'll have no choice but to give you some time off to center yourself.

You can continue to call me names and attack the actual words I speak though. I hope you do continue that. Cheers.

Art. --------------------"

[Sarge]

So you ran afoul of Tyrannasaurus Art? I'd just say "Sorry" and move on

[Tarhog]

Here's what I think.

You just got a 24 hour timeout. Whether there's a 'point' in your post or not (I think not...you'll find about the ONLY thing Art won't tolerate is distortion of the facts...I find that pretty damn generous personally), you don't 'call out' a staff member, whether in jest or not. That pm stands for 'private'. Its pretty uncouth to put it out there for everyone when it was intended for your eyes.

Hopefully, you see the point and return with a little more respectful tone.

[TheKurp]

For one, it's a serious breach of netiquette to post a private reply from someone. That is why it's called "private". The Internet is by and large, un-policed and unburdoned by many of the laws that apply to other avenues of communication. The only way it will remain so is if people respect and practice a code of ethical behavior as it applies to Intenet usage.

That said, consider yourself fortunate that Art chose not to publicly take you out to the barn and flog you with a horse whip.

Frankly, I empathize with Art and anyone else who is forced to spend time denying statements falsely attributed to them. Legal terms like "actual malice", libel, and defamation all apply, with the only criteria for bringing civil charges against the perpetrator being the ability to prove damages.

Forums are a great place to hone one's writing and debating skills. However if you can't confine the debate to the words actually written, and find yourself incorrectly "paraphrasing" your opponents words to score points, then you either need to keep silent, or be kept silent.

[jbooma]

I agree with Kurp, some conversations should not be exposed in the public like you did with this one.

Art has defended Gardner before in the past, but mostly because of his drops. He did say once that he thought Gardner would overtake what Monk would have done, but that was an opinion and thats all.

Personally I have had many conversations with Art about Gardner and I don't think I have ever heard him say he is a legit #1 or something like that.

Because you have now just posted something Art meant to be private I feel doom coming your way

[TK]

Hope you enjoyed your stay here. By making that Private Message public you've just ensured your own doom.

:ciao:

[carlsbadd]

It's hard to get what you are asking of us since many of us don't have the context of what your gripe is about. You only gave a partial reference so we can't see the whole picture.

If you had posted a link to the thread in question, and asked us for our view,or if you did anything wrong,

we could make our own judgement.

To post a private message at this point makes it seem that you are either calling out Art ,or trying to gain our sympaphy.

Neither of which goes over well here.

[Ancalagon the Black]

Man, I was sure this thread was going to be deleted right away. It probably still should be. Since RSC has been given a time-out, he cannot edit out the contents of the PM, which would be the right thing to do. Because of this, perhaps one of the other moderators would consider editing the post (or deleting the thread), so that private correspondence between two board members doesn't get flashed on the site. (I would imagine Art would do it himself, but he mentioned something about getting on a flight...)