Rant: Caring more about politics than baseball

[jim]

How do you know they "left in a huff". I guarantee you one of the guys that left is probably completely incapable of huffing, or saying or implying anything negative about anyone. The ones I talked to just decided they didn't like the tone. Let's not assume they couldn't handle disagreement, that's not accurate.

And, like I said, I'm also concerned about the fact that it seems over the past X years (2-3 I don't know) that there is probably less chatter in baseball than outside. I see the total post counts still favor baseball, but i wonder over the past year or two if that's really true. Maybe this is just normal evolution, or like I said it seems like I'm stuck in offseason so maybe that will change. It's not just inflammatory posts that I'm concerned about. Apathy in the baseball forum is my bigger concern.

[thrill]

I think apathy in baseball forums has to do with a couple of things. I think the stats vs scouting arguments turned some people off and since stats won for us non-scouts who don't have as sophisticated a baseball eye as some, there's very little anecdotal conversation. Someone asks a question and someone responds authoritatively with a WAR # or something and that's the end.

I think it also has to do with declining forum usage across the internet. Message boards just aren't a vibrant social media anymore.


As for politics, we're discussing ways to better isolate it rather than censor it. Hope we can all get through an election year.

As for the "huff" comment, I wasn't speaking about anyone in specific. It wasn't the nicest choice of words or tone. That's true.

[go birds]

how about making a separate politics forum? if anyone is as OCD as i am, they hate seeing the little NEW POST icon next to the topic and not being able to click thru just to get rid of it.

(im not a fan of the mark all topics read option)

[ghostrunner]

I just know that in the past if you said "Brick layin' lesbians", you would have had to clean that up. Not now. That's a clue.

We should also get rid of those compartmentalized people. So the crazies, the hogwash people, the hissy fit throwers, and who else we got? Who am I missing?

Are you honestly referring to one of your own posts as one that should have been cleaned up? Why don't you go edit that post right now?

Jim, I have to say - you've developed a persona on this forum which in the past I thought funny and did not take seriously. Such that I'm now thinking this whole thread might be a joke. If you expect anyone to effectively moderate in that environment, you're going to be disappointed. I feel like maybe I'm a dumbass for having taken this thread seriously.

[thrill]

how about making a separate politics forum?

That's in the works.

[Radbird]

Political threads are difficult to moderate. There are a lot of varying viewpoints, a lot of passion. Not speaking for the other mods here, but I feel like it's generally best to let things play out. Politics by its nature is inflammatory and my personal views would influence what moderation decisions are made. If you don't like what's posted, respond to it. If you don't like the tone or tenor, stay out of the thread. Or report it as ghost said.

On the whole, what we post here is mild compared to what you find elsewhere online (or even on MSNBC/Fox News).

[Cheddar Tom]

We did have a 13-page thread on the signing of a guy whose name I can't even remember....so I think Baseball Talk is alive and well!

[Jocephus]

We did have a 13-page thread on the signing of a guy whose name I can't even remember....so I think Baseball Talk is alive and well!

ha yep. he even got a nickname, carpegs.

[cardinalkarp]

Why can't people who don't want to discuss politics just not click on politics threads? Is that harder than clicking, throwing a fit because people have strong opinions that disagree with theirs and then leaving in a huff? Come on, guys.

My problem is that I'll typically read anything that says I haven't read yet....while the political thread is typically the last man standing, I'm bored so I click on it.

With that said, I don't really let any of that BS get me upset. I hate politics in general, and its comical to me how worked up some people get over it.

[ghostrunner]

So here's something - I hadn't seen the "jumping for joy" gif in the Scalia thread. I'm going to delete that now because it doesn't contribute anything, but I didn't see it when reading the thread this weekend. Not sure if that was a connection/phone issue or what, but the point is - report posts and say why.