Seriously WTF?

[MadScientist]

it's all brett's fault.

So which Brett loving troll is Brett?

Seriously, this site has gone downhill quite a bit. I used to really enjoy the good football talk, especially the comments by the posters with real football experience. When I found PackerRats, I was hoping it would be to the Packers what Brewerfan.net is to the Brewers. (with the exception of the swearing ban they have).

There is still a desire to make this a great site again, but it will take some active work to get it there.

[wist43]

Despite my lightening rod status... I do agree

[Scott Campbell]

Yeah dude I agree. I'm not going to get into what I think the problem is, but yeah, this place basically sucks now.

You're not?

^ That and that some people cannot let people have a differing opinion. There is such an attacking, spiteful attitude here.

Extending upon that, too much history documented here that people will go and throw in your face whenever you were wrong, etc.

Hey, I thought you weren't going to get into what you think the problem is.

I miss the sense of camaraderie. That people could play with one another a bit. There was a good naturedness that led to fantastic discussion that's missing.

I told you guys this awhile ago and no one supported me. Basically every forum develops one of two attitudes.

A) an "we're all in this together so let's help eachother and get along"

-or-

B) a "This is the way it is, so get on board or else, my way or the highway" kind of dealy.

This forum used to be A. Since the Favre retirement it has been B.


I'm not really sure if there is a good way to fix it unless you get rid of a lot of the core people here to get some fresh opinions and less familiarity.

If it were my forum, I would think long and hard about the following options:

- Wiping the entire posting database. It's radical but it will get rid of the ability to go and dig a bunch of crap up and offer up basically a pseudo fresh start.

- Outlaw all political posts, pornographic discussion/photos (even in garbage can). Politics never lead to a friendly environment.

- No personal attacks, rudeness, or prejudice posts of any type. Not even sarcastically.

How is getting rid of the historical threads going to solve the problem when you provide ample fodder in each thread?

[denverYooper]

If you think its bad this week, wait till next week. Either way there are going to be a bunch of people real unhappy about the outcome.

You know, I figured the collective apoplexy would be unbearable after Brent-Pack I. But I was wrong; it was much more civil here than I'd expected. It was cathartic, and some good football discussion broke out of the calm for a week or two.

Jeez, though, we win a few games and the shit hits the fan again. The signal to noise ratio faded again considerably back into the vague miasma of the paranoid. It's weird to me.

[MadtownPacker]

www.packerchatters.com
www.p@ckeraddict.com




I just realized paranoid Madtown made it so you couldn't type www.p@ckeraddict.com.

Fuck you. That is because those fucks felt it was their right to tag this place up with that shit. See unlike your bandwagon jumping ass I only gave a fuck and still do in some ways about this forum alone. You on the other hand do nothing that is positive for it any more. You put those shit links up just as easily as you talked shit about this place on the new jso. For that alone you should get whacked.

You are nothing but a fucking bitch IMO. Yes you will come quick with a snappy comeback. So fucking what, the truth is you dont really give a fuck about this place. If you had any loyalty you would take that shit down.

[MadtownPacker]

Youre right Zool but if you dont see how you played a part youre not as cool as I have always thought. Maybe you should look in the mirror? Just about all of us will be guilty to some level. Maybe you let up with the one word post with dumb shit?

[Lurker64]

I think it would be interesting to do a Maquerade for Halloween wherein everybody's name, avatar, and sig were replaced by something (or somebody) else. I know there is bulletin board software that can do this, but I don't know if ours can. I wonder how we'd all interact without years of biases and history to base our interactions on. There seem to be some lightning rod posters who just attract negative attention based on their history, less the actual content of their posts.

[Partial]

I think it would be interesting to do a Maquerade for Halloween wherein everybody's name, avatar, and sig were replaced by something (or somebody) else. I know there is bulletin board software that can do this, but I don't know if ours can. I wonder how we'd all interact without years of biases and history to base our interactions on. There seem to be some lightning rod posters who just attract negative attention based on their history, less the actual content of their posts.

The problem with that is then everyone would know waht was going on and thus be cool.

I would <3 it if everyone had their name wiped and had to change it to something else.

If everyone started fresh you would be amazed (I would guess) at the difference it would make around here. Then, after a few weeks once it became clear who a few people were, it would go back to how things are now, though.

[MadScientist]

If it were my forum, I would think long and hard about the following options:

- Wiping the entire posting database. It's radical but it will get rid of the ability to go and dig a bunch of crap up and offer up basically a pseudo fresh start.

- Outlaw all political posts, pornographic discussion/photos (even in garbage can). Politics never lead to a friendly environment.

- No personal attacks, rudeness, or prejudice posts of any type. Not even sarcastically.

How is getting rid of the historical threads going to solve the problem when you provide ample fodder in each thread?

There was a rash of bumps of old posts just to stir things up for 'I told you so' or 'see how wrong you were' type of posts. Deleting old post is a bit too radical, but locking all the old posts would help.

Active deleting of personal attack posts would help to end the flames before they start. As would locking posts that devolve. Standard rules for posting would also help.

[Rastak]

Well, I have to agree. One short post in this very thread is a prime example.

If Joe can find a way to get it back on track with help from some of the better posters, great. If not, the end is near from what I can see.

[MJZiggy]

Old bitties are much more genteel even when their stool softeners don't work. Seriously, you make an excellent point that I was just discussing earlier this evening. I feel exactly the same way.

Disappointed to find you using "bitties" when the word is Biddy/biddies. My moral is at an all time low.

Please read the first post again for the source.

Look, it can't be that difficult. Maybe when you find yourself making the fourth post in a circular argument that you see is going nowhere, it's time to agree to disagree? Maybe as a group, we police ourselves and not whine so much when someone suggests we're crossing a line when so-and-so wasn't corrected when he did it. So what? We all need to be talked off of our ledges every now and again--there's no need to get defensive about it. But the baiting each other and the hostile reactions are getting us nowhere. Hell, I used to tease folks all the time, now I hesitate except with a couple people because I never know who's going to blow up in my face.

Why do we NEED a moderator to control everything. This place was founded without a lot of moderation because we trusted the posters to have enough common sense not to be idiots with each other. And it worked for quite a while. So what happened?

I think we've forgotten that it's the people who make this place, and not just the ones we like.

[sheepshead]

Well Zool, one thing for sure-you can flush out the assholes with a thread like this, cantcha?

[pbmax]

Despite my lightening rod status... I do agree

No, you aren't a lightning rod. That's like blaming ballast for a balloon not rising. You serve to keep the rest of us kool-aid chuggers tethered to the potential reality that the Packers will not win the Super Bowl every year.

I think the main difference is that while there was sniping and hard feelings before, it did not take over entire threads. Harlan and Mad, Skin and a cast of thousands, Justin Harrell/Greg Jennings/Nick Collins and his multiple personalities (just joking JH), each had their battles, but (excepting Mad) each was funny in a way and short. Usually lasting a couple of posts. Now sniping goes on forever and other people pile on.

We need a bench penalty like in basketball. Leave the bench to join the fight, suspended for the next game. Participate in the fight longer than two posts each (without factual merit) miss the next week.

[SkinBasket]

Fuck you. That is because those fucks felt it was their right to tag this place up with that shit. See unlike your bandwagon jumping ass I only gave a fuck and still do in some ways about this forum alone. You on the other hand do nothing that is positive for it any more. You put those shit links up just as easily as you talked shit about this place on the new jso. For that alone you should get whacked.

You are nothing but a fucking bitch IMO. Yes you will come quick with a snappy comeback. So fucking what, the truth is you dont really give a fuck about this place. If you had any loyalty you would take that shit down.

Or maybe you could stop fucking dropping in just to curse and insult people before you gallop off on your burrow of injustice again. If you had any loyalty to the people who helped you build this place, maybe you wouldn't be such an ungrateful cocksucker.

As far as wiping the database or changing names, that sounds like a dumb idea. It would literally take 10 posts to figure out who most people are, and people like Partial are kidding themselves if they think people go after him because of his user name. The only way that works is if people like Partial start posting differently. And if that happens, then there's no need to wipe any database or change anyone's poster name. Problem solved.

I don't know what the overarching problem is, other than the fact that I corrupt children, I mean. But I agree that it's boring. I guess I would go back to when retail and Madtown banned lesbianism from the RR in the name of religious purity. I said then this place was on the way down. That censorship could only lead to blandness. It was a slippery slope of censorship and heavy handedness that continued to kill the interesting diversity here while common sense calls for practical measures like keeping all the Favre discussion in one thread were ignored until it was too late.

So that's my guess at why things suck lately. Too much owner intervention has driven off more interesting posters and squashed the interesting off topic discussions that used to keep people entertained when football news was slow or repetitive. And the Favre explosion was poorly handled at the same time. Lots of threats and owner/mod talk (which really only contributed to the toxic atmosphere) but no action until a lot of people got tired of it and left. Then when that was finally rectified... well we covered that last month.

[pbmax]

I think it would be interesting to do a Maquerade for Halloween wherein everybody's name, avatar, and sig were replaced by something (or somebody) else. I know there is bulletin board software that can do this, but I don't know if ours can. I wonder how we'd all interact without years of biases and history to base our interactions on. There seem to be some lightning rod posters who just attract negative attention based on their history, less the actual content of their posts.

I am not sure I like this. I don't want to take Fritz home by mistake after the masquerade party and get a surprise.