------------ I got really irritated when a post of mine discussing what Hunter and Sam will do to acknowledge “Black Lives Matter” at the games this fall and, after three very calm comments by other posters, all got deleted. So, I messaged Clay to ask for a call.
Clay did call and explained that he has released the running of the board to Matt (which I understand since he is almost as old as I am) and that Matt (after 8 “Black Lives Matter” posts in a row all went berserk) has now a zero tolerance policy for any “Black Lives Matter” posts. My suggestion to Clay was “why not just freeze posts that start out in an adult manner and start turning childish/nasty” with an explanation for why. That allows adult conversations and becomes a teaching moment for how to not respond if you want to participate in them.
My problem is that water melon, trout fishing, and dog show posts don’t interest me and they have nothing to do with the Razorbacks. Things like the FBI prosecution of corruption in basketball recruiting, Congress on the verge of mandating athletes get paid, the Pandemic, Black Lives Matter, etc.and their impacts on sports in general and the Hogs in particular does interest me. So, I am looking for a board that can handle all of that and will not take the easy way out to avoid some people who are unable to diagree without becoming nasty. I think punishing the nasty folks and letting the adults who behave themselves discuss how these things impact the Hogs is a good way to go. Apparently, Matt doesn’t feel he has enough time to handle that and my kind of posts aren’t welcome here. So, it is time to join Douglas Adams’ Dolphins, say “so long and thanks for all the fish” and move on down the universe.
PS: Since it appears that Clay is concentrating on the magazine and my problem is with Matt, not him, I withdraw my threat to cancel and demand a refund on the two magazine subscriptions (mine and the one I buy for my father). Clay took the time to call, explain some things, and it is hard to stay mad at Clay.
For the bulk of my life (I’m almost 55), you could have cordial conversations about things. We all worked from the same perspective, sometimes begrudgingly, where we respected the other person if they had professional or academic expertise; we relied on scientific reason to drive what was a fact and what was an opinion; we recognized that our own lives sometimes skew our perspective,and the “my own backyard” angle was something you always knew would be bigger than facts; and, there was a low tolerance for rumors, hoaxes, and conspiracies.
We now have a political war playing out in front of us - coronavirus, BLM, you name it - that stems from the erosion of that foundation. When that erosion entered these forums I fully understand why threads could get derailed, locked, or nuked. Sometimes, I guess, a chainsaw is more time-efficient than a scalpel - a bit crude, but quick and effective at simply purging anything related to a slimy post.
Stay safe, and steer clear of fringe hoaxes, conspiracies, and rumors and you’ll be good in my book - even if we have a robust disagreement on something.
That is not exactly how the conversation went but I’ll refrain from nitpicking your post. Mostly, what I said was that we would consider a little more tolerance And that Matt and I would discuss it again. I guess you didn’t hear that part.
But I’ll say again that it is true that most of the Black Lives Matter posts do in fact go sideways.
And other political posts do, too.
For the last 20 years I’ve been consistent in setting a rule that we don’t discuss politics. You aren’t going to change anyone’s opinion.
I don’t say who or why I vote a certain way. And just to be clear, I often delete a post that I completely agree with in regards to politics.
As we all know, what teams do in regards to BLM will be discussed when there are games and reactions — and that’s still a ways out. And I explained that.
Most don’t like it when the thread they started gets deleted. But many know - and some preface in their post — that’s it going to be deleted because they crossed the line. They did it anyway.
It is best kept off the board. An opinion might hit a potential great player in a manner that ultimately
leads him or her to eliminate our Razorbacks from
their commitment to us.
Their is a bad moon rising for our country and we
could all use some place for a respite.
I’ve been on this board for many many years and for most of those I was not living in AR and it was my real lifeline to the Hogs sports. The board was fun, often very funny, and informative. Sure, there were disagreements but for the most part it was just debating about sports. Now the tone of the board has changed. I know that several threads have been locked, and rightfully so, but several have not. It does appear there is a distinct bias in favor of certain posters.
I’ve decided to not renew my subscription and feel that it’s time I socially distance myself from this board. It’s just not fun anymore and who knows when/if there will be any sports. I’ll hope to be back someday when sports can be discussed without all the name calling, personal attacks and constant political references, even the not so subtle ones. At least I hope that day will come but honestly I have my doubts at this point.
Covid has an impact on sports yet almost all posts about it turn political. No need to start a thread that is intended to get political reactions. As LD said, there are plenty of outlets for political discussion. I don’t want to see it here even though I admit I sometimes slide into it, too.