I sort of agree along these lines. I don't mind the nut-hugger fans cheering for their guy, but when the insults and negativity come out, they cross a line. However, I also agree the mods are biased. They're quick to pull the trigger on "LOFs", but let a lot of "LOH" trolling by. To be fair, all the negative trollers need to be treated the same. I even see some long time posters get caught up in the mud slinging. I'm not saying ban all of them, but a lot more temp bans should be handed out to let people cool off, especially after tough losses. I realize it's Clutch's forum, so do whatever you want, I'm just making a comment since this topic was brought up.
Let me let you in on a secret. There is no such thing as a LOH. If you don't understand that, then you won't understand why Clutch posts the things he does.
Change it to reddit format. The reason why Reddit is so popular is because it works. Upvote popular comments/important infomation. We can see it on the first page. But then again that's going to take a lot of coding to change the website (computers are not my area of expertise)
Of course there are LOH. Duh don't be ignorant. And I don't mean people who joined this site years ago but if you don't see LOHers with 2012 and 2013 join dates then you either are not paying attention or you are intentionally being ignorant. You think some butt hurt Knicks fans didn't join this forum to attack Lin. Or some people who don't like Lin for racial reasons didn't join. If you believe there are no LOHers then you also probably believe in Santa Clause.
Those posters are called Knicks fan trolls. If I go on a Jazz board and post crap about Favors or Heyward, it doesn't make me a Heyward only hater. It just makes me a Rockets fan troll. Nobody follows basketball just for the sake of rooting against Jeremy Lin. Plenty of people follow basketball just for the sake of rooting for Jeremy Lin.
Don't be ignorant. Lin is currently the only Asian American in the NBA. If you think racism doesn't exist anymore than you are in a fairy tale world. Even the great Jackie Robinson got hate and he was a great player. Now 2014 is a lot less racist then when J-Robinson played baseball but today we still have people who hate all races. Even white players who play in the NBA have haters solely because of racism. And with Lin's hype yes there are LOHers. Sorry to break it to you. I don't think long time members are LOHers but many of the 2012 and 2013 members are LOHers
The difference is Lin was all over espn and sports illustrated as the next great Knicks player and then they lost him in free agency. So yes it would make a lot more sense for Knicks fans to come here solely to hate on Lin which makes them LOHers. That is the sole purpose of them being here.
I'd have: -Individual player appreciation sections -Monday morning QB section for all the negative posts (Fire McHale, Bench X, etc) -Stats section
Give the 60% of the city without Comca$h the Rockets on TV every night and maybe some of the old schoolers would come back and actually have analysis or something to talk about. Most of us are just going by box scores which gives us no insight, and a lot of have just been run away from the GARM due to the idiot trolls, (insert name) only fans, etc.
Silly. Maybe there is technically no such thing as a LOH, we all know what he meant. Similarly, I would love to see less labeling in general on CF because it really degenerates debate fast. I would rather someone use facts and challenge the opinion/comment head on instead. Clutch does seem a bit more biased toward one camp than another, but I am not sure why he shouldn't be. Pretty sure he doesn't get paid to be our unbiased nanny and Moderator, so he can do what he wants I imagine. I'm not a huge fan of the strong limitations on new posters because that seems a bit too draconian and limits growth of the board. Limiting knee jerk reaction threads might be an easier measure for now. Sort of like what op suggested.
I like Lin as a person/player, but I'm going to like him even more when he's gone! Go Rockets!!! ....... ....... .......
What is popular isn't always the best read. Bad idea. I kind of like this, but I don't think this place would be very popular to new arrivals if they couldn't share their opinions. I would say that the probationary period allow 2-5 posts per day. That way, newbies can be involved, but it's hard for them to get out of control. Thread starting, I agree with. Right now, our rookies are allowed to rule and no locker room in the history of locker rooms has been good when a bunch of rookies run it. I used to love it when a vet would have to start a thread for a rookie. You usually knew those were good because two people thought it was a good idea. I have yet to see a 2012/13/14er hate on Lin. I've seen a lot of people hate on Lin-fans, so maybe there are some LOFHs, but I think it's few and far between on openly hating Lin because he's Asian. I'm not naive and I realize racism exists, but racists join other racists, not fan clubs. Personally, I'd like to see an agreement that we all sign when we sign up that states the goals of this site. This is a Houston Rockets fan site. Click continue. We discuss the players, coaches and brass from the perspective of fans of the team. Click continue. We would like you to be part of this group. Click continue. But first we need to let you know how we do things differently than other forums. Click continue. etc. etc. I don't know the wording because only Clutch can really say what his creation is about, but I think his vision for this site should be something we can all see. Kind of a fun hazing ritual sort of thing.
Some of that you don't see because the moderators take it out before you see it. I've seen a couple outright racist comments from people, but they tend to disappear (both the people and the comments) quickly. There are some that seem just to be trolling, but who can tell what is going through the mind at the other end of the intertubes. In any case, there are idiots in every fan base. With the wonders of the internet, you now get a chance to interact with them directly! Yay for modern technology!!!
But what is poorly rated is almost always bad. My idea was to drop the bad posts, which makes the GARM better.
This is true. Speaking as a long time lurker, I miss the old GARM where I recognized most of the posters usernames. Now it's a bunch of 2012ers and 2013ers (you got me) who lack basketball knowledge and need to see the Rockets get abused in the playoffs before they realize hype and good rosters on paper don't translate to championships. They will most likely be the most annoying posters when we lose and during the off-season (if they don't disappear).
It's interesting that the moderators are that vigilant about removing quickly anything smacking of racism. Certainly, they've let blatantly homophobic stuff stay up. Of course, it could also be that the homophobic stuff isn't getting reported. Either way, it's reflective of attitudes among athletes and fan bases, I suppose. America has come a long way in terms of racism, but no active major team gay athlete (and probably there are dozens of them in the NBA) feels that they can be open about their sexuality. It's sad. I'm curious about your insights on homophobia and sports, Justaguy. What's your take on it?
I have been a member of many forums from bbq competitors to offroad to photography. I have ended up dropping out of many of them for all the reasons stated here. I stay here because I feel like the person(s) who run this one keep a pretty firm but light grip on it. We will weather the bs and still be a great forum. Patience is a virtue and the ignore list is a good weapon.
