giddyup: The "clique" thing began in this thread: http://bbs.clutchcity.net/php3/showthread.php?s=&threadid=21731 and escalated here: http://bbs.clutchcity.net/php3/showthread.php?s=&threadid=21592 But, if you want to discuss that, can you do it in anohter thread? I really don't want to see this one derailed unless you guys think it is relavent here in which case I'll shut up.
Here's a simple solution: All of you posting in this thread should flood the Game Action forum with intelligent posts, to drown out the annoying crap started half the time by me. I'm sure you could all come up with some intelligent discussions. The Game Action forum is crap because none of you are posting in it anymore, and none of you are posting in it because the forum is crap.
Or better yet, fill out a personality questionaire and allow only those that will praise RT, and agree with the majority access to the Rockets forum. Theres an idea!!!
Manny: Find (and post) me a really good Jennifer Aniston pic - one that I have not already posted - and I will change my vote. The clock starts now. EDIT: I am going to change the vote now, since time is waning. You owe me (all of us) a hot Jennifer Aniston pic at some point in the future. Call it credit...
Basically. Seriously, if you all started good threads in the forum, this wouldn't be a problem. It's not going to suddenly get better. You have to make it happen.
Better threads than "This team absolutely sucks, I am ashamed to be a Rockets fan tonight"? I agree that you've got to make it happen. But my thoughts are too negative... To the point where I'd rather let someone else make it happen. You don't want someone who agrees with ZRB to lead by example. Your after-game threads aren't exactly inspiring, ZRB. But alas, this season truly does suck, and they are at least on target... Sad situation, all the way around.
How's this: http://www.anthempop.com/jenniferaniston/images/002.html I know it's a link, but I think that you will be surprised..
ZRB & NCSTATEFAN: You guys are welcome to your opinions but neither of you has been around this BBS long enough to realize what you are saying. The Rockets forum used to be full of lively debate on both sides of every issue. Rudy T was loved and hated. The team was praised and ripped. The difference was that people did it intellegently and with more than a degree of civility. Oh, we had some knock downs all right, but the tenor of that forum has been steadily getting worse over the past year or so. To be honest, it seems like since the beginning of last season, it has been getting worse. I don't think anyone here would discourage differences of opinion. I liked them. I enjoyed arguing over the finer points of the game. But that really isn't possible any longer because the thread deteriorate so rapidly and people get so personal so quickly. I don't often agree with treeman in here but I always found even his negative posts in the Rockets forum to be worth a read. I remember aelliot going over the finer points of the salary cap. I can remember tons of people who would post intellegently and argue with the best of the board. How many others here remember all those posters who don't come in here any more but you wish they did??? It seems to me that this will require more than just a bunch of us posting in there. It would appear that we all need to not only post but counteract the problems that have been happening. For those of us who have been around this board since it started, it is really sad to see.
This may sound stupid, but what about a "freeze-out?" If a topic is being discussed in the game action forum over a good topic and there are intelligent responses, ignore the stupid ones. The same way a rookie gets waved off of a play (won't say any names..ahem...Grif... ), wave off the troll. Don't acknowledge him or her and either they'll go away or they'll wise up and post sensibly. Just like a child craves attention and learns from it, a "child" poster will learn when they don't get attention. If they don't learn the worst they'll do is pull a Cartman and say "Screw you guys I'm going home." If it really pisses you off maybe there should be a "venting" forum. BTW the season's curse doesn't help that forum much either.
Dreamshake thacabbage AntiSonic Ace popeye Space Ghost 3pointer Almu Azim the Dream aelliot Jenna sir scarvajal Iroc-it just off the top of my head Someone mentioned being bashed as a newbie...I remember Dreamshake (then thedreamshake99) slapping me down when I was a junior member. I learned my lesson then that you better know the person you are calling out, and you better have the info to back it up.
I think the forum has been devoured somewhat by its own popularity. I'm not going to diss the people that are posting there now simply because, hell, they're at least posting. I remember when I first started on this BBS there were some REALLY interesting discussions. No matter what the topic, somebody was always able to throw in some interesting twist. If they suggested a trade, they'd try to back it up as to why and how it helped both teams rather than the "Walt Williams and a bowl of fruit loops for some Disneyland tickets" trade. One of the people that still does a good job of this is verse. Back then you could say, "ah another trade thread; I'll let one of those salary cap/trade gurus respond to that, I'm not interested". Now it's like "damn, not another freakin' trade thread". A lot of this has nothing more to do than the Rockets are losing. I mean how many different paths do you want to take when you know the destination is inevitably a loss. After a while, you just stop attempting the journey... know what I mean? When the season started, there were upwards of 40-60 people in chat per game. Now, we're lucky to get about 20 and most of those are just there lurking while they do their sims (damn those twits. ). I'm sure when the next big trade, or next big draft pick comes close to fruition, we'll see a pickup, but I doubt the quality of that forum will go up unless 1 of 3 things happens : 1) Make the forum exclusive, which I think is stupid, not to mention elitist. Although The Clique approves. 2) Some of you yahoos that are b****ing about it need to start some threads. Sure some of those threads will get derailed into the outer reaches of stupidity, but hey, that's to be expected with the population growth of the bbs. 3) The Rockets need to start winning. Don't hold your breath. I remember when I moved to Dallas 4 years ago, I couldn't get Rockets games, but wanted to post about the games. Of course, what do I say about games I can't watch? Now I can watch the games, but can't even begin to talk about something that hurts as much as loss after loss after loss. My vote goes to #2 above. Quit b****in' and start posting. If people ever wondered why some newbies were beat down for their threads, you can see why by looking at the Rockets forum now. There are other newbies that have great takes and contribute to the board. It was never anything against newbies per se, but rather a way to stop the board into deteriorating into an ESPN-like debacle. It's nowhere near that yet, thank goodness. So, if we do #2 above, maybe there're still enough good takes out there to override the lame ones. Maybe this'll help bring the bbs legends back into the fold? Ya never know unless you try. Like I said, I stopped going into the Rockets forum for a brief period because it was either so anal or so stupid in there at times, but I've started going back in there. Every so often I may see something I can respond to and hopefully those opportunities will increase, but they won't if all the big dogs stand on the side of the road and whimper. Since others have done it, here are some guys whose posts I miss : aelliott - the real realgm. thacabbage - 100% pure vegetable takes. mmanal - wow, I loved this guy's analysis of the game. oeilpere - more scoops than Ben & Jerry's. To this day, any thread with one of his inside stories, scoops, or opinions generates more hits/views than any other poster (just a wild hunch). Antisonic - play-by-play from the Gods during chat. dreamshake - can't remember anything specific; just loved to read his posts. tpl - just needs to post more. ... and probably several others I'm forgetting.
I hate to agree with ZRB b/c he's part of the problem, but he does have a good point: how many of the Posters For Intelligent Thought (PFIT - as in lets not throw one) are here now saying they just don't post there anymore? Doesn't that sort of answer our own question as to what's wrong with the forum? We can't let the idiots beat us. That's because the world is interesting. The Rockets, unfortunately, are not. The team is young, injured, loses a lot, makes the same mistakes.... everyone is frustrated and everyone has an opinion on how to change it. When you're 21-37, the only thing that excites people is 'change'.... and there isn't much of that going on right now. Once the team neglected to make a move at the trade deadline, I knew it was going to be a long 3-4 months. Does anyone think the forum would be different if we had Tim Duncan and were 37-21 instead of 21-37? I know <strong>so</strong> many people, who growing up were "diehard" fans, now I get a call from them after not having talked to them in a while, and when they mention the site, they say, "Yeah... how <em>are</em> the Rockets doing these days?" They don't know, they don't care. But you can bet when the team starts winning again they'll be front row with painted faces screaming their heads off, and the current server won't be able to handle the influx of 'wagoners. Another part of the problem -- there has been NO news practically this year ... all year. I don't think I've had anything exciting come my way since the Shandon-Rice deal. I'm even bored with the site right now (man I can't wait until the draft). With that said, it's not all the Rockets obviously. I've watched/admined the board since its birth, and I can say for sure there have always been the problems we currently see... they just have become a lot more prevalent. Here are a few problems I see... please feel free to add to this list: <strong>1)</strong> "Trade Accepted" posts. I personally have learned to avoid them. <strong>2)</strong> "labeling" of the whole board... the idea that <strong>everyone</strong> here is negative, or <strong>everyone</strong> hates Mobley or the <strong>entire BBS</strong> is of one mind/biased. If you don't like it, then change it... complaining in that forum is only making it worse (<strong>much</strong> worse). <strong>3)</strong> The "Tow Company Line" Clan. Those who just won't hear anything critical about a player or coach (they respond real poorly to #4). <strong>4)</strong> Those who are just endlessly negative, starting topic after topic entitled "Disgusting" or "We Suck" (vicious cycle with #3). (see ZRB) Here's an example: Someone posts "Mobley sucks" and then proceeds to say why he/she thinks this way. It pisses you off because you don't think Mobley sucks. So you can make them look foolish by proving the debate... show Cuttino's numbers, percentages, etc., but some instead will just post, "I think you suck!"... followed by another posting saying "lol" then more rips on the thread starter. OK... there's a few laughs. But guess what? <strong>This thread now sucks.</strong> I still think the forum, right now, is worth reading (still the most read forum) and there are people who I will read immediately (Old School and NIKEstrad are two of my favorite posters... I like NJRocket and Sherlock also - hell, there are a lot I like and appreciate, but those names came to mind). We're missing a lot though: Need more Will (best poster all-time), thacabbage, MManal, aelliot, dreamshake, grummet, etc. But even now, the Rockets forum is and probably always will be my first stop. Jeff's right though: We should revolt. There are enough people here to get it done. My suggestion is if there is an intelligent topic started, reward it with an intelligent response. glynch has tried a few times to get positive topics going and they should have taken off more (but I'm not saying only "positive" topics should be encouraged or rewarded). PS. I'd move this to the feedback area, but I think attendance would drop at that point.
ESPN is trying to clean up their boards by tying one user to a non-free account or credit card. But this is to be expected in a somewhat down year. When the rox are back up, then the posting quality will go back up. Maybe thread or user ranking in the meanwhile?
first off, this is wild. I had no idea there was such an undercurrent here. . . I want to clarify that I'm not an advocate of making anything exclusive. if anyone got that from my suggestion of a "newbie" forum, let me explain myself. the cool thing about the newbie forum at the Jimmy Eat World board is that, as far as I could tell from my one visit there, it's not mandatory. you don't have to go there for a certain number of posts or anything. it's just listed as an option and a suggestion. I don't know how many people go straight there, but when I needed to ask a question that I thought had probably been answered before, I figured that was the place for me to go. for people who are truly "new" to the board, I don't think they'd look at a newbie forum as a punishment or anything. they'd probably just figure it was the way this board has always been. now is a tough time to be a Rockets fan. I'd wager that there's practically a generation of us who are watching the Rockets really, truly struggle for the first time. I know I wasn't yet a fan in '83 or '84 when they were winning coin flips. sure, they had some pretty mediocre seasons in the late '80s, but they almost always made the playoffs. this season has been tough. no one can control injuries, and that just leads to frustration. our one true glimmer of hope, Steven Franchise, is burdened with a mysterious malady that leaves us clueless as to whether he'll make it back out of the dressing room after warmups some nights. and all this after the most beloved figure in the history of the organization left on bitter terms. I don't know what the solution to this problem is, but I suspect that it's been good to vent and "b****" about our frustrations. maybe I'll try to post in the Rockets forum more often. I mean, I do think it would be cool if we got darius rice. who's darius rice? p.s. one other suggestion might be: everyone who has participated in this thread. . . we can plot a grand thread takeover. somebody, maybe Jeff, could start a thread in the Rockets forum. this thread would be the "example" thread. everyone from here could try to keep an intelligent discussion going about some topic. and, if any suckas tried to come in with that weak ****, we could give them one of those old school thumps I'm hearing about. a little lesson to the baby bubbas about how we do things, clutchcity.net-style. just a thought. mainly, I think the idea of a bunch of Hangout'ers plotting a devious thread takeover in the Rockets forum just sounds funny. it sounds like something that would happen on an episode of the Brady Bunch, if the Brady Bunch had the internet and were all Rockets fans.
I don't shy away from debate as anyone here will tell you, and yes the Rockets action forum has become less interesting. It is only because the Rocks are down this year. It has become a place for fans to vent (yes me included) about the teams inadequacies. However, most of us still see a silver lining and will not ever give up on the Rocks. Be patient, and if you don't like a thread or don't feel like arguing in it, just ignore it. DaDakota
Jeff, THANK YOU!!!!! The one thing that keeps me from posting - and always has - are mindless posts from those just trying to increase their post count. If there is just one thing I just can't stand it is the single post saying absolutely nothing substantive. When this BBS first came into existence, people wouldn't post unless they had something to say. Now-a-days, I almost fear posting something in the Rockets' Forum just because most of the time I don't even think it will be read because of someone posting "That's a stupid trade" in another thread, thus sending my thread to the bottom. Anyway, I suppose when things turn around for the Rockets there won't be as many mindless posts, but we'll never see a return to the glory days of the BBS. BTW, this isn't a knock on all 'newbies' - in fact, there are many who do post in the same way that this site was meant for, but for the most part, they are the minority. <i>-Turbo</i>
