Let's all take a deep breath (everyone please read)

[Heath]

You're in Boss and GIK's living room.

You were invited here to hang out with other baseball fans.

You are benefitting from the labor and imagination of two guys who saw a need and filled it. They filled it so well that it's the premier living room for Cincinnati Reds fans to hang out in anywhere.

All they ask is that you play nice and follow those rules down at the bottom of the page.

But it's still their living room and they get to decide how wild the party gets.

I keep waiting for the maid to show up to clean. I hate cleaning up the cans left around.

Then I forget that it's the wrong type of "maid" for the wrong party. Whoops.

Great Analogy, btw - RFS62

[Danny Serafini]

Some of the problems would be addressed if people would take the rules seriously in terms of their own actions, rather than turning themselves inside out to try and identify other rule-breakers...

Exactly! There sure seems to be a lot of finger-pointing and excuses in this thread. The moderators are the problem, the split boards are the problem, the rep points are the problem, etc. What there seems to not be much of is people being accountable for themselves. The system isn't what's broken, it's the people (mis)using it. It only takes a second to think "Is this how I'd want someone to talk to me" before hitting the send button. It only takes a second to ask yourself if you're adding anything of value to the discussion with what you're posting. And there's no scorecard for arguements won or lost. It seems there's this underlying need to "win" every discussion. There's no prize for it. And I'm not singling any particular group or poster out, every person here, myself included, needs to just use their head a little when they post and it would clean things up a lot.

Bottom line - we're all adults here, we should all act like it.

[GIK]

I haven't had the chance to read every comment yet, but will. My personal life has been fairly hectic these past few months. I appreciate all replies and welcome the viewpoints within. However, getting personal toward another member (from anyone) will not be tolerated. I'm pretty sure we can work through these issues as adults. In addition, as RFS has said, both Boss and I make the rules in how RedsZone operates. We do our best to allow all members a voice in how this community is run, but we're going to make decisions in how we feel this forum should operate.

[MartyFan]

I like the idea of there being a dead horse forum section...as for the rep points, I think making them a private thing would be great.

Some have said that RedsZone isn't exactly welcoming...I am not certain I agree or disagree with this but I can tell you my experience has been fairly good.

I am not someone who looks at baseball through statistics eventhough I understand those stats can predict a pattern that will determine more often than not the realistic outcome of a players performance....I saw plenty of potential in some of the things DanO was doing especially when he DFA'd a couple of guys...I defended him because I thought that he would be making moves...which we all know he did not...during that time I took a few hits and that's okay, I got to learn a few things about the game and a few thigs about other people and a few things about myself.

The coolest thing about Redszone is that it is a community of people who have at least one thing in common, The Cincinnati Reds, outside of that we are liberals, conservatives, music buffs, artists, historians, comedians, computer programmers, adminstrators, business owners, faithful employees, Christian, Jew, Muslim, everything in between and more...nobody is going to agree with anyone else 100% of the time (unless you are me and married to my wife and I have learned what disagreeing can do to a guy )...so I would say, that this board is a lot like real life...maybe a bit more vibrato...but it's not a bad place to be.

[SteelSD]

I don't mean this as a flame or attack, just a suggestion. Why not give Steel and a couple of others their own forum that they can moderate to their tastes.

Both RedsLive! and ORG are moderated to my "tastes". But then, my "tastes" are actually meaningless because I have to adhere to the same rules as everyone else. If I didn't want to be held to the same standard as everyone else, I could leave. But it just so happens that Redszone is neither under-moderated nor over-moderated and the rules of the board are easy to follow. That suits me just fine. Unfortunately, that doesn't appear to suit some others.

What I wouldn't do is pop up new on a message board and immediately start complaining about how I should also have carte blanche to do or say whatever I like while demanding respect and privilege that I haven't earned. Please note that I am not speaking to you personally on that, Spitball. But it (and what follows) needs to be said.

This isn't an issue of moderation, rep points, or stats vs. observation. Those are all red herrings. They always are. And, as always, it's an issue of entitlement. Some folks just appear to feel entitled to whatever, whenever without earning any of it. And we've seen plenty of examples in this thread. Demands for respect without earning it. Demands for appreciation without doing anything appreciable. Complaints about nonexistent personal attacks while in the midst of typing a personal attack.

Valid opinions here are always respected. Appreciation, when earned, is always given. Administrative action, when mandated, is consistently taken.

Boss' initial post in this thread confirms that there is an issue. But the remainder of this thread only confirms that there are complaints. Problem is that complaints become invalid the moment they become personal pleas to acquire undeserved entitlement and/or demands that the board "change" to suit their needs. Knowing that, there is one solution- if folks don't like how a mature, intelligent community functions they can choose to leave. No one who's ever cared to make the effort has ever had a problem "fitting in" at Redszone. All it takes is type good words, say smart things.

[Roy Tucker]

But it just so happens that Redszone is neither under-moderated nor over-moderated and the rules of the board are easy to follow.

i.e. it's moderated just right, aka the Goldilocks Effect.

[Steve4192]

First off, I would like to apologize in advance if anything I have to say in this post is redundant. I am way too lazy to read 16 pages of kvetching.

I think there should be a "beaten to death" forum. Topics (say, like Dunn, K's, and sac flies for example) could be sent to the "beaten to death" forum.

If someone wants to keep arguing about it, they can go in there. Two men enter, one man leaves: THUNDERDOME!!!!

I am fairly certain Raisor was being facetious with this post, but I actually love the idea.

In addition to being a Reds fan, I am a combat sports enthusiast and spend a fair amount of time on the sherdog.com forums. If you have never been there, that place is a cesspool of trolling and downright childish behavior. In no way shape or form do I ever want Redszone to resemble that zoo. However, they do have one feature that I like. They have a forum called 'The Wasteland' where moderators send topics that have been beaten to death or that are obvious attempts at trolling. It is essentially a garbage bin where bad threads (or good threads gone bad) go to fade into obscurity and die. However, those folks who want to wallow in the garbage are more than welcome to respond to their hearts content in that forum.

I think adding a 'Wasteland' to Redzone could work wonders. Want to talk about Dunn's strikeouts? Fine, do it in the wasteland. Want to poke a stick at all the sliderule wearing sabre-geeks? Fine, do it in the wasteland. Want to talk about the geopolitical ramifications of the Dixie Chicks latest album? Fine, do it in the wasteland.

[TeamCasey]

I need to stop reading this thread. It's starting to frustrate me ...... and I haven't even been involved with these newest brouhahas. Neither side will give an inch. Looking in, I can see poor behavior on all sides and from people that I like very much.

So, line up newbies, oldies, stat dudes, not so much stat dudes ..... I'll kick you all in the shin and steal your chocolate.

(I say this even owning the fact that was was once an ugly optimist battling the evils of ugly pessimists long, long ago. ) Same battle, different war.

Anyway, just wanted to urge people once again for any ideas that Boss can ponder.

Is it a growth thing? Would more forums help to alleviate the masses, or would it only segregate more. I'm not talking RL/ORG forums ..... but divided up by topics a bit? How's the minor league forum doing?

[M2]

Instead of "Wasteland," could we call it "The Cornfield?"

[Red Leader]

Instead of "Wasteland," could we call it "The Cornfield?"

That might be a better option than what I was going to suggest: DFA'd.

That has too much of a negative connotation I think.

[SandyD]

I like that. "The Cornfield."

Could become a place for pure "rants" too. Sometimes a good rant can be quite a release and sort of fun for everyone.

[KittyDuran]

How's the minor league forum doing?

I think it's doing pretty good - I need to post on it more since I check the farm system every night and listen to some of the games via the Internet.

[Red Leader]

I think it's doing pretty good - I need to post on it more since I check the farm system every night and listen to some of the games via the Internet.

Yeah, I've had all kinds of personal things come up in the last, well, since the minor league forum was started. I haven't spent 1/1000000th the amount of time I've wanted to on that forum, but when I do check in, I've thoroughly enjoyed the conversation and topics being discussed in there. I like it a lot.

The only thing I see as being a problem in there now is dealing with the draft.

There's one main MLB Draft thread in there already, which is quite lengthy. There are other threads popping up about the draft. Not sure if they should be merged into the long main thread, or just kept open. Since the forum isn't THAT big to begin with, I'm leaning towards keeping them open by themselves because I can appreciate not wanting to read through 40 pages to see if your topic has been discussed, but not sure if that is how other mods treat other forums of the board and if that forum (Down on the Farm) should work just as the others do so everything works the same way.

I need some mod training.

[SandyD]

The "mlb draft" is too big of a topic for a single thread, IMO. I like your "leaning."

[zombie-a-go-go]

I need some mod training.

If someone starts a new thread, ban them.