New Game Thread Policy

[Heath]

All,

Please read the following regarding new policies and procedures for game threads. Boss, GIK, and the rest of the moderator staff have worked hard to set this policy and have agreed to the below.

Game Threads can be an important part of a baseball or any sports-related message board. In the past, RZ game threads were a source of information and opinion through thoughtful posting, game play-by-play, solid writing, and general camaraderie through the posters. Game Threads of late, however, have been a stew of bile towards players, managers, & posters, which violate the general guidelines and principles of what the basis of Redszone was founded on in 2000. So, in an effort to improve the quality of the game threads, the moderation staff has collaborated on a set of guidelines for Game Thread Etiquette.

First of all, the resumption of game threads will be Monday, May 12. The Reds begin a home stand with the Florida Marlins.

Second – in addition to the regular moderator staff, there are game thread moderators that have agreed to monitor the threads. The “Game Thread” moderators are RedlegJake, Tommyjohn25, Red In Chicago, Caveat Emperor, & Tom Servo. Those posters have the same abilities as the other moderators to enforce the regulations and potentially remove posts and posters alike.

Here are the new guidelines to follow –

1 – All game threads will be started by a moderator 15 minutes or so before every game. If starting lineups are posted prior to the 15 minutes, the thread will be locked and be re-opened. Be patient. We'll let you in the gates before the game starts.

2 – All seven general redszone.com guidelines are in force with special attention to the following instances. All instances are left to the discretion of the moderation staff whose decision is final.
- Excessive criticism of players, staff, management with regards to all baseball-type plays, lineups, management styles, etc. Say it once and forget it.
- Personal attacks and inflammatory statements to entice personal attacks (a.k.a. “baiting”) against other posters, and moderator staff.
- Topics that have been discussed ad-nauseum with no end in sight. (Beating a subject to death.)
- Profanity masked or intentional. You know the words, you don’t have to look cool and type them out. Say it out loud at home and type something else.

3 – All infractions levied are at the discretion of the moderation staff. Each moderator is a unique human being. Some moderate differently than others and each has his or her moderating style. Do not complain publicly about a certain moderator’s decision. You may PM a moderator to voice an opinion.

4 – Infractions are given out as follows. There will be no more warnings issued. We have warned and warned until we have been Tommy Lasorda-like blue in the face. Consider the past April as your warning.

1st Infraction – Immediate removal from the game thread. We’ll see you tomorrow.
2nd Infraction – Immediate removal from the game thread and a 24-hour ban from all of redszone.com (including game threads).
3rd Infraction – Immediate removal from the game thread, permanent season-removal from game threads, and a one-week ban from all of redszone.com

These infractions accumulate and will not reset until the end of the season. Also, the moderator staff, at any time reserves the right to go over the guidelines for egregious offenses.

A few general suggestions from your friendly neighborhood moderation staff –

First - When you post – ask yourself the following questions -
- Have I said this before?
- What am I adding to this discussion that is new or relevant to the thread or to my point?
- Am I being excessive?
- Is my agenda showing through?

Raw emotion is ok, but posts of “Awwwwww crap” or “Dunn Sucks” or “WOW” or other one-to-two word posts add nothing to the substance to the thread if you don’t describe what happened to deserve your emotion. Take the time to think first than type. You aren’t getting paid to scoop other posters. Make a thoughtful, reasonable post. If you think that what you are going to type might get you an infraction, chances are that it probably will. If you see something that you think might be an infraction, alert a moderator by using the "Report A Post" feature. Be a part of the solution, not the problem. There is, however, a fine line between tattle tailing and letting us know.

This is an opportunity to increase the quality of this site. This is not a trial-basis. This is the real deal. If game threads hold to the higher cause, the board and its posters are better for it. Don't blow it. This is NOT an attempt to limit participation, but to regulate it. Basically, if you all can’t play nice, you give the moderators reasons to talk about this again.

Bottom line, most of us are Reds fans and want to see the team do well. Try to get along, ok?

Any questions, please PM a moderator with any questions or you can post them below.

[RedlegJake]

Guys we want to hear from y'all. This is your chance to vent, just to let us know we're knuckleheads or that you're on board. We've spent alot of time discussing this, hashing and re-hashing to come up with a plan that brings back game threads yet keeps them from becoming page after page of bickering so they can be enjoyable to all and an asset to the board.

I've been all over the internet for Reds discussion and news and this is easily the best community of fans out there. GIK and Boss, and the moderators do a lot to keep RedsZone operating. More than I thought, actually before I saw the amount of thought and work they put in behind the scenes. But it's you guys who make this board special and we do want your input and thoughts.

Don't be shy. Let er rip.

[TRF]

OK, I'll weigh in. I don't like the "ban" on one word posts. The game thread for me is something i generally read the next day. I don't get to see a lot of Reds games. Four or 5 posts at the end of an AB of "crap", "damn" etc. convey the importance of the situation and imbue a sense of emotion. I agree I don't want to see ten posts of "BP just sux in the 4 hole", but there has to be some middle ground.

Or else all you have is George Grande like commentary. Thanks, but I'll have to pass on that.

[Benihana]

OK, I'll weigh in. I don't like the "ban" on one word posts. The game thread for me is something i generally read the next day. I don't get to see a lot of Reds games. Four or 5 posts at the end of an AB of "crap", "damn" etc. convey the importance of the situation and imbue a sense of emotion. I agree I don't want to see ten posts of "BP just sux in the 4 hole", but there has to be some middle ground.

Or else all you have is George Grande like commentary. Thanks, but I'll have to pass on that.

Agreed.

[GIK]

I don't see it as a ban, but to reinforce via the above message to think a little bit before posting. No one expects anyone to write a dissertation, I think the main point is often times (since it's a message board) it's hard to read into a person's context when there is little supporting info...which can at times lead to some of the problems we've seen.

But, again, I don't expect nor have I asked the mods to ban users or give them infractions for posting one word responses.

The main takeaway that everyone should get from this is #2, which I have quoted below:

2 – All seven general redszone.com guidelines are in force with special attention to the following instances. All instances are left to the discretion of the moderation staff whose decision is final.
- Excessive criticism of players, staff, management with regards to all baseball-type plays, lineups, management styles, etc. Say it once and forget it.
- Personal attacks and inflammatory statements to entice personal attacks (a.k.a. “baiting”) against other posters, and moderator staff.
- Topics that have been discussed ad-nauseum with no end in sight. (Beating a subject to death.)
- Profanity masked or intentional. You know the words, you don’t have to look cool and type them out. Say it out loud at home and type something else.

[Joseph]

Do you honestly want a thread of say 300 posts where 250 of them are essentially one of the following....

"Wow!"

"OMG Dunn!!!"

"Trade him!"

Or other variations of course. Particularly when there are 6, 8, 10 of them in a row? Does it serve to make Redszone a better place at all? Chat is best served for emotion, the game thread is supposed to be, and should be a log of the events that happened in a game. If its during an emotional moment during the game, that can be conveyed in longer posts discussing the situation. Most people seem, and let me emphasize the word seem, to want to be the first one to post a reaction or that a player homered [or other outcome].

We aren't all members of the media out to scoop one another, the game threads should be about the games, not folks sitting around at the corner bar grunting at the TV.

[RedlegJake]

OK, I'll weigh in. I don't like the "ban" on one word posts. The game thread for me is something i generally read the next day. I don't get to see a lot of Reds games. Four or 5 posts at the end of an AB of "crap", "damn" etc. convey the importance of the situation and imbue a sense of emotion. I agree I don't want to see ten posts of "BP just sux in the 4 hole", but there has to be some middle ground.

Or else all you have is George Grande like commentary. Thanks, but I'll have to pass on that.

Re-read the post. There is no ban on one word posts -we're just encouraging you to add something about the play. When a guy reads the GT to get an idea what's going on "Shoot" or "Dang" doesn't tell me what just happened. Okay?

I'm not slamming someone because they posted "Grrrrrr!" after a bad play or strikeout. Personally, I'd just like to see a description of the play - not 11 posts like Grrrrr. After I read what happened I may Grrr with you.

[Chip R]

It's more of a guideline than a rule

[REDREAD]

OK, I'll weigh in. I don't like the "ban" on one word posts. The game thread for me is something i generally read the next day. I don't get to see a lot of Reds games. Four or 5 posts at the end of an AB of "crap", "damn" etc. convey the importance of the situation and imbue a sense of emotion. I agree I don't want to see ten posts of "BP just sux in the 4 hole", but there has to be some middle ground.

Or else all you have is George Grande like commentary. Thanks, but I'll have to pass on that.

I hope the moderators aren't too strict on the one word posts either..
Now, if someone makes 200 of them in one thread, that's one thing. But if a big play happens, it would be nice to just react. If someone wants to put 15-20 or so "Wows" or smilies over the course of the game, personally, I don't think that's so bad.. I agree that it's part of the flavor of the game thread, although I guess it annoys some.. But then again, I'm a big believer in using the ingore button to tailor Redszone to your liking..

I don't want people to be overinhibited on what they post. Spamming the game thread is one thing, but genuine emotion should be allowed (as long as it doesn't turn violent/attacking).

[Unassisted]

If one-word posts are a problem, rather than forcing the mods to make judgment calls, maybe the board's minimum-character setting for posts should be increased?

[REDREAD]

Do you honestly want a thread of say 300 posts where 250 of them are essentially one of the following....

"Wow!"

"OMG Dunn!!!"

Or other variations of course. Particularly when there are 6, 8, 10 of them in a row?.

It doesn't bother me.. I like seeing the stream of 10-12 posts like that after something big happens.. Again, I would suggest putting the people on ignore that tend to make those type of posts. Also, it's fairly easy to skip them, since it's only 1-2 words.. I even don't mind a string of posts of frustration after Milton gives up a HR either. IMO, that's part of the environment.

Again, I think we have a fundamental problem that some people (not calling you out) want to change the gamethread into their idealist vision of what they think it should be. It's reasonable to ban profanity, personal attacks,etc but it's not realistic to expect to ban all the one or two word posts. (And I'm not sure the majority of people on the game thread want those banned).

[paintmered]

If one-word posts are a problem, rather than forcing the mods to make judgment calls, maybe the board's minimum-character setting for posts should be increased?

To reiterate Chip, it's a guideline, not a rule.

Nobody is going to get in trouble for making short posts, unless they troll with them.

[gm]

It's more of a guideline than a rule

This ain't a Pirate's game thread, matey

[Heath]

It doesn't bother me.. I like seeing the stream of 10-12 posts like that after something big happens.. Again, I would suggest putting the people on ignore that tend to make those type of posts. Also, it's fairly easy to skip them, since it's only 1-2 words.. I even don't mind a string of posts of frustration after Milton gives up a HR either. IMO, that's part of the environment.

Again, I think we have a fundamental problem that some people (not calling you out) want to change the gamethread into their idealist vision of what they think it should be. It's reasonable to ban profanity, personal attacks,etc but it's not realistic to expect to ban all the one or two word posts. (And I'm not sure the majority of people on the game thread want those banned).

Re-read again - we aren't banning people, we are SUGGESTING that people lay off the one-to-two word posts. Anybody can post that, even my 6 year old.

We are hoping game threads become more informative rather than laced with internet lingo and smilies.

And, my apologies for being rude, but if you don't want to follow the policy, you don't have to post. (You being a "plural" use.)

[REDREAD]

Re-read again - we aren't banning people, we are SUGGESTING that people lay off the one-to-two word posts. Anybody can post that, even my 6 year old.

We are hoping game threads become more informative rather than laced with internet lingo and smilies.

And, my apologies for being rude, but if you don't want to follow the policy, you don't have to post. (You being a "plural" use.)

Ok, I thought you could get an infraction from posting a one word post. That was my concern. Thanks for the clarification from you, Paint, and Chip.

And I was only giving the feedback that was requested. I understand completely that I can find somewhere else to post. If you don't want our feedback, you can always lock the thread