This forum is a DOWNER

[sandiegopaul]

I've only made a couple of contributions because I have little or nothing to contribute. But one thing I've concluded; the conversation strings and comments are getting to be nothing but negative. I care very much for the GBL, but my Dad used to tell me, "if you don't have anything positive to contribute, just be quiet". Maybe it's time for the modearotor to close it down for a while until the negativity begins to die down. This forum is a DOWNER; can't we stay focussed more on the good that has come out of the GBL?
Paul

[OneBetter]

So you want people to only speak positively about the league and you want to sequester all negative comments regardless of it they have validity or not?

You sound like you're arguing for totalitarian control and the dissolution of the right of free speach.

Maybe you'd be happier in North Korea or Iran where you don't have any liberties or freedoms.

[DawgsBooster2]

So you want people to only speak positively about the league and you want to sequester all negative comments regardless of it they have validity or not?

You sound like you're arguing for totalitarian control and the dissolution of the right of free speach.

Maybe you'd be happier in North Korea or Iran where you don't have any liberties or freedoms.

Awww, ca'mon now OneBetter... you know darn well what Paul meant.

Paul, for what it's worth I've started a new thread: Summer Reading (though on second thought, I should have titled it Winter Reading).

Maybe this'll help get us all on to better topics.

[ChicoManiac]

Paul you are so right on....it has been a great three years since the GBL brought pro baseball back to Chico after the Western League blew itself up...they made the investment and figured out how to get the entire league started from scratch and brought the greatest game on earth back here and to other towns.

I have not posted here for a while because there was nothing about baseball...just a lot of negativity and complaining about front office personnel decisions and starting of nasty rumours and so on....

I have been an independent baseball fan since the Chico Heat first arrived here in 1997...I have also seen games in the Northern League and Atlantic League along with the single A California League. Indy baseball is so much better bacause the players care and the managers care everytime they are on the field...I'm rooting for the GBL to keep going and growing and don't care at all who is in the front office of the Outlaws... or what hotel they use... or what business disputes they may have... or any of the other issues
that all businesses face....the main thing is that we have pro baseball at the Nett in the summer.

Go Outlaws!

[Pietsch Fan]

ChicoManiac,

I see you guys are the first ones to name a new manager. I have a feeling Fullerton and Long Beach might, too, since the original managers had what I think was a three year deal. Is the new guy good? I see he was the batting coach. Has he been with Chico the whole time?

And to stay on the DOWNER topic, when baseball isn't going on there's usually very little to talk about. And when someone new jumps in feet first with flames blaring, it's hard not to join in on the fun. ;)

Mary

[Pounder]

Overcoming the negative by giving it light is better than avoiding the negative with little more than faith that positive will ensue.

[S.Sox]

That is what happened in Reno this past summer....

S.Sox

[Silver Sox Fan]

Reno definitely benefited from some of the things written on this board, HOWEVER:

Paul is right that there is more than constructive criticism on this board. It quickly degenerates into personal attacks on league officials and then personal attacks on anyone who posts positive things about the league or its teams. Add to this the absolutely untrue things posted by people claiming to be "in the know" just to make teams and the league look bad and I can see the original poster's concern.

Look back at some of the posts and you'll see what I mean. If you have constructive criticism, air it. If you have a suggestion, e-mail Kevin. And if you don't get the resolution you want and you can't accept that, then take your entertainment dollars elsewhere. The league won't respond to every suggestion we have but that is their perogative just as our perogative is to not support the product in protest.

Some folks on this board seem to be more interested in "hating" than trying to make a positive difference. And the sad part is, when someone points this out, they get flamed. That is why I stopped posting, not just because it is the off season. So while all of you that posted in this thread seem to get what I just posted, those that don't (and like to flame and call names instead) do make this forum a downer as Paul said. While I don't think it should be shut down, it does discourage those of us who want to have a baseball conversation.

[nlfan]

As a host/moderator I have two suggestions to the fans here...

1. Find a regular "trusted" GBL-OSC contributor here to take over as moderator. I don't know much about Fells (or anyone around here for that matter), but if someone was active here and can be "fair but firm" you'd probably it might be more conducive for more activity.

2. If working with OSC doesn't work, start a new one and get the crowd to follow you to a new home. Sort of like what happened to me.

My own forum story in a nutshell...

The NoL league site had lively and active forums until one day they killed it without warning. I got emails from a couple people asking "could I do something about it?" After a day or so of thinking about it, I decided I would.

I went to a forum provider site that I thought seemed good and set up a "free" forum. Through my site and email contacts I got the word out to the disenfranchised fans. Within a month they all found it and contributed their own money to eliminate the banner ads. 6+ years later it's one of the most active forums anywhere covering indy ball and spawned some direct descendants like nefan.net (http://p214.ezboard.com/bnefandiscussionboards).

What it requires from you...

I will say it does take some time and patience to do it. I check my forums fairly constantly checking for spam, swearing, etc.and respond to league/team/player/personal requests regarding what they find offensive. But it's also a lot of fun and I was always checking the (old) forums regularly anyway. Do it well enough any maybe the league will support/link to you (as some clubs have) and who knows the contacts you'll make.

I chose ezboard.com (http://ezboard.com/) but recently migrated it to their new and radically improved yuku.com (http://yuku.com/) which (for now) is ad-free for all and I would reccommend. There are many others.

[LB Parents]

I observe that some threads start out with a simple question and many times ends up negative a few posts down the thread. Heck, look at the latest about Canada. But, instead of just reading the threads that are boaring, start your own on a positive and hopefully it will stay positive (maybe wishfull thinking).

I get bothered when some of us post our opinion on a reply to a post and get ripped on without a qualified response. We attempted to qualify our opinion and get ripped on again. Sure it's going to get negative. Disagreement is great, but some just need to stop name calling!

[Pietsch Fan]

For me this serves our purpose and I think we do okay here. OSC does have a monitor that occassionally will pop in and keep things from going too crazy. There is no need to uber monitor grown adults. I don't think language has ever been a problem here and everyone is welcome to their own opinions. If we get off subject, that's okay, too. It's not like 8 different conversations are ever going on at once.

Your forum is great and does it's job for the NL and AA, but I'm having trouble getting used to the yuku format. For the GBL, this will probably suffice for the foreseeable future.

Mary

[sandiegopaul]

:) ONeBetter: I hope you know I don't endorse censorship and do not want this forum to close down. I just want us to remember our departed mentor Bill Veeck's words, "Baseball is supposed to be fun". All I'm saying is lets have more of that; less venom.
Paul

[RW22]

How was your season?? You back in SoCal?

[RW22]

Insider actually pulled the trigger on marriage????? Congrats to you all, she is a dear and the kids are....kids--LOL, welcome home and we hope the best for you this off season! See you at the yard.
RW