Mgoblog: Your Modest Proposals
I'm willing to bow to board opinion if no one agrees, but I feel that mgoblog is not in real healthy shape right now. There was some serious excitement and brainpower at work here in the early going which I wouldn't assume can be recaptured--Brian's early diaries were magic, and with a small pool of exited member-posters the quality of thinking, and humor, was often really great.
Some of the decline, I think, must be pinned on the founders and site managers. There is still plenty of good reporting here (Ace has improved markedly with the bball, Brian still brings a wealth of insight and occasional genius word play). The place is stale looking, to my eye, but a redesign is--reportedly--coming and will no doubt breathe life.
But now that we are into the post-season and can mull it, I'd like to offer a forum for constructive comments--not just complaints, but maybe only going to the look of the blog if that involves how discourse can flow better, too.
My two suggestions: So many threads get hijacked by a silly side-conversation at the very outset/top that--repeatedly--you have to scroll miles down the page to get to commentary on the actual subject. (You know--one guy says funny, the next guy says ha ha, the next guy says good one or upvote and 30 seconds later you are still scrolling down for anything of value.) I think the mods need to go in and clean some of these up. Or--let me put it another way--lately I have been weary enough of it personally that I have started to bail when there's too much of it. Dylan has gotten very good at just stepping in when this happens at umhoops and asking people to get back on track; I think there has to be more attentiveness to the threads by mods in this regard.
Second: I'm much more tolerant of off-topic threads, crazy opinions, and even interesting mildly sociological takes than most (not party political ones, but ones that point out the unfairness or fairness of how things work at a deeper level, that show insight about how things work). I welcome Brian's commentary, for example on getting players paid even when I don't agree with some of the underlying principles.
But too many threads consist of just one or two poorly thought-out lines, replete with misspellings and--too often--are not even linked to factual supporting evidence. (I'm looking at you 'Penn Statte Fraternity Hazing Death," still up a day after it went up, and a one-liner lauding bowl season that didn't even bother to note what games were ON.)
Closer examination suggests that most are NOT from brand-new posters but people working into the thousands of points. So demanding that people get to X number of points before they post may not fix much. The answer, in my view: gotta have just a little more moderation.
Crap thread sitting on the sidebar for hours just isn't a healthy feel or look.
How about other posters? Let's put together some serious proposals here; who knows, maybe a few will get adopted. Posted in a spirit of love and respect for this place.
December 16th, 2017 at 3:14 PM ^
IMO, the mods ought to be paid a little bit for their time. Not hourly or anything, but with free stuff from the MGoBlog store and/or just a nominal monthly stipend. And that might free up Seth, Ace, etc. from having to police threads.
December 16th, 2017 at 3:24 PM ^
Charge a $10 membership fee to be able to post, this will limit the amount of trolls that we get. You will still be able to read for free. I am still waiting for my real account to get un-boliviaed. To ban one account all one has to do is creat another. my goblueinohio was banned for saying that okorn sucks.
December 16th, 2017 at 3:36 PM ^
December 16th, 2017 at 3:49 PM ^
December 16th, 2017 at 4:00 PM ^
December 16th, 2017 at 3:55 PM ^
December 16th, 2017 at 4:07 PM ^
Charging a fee is going too far. Here's what I'd recommend:
1) A 24- or 48-hour waiting period after registration to post comments.
2) Eliminate the ability to upvote your own posts.
3) Upvotes should be worth one point instead of two.
4) Voting on OPs should count. If someone makes a terrible OP and it gets 50 downvotes, those should affect the poster's point total.
5) A 500-point maximum for everyone. That would keep everyone on their toes a bit more. Allowing people (like myself) to reach these crazy-high point totals just means that we have no risk at all of downvotes, so we can be jerks if we want.
December 16th, 2017 at 4:09 PM ^
Most (not all) people with high point totals aren't the jerks. A lot of the jerks have been banned or have given up on the board.
December 16th, 2017 at 4:13 PM ^
Yeah, but we should still have some incentive to behave. There really isn't any now.
(Plus, as it now stands it's very easy to quickly accumulate a few thousand points in a matter of weeks.)
December 16th, 2017 at 4:16 PM ^
I mean, the real incentive for most is that they are human beings capabale of functioning in everyday society, which means with few exceptions they voice their opinions coherently and deal with negative responses properly. Not to make allusions to a political topic, but if someone wants to be an asshole, a waiting period or the inability to upvote isn't going to stop them.
December 16th, 2017 at 4:23 PM ^
That's where the moderators come in. You can't eliminate trolling or assholery, but you can cut it down somewhat with better board policies. The mods can take care of those that slip through the cracks.
As it now stands it's just way too easy to accummulate points and even easier, once you've passed that magic 100 number, to maintain your total through self-upvotes.
December 16th, 2017 at 7:21 PM ^
Didn't realize people could upvote themselves. Look for me to have 10,000+ points by Tuesday.
December 16th, 2017 at 4:27 PM ^
I was banned for having an opinion of a player. I didn't use profanity. I have seen a lot worse.
December 17th, 2017 at 12:51 PM ^
1. Waiting period. This would result in a loss of some worthwhile content without any significant reduction in the bad. It's a simple matter to create an account and simply wait. MSU and OSU trolls have created accounts before games in the past so that they would be in position to chime in after a game. On the other hand, some people create accounts because they have useful contributions to make. After a year or more of lurking, I created my account to answer a question that had been sitting on the board unanswered for a day or so.
2. Points. I agree with most of your points, except for reducing the value of upvotes. Too many people get hammered for making valid but unpopular points. I would add to your suggestions that any points "earned" in a thread with "Posbang" in the title should have zero value.
December 16th, 2017 at 7:45 PM ^
December 17th, 2017 at 8:19 PM ^
Or annual? Or...?
I spend money to subscribe to very very very few blogs. If our host decides to try a one time fee, I'll wait and see if the change is worth it and then decide.
From experience, the number of blogs that go from free to a membership fee of any kind and survive are a tiny percentage of those that attempt that change.
When it's not overwhelmed by endless doom predicting whiners after a loss, this isn't a bad place to hang out. Some of the posters and commenters here are among the most creative I've encountered on the web. That said, given the balance between endless doom and entertainment, I'm not sure if I'd pay for this content of not. As I said, I don't object, I'll wait and see.
December 16th, 2017 at 3:28 PM ^
It would stand to reason that giving the mods an incentive to do their job would lead to them doing their job more thoroughly.
December 16th, 2017 at 4:40 PM ^
thats a very good idea.
December 16th, 2017 at 5:42 PM ^
December 16th, 2017 at 7:49 PM ^
December 16th, 2017 at 3:14 PM ^
December 16th, 2017 at 3:41 PM ^
You don't read every comment in every thread??????
December 16th, 2017 at 4:03 PM ^
Didn't know you folks worked free. I don't think there's much question that the collective IQ here has dropped thirty points or so, but there were far few people posting seven or so years ago. And at times--as exemplified here--it just isn't terribly constructive or interesting. The pool is bigger, and a lot of the more interesting posters moved on or cut back heavily, so it probably can't be helped a great deal
I do think we're entering a golden four or five-year period of basketball and football--not that some of the whiners may even recognize it; just wonder if mgoblog can capitalize, take things to a next level. (Like a lot of people I don't even come here during games anymore, when the weenies threaten suicide and call for the heads of the coaches the first time we fail to score.) But it may be that Brian's a little bored with the whole affair--that's one conclusion you could draw. Best of luck.
December 16th, 2017 at 3:08 PM ^
December 16th, 2017 at 3:22 PM ^
Never Forget
December 16th, 2017 at 3:10 PM ^
Seriously thanks to the mods who work for free and I'm fine with the site.
December 16th, 2017 at 3:12 PM ^
December 16th, 2017 at 3:18 PM ^
December 16th, 2017 at 3:33 PM ^
Seems like that's partly due to the sites popularity and partly due to how easy it is to have an mgoaccount. You get nuked? Great. Just make a new email address and you're right back in. Seems like it's the same 5 or so trolls who keep coming back
December 16th, 2017 at 3:30 PM ^
December 16th, 2017 at 3:56 PM ^
December 17th, 2017 at 8:25 PM ^
more than half the value from this site is the knowledge and expertise contributed by a few dozen commenters. Shut off the comments and this site becomes much less valuable.
Brian, the staff, and the mods have done a pretty good job managing the hysteria brought on by recent difficulties. Don't throw the baby out with the bathwater.
December 16th, 2017 at 3:14 PM ^
"I wish to suggest that ample opportunity does exist for dissent, for protest, and for nonconformity. But I must also say that the right to be heard does not automatically include the right to be taken seriously." --Hubert Humphrey, 1965
December 17th, 2017 at 11:48 AM ^
Yostal.
And I'd add, far to much bashing, bs of the insignificant places of higher education like msu and osu. Add psu. I just accept they are insignificant to me except the day we play them. Period.
December 16th, 2017 at 3:16 PM ^
"Crap thread sitting on the sidebar for hours just isn't a healthy feel or look. "
pot, meet kettle
December 16th, 2017 at 3:17 PM ^
We have rules about off-topic threads. But normal on-topic threads often immediately veer off into off-topic subjects and take a long time to get off of them. It's not a consistent policy. I don't think it's an issue to address with new rules. The posters aren't doing anything wrong. But some threads would be improved if the mods cleaned them up. I'd be in favor of giving them that ability, if they don't have it now, but I'm reluctant to ask them to take on new responsibilities and don't know how much work is involved.
I don't much care what the site looks like and I think we do an adequate job of dealing with bad OPs. I guess we all have our pet peeves, but I don't find much to complain about.
December 16th, 2017 at 3:20 PM ^
I've heard the suggestion before about having two separate boards: one for sports, and one for OT stuff (movies, music, maybe politics, etc.). I think that might be a decent idea. I've thought about implementing it at my own site, but the message board doesn't get enough traffic in the first place for me to think about splitting it.
December 16th, 2017 at 3:57 PM ^
December 16th, 2017 at 4:08 PM ^
You're always welcome to join in on the fun!
December 16th, 2017 at 4:33 PM ^
December 16th, 2017 at 4:34 PM ^
As much as you want.
December 16th, 2017 at 4:00 PM ^
its been obvious that on MGoBlog, the message boards are at most an afterthough, and at worst an embarassment that Brian would rather do without.
I think 90% of the traffic is main page only, so I don't really blame them.
Personally, I come here for the main page content, but stay for the boards (no matter how shitty they have become).
What I find odd is thier fetish for glossy magazine production, but maybe it's a retro hipster thing.
December 16th, 2017 at 3:24 PM ^
December 16th, 2017 at 3:29 PM ^
We should be allowed to eat people who create bad posts.
December 16th, 2017 at 4:24 PM ^
People don't taste that good.
December 16th, 2017 at 4:35 PM ^
December 16th, 2017 at 3:30 PM ^
FIRST
December 16th, 2017 at 4:13 PM ^
December 16th, 2017 at 7:37 PM ^