Time to End the OT Season - Time to Go Back to 'No Politics'
Mates,
Usually right around the end of July, maybe the start of August the board ends OT season and we get to talking about crazy stuff like....football. Maybe hockey or baseball, some other sports get mixed in. We have had the longest OT season ever with hoops getting cancelled and football getting pushed offf (but mercifully on our doorstep).
I thus move the mgobretheren as follows:
Wherefore, it has been a long and exceptionally painful OT season, and
Wherefore, we have all had to deal with an insidious virus and the infinite ways it has affected our lives
And Wherefore, actual college football, dare we way, Michigan college football is on the horizon,
THEREFORE: for the resumption of peaceful co-existence, the betterment of mankind, and in recognition of Michigan college football be it resolved: OT SEASON IS OVER, effective (when do you want it to end?)....Really, really soon. Like, today or maybe Friday, something like that.
Happy for the players. Be safe,
XM
(all in favor, say 'Aye!')
September 16th, 2020 at 10:57 AM ^
It’s good to be back on the board again and actually talking football. Go blue!
September 16th, 2020 at 11:04 AM ^
you mean "time to go back to pretending that politics doesn't impact everything in our lives and people should shut up about what they believe"?
Sure, I mean what could possibly go wrong.
September 16th, 2020 at 11:10 AM ^
Screw you. Vermin Supreme 2020!
September 16th, 2020 at 11:11 AM ^
Since the POTUS made COVID political, that's not possible.
Also, didn't we learn that avoiding politics is a bad idea? I mean look at the mess we are in now, burying our heads in the sand and ignoring politics got all of us into the mess that is 2020.
September 16th, 2020 at 11:18 AM ^
true, but i don't think mgoblog is the place where we're going to make any meaningful progress
September 16th, 2020 at 1:31 PM ^
Any place (especially on the internet) where we can talk to each other respectfully and agree to disagree is the beginning of meaningful progress.
Common ground is a great place to start and given we all (except the trolls) share a similar passion by being here, why couldn't we start here (topic intent withstanding).
September 16th, 2020 at 1:51 PM ^
Yeah, I dunno. It's still the internet, where things tend to devolve into a shitshow faster than IRL.
I suppose purging the board of covid trolls would help, but still I don't know that anyone is changing anyone else's mind.
September 16th, 2020 at 11:24 AM ^
Huh, I tend to think things are the way they are because too many people have spent way too much time obsessing over politics (or, what politics has become: tiresome culture wars, top-down tribalism, and subscribing to this or that side's dogma).
September 16th, 2020 at 1:33 PM ^
Spot on jblaze.
Eradicate the covid trolls on the board and you probably erase of good percentage of threads that turn into political argy bargy. They are not difficult to identify and some of them even get reported.
September 16th, 2020 at 4:21 PM ^
Oh no! Someone disagrees with you and you report them. Nice work!
September 16th, 2020 at 11:13 AM ^
I see the motion has been seconded. Scrolling through the comments it would appear the 'ayes' have it.
September 16th, 2020 at 11:14 AM ^
TRUMP! COVID! QANON! ANTIFA! ELECTION! POLICE!
sorry, just getting it all out of my system
September 16th, 2020 at 11:28 AM ^
I would upvote this eleventy billion times if I could.
September 16th, 2020 at 11:33 AM ^
Is public health a topic of politics?
September 16th, 2020 at 11:36 AM ^
I agree. There are plenty of places to discuss politics and personally I'd prefer this not be one. And before someone says "don't click on obviously political threads", I don't think there has been a thread here since June that hasn't either gone political or someone has at least thrown out some political bait.
I also find the enforcing of whatever "no politics" rules that are in force, if any, tends to skew heavily in one direction. As a pretty neutral observer, it is quite obvious.
September 16th, 2020 at 4:22 PM ^
Absolutely. Those complaining about Trolls, and wanting to Purge the board are all very clearly on one side...as are a few of the mods, especially the newest one.
September 16th, 2020 at 7:20 PM ^
Spout off internet lies all you want, Boliver, but I've banned several who are far to the "left" of you.
Need a ticket to Bolivia to see who all is there?
By the way, you can identify me by name when posting your falsehoods, rather than referring to me as "the newest mod".
September 18th, 2020 at 10:59 PM ^
Ah making threats. Cool. Hook 'em.
Ban me from a (mostly) free site with an agenda and a shitty UI built by HUEL. So scared.
Glad threats are what it takes to be a Mod, Rob F.
September 19th, 2020 at 7:59 PM ^
Not a threat at all, Mr Internet tough guy. You made a totally false accusation about how I mod and some imaginary agenda you assume I have, and I answered. How is that a "threat"?
Yeah, I'm scared...not.
September 16th, 2020 at 11:36 AM ^
I agree, OT is over and no more politics please!
September 16th, 2020 at 11:39 AM ^
Aye fucking Aye!
September 16th, 2020 at 11:41 AM ^
Fully agree.
I'd also like a 24 hour moratorium on bitching about opt outs and losing to OSU. We should all be happy today that we will get to see UM play in 2020.
September 16th, 2020 at 11:42 AM ^
A return to normalcy would be nice but these are unusual times. I have a rule that I never post anything political but I will respond to it; in some cases I feel an obligation to politely say something, make a point, post a link, dissect a weak argument, question a source, etc. There's so much mis/disinformation out there now and some mgobloggers here are woefully uninformed. But, yes, I'd like to see something resembling the before-times.
September 16th, 2020 at 1:07 PM ^
I think many on here subscribe to the same rule and I think it’s perfectly appropriate. I also think it is naive to think that politics can be entirely divorced from a multi-billion dollar, multi-state topic like intercollegiate athletics.
Questions like, should student athletes be paid, any topic involving NCAA governance etc. are inherently political but are also clearly related to Michigan athletics.
With covid, topics like: long term impacts of covid, spread if covid at outdoor events, the science (and yes politics) of testing are all both incredibly relevant to Michigan athletics and unfortunately politically charged. I for one think this forum is better for taking on those topics. I also think the beauty of the message board is that people who don’t want to, don’t have to participate in those particular threads.
September 16th, 2020 at 2:08 PM ^
Agreed - there's no such thing as a total divorce from politics, especially in this current climate.
I know this is not the forum for political discussions, but I find most M grads and mgobloggers to be pretty astute and intelligent. Despite a common interest, the community represents a wide range of backgrounds and life experiences. I have to say I find it pretty interesting to read many of the posts and discussions on here sometimes. With so much talk about 'bubbles', the board sometimes serves as a crossroads where we're exposed to opinions and ideas we otherwise wouldn't be. I guess that's not the worst thing?
I genuinely respect most opinions on here, including many conservative ones. In many cases I'm curious what they have to say about certain issues. I try to be courteous in most interactions (I don't always succeed so if I'm ever a dick, I'm sorry). No politics is a good thing, but if I see an opportunity to politely offer a rebuttal, I will do so. Hopefully, if the world returns to something approximating normal, the politics will disappear from the board on its own.
September 16th, 2020 at 11:46 AM ^
The "no politics" policy has served MGoBlog very well during its existence, and I have no problem with vigorously re-instituting it now that football is here again.
The problem is that the virus isn't going away anytime soon, and it will inevitably be intruding on the football season on a weekly if not daily basis as players are tested, and in some cases forced to sit due to infection. Inasmuch as the virus and the issues surrounding it have become highly politicized for those on both sides of the partisan divide, I think it's unrealistic to expect that all of the MGoBloggers who've been passionately arguing their views will suddenly stop doing so simply because football is being played.
That means that the mods are going to be forced to repeatedly lock down threads if not set up a charter airline service to handle the number of people sent to La Paz for extended vacations in exile.
I'll propose again an alternative suggestion that would allow the blowing off of coronavirus steam for those who need to vent that would also allow the main board to remain uncluttered with political stuff. The image below shows what I believe could be fairly easily done: the creation of a separate linked section reserved specifically and only for COVID-19 discussions.
Accompanying this new section would be a strict policy that any comment broaching overt politics in any regular board thread—i.e., one that deals with sports at Michigan or anywhere else—would be ruthlessly deleted by the mods, with the banhammer being wielded against those who insist on transgressing.
The advantage is that the vast majority of us who are here not for politics but for sports wouldn't have to see it cluttering up the boards and main page threads, while those who can't keep from commenting on the political issues surrounding the pandemic would have a place to vent.
I'll admit I'm skeptical that the upcoming season can be played without it ending up being a confused, unsatisfying cluster* for most parties involved, but I'd be lying if I said I wasn't damn glad to see Michigan football back anyhow. Go Blue and beat the damn Buckeyes.
September 16th, 2020 at 12:15 PM ^
Would have been really weird if you posted this as ThePonyConquerer!
September 16th, 2020 at 1:42 PM ^
FWIW, I think Don's idea is great - I could really get on board with this... er, so to speak...
September 16th, 2020 at 11:53 AM ^
"No Politics" - coming from the guy who argues a ton about politics and took a month off the board because he couldn't handle other people's opinions.
September 16th, 2020 at 12:21 PM ^
i have no problem with other people's opinions. it is/was toxicity of the expression that came from people who undoubtedly have a host of other issues they need to address. pouring all their life angst into foul-mouthed contempt on the internet when in real life they'd get their heads handed to them for speaking like that doesn't seem like a good therapy choice for them.
September 16th, 2020 at 2:02 PM ^
'toxicity' is a bit of an understatement.
I think it was Rob F who mentioned you over on the previous mod sticky in reference to people declining to participate here due to the toxicity. I went back and read some of your posts (ones just prior to you going radio silent) and was amazed at the viciousness of the responses. Really poor behavior on their part. I pray my grown kids aren't acting like that on line.
I almost put myself on time out when I read all that asking myself, 'why engage with people who behave that way?'
You came back soon after that and I do enjoy reading your posts about your life and your kids. There are others here I like as well, even that smooth-brained, foul tempered marsupial and you all make participating here fun.
So...aye. Let's end the OT season now.
September 16th, 2020 at 12:21 PM ^
Yeah I assume there’s a loophole for him to post nonsense conservative memes then say “I was kidding, can’t you take a joke!” when called out
September 16th, 2020 at 2:06 PM ^
Is there a problem with advocating for the end of the OT season?
September 16th, 2020 at 11:57 AM ^
Agreed. This time though I get to write off my entire list of no mask idiots and equate them with terrible football knowledge and ideas!
September 16th, 2020 at 12:10 PM ^
...Aye...I'm all for it. I refrained most of the time from getting into the weeds with some posters and the announced resumption of the B1G season has sparked even more division among ourselves, today.
I am ready to talk about who's starting and at what positions on the Michigan football this season, especially at QB.
Daily testing won't start until Sept 30th so it will be a while before we can really see how's practice will be going for all these position groups.
September 16th, 2020 at 12:12 PM ^
YES
we may not agree on politics, but we can agree: no more politics
September 16th, 2020 at 12:32 PM ^
If the mods remove the garbage posts that trolls throw up on the message board, there won't be any problems.
September 16th, 2020 at 12:48 PM ^
A Y E !!!!!!
September 16th, 2020 at 1:40 PM ^
Welp, looks like the "Ayes" have it... ;-)
September 16th, 2020 at 1:10 PM ^
Sure, let's reinstitute the no-politics, with the understanding thought that we can still talk about how well the testing and treatment of cases is handled.