The rugby forum has gone to pot...

justsomebloke

ye I was just giving an example of the crap that is put up, cause as a North side dub, who went to a GAA school, doesn't have money to burn (actually I wish I did fit into that category) and have had a season ticket for years I don't fit into the sterotypes of what is thrown about as a Leinster supporter in the rugby forum (actually the worst thing is it is other Leinster fans that have used this sterotype on a few occasions)

justsomebloke

Des wrote: »

Um, Joe The Santa is a D4 Wannabe

Des wrote: »

The fact that I don't follow the sport doesn't mean I can't moderate the forum.

I'm not a Vegetarian either, and I mod that forum just fine

oh ye we all know how you got that gig and who really pulls the strings behind your decisions on that forum :P

dan719

Joe the Santa wrote: »

One thing I have also found is that there does seem to be an elitist under tone to some of the posters in the forum about how long they have been supporters, that they played rugby at 'x' and not to mention all the other provincial crap that gets dragged up (i.e. all leinster fans are D4 wannabes apparently). The fact is that Rugby is a growing sport in this country with a lot of new people coming into it who are looking to support their team and who don't come from standard rugby areas who haven't played and have no interest in playing the sport however quite often these people are treated as 2nd class people in the forum who's opinion are apparently not as important as others.

I think this is unavoidable tbh. And I don't have an issue with it. Someone who has followed and played the game for years will obviously (or should) have a more nuanced understanding then someone who started watching because of a recent grand slam or HC.

An example of such a divergence of views between active players and armchair fans occurs wheneer a foul play debate comes up. Those who play, know how prevalent it is, where as armchair fans tend to go mad and demand criminal charges.

There is no problem with paying more attention to the views of someone who simply knows more, similar to the manner in which Tim's view's (as a ref) tend to be the most listened to on a point of contention regarding the rules.

thomond2006

Generally, during matches there are little problems. I think it is after matches where players are criticized that is the problem here.

davyjose

TBH, it looks as though those of us who want a proper debate can't discuss certain things anymore, namely ROG. I've (Leinster fan) been championing O'gara for years now, but personally I feel other options need to be explored (have done since Humphries retired - simply as back-up), and now I can't discuss this because every thread is locked ... and I dare NOT start one, cos I'll probably get banned from Rugby again.

Sooo, yeah there's need for some regulation, but let's not squeeze the life out of it.

Also, FWIW, a bit of Munster/Leinster banter isn't the end of the world - there is a pretty big rivalry there after all, so if we can keep the personal insults out of it, where's the harm? i mean an Irish Rugby forum where we can't discuss the biggest rivalry in Irish Rugby is just dumb IMO....

/my 2p

LuckyLloyd

LZ5by5 wrote: »

This man would be an asset in my humble opinion (that is if he knows anything about Rugby :pac:).

I know more than a little.

Amabokke

LuckyLloyd wrote: »

I know more than a little.

Quick quiz?

Trojan

I agree that another mod would be useful, and we also need to come down a bit harder on the provincial rivalry stuff without stifling discussion altogether .

I spoke to Ruggie and Crash briefly after Crash suggested last week that we might consider adding another pair of hands and we'd actually shortlisted some names already.

I know Crash is away on hols and Ruggie is very busy this week travelling with work, so please don't expect instant action on this: we won't be making any knee-jerk changes but we will work on the issue in the background.

Cheers.

Zzippy

I think Trojan and Des have this covered in their posts.

Solution:
1. Stricter rules, whether in the charter or a sticky, on whats been covered in this thread.

2. A period of really strict moderation, as Des suggests. I've no problem with bans being handed out. Within a couple of months the regular posters will get the message and threads will be much more enjoyable to read and post in. New posters who come on to troll or post rubbish will be much easier to spot, and the rest of us will hopefully be trained to report posts by then

3. An extra mod or 2 to step in quickly before things get out of hand on a thread. Whoever that is I hope they can remain impartial enough themselves. LOL at one or two posters on here nominating themselves when they are part of the problem...

Des I know you're not in the forum that often, and reporting posts would help you a lot more, but this morning's thread was a great example of how the forum should be modded. Keep it up fella!

Tim Robbins

Joe the Santa wrote: »

ye I was just giving an example of the crap that is put up, cause as a North side dub, who went to a GAA school, doesn't have money to burn (actually I wish I did fit into that category) and have had a season ticket for years I don't fit into the sterotypes of what is thrown about as a Leinster supporter in the rugby forum (actually the worst thing is it is other Leinster fans that have used this sterotype on a few occasions)

I'm the same mate. Northside, born and still there. I didn't go to Rugby school either. I'd probably be sick of the sport if I did :-)

Anyway, the stereotype does my head in.

d'Oracle

Tim Robbins wrote: »

I'm the same mate. Northside, born and still there. I didn't go to Rugby school either. I'd probably be sick of the sport if I did :-)

Anyway, the stereotype does my head in.

I am not from north Dublin, I hate the stereotype too.
Thankfully, there are more and more fans every year who don't fit it.
Which is great for rugby.

Viva Bandwagon.

shanagarry

I'm a newbie and don't find the forum too bad, but I tend to ignore the 10 page of ROG bashing, or yet another "the Lions is a money making exercise" thread.

I agree with a lot of the points made above, but one thing I would like to add is a plea for people to read posts properly before replying to them. Posters seem to see one red flag word and are in such a rush to jump down the original posters throat that they don't read the post properly and miss the point half the time. Then ensues 3 pages of bashing before the mistakes are corrected.

I also agree with the point about the elitest attitude of some posters as the play/played rugby. Fair enough, you've actually played, you know a lot about technical aspects etc, but you don't have to have played rugby to have valid opinions on rugby matters, so don't be so quick to jump down the throat of non players purely for that reason.

Diabhal Beag

Hi everybody,
I wouldn't call myself the most frequent of posters in the rugby forum but I do lurk a lot of the time.

The main problems with the forum is that a thread discussing a player's actions during a match will turn vile and personal insults are thrown around.

My opinion on how you could stop this:

1) Any poster who wants to make a controversial point about a player must take a rational and fair way of informing all posters on their two cents and make it clear so that the most basic user can understand.

2) Add another mod. There are some worthy posters who I always think are insightful off the top of my head are Toomevara, stev_0, [Jackass], Robbo and others.
A knowledge of rugby is very important (sorry Des).

These are two ways of making the forum better. Ruggiebear is by far one of the best mods on Boards.

tughfc

i think the rugby forum has turned a bit to dogs but a major reason why is obviously the lions tour being such a huge topic and evidently involving 5 huge rugby nations i believe once the tour is over we may be back to what the forum once was!!

itsallaboutheL

I very rarely post on this forum, but i do read it quite a lot. I have to say that what i see the major problem to be is that a lot of( well informed in must be said) posters refuse to agree to disagree or even try to see the other sides point of view.

On the Provincial front it would be nice to see proper discussions on players, teams and the like but some of the most regular posters tend to be the biggest instigators, now i don't think ye realise ye're doing and i'm sure its not intentional but it really does discourage people from contributing to the forum.

Zzippy

Just remembered another thing - people keep starting different threads on the same topic. For every big match, you get about 2 threads speculating on the team that will be picked, then when the team is announced someone goes and starts a new thread, instead of adding to one of the existing threads, then you get a pre/during/post-match discussion thread, then you often get posters starting an analysis thread, even some posters starting their own analysis thread (how are ya Amabokke! ).
So you get about 4-7 different threads all discussing the one match, and other threads get pushed off the first page, and the whole place is too cluttered. How about doing like the soccer forum and just allow one thread for any match, and all posts have to go on that thread?

RugbyFanatic

The rugby forum where to start?



I was a once heavy contributer to the rugby forum before my unjust banning. Why was I banned? Because I criticised Ronan O'Gara. I always explained every criticism providing logical reasons and examples yet still to many I was simply bashing ROG because he was a Munster player. It seems to me that a lot of posters on the forum simply won't accept their players being criticised and there are a couple of posters who defend their provinces players at all costs even when I am sure deep down they know they are wrong (a good example of this was one poster in particular who defended Quinlan during the eye gouging inciddent).



I believe I was banned because I held an opposing view to many other posters and refused to be bullied into changing that opinion (I still remember being lashed by certain posters about disagreeing at the laughable suggestion that BOD was finished) and as such posters resorted to simply calling my posts provincial bias based and ultimately complaining to get me banned. Whenever I criticised Ronan O'Gara it was simply because I had an agenda and nothing else. My reasons and examples were time and time again ignored.



It seems some posters want a forum where Munster players are applauded and never criticised. They want a type of totalaterian Munster Love in Rugby forum where they are always right and everyone else is simply an evil biased Leinster supporter with diabolical hidden agendas. I was never the most disruptive influence on that forum as is being shown today. I was banned in the hope things would return back to normal but as we have seen they havent. You want to know the main reason the rugby forum descends into chaos? His user name starts with a t ends in a d



I discussed and was banned because people disliked my opinion, simple as. I was not even allowed to discuss Ronan O'Gara because to some posters he is untouchable and they hated that I criticised him with reasons that they couldn't repute. This has to change.



I also put myself forward for the position of moderator of the forum.

tughfc

it has to be said rugbyfanatic is raising a valid point where such things have brought the forum to disrepute and totally stupid talk!! people have to widen there eyes and accept what other peoples opinions on such matters are!! i also would like to see rugbyfanatic as a mod like come on his username says it all!!

Amabokke

Zzippy wrote: »

Just remembered another thing - people keep starting different threads on the same topic. For every big match, you get about 2 threads speculating on the team that will be picked, then when the team is announced someone goes and starts a new thread, instead of adding to one of the existing threads, then you get a pre/during/post-match discussion thread, then you often get posters starting an analysis thread, even some posters starting their own analysis thread (how are ya Amabokke! ).
So you get about 4-7 different threads all discussing the one match, and other threads get pushed off the first page, and the whole place is too cluttered. How about doing like the soccer forum and just allow one thread for any match, and all posts have to go on that thread?

Few brownie points for you zippidy zip...

Take a look at my posts and threads. I'm passionate about rugby and have a general good knowledge about it. I'm unbiased and don't participate in the usual mud slinging threads like "Why do we need the Lions" or "Is Leinster really better than Munster". The problem with creating one BIG forum for a specific match is that there could be 50 replies and alot of people wouldn't bother reading through it, they'll jump to the last 5 and add their opinion based on that. And sometimes they accuse posters of something, which is completely not true because they haven't read through the rest of the pages.

I believe 2-3 threads per match is not a bad idea if rules and guidance are made clear from the start and an extra mod can help.

The reason why some posts are being pushed aside is because they're rubbish and nothing to do with other similar posts.

The Muppet

I don't read the rugby at all but having read a few of the post here it appears to be similar to what soccer was a few years ago.

Banning people because their opinion doesn't meet with universal approvemment is not the way to go. Pandering to the oh so easily offended brigade is not a good thing either. So what if someone thinks RoG is crap, it's only one persons opinion, which they are entitled to express. If eveyone here shared a uniform opinion on everything this would be one dull site.

I would be carful of implememting new laws because people will play the system to the detriment of effective discussion within the forum.

As I said at the outset I don't read the forum so don't know if what been posted here is a accurate account of what has been happening there .

mikedragon32

Des wrote: »

I actually thought Crash was back tbh.

But that's neither here nor there.

The blame for people acting like children is not with the moderation or lack thereof, it's with the childish acting people who are posting on the forum.



Again, if people reported posts instead of posting "IBTL" in them, then this wouldn't even need addressing. See the locked thread on the first page of the Rugby forum for just one example

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2055606892



I'd agree with you, I do think that forums need at least one active mod who has an interest in the topic, especially volatile forums like Rugby seems to have become.

I will re-state though, that the main problems as outlined in this Feedback thread, by the complainants, would go a long way to being solved if people would actively use the Report Post feature, instead of being childish.

Des if there was a thanks button in FB I'd have thanked you!

My point wasn't very well made and perhaps a little blunt so apologies for that, but thanks for your patient and better thought out response.

I agree that we need to use the report post facility more, but I personally have often wondered if I am not being a little oversensitive by reporting posts slagging other players/teams/provinces etc. I guess the point we might all take is to report it anyway? That way mods can decide if there is action to be taken.

Certainly on the boards I moderate, I have to say, I do wish I had more users who would report posts because sometimes I don't see what other readers see, perhaps due to partiality, fatigue, no interest in the topic discussed or whatever, so when someone does point out an issue, it's easier to look at it from another point of view.

As suggested earlier, I do think that a period of no-nonsense modding will do the place the world of good. Sometimes it takes an infraction for someone to realise they're acting the muppet and cop on.

wixfjord

lol123456 wrote: »

There should be a zero tolerance policy on trolls like "Aidric" who persist in coming on to the forum to annoy other users.

From what I've read, he seems to really hate "thomond2006" and always criticizes his posts for no good reason. This sort of stuff should be gifted with a permanent ban in my opinion.

This spat isnt a one way thing by any means and thomond 2006 is no angel, although has changed his posting style slightly since he started posting.

I am a fairly regular user of the forum and would agree that the more regular (for regular read intelligent) users of the board have a duty now to report any stupid of inflammatory posts, something which I myself havent done.

I also agree that another mod is needed, but one without rugby allegiences, as no matter how impartial a poster thinks they are, theyres always that little nagging in the back of your head to defend your province, especially in the Munster and Leinster debate, im sure posters like Jackass will agree.

_blank_

Lads, I'm not a Feedback Mod, but I don't really think that getting personal and actually naming people you have a grievance with is helping matters at all.

It's as if you are trying to influence the mods to crack down on certain people.

As far as I'm concerned, this is a forum-wide issue that needs addressing, not just particular specific posters.

_blank_

wixfjord wrote: »

I also agree that another mod is needed, but one without rugby allegiences

I'm already modding the forum.

Riskymove

Des wrote: »

I'm already modding the forum.

ah but you see they want someone who knows a lot about rugby, its rules, has played rugby to a reasonable level etc.......but does not actually support any rugby team!!!....:rolleyes:

should be easy heh?:rolleyes:

in relation to other things mentioned above I don't think we need to report "slagging" as such, banter is natural in sports after all.

I think reporting should be where we feel someone is trolling or simply looking for a reaction or indeed is making personal remarks and so on. It's up to the Mod to decide if the reported post needs action.

for the record I have no issue discussing ROG; once its actually a discussion about his rugby and not his personality or that he should be dropped simply because some people don't like him etc

I am thoroughly fed up with childish leinster and munster views of the blue or red tinted glasses type too; probably because I am an Ireland national supporter first and foremost while having connections to both leinster and munster rugby....and Connacht for good measure; as a result I like to think i can be rational and objective in my thinking on who should play for ireland regardless of where they are from or who they play for.

wixfjord

Riskymove wrote: »

ah but you see they want someone who knows a lot about rugby, its rules, has played rugby to a reasonable level etc.......but does not actually support any rugby team!!!....:rolleyes:

should be easy heh?:rolleyes:
in relation to other things mentioned above I don't think we need to report "slagging" as such, banter is natural in sports after all.

I think reporting should be where we feel someone is trolling or simply looking for a reaction or indeed is making personal remarks and so on. It's up to the Mod to decide if the reported post needs action.

for the record I have no issue discussing ROG; once its actually a discussion about his rugby and not his personality or that he should be dropped simply because some people don't like him etc

I am thoroughly fed up with childish leinster and munster views of the blue or red tinted glasses type too; probably because I am an Ireland national supporter first and foremost while having connections to both leinster and munster rugby....and Connacht for good measure; as a result I like to think i can be rational and objective in my thinking on who should play for ireland regardless of where they are from or who they play for.

Re-read my post if that was directed at me. I see why someone was calling for the :rolleyes: smilie to done away with, its quite patronising.

ch2008

wixfjord wrote: »

Re-read my post if that was directed at me. I see why someone was calling for the :rolleyes: smilie to done away with, its quite patronising.

that was me. really makes my blood boil...:mad:

Eoin

Riskymove wrote: »

ah but you see they want someone who knows a lot about rugby, its rules, has played rugby to a reasonable level etc.......but does not actually support any rugby team!!!....
.....
as a result I like to think i can be rational and objective in my thinking on who should play for ireland regardless of where they are from or who they play for.

So, is this another self nomination for mod then? There would be more mods than users if this keeps up.

wixfjord wrote:

I see why someone was calling for the smilie to done away with, its quite patronising.

Do what I do and adblock that stupid rolleyes icon. It makes for a much nicer boards.ie experience, and when it's not there you realise how pointless it is.

Riskymove

eoin wrote: »

So, is this another self nomination for mod then?

No I did not mean that at all..I dont think any new mod should be any of the people getting involved in these issues

Do what I do and adblock that stupid rolleyes icon. It makes for a much nicer boards.ie experience, and when it's not there you realise how pointless it is.

well, I get more people not getting a comment is supposed to be sarcastic/humorous than I do people annoyed with smilies

my comments were not directed at anybody in particular, mor a summary of the different suggestions which to me seem difficult to get in one person

Zzippy

Amabokke wrote: »

Few brownie points for you zippidy zip...

Take a look at my posts and threads. I'm passionate about rugby and have a general good knowledge about it. I'm unbiased and don't participate in the usual mud slinging threads like "Why do we need the Lions" or "Is Leinster really better than Munster". The problem with creating one BIG forum for a specific match is that there could be 50 replies and alot of people wouldn't bother reading through it, they'll jump to the last 5 and add their opinion based on that. And sometimes they accuse posters of something, which is completely not true because they haven't read through the rest of the pages.

I believe 2-3 threads per match is not a bad idea if rules and guidance are made clear from the start and an extra mod can help.

The reason why some posts are being pushed aside is because they're rubbish and nothing to do with other similar posts.

Relax bru, I wasn't having a pop at you, just using your analysis thread as an example of where I think there are too many threads on the same topic. I agree a couple of threads are ok, but some games are ridiculous for spawning threads, its as if some posters don't bother to look for an existing thread to post in and just start their own (laziness) or think they're the man for starting a thread (post count junkie sorta). Like when a test team is announced, its a race to start a thread with the team - why not post the team in the existing thread (or one of them!) about the team that will be picked?

Stev_o

Message still hasn't set in for some posters it seems. Cheers Des though for trying to clamp down on stuff that's springing up.

Size=everything

What an absolute disgrace so were not allowed to criticise any Munster players now? I wasn't aware boards.ie was owned by Munsterfans.com

I started a thread in which I said 4 players were overrated, 2 of them were Munster and the other two were Welsh and English respectively. The thread was instantly locked because two Munster supporters decided they would not allow a criticism of one of their players. Excellent discussion forum this is turning into

BOARDS.IE RUGBY FORUM, WHERE ONLY POSITIVE TALK OF ALL THINGS MUNSTER IS ALLOWED. USERS WHO CRITICISE OR DEBATE A MUNSTER PLAYERS ATTRIBUTES OR EVEN DARES QUESTION THE MIGHTY MUNSTER WILL BE DULY BANNED. THANK YOU.

_blank_

It's not that we aren't allowing discussion of Munster players, why the hell would I have a problem with that? The only name I even recognised in your post was O'Gara.

It was because such threads are not going to be allowed to descent into a farce with multiple infractions and bannings.

You are banned for a week for starting this thread in the rugby forum straight after the original thread was locked.

Stev_o

Size=everything wrote: »

What an absolute disgrace so were not allowed to criticise any Munster players now? I wasn't aware boards.ie was owned by Munsterfans.com

I started a thread in which I said 4 players were overrated, 2 of them were Munster and the other two were Welsh and English respectively. The thread was instantly locked because two Munster supporters decided they would not allow a criticism of one of their players. Excellent discussion forum this is turning into

BOARDS.IE RUGBY FORUM, WHERE ONLY POSITIVE TALK OF ALL THINGS MUNSTER IS ALLOWED. USERS WHO CRITICISE OR DEBATE A MUNSTER PLAYERS ATTRIBUTES OR EVEN DARES QUESTION THE MIGHTY MUNSTER WILL BE DULY BANNED. THANK YOU.

Calm down for a start.

Now we can all agree that at the moment our forum can not for our lives have a proper discussion about the negative qualities of each provinces star player. So let's just give it a rest for a while till normality ensues.

What reaction would you think you'd have gotten if you had said BOD and say Shane Horgan are over-rated?

Size=everything

Des wrote: »

It's not that we aren't allowing discussion of Munster players, why the hell would I have a problem with that? The only name I even recognised in your post was O'Gara.

It was because such threads are not going to be allowed to descent into a farce with multiple infractions and bannings.

You are banned for a week for starting this thread in the rugby forum straight after the original thread was locked.

So why didn't you simply delete the IBTL comments and left the actual comments discussing the topic at hand in there? Why lock the thread?

tughfc

infairness he has a point just the criticism of a player no matter what nationality or team he is doesnt warrant a locking like i mean it is a rugby forum and its there for the discussion of how players rugby abilities are on the up or down and people are entitled to their own opinions!! it just so happens that a certain irish player(that will not be named) had a poor match on the weekend and surely this can be discussed to find peoples views on the matter!! if you don't like the thread don't comment on it or just smply ignore it!!

Size=everything

Stev_o wrote: »

Calm down for a start.

Now we can all agree that at the moment our forum can not for our lives have a proper discussion about the negative qualities of each provinces star player. So let's just give it a rest for a while till normality ensues.

What reaction would you think you'd have gotten if you had said BOD and say Shane Horgan are over-rated?

I would of debated that claim like most people do on a rugby discussion forum not been a child about it and tried to get the thread closed because I didn't like someones opinion.

_blank_

Size=everything wrote: »

So why didn't you simply delete the IBTL comments and left the actual comments discussing the topic at hand in there? Why lock the thread?

It was obvious where the thread was going.

It will be remaining locked.

Until we can get people commenting properly on threads, they will be locked. If people can't comment without resorting to calling each other trolls, well then, discussion will be restricted.

Size=everything

Des wrote: »

It was obvious where the thread was going.

It will be remaining locked.

Until we can get people commenting properly on threads, they will be locked. If people can't comment without resorting to calling each other trolls, well then, discussion will be restricted.

So essentially we are going to appease those who wan't to silence others opinions because its not to their liking?

itsallaboutheL

Opinions are all well and good once you don't force them down people throat

_blank_

Size=everything wrote: »

So essentially we are going to appease those who wan't to silence others opinions because its not to their liking?

Until I see normal discussion on topics, then topics that descend into crap will be locked.

That thread had already started a steep descent.

tughfc

i'm just hoping this will all cool down after the lions tour is over and we can get back to what the rugby forum used to be!!

Size=everything

Des wrote: »

Until I see normal discussion on topics, then topics that descend into crap will be locked.

That thread had already started a steep descent.

Surely a better action would of been to ban Bleg for his comment and deleted it. There were 2 posts calling me a troll and 2 posts actually discussing the topic and raising valid points. Instead of helping the posters actually discussing the topic you went and helped those that didnt wan't the topic discussed by closing it.

itsallaboutheL

tughfc wrote: »

i'm just hoping this will all cool down after the lions tour is over and we can get back to what the rugby forum used to be!!

Funnily enough i've always thought it was very prevalent, it has only been highlighted recently tho

anonymous_joe

Size=everything wrote: »

Surely a better action would of been to ban Bleg for his comment and deleted it. There were 2 posts calling me a troll and 2 posts actually discussing the topic and raising valid points. Instead of helping the posters actually discussing the topic you went and helped those that didnt wan't the topic discussed by closing it.

T'was an interesting topic, but as so often with the Rugby forum, it contained the seeds of its own destruction.

At the end of the day, the tribalism thing's not much worse than the likes of the football forum, it's merely that there's only two tribes represented. There's next to know Ulster fans in there, while the Connacht fans tend to be too depressed and heartbroken to take part in the provincial silliness.

In all honesty, the best thing for the forum would be another Irish team dominating.

Also, and this is merely an opinion, make of it what you will;

Rugby as a sport has a bad reputation. Especially common is the 'West Brit' 'D4' 'Rich bástards' 'the recession's you lots fault' idea. Leinster in particular are the ultimate vision of this to a lot of people. As such, opinions about rugby often extend far beyond mere sporting rivalries. I mean, I support Manchester United, but I don't really hate Scousers or City fans. I mean, I don't like them, but how could I hate them? With the rugby forum, you've got people who despise what the other side stands for.

Recently with teh Lions to use an example, there've been people wandering in and asking why the rugby fans still think we're part of the UK, etc. Silly stuff tbh.

The other major problem is Ronan O'Gara. He's not the only problem player, but hte best example of one - he's a controversial player, and like the O'Driscoll debates that RF brought up, a lot of posters around here would love a proper debate, but it always descends into a slagging match. Usually because one person's overly sensitive. He's become the rugby forum's Cristiano Ronaldo, some people love him, some hate him, and because of the hysteria, debate's not happened, and opinions have in essence crystalised, made even stronger by the provincial bias.

There's definitely a need for the more regular posters to try and pull back from the extrems of rivalry as much as possible, at least until a healthier atmosphere prevails, because, in general, it's a good forum.

Riskymove

Size=everything wrote: »

So why didn't you simply delete the IBTL comments and left the actual comments discussing the topic at hand in there? Why lock the thread?

I don't think the topic itself is a problem, we should be free to discuss if a player is as good as his reputation...however..

given the discussion in the 10 pages of this thread I think your choice of thread title and the tone of your comments was always going to end badly..and even if they were a bit more carefully chosen it was probably inevitable, given the current atmosphere that some eejit would arrive and make trolling comments and ended in a lock anyway

another reason for a lock could be that there has been so much discussion about ROG and to a lesser extent the performance of the other Lions that starting another thread was unnecessary

tughfc

but we have to look at it in other ways that threads were being made about other players such as bod,sexton,keatley in the past and they were discussed without any slagging or (trolling)!!

_blank_

tughfc wrote: »

but we have to look at it in other ways that threads were being made about other players such as bod,sexton,keatley in the past and they were discussed without any slagging or (trolling)!!

We have two options.

Ban all discussion of "controversial" players.

Or.

Lay the smack down until people can discuss the "controverial" players in the same way in which they discuss the "non-controversial" players.

tughfc

but i have to say i enjoy reading other peoples discussions on other players it makes for an interesting read.

anonymous_joe

Des wrote: »

We have two options.

Ban all discussion of "controversial" players.

Or.

Lay the smack down until people can discuss the "controverial" players in the same way in which they discuss the "non-controversial" players.

I'd hate if there was no more discussion of controversial players and probably would stop posting, but it may be the only option.