Troll Free Message Board

[BuckyHarris]

That is quite a bump.

Yep, but it's still on the money.

[deeznatz]

All of the above are some of the reasons why I started this site

I haven't experienced too much "internal" strife at the MLB boards, but then I haven't done a lot of criticizing of the team so far, either.

This site will remain in wait-and-see mode for a while. I will try to refrain from "over-moderating", but I do ask that we all try to be as civil as possible. It will make my job a lot easier and hopefully lead to a more comfortable and friendlier environment than is often found at the MLB message boards.

One thing I ask, just ban all opposing fans.  Seriously, they add NOTHING to the discussion and are here only to troll, under the guise of "just offering a Mets fan opinion," or "Barves fan here that just wanted to get a feel for how Nats fans felt about.."

If they self-identify, ban them.  If they try to sneak in but post thinly veiled jabs, ban them.  This isnt a demopcracy, its  militant dictatorship.

[tomterp]

Thanks, and ditto on all of the above. I liked the slower pace of the MLB board, but as our team's troubles have grown, so have troll infestations, along with long threads of one-on-one insult exchanges. Many regulars have left, I see quite a few on here. The moderating is more sensible, the dialogue more civil—and by the way, as Ken (ex-"No Shoe Joe" I think) says, WNFF loads and runs at warp speed by comparison. Keep up the great work.

Haha, we haven't seen Kenzafan/No shoe joe  in quite a while. 

[houston-nat]

One thing I ask, just ban all opposing fans.  Seriously, they add NOTHING to the discussion and are here only to troll, under the guise of "just offering a Mets fan opinion," or "Barves fan here that just wanted to get a feel for how Nats fans felt about.."

If they self-identify, ban them.  If they try to sneak in but post thinly veiled jabs, ban them.  This isnt a demopcracy, its  militant dictatorship.

STRONG disagree. I like chatting with a lot of the other fans. Like NatsAddict and JCA!

[varoadking]

STRONG disagree. I like chatting with a lot of the other fans. Like NatsAddict and JCA!

Seriously...it would be pretty awkward if we banned JCA...

[Kevrock]

JCA, ban urself

[JCA-CrystalCity]

One thing I ask, just ban all opposing fans.  Seriously, they add NOTHING to the discussion and are here only to troll, under the guise of "just offering a Mets fan opinion," or "Barves fan here that just wanted to get a feel for how Nats fans felt about.."

If they self-identify, ban them.  If they try to sneak in but post thinly veiled jabs, ban them.  This isnt a demopcracy, its  militant dictatorship.

All - Keep the posts clean, ok? This is not the Uncensored section.

Just a reminder about this forum - it is a Nats fan forum as opposed to an MLB operated forum.  The MLB site, or the WaPo site, is more of a free for all.  This site was set up as a kind of a haven for Nats fans to swap comments about the team, including critical ones, without getting into flame wars. We really cannot screen folks who want to sign up too heavily before they sign up, and if they primarily follow another team, that's fine as long as they keep the trash talk out.  We've historically had NatAddict (a Marlins fan), a few Braves fans, maybe some other NL teams, and plenty of AL fans (Tigers, White Sox, Red Sox, NYY, Indians, even the O's).  As long as they aren't in the "I enjoyed it when our team beat you / we were razzing Strasburg in our section (Tribe Time)" and similar stuff, we let them stay as members and post.

So, DX and some of the other recent members - we are not going to ban everyone who signed up in the past week.  I think it is OK to get the perspective of a Mets fan about their team and even have some legit discussion about the all to real collapse of the Nats.  But if it is knuckle dragging stuff (we've already banned a few new sign ups), trash talk, violent, etc... we'll act.  DX's posts are mostly fine when they are on baseball, but the posts about members are close to the edge.  And the homophobic taunts back at him have been deleted.

OK, now give me grief (by the way, for the record, I'm a notorious dual loyalty fan - feel free to go to the out of town scoreboard and talk about 1986).

I get it.  Tom, Nathan, me, and The Chief have all discussed this point.  Whenever there is an important rival series, we usually bring the topic up and try to get vigilant about hostile posters.  That said, I like talking about baseball with folks who know their stuff and have a different perspective, so I think the line can be drawn to separate the guys who are here just to insult / bait / boast and the folks who want to engage in a discussion and swap perspectives on the Nats.  The best we can do is take a hard look at the posts and use judgment.

[JCA-CrystalCity]

Seriously...it would be pretty awkward if we banned JCA...

Honestly, I would not mind.  It would be a great way for members to take control of the board. 

If you really want to purge dual loyalty fans, the Linty (Indians), NatsAddict, Tigersfan, SoxFan59, the Jays fans, HammondsNats, Welch (a Yankees fan), UMDNats (Yankees), El Osso Bucco, Skippy, maybe RD (I think he's an Angels fan), probably a few others would be banned.  There's several local Red Sox fans, too, who follow the Nats and post here besides myself (I've figured out a few and have ideas about some others) that have skated under the radar here.   I think behavior and not identity is right way to weed out those you don't want here.

[varoadking]

Honestly, I would not mind.  It would be a great way for members to take control of the board. 

If you really want to purge dual loyalty fans, the Linty (Indians), NatsAddict, Tigersfan, SoxFan59, the Jays fans, HammondsNats, Welch (a Yankees fan), UMDNats (Yankees), El Osso Bucco, Skippy, maybe RD (I think he's an Angels fan), probably a few others would be banned.  There's several local Red Sox fans, too, who follow the Nats and post here besides myself (I've figured out a few and have ideas about some others) that have skated under the radar here.   I think behavior and not identity is right way to weed out those you don't want here.

Having the inmates run the assylum is seldom a good idea...

[BuckyHarris]

I get it.  Tom, Nathan, me, and The Chief have all discussed this point.  Whenever there is an important rival series, we usually bring the topic up and try to get vigilant about hostile posters.  That said, I like talking about baseball with folks who know their stuff and have a different perspective, so I think the line can be drawn to separate the guys who are here just to insult / bait / boast and the folks who want to engage in a discussion and swap perspectives on the Nats.  The best we can do is take a hard look at the posts and use judgment.

IMO that's the ticket. Some of those folk are worth hearing. I suspect the MLB trolls don't come here because it's not convenient to latch onto, or because of your vigilance, or both.

Some bump indeed--bottled up opinions percolating! Sorry NoShoeJoe/Kenza missing in action. He had good insights and knew his history.

[mitlen]

Things, posters, feelings about comments, those who have gone  ...   all change.    Chief's (and the mods) mission remains the same.   Good bump on this as a reminder.

[Mathguy]

Hard tp prevent, given the transient nature of DC and the relatively new status of the Nats.  I'm willing to bet every one of us was a baseball fan way before 2005 - even young guys like Vega.

Having the inmates run the assylum is seldom a good idea...

[dracnal]

Hard tp prevent, given the transient nature of DC and the relatively new status of the Nats.  I'm willing to bet every one of us was a baseball fan way before 2005 - even young guys like Vega.

Not me. Didn't care one bit about any sport until I went to my first Nats game at RFK in 2007. Was lucky* because at the time, based on the Nats, I thought that a .275 batting average was considered very good and a starting pitcher was expected to have an ERA of about 4 to 4.5.

*because I had no idea how abysmal the product on the field was

[Mathguy]

So what is the difference between a troll and someone who always criticizes the Nats ?  We have plenty of the latter on WNFF.

[aspenbubba]

Haha, we haven't seen Kenzafan/No shoe joe  in quite a while. 

I barely remember those guys. What happened to them?

[dracnal]

So what is the difference between a troll and someone who always criticizes the Nats ?  We have plenty of the latter on WNFF.

I already answered this in the SSS thread. Staying power.

[tomterp]

I barely remember those guys. What happened to them?

Ken probably started drinking again and is off touring the continent with Natofthelivingdead.

[Minty Fresh]

[Baseball is Life]

So what is the difference between a troll and someone who always criticizes the Nats ?  We have plenty of the latter on WNFF.

I think it depends on how you define a troll. Below is what wikipedia has to say, so you know it must be true.

In Internet slang, a troll (/ˈtroʊl/, /ˈtrɒl/) is a person who sows discord on the Internet by starting arguments or upsetting people, by posting inflammatory,[1] extraneous, or off-topic messages in an online community (such as a newsgroup, forum, chat room, or blog) with the deliberate intent of provoking readers into an emotional response[2] or of otherwise disrupting normal on-topic discussion.[3]

Application of the term troll is subjective. Some readers may characterize a post as trolling, while others may regard the same post as a legitimate contribution to the discussion, even if controversial. Like any pejorative term, it can be used as an ad hominem attack, suggesting a negative motivation.

[GburgNatsFan]

I barely remember those guys. What happened to them?

Kensa is pretty active on Twitter.

[mitlen]

Every time I see this thread appear, I see "Toll Free Message Board".        Wishful thinking, I guess.

[Ali the Baseball Cat]

And then that damned Royals fan who won't shut up about how much he loves DC

Honestly, I would not mind.  It would be a great way for members to take control of the board. 

If you really want to purge dual loyalty fans, the Linty (Indians), NatsAddict, Tigersfan, SoxFan59, the Jays fans, HammondsNats, Welch (a Yankees fan), UMDNats (Yankees), El Osso Bucco, Skippy, maybe RD (I think he's an Angels fan), probably a few others would be banned.  There's several local Red Sox fans, too, who follow the Nats and post here besides myself (I've figured out a few and have ideas about some others) that have skated under the radar here.   I think behavior and not identity is right way to weed out those you don't want here.

[Ali the Baseball Cat]

NOTLD sent me a postcard with what he claimed was Jason Marquis' autograph after I sent him a few bucks for his spring training reporting sortie...he seemed to be abducted by aliens not long after that. 

Ken probably started drinking again and is off touring the continent with Natofthelivingdead.

[tomterp]

NOTLD sent me a postcard with what he claimed was Jason Marquis' autograph after I sent him a few bucks for his spring training reporting sortie...he seemed to be abducted by aliens not long after that.

LOL, NOTLD was a bit of a nut but he had his own style for sure.

[BeltwayBaseball]

If we're discussing banning trolls can we discuss getting rid of "Le Grande Metropolitaine" ExposFan87? Also, dx