Both have outlived their usefulness and should be put out of their misery permanently.

Something about the anonymity of the internet just seems to lend itself to people letting their angrier, more aggressive tendencies take hold.

I tend to stay away from the game threads for the most part.

I was in the same spot as you. Just joined over spring training and it is really a great place I found here. But I have been in quite a few game threads. I see where you are coming, but you just gotta ignore those people, respond once in a while with an actual argument and if they are still negative just ignore them.

If the teams playing well (ahead by more than 5), they’re usually fun and lighthearted. If they’re getting blown out, they’re usually snarky but good natured…. But if its a tight game (<2 runs either way)… look out.

Sometimes you just need to walk away. I have. You can be critical and upset without dragging everyone else down around you. And you can remain hopeful without forcing it on everyone else. But not enough people actually do that.

We all understand the frustration with a loss like last night’s. There is no need to take it out on fellow posters. I remind everyone of this simple thought, that every single person who signs up for this site must agree to on signup:

When posting at this blog, please follow this one simple rule: Before hitting “post” to post your remarks, ask yourself: “Would I be embarrassed to say this in front of strangers who were physically present in the room with me and could respond to my face?” If the answer is “yes,” then don’t post.

It’s also that you can’t see a face or body language. Someone may post something perfectly innocently but it just reads wrong, and wasn’t intended that way at all. So give people the benefit of the doubt, especially occasional posters! Meanwhile I’m off to Atlanta to hopefully see a better game tonight!

I agree, folks were getting hostile last night; We were all incredibly frustrated by what happened, and the way it happened, but that’s hardly justification to snipe harshly at a fellow cub fan.
A fellow Cub fan (since 1948)……..thats frustration also.
AND
Think about Randy Wells…..how frustrated must he feel?

you don’t have to go there. I found myself getting angry at nothing. So for the last two years it is off limits. Trying to analyze a game in a split second without processing is never a good practice.

…but it’s interesting that he was doing the same type of stuff earlier in the night in the White Sox game thread and someone on there banned him after his first few offensive posts. He then, apparently, drifted over to BCB and started the same stuff here.

I know that’s not how you do things here, Al, but it seems like a good way to get rid of trolls early, instead of after the fact, having someone “in game” to head off the wreckage.

Of course, one can say to “ignore” the trolls. But that NEVER happens here.

in that many game-thread regulars don’t suffer newbies lightly. It turns into a turf-war where the mama and papa bears somehow feel threatened by new voices or snark or criticism with which they aren’t familiar and then the baby bears are wondering why it’s so hostile.

A separate category are the trolls – they know the gamethreads have a history of quickfuses and bcb’ers have shown the inability to IGNORE THE TROLLS. Instead of flagging a post or shooting of an angry email – self-police it. Ignore them and they go away.

I’ve had plenty of fun in the threads before and generally enjoy the commentary but it’s become far too divided lately and that’s a shame. Oh well, I’m sure I can complain about Judd Sirrott elsewhere just as easily. ;p

One of the issues with the Game Threads is that they’ve become known as the “real-time” portion of BCB. If someone has thought up a new piece of insight and wants some quick feedback on it, a Game Thread seems like the perfect place to post it when you know people will be looking. Sometimes this is regarded well, and a short discussion will ensue. More often, everyone’s wrapped up in the game situation, and has no interest in debating a position for 3 or 4 batters, so the poster gets dismissed with a snarky comment. They take offense, and…

I’m not sure there’s any way to fix this, as a lot of people expect real-time feedback on the Internet these days. Waiting around for a response to your FanPost must seem especially frustrating when you obviously have Cub fans sitting (metaphorically) one table over watching the game. Maybe a Twitter-like limit on number of characters that can be posted in a Game Thread comment?

1 – It is a different aspect of BCB, and it is surely not for everyone. It’s a running-log of the game. Which can be real fun to be apart of when the Cubs are rolling along, or there’s a great play, etc. But when we are losing, you’ll get the swearing, you’ll see the guys with 3 total comments on SBN that registered yesterday and only writing derogatory things, and you’ll have the ledge jumpers. Frankly, that’s how it would go at a bar or a friend’s house! You’d be swearing Theriot for double-clutching a throw, or for Marmol walking a guy on four straight batters. Some times I have to remember to “think” before I type & click, because I get heated during the game.

2 – The troll thing is hard to deal with because there’s not much that can be done to stop them a priori. They come in, get the crowd riled up, and then get booted. I like to make a few swings at ‘em then just ignore them the entire time, because it’s ruining my gaming experience.

3 – The game threads are apart of the “community” of BCB more than anything else, and some times I have to remember to be inviting to names or persons I don’t know, because it may be their first time in the game threads, and unfamiliar with “TWSS” or “GameBoard” or “Jimmy! Timmy!” silly stuff we do. It is a fun place to watch the game, but can be silly for those unfamiliar.

Dan