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Release the Kraken

Release the Kraken

Well-Known Member
I’ve quit this site before and am on the verge of doing so again. I have a very full and busy life with family and friends, so this is just a little indulgence for my favorite team. For that reason I spend most of what little time I have in the Utah Jazz section of the site. What I’ve noticed is that this place is extremely cliquish with a well defined social hierarchy and an unspoken rule not to rock the boat - dissenting opinions are not welcome here.

Beyond that, the site is flat out unfriendly to outsiders and those on the lower rungs like myself. Social ostracism is the rule of the day, particularly if your position challenges someone further up the ladder or you’re a virtual unknown. The “staff” enforces this policy and once in the doghouse refuses to respond even when addressed directly. I’ve seen so many good members grow weary of the implicit abuse disappear never to be heard from again.

With the right culture, this place should be flourishing with the increased popularity of the Jazz worldwide but alas it continues to operate as an Old Boy’s club and only loyal supplicants need apply. Count me out for that modus operandi.
 
Release the Kraken said:
I’ve quit this site before and am on the verge of doing so again. I have a very full and busy life with family and friends, so this is just a little indulgence for my favorite team. For that reason I spend most of what little time I have in the Utah Jazz section of the site. What I’ve noticed is that this place is extremely cliquish with a well defined social hierarchy and an unspoken rule not to rock the boat - dissenting opinions are not welcome here.

Beyond that, the site is flat out unfriendly to outsiders and those on the lower rungs like myself. Social ostracism is the rule of the day, particularly if your position challenges someone further up the ladder or you’re a virtual unknown. The “staff” enforces this policy and once in the doghouse refuses to respond even when addressed directly. I’ve seen so many good members grow weary of the implicit abuse disappear never to be heard from again.

With the right culture, this place should be flourishing with the increased popularity of the Jazz worldwide but alas it continues to operate as an Old Boy’s club and only loyal supplicants need apply. Count me out for that modus operandi.
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I always thought you were part of the upper hierarchy.
 
Release the Kraken said:
I’ve quit this site before and am on the verge of doing so again. I have a very full and busy life with family and friends, so this is just a little indulgence for my favorite team. For that reason I spend most of what little time I have in the Utah Jazz section of the site. What I’ve noticed is that this place is extremely cliquish with a well defined social hierarchy and an unspoken rule not to rock the boat - dissenting opinions are not welcome here.

Beyond that, the site is flat out unfriendly to outsiders and those on the lower rungs like myself. Social ostracism is the rule of the day, particularly if your position challenges someone further up the ladder or you’re a virtual unknown. The “staff” enforces this policy and once in the doghouse refuses to respond even when addressed directly. I’ve seen so many good members grow weary of the implicit abuse disappear never to be heard from again.

With the right culture, this place should be flourishing with the increased popularity of the Jazz worldwide but alas it continues to operate as an Old Boy’s club and only loyal supplicants need apply. Count me out for that modus operandi.
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I don't disagree with you, other than you are a recognizable poster to me so I'd consider you"part of the club."

How would Jason and the mods change this? I think it is something that exists in most social groups and you can't just have a "no cliques" rule.

I do think what can be done is that bullying, insulting and belittling, and personal attacks should be more actively punished.

I think that there are like three active Mods right now. There are more on the list, but if you look there are more of them who haven't logged on in years than have logged on this month.

If someone is behaving poorly their post needs to be reported if anything is going to be done about it.
 
Gameface said:
I don't disagree with you, other than you are a recognizable poster to me so I'd consider you"part of the club."

How would Jason and the mods change this? I think it is something that exists in most social groups and you can't just have a "no cliques" rule.

I do think what can be done is that bullying, insulting and belittling, and personal attacks should be more actively punished.

I think that there are like three active Mods right now. There are more on the list, but if you look there are more of them who haven't logged on in years than have logged on this month.

If someone is behaving poorly their post needs to be reported if anything is going to be done about it.
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Yeah and I haven't seen anything from @colton or @Jason in a while either. Are they taking a hiatus? That's cool and all but we do need more active mods imo. And we need to report behavior we do not want in our community, as you stated.
 
Gameface said:
I don't disagree with you, other than you are a recognizable poster to me so I'd consider you"part of the club."

How would Jason and the mods change this? I think it is something that exists in most social groups and you can't just have a "no cliques" rule.

I do think what can be done is that bullying, insulting and belittling, and personal attacks should be more actively punished.

I think that there are like three active Mods right now. There are more on the list, but if you look there are more of them who haven't logged on in years than have logged on this month.

If someone is behaving poorly their post needs to be reported if anything is going to be done about it.
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In regards to it existing elsewhere, sure I suppose. I mean I don’t do Facebook or other social media so I can’t speak to that. I used to be on a musicians forum and a film forum that were really quite a bit more open to discourse I would say. Although yeah I do recall a couple of bullies on the music site.

Well I mean if it was my site I’d do something to make it more inclusive. I guess start with the mods, and send out regular satisfaction surveys, that sort of thing. I mean I’m not asking to be coddled here, just common courtesy like responding when spoken to, that sort of thing.
 
We are here. I just don't know what to do about this. Open to feedback of course.

What would be in this satisfaction survey?

As for mods and whether they're around, we've been timely with all reported posts so haven't taken measures to increase the number of mods or change them out to date. Maybe that's something to look into but I don't think a heavy hand from mods is the answer either.
 
Jason said:
We are here. I just don't know what to do about this. Open to feedback of course.

What would be in this satisfaction survey?

As for mods and whether they're around, we've been timely with all reported posts so haven't taken measures to increase the number of mods or change them out to date. Maybe that's something to look into but I don't think a heavy hand from mods is the answer either.
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So I work in a High School and we are continually asked to fill out surveys just to ensure that the social climate is accommodating, no bullying, that sort of thing. As far as mods and enforcement, I really have no issues there. If I was a mod I don’t think I’d cowtow quite so much to the status quo and perhaps strive to be more magnanimous. (Not at all directed in your direction).
 
This has waxed and waned on this site over the years. There was a clique that essentially killed the rep system, using it and incessant trolling to flat out bully people and many took breaks or stopped posting at that time, if you weren't in the "in" crowd. Was something like EVE or something as their signal or whatever you want to call it. Very very jr. high locker-room kind of ****. It went through a period of pretty intense negativity on the whole with several posters being outright hostile to the mods which pulled everyone down. Then a couple of them got banned and it leveled back out. There have also been times of fun and games and nothing crazy bad other than the occasional spat. For the most part I would give the site a solid B in this regard overall, even if there have been times it was an F-. But compared to other forums I visit this one seems to have the most stable base and the most active posters, in general, and with that you will get the almost sibling-level fighting that comes with a weird extended family. As long as you can roll with it, or take a break now and then, it's fine for the most part. I have been in forums way worse, and forums with much much tighter moderating and those are just no fun. They have to allow enough lee-way that we adults can play like kids a bit, while keeping a tight enough leash that we don't go all Lord of the Flies on the board. I think there are a few of us that this is our primary social media, so we need to be able to express ourselves, right? But within reason of course.

If you feel certain behavior is out of line, first I would call it out, and 2nd, report it. If it is too much take a break. I took like a nearly 2-year hiatus when I had the most or 2nd most posts and everything, and came back to stay after that apparently. Do what you have to to maintain your sanity. But don't be gone too long, you are a good poster and the more good posters that leave the harder it is to dilute the nut-jobs.
 
The general discussion forum has become A LOT more user friendly. I say that as someone who might be a bit cliquey and I'll say "aggressive" towards posters I don't agree with, but there was a small group of posters who worked as nothing short of agitators who worked to irritate and increase hostility and they have mostly been dealt with while not just banning them forever outright. I think the mod team has done a really good job on that. Maybe it's just a matter of moving the attention to the Jazz forum, which means that posts have to be reported if they violate the community guidelines.
 
LogGrad98 said:
This has waxed and waned on this site over the years. There was a clique that essentially killed the rep system, using it and incessant trolling to flat out bully people and many took breaks or stopped posting at that time, if you weren't in the "in" crowd. Was something like EVE or something as their signal or whatever you want to call it. Very very jr. high locker-room kind of ****. It went through a period of pretty intense negativity on the whole with several posters being outright hostile to the mods which pulled everyone down. Then a couple of them got banned and it leveled back out. There have also been times of fun and games and nothing crazy bad other than the occasional spat. For the most part I would give the site a solid B in this regard overall, even if there have been times it was an F-. But compared to other forums I visit this one seems to have the most stable base and the most active posters, in general, and with that you will get the almost sibling-level fighting that comes with a weird extended family. As long as you can roll with it, or take a break now and then, it's fine for the most part. I have been in forums way worse, and forums with much much tighter moderating and those are just no fun. They have to allow enough lee-way that we adults can play like kids a bit, while keeping a tight enough leash that we don't go all Lord of the Flies on the board. I think there are a few of us that this is our primary social media, so we need to be able to express ourselves, right? But within reason of course.

If you feel certain behavior is out of line, first I would call it out, and 2nd, report it. If it is too much take a break. I took like a nearly 2-year hiatus when I had the most or 2nd most posts and everything, and came back to stay after that apparently. Do what you have to to maintain your sanity. But don't be gone too long, you are a good poster and the more good posters that leave the harder it is to dilute the nut-jobs.
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Hey much appreciated LogGrad, I’ve very much enjoyed our exchanges. Seems you’re a bit like me in your non political approach to things. I’m basically just a truth seeker that only asks for rationality. I mean if I’m wrong about something I’m all ears.
I mean I’d just do anything to see this team win a title and I realize I probably come from left field sometimes as far as some people are concerned. Anyway, thanks for the vote of confidence, kinda made my day.
 
Release the Kraken said:
I’ve quit this site before and am on the verge of doing so again. I have a very full and busy life with family and friends, so this is just a little indulgence for my favorite team. For that reason I spend most of what little time I have in the Utah Jazz section of the site. What I’ve noticed is that this place is extremely cliquish with a well defined social hierarchy and an unspoken rule not to rock the boat - dissenting opinions are not welcome here.

Beyond that, the site is flat out unfriendly to outsiders and those on the lower rungs like myself. Social ostracism is the rule of the day, particularly if your position challenges someone further up the ladder or you’re a virtual unknown. The “staff” enforces this policy and once in the doghouse refuses to respond even when addressed directly. I’ve seen so many good members grow weary of the implicit abuse disappear never to be heard from again.

With the right culture, this place should be flourishing with the increased popularity of the Jazz worldwide but alas it continues to operate as an Old Boy’s club and only loyal supplicants need apply. Count me out for that modus operandi.
Click to expand...
I want to join in with those saying that, to the degree there are cliques, I would consider you a part of whichever clique was near the top.
 
Gameface said:
The general discussion forum has become A LOT more user friendly. I say that as someone who might be a bit cliquey and I'll say "aggressive" towards posters I don't agree with, but there was a small group of posters who worked as nothing short of agitators who worked to irritate and increase hostility and they have mostly been dealt with while not just banning them forever outright. I think the mod team has done a really good job on that. Maybe it's just a matter of moving the attention to the Jazz forum, which means that posts have to be reported if they violate the community guidelines.
Click to expand...
Really hadn’t noticed you to be like that Gameface. I mean the fact that you took the time to comment here tells me that you’re a people person. I guess my biggest gripe with this whole social media thing is it often becomes more of a popularity contest than an actual platform for the exchange of ideas. I mean I kind of detest these threads where some Kingpin declares that player x is our problem then everyone goes out of their way to agree with him. And then that attitude and venom carries over to other threads and so it becomes cool to hate said player. Lynch mob mentality basically.
 
One Brow said:
I want to join in with those saying that, to the degree there are cliques, I would consider you a part of whichever clique was near the top.
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A man after my own heart. Actually, as a kid my family moved every two years on average and then I started to like being a lone wolf.
 
Release the Kraken said:
Really hadn’t noticed you to be like that Gameface. I mean the fact that you took the time to comment here tells me that you’re a people person. I guess my biggest gripe with this whole social media thing is it often becomes more of a popularity contest than an actual platform for the exchange of ideas. I mean I kind of detest these threads where some Kingpin declares that player x is our problem then everyone goes out of their way to agree with him. And then that attitude and venom carries over to other threads and so it becomes cool to hate said player. Lynch mob mentality basically.
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Oh IRL I'm downright shy.
 
Okay so I think I got this thing figured out. I’ve been on the wrong side all this time. This is where folks can actually be themselves. This is actually the first thread I think I’ve started all year that had any traction.

Anyway probably just a case of the Holiday blues. Thanks for weighing in cause honestly, I’ve always regarded you guys as heavyweights around here! And please understand that if I ever disagree with you, it’s just my way, and I respect you and your reasoning capabilities that much. Doesn’t mean I don’t like you.
 
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Release the Kraken said:
Introverts are introspective which I think is the right place to start. I don’t know but I’m much like you in that respect. Some of my best moments are spent alone with my guitar. My wife doesn’t understand.
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It's a weird contrast with my gf. I look downright sullen in social situations watching her get more and more energetic and when she has to spend some time alone, she always asks me how I don't get bored.
 
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