Mass Dispatch 23.0. Strike Three, Term-Limits? and Changes

Post #1 » by **Howard Mass** » Sun Dec 7, 2014 12:26 am

Mass Dispatch 23.0

In this week's edition of Mass Dispatch...........

The Mass Matter Focuses on what happens when you get a Third Strike on our General NBA Board. We also have Week 13 of “Beat The Commish” along with an update on thing.

In Ask Howard, A User asks about possibly instituting Moderator term limits

We then have our Mass Dispatch User, Thread and Moderator of The Week

“Inside The Administrator's Office” hints at some changes on the way.

Let's get right to The Mass Matter.........................

The Mass Matter: Strike Three and “Beat The Commish” Week 13

"Strike Three"

As the Administrator of The RealGM Forums, I get a lot of PM's. Some are general questions, complaints, compliments but most relate to our General NBA Board Policy as I have mentioned on numerous occasions.

One thing The General NBA Board Moderators Appeals Committee and myself hate to see happen when a User successfully appeals their Read-Only Access Status is a User come and after a few weeks.........

Pick up a Third Strike.

Not only is the User not allowed to post on The Forum again but they cannot even read it if unless they log out.

What is most frustrating of all is The User may not appeal again for at least 6 months.

Recently, this has happened to two users and it is never a fun thing to get those PM's from those Users who are very upset about receiving their third strike.

This is a big reason why The Committee is so careful in deciding which appeals to approve.

Let me make this very clear.

THEY DO NOT WANT ANY USERS PICKING UP A THIRD STRIKE.

When a User wins reinstatement via The Committee's vote, I always ask them to re-read the policy and confirm that they understand it.

Many Users who successfully appeal do not pick up another strike but unfortunately a lot of others do and quite quickly after winning reinstatement.

As I have said many times, I do not like having to have this policy but unfortunately, things will get out of hand without it.

Please know and understand the policy.

viewtopic.php?f=6&t=1201431

On a more warming note, next week I will have details on The Winter Strike Amnesty Period and plan to have a Q and A with all of you to discuss the policy before the end of the year.

“Beat The Commish” Week 13

Before I get started, I wanted to thank everyone for their understanding last week about this space pretty much being blank.

I'll be updating Mass Dispatch 22.0 with the Week 12 Results later on.

This week, I went 10-6 and while I did get beat by some Users and Moderators, I did have a higher winning percentage than both groups with .625

Here are all of The Users and Moderators who beat me this past week led by studcrackers of The Moderators with a 12-4 Mark.

Users

TheKingofSting: 11-5
WVU: 11-5
NyCeEvO: 10-6

Moderators

studcrackers: 12-4
kdawg32086: 11-5
dream34: 10-6
John Black: 10-6

NyceEvo, John Black and my fellow Administrator all beat me on the tiebreaker.

In the battle between The Users and Moderators, The Moderators ended their losing streak with a .614 to .576 and now have a 7-6 lead in the season series.

The stretch run is coming for everyone and it is going to be an exciting sprint to the finish.

Please make your Week 14 picks if you have not already done so.

viewtopic.php?f=437&t=1358158

Ask Howard

Have a question about RealGM? The Forums? An Issue you would like me to address publicly or something in general? Just post it in the Ask Howard Thread of The Mass Dispatch Forum or you could send me a PM and I just might answer it in my next column.

A User Who I am Choosing To Make Anonymous Asks: Have you considered term limits for Moderators?

Howard's Response: I have never considered this at all.

Not everyone can be a Moderator. It takes a someone who is a leader, active and can follow and enforce our rul

If I had term-limits, I would hurt the forums by removing very quality people from Moderator posts and that would hurt the forums.

It's also very possible that I would run out of Moderators options as while some forums have deep benches of Users, others do not.

Term-Limits are not in the cards although if you do want to become a Moderator one day, just be active and conduct yourself well and you will put yourself in a position to become a Moderator Candidate should a vacancy arise a Forum that you post on.

Mass Dispatch User, Thread and Moderator of The Week

It is time for our Weekly Awards. If you would like to nominate a User, Thread or Moderator for an Award, just make a post on The Mass Dispatch Forum or send me a PM.

Mass Dispatch User of The Week

Cliff Levingston

For many years, Cliff Levingston has been one of our best Users on our Chicago Bulls Forum.

He is consistently a valuable contributor to our Chicago Bulls Forum and love reading his posts.

On top of that, Cliff has always been very friendly in our PM exchanges.

It is great to have him as a User here on RealGM.

Congratulations to our Mass Dispatch User of The Week Cliff Levingston!

Mass Dispatch Thread of The Week

Our Milwaukee Bucks Forum's Big 3 needed? Who is the target? Draft, FA or trade?

viewtopic.php?f=21&t=1358919

This is a great sign.

For many years, our Milwaukee Bucks Forum has been down about the direction of their team especially with some controversial personal moves that were made.

As mentioned in a past edition, they still have a Tobias Harris tracking thread they rant about.

And now, they are talking about having a “Big 3” and who they can pair with young forwards Giannis Antetokounmpo and Jabari Parker.

It is so refreshing to see the forum in a more upbeat tone and I really enjoyed reading through the debate in their thread.

Congratulations to our Milwaukee Bucks Forum for not only winning thread of the week but for feeling good about the positive direction their favorite team is taking.

Mass Dispatch Moderator of The Week

Undefeated

A big assist to User Master Ze for pointing this out to me.

Undefeated who is one of our many Toronto Raptors Moderators, wrote up this wonderful post about The Raptors' defense.

It takes a lot of time to write something like this up while helping moderate one of our biggest forums.

I felt it was time to recognize a Moderator for a great post and happy to do it here. Ad yes, he also is a wonderful Moderator too.

Congratulations to our Mass Dispatch Moderator of The Week Undefeated!

Inside The Administrator's Office

I have had a lot of things to do and that is why Mass Dispatch is debuting on a Saturday this week although I hope to have it back on it's normal Wednesday date soon.

Many tell me how fun it is must to work at RealGM and it definitely is. However, it never does end especially since on even the holidays like Christmas and Christmas Eve, work is needed to be done.

I am very hopeful about having editions out on Wednesdays from here on out.

On another note, I always love to give out inside information about The Happening here at RealGM.

Unfortunately, something is brewing that is so secretive that I cannot give any details.......

All I can say is to keep checking RealGM in the coming weeks..

Contact Mass Dispatch

If anyone has a question, feedback, feel a user, thread or Moderator should be recognized or something they would like to see in Mass Dispatch, please post it on The Mass Dispatch Forum or send me a PM. You could even send me a note on Twitter @homassrealgm

Post #2 » by **Texas Chuck** » Sun Dec 7, 2014 12:43 am

Chuck Texas thinks Cliff Livingston is a great poster. Chuck Texas salutes this selection. Chuck Texas wishes Cliff Livingston stopped by the Trade Board more often.

NBA Fan 1234 · Post #3 » by **NBA Fan 1234** » Sun Dec 7, 2014 1:58 am

Chuck Texas wrote:Chuck Texas thinks Cliff Livingston is a great poster. Chuck Texas salutes this selection. Chuck Texas wishes Cliff Livingston stopped by the Trade Board more often.

Well done.

Knickstape1214 also thinks Cliff Levingston is a great poster. Knickstape1214 says Cliff Levingston is more than welcome on our board to talk basketball whenever Cliff Levingston wants to.

HornetJail · Post #4 » by **HornetJail** » Sun Dec 7, 2014 3:04 am

BizGilwalker enjoys seeing Chuck Texas and Knickstape1214 do a Cliff Levingston impression.

Post #5 » by **tsherkin** » Sun Dec 7, 2014 5:38 am

Cliff and Undefeated, both excellent and deserving selections.

Congrats!

Post #6 » by **bondom34** » Sun Dec 7, 2014 6:10 am

Well deserved Cliff and Undefeated, 2 great posters!

Post #7 » by **Mr. E** » Mon Dec 8, 2014 4:02 am

Cliff Livingston has long been one of my favorite posters on this site. Well done, dude!

Post #8 » by **Slava** » Tue Dec 9, 2014 8:46 pm

The mods should unionize and discuss pensions soon.

Revived · Post #9 » by **Revived** » Wed Dec 10, 2014 9:08 am

While I get that the GD forum used to be bad, I really think you guys are way too strict on it now.

This is a basketball forum...for fun....time to ease down on all these 2 strike, 3 strike, 4 strike stuff. Is it really worth it to drive posters away to other forums?

Its time to just relax and bring the GD rules the way it used to be back in 2011 and 2012.

Post #10 » by **Slava** » Wed Dec 10, 2014 4:45 pm

SF88 wrote:While I get that the GD forum used to be bad, I really think you guys are way too strict on it now.

This is a basketball forum...for fun....time to ease down on all these 2 strike, 3 strike, 4 strike stuff. Is it really worth it to drive posters away to other forums?

Its time to just relax and bring the GD rules the way it used to be back in 2011 and 2012.

The fact that you are still interested in posting there suggests that they are doing a great job of running that board. If there was a better or equally good alternative, Howard likely won't be getting flooded with requests to repeal bans every day and part of the reason why that board is the premier attraction is down to how well the zero tolerance policy works.

Post #11 » by **tsherkin** » Wed Dec 10, 2014 5:01 pm

Slava wrote:
SF88 wrote:While I get that the GD forum used to be bad, I really think you guys are way too strict on it now.

This is a basketball forum...for fun....time to ease down on all these 2 strike, 3 strike, 4 strike stuff. Is it really worth it to drive posters away to other forums?

Its time to just relax and bring the GD rules the way it used to be back in 2011 and 2012.

The fact that you are still interested in posting there suggests that they are doing a great job of running that board. If there was a better or equally good alternative, Howard likely won't be getting flooded with requests to repeal bans every day and part of the reason why that board is the premier attraction is down to how well the zero tolerance policy works.

Also take this comment with a grain of salt, as it originates from a poster with 6 different warnings, a 3-day and ROA on the GB, some of which have included personal attacks, trolling, etc.

The GB policy was implemented two years ago and we still have posters who treat the board as if it were their buddy's basement instead of recognizing the community nature of the forums and the widely differing audience bases that come to share in the experience. The policy remains appropriate; it's unfortunate when posters are knocked off, but that's precisely why Howard runs amnesty periods and has a specific process for appeals.

Post #12 » by **Mr. E** » Wed Dec 10, 2014 7:43 pm

Slava wrote:The mods should unionize and discuss pensions soon.

At least we got a raise.

Post #13 » by **Slava** » Wed Dec 10, 2014 7:53 pm

Mr. E wrote:
Slava wrote:The mods should unionize and discuss pensions soon.

At least we got a raise.

Looking forward to the holiday bonus too. The BMW doesn't pay for itself.

Post #14 » by **tsherkin** » Wed Dec 10, 2014 8:29 pm

Slava wrote:
Mr. E wrote:
Slava wrote:The mods should unionize and discuss pensions soon.

At least we got a raise.

Looking forward to the holiday bonus too. The BMW doesn't pay for itself.

My mortgage was pleased.

Post #15 » by **Texas Chuck** » Wed Dec 10, 2014 9:05 pm

Slava wrote:
Mr. E wrote:
Slava wrote:The mods should unionize and discuss pensions soon.

At least we got a raise.

Looking forward to the holiday bonus too. The BMW doesn't pay for itself.

I'm still waiting on my t-shirt

Sofia · Post #16 » by **Sofia** » Thu Dec 11, 2014 12:31 am

Slava wrote:
SF88 wrote:While I get that the GD forum used to be bad, I really think you guys are way too strict on it now.

This is a basketball forum...for fun....time to ease down on all these 2 strike, 3 strike, 4 strike stuff. Is it really worth it to drive posters away to other forums?

Its time to just relax and bring the GD rules the way it used to be back in 2011 and 2012.

The fact that you are still interested in posting there suggests that they are doing a great job of running that board. If there was a better or equally good alternative, Howard likely won't be getting flooded with requests to repeal bans every day and part of the reason why that board is the premier attraction is down to how well the zero tolerance policy works.

I know I'm bring black font to a mod party here, but the General Board was the premier attraction for many posters well before the zero tolerance policy was even thought of.

Although I personally don't think the board was ever as out of control as it was made out to be it (it was never near the level of ESPN, Yahoo or IH) the policy was brought in to clean the board up. The policy has done its job since it was implemented and for the most part has changed the general behavior on the GB. There's still the odd troll account or bait posts that get through the cracks, but that should be expected on an anonymous online forum, especially one of this size and nature.

I know there's quite a few quality posters who only post in various teams forums and avoid the GB since the policy was introduced. I'm not saying do away with it together, but I don't think at least holding discussion of a relaxation of enforcement should be completely dismissed either...

Post #17 » by **tsherkin** » Thu Dec 11, 2014 1:16 am

The discussion has been happening since announcement of the policy, Sofia. There's nothing wrong with speaking your mind on the topic , but I should point out that the GB remains a significant area for posters who flatly do not accept that they cannot act like idiots without consequence. Most ofthe ones who run into trouble do so because they fall into one of two camps:

1) Didn't read the policy

Or

2) Recidivist offenders who have been bad for a while

Relaxing the policy would only make things worse, and in general, things have been better since then. The diversity of the GB audience is its strength, and it behooves posters to remember the wide gaps in age, culture and so forth when they decide to act like drunken teenagers.

magic22s · Post #18 » by **magic22s** » Thu Dec 11, 2014 1:37 am

Congratulations Cliff and Undefeated.

musiqsoulchild · Post #19 » by **musiqsoulchild** » Thu Dec 11, 2014 5:02 am

ICLO, he rocks.

Revived · Post #20 » by **Revived** » Mon Dec 15, 2014 11:03 am

Slava wrote:
The fact that you are still interested in posting there suggests that they are doing a great job of running that board. If there was a better or equally good alternative, Howard likely won't be getting flooded with requests to repeal bans every day and part of the reason why that board is the premier attraction is down to how well the zero tolerance policy works.

Well I certainly don't want to speak for everyone but for me, there certainly are good alternates to the GD of RealGM out there. For me personally, the main attraction of posting in the GD is because I'm already on this forum for its team forum so its easy to go 2 clicks away to the GD page. Please don't think the Real GM GD is the only place to talk about basketball with fans from all teams in an appropriate environment.

And the traffic in the GD has definitely lowered since these rules. Sure that's due to less trolls but GD has lost many of its best posters as well. The same posters as to why I even found the GD interesting when I first joined this forum.

I remember last season, there were multiple days when GD threads weren't even created because nobody was posting on the GD.

tsherkin wrote:
Also take this comment with a grain of salt, as it originates from a poster with 6 different warnings, a 3-day and ROA on the GB, some of which have included personal attacks, trolling, etc.

The GB policy was implemented two years ago and we still have posters who treat the board as if it were their buddy's basement instead of recognizing the community nature of the forums and the widely differing audience bases that come to share in the experience. The policy remains appropriate; it's unfortunate when posters are knocked off, but that's precisely why Howard runs amnesty periods and has a specific process for appeals.

Nice of you to throw out my history for everyone to see. Thanks. FYI for everyone else, I posted my thoughts on how strict the GD rules are well before I was given any warning or ban or whatever:

viewtopic.php?p=37932877#p37932877

And secondly, there's still plenty of people who post the same stuff that others got punished for by the mods. There's still people posting off topic or funny or insulting stuff just for 'and-1s" and yet mods encourage that type of behavior from them.

Like the poster below me said, the GD is seen as a joke by many posters in various team forums. I literally only go there mainly for news, so as to see if there was a big dunk that I missed or if some player said something news worthy. Its hard to have discussion in the GD due to the favoritism and unfair and strict rules and policies in place.

Sofia wrote:I know I'm bring black font to a mod party here, but the General Board was the premier attraction for many posters well before the zero tolerance policy was even thought of.

Although I personally don't think the board was ever as out of control as it was made out to be it (it was never near the level of ESPN, Yahoo or IH) the policy was brought in to clean the board up. The policy has done its job since it was implemented and for the most part has changed the general behavior on the GB. There's still the odd troll account or bait posts that get through the cracks, but that should be expected on an anonymous online forum, especially one of this size and nature.

I know there's quite a few quality posters who only post in various teams forums and avoid the GB since the policy was introduced. I'm not saying do away with it together, but I don't think at least holding discussion of a relaxation of enforcement should be completely dismissed either...

^this.