HF Boards: Stressful? Restrictions Too Tight?

[Dobber]

Let me preface anything I write (i.e. rant about) below by stating that HFBoards, in my opinion, is the biggest and probably best hockey forum out there. I don\'t pretend to hope my forum ever grows to such a size, but I do have a goal of making this forum bigger than their FANTASY section, and it is always good to strive to be friendlier and more helpful.

There, with that out of the way, I will begin.

Bugg pointed out to me a thread in the business of hockey section of HFBoards where someone asked what people think the value of DobberHockey is. That person mentioned that the same conversation went on about Eklund\'s site and he was curious about Dobber\'s.
I wrote a small note saying I was interested in hearing what people had to say.

A moderator (Lord? King?) closed the thread, stating \"we\'re not going to have this discussion about every hockey-related site\".

What His Lordship said makes a lot of sense. Two discussions about the value of two different hockey websites is far too many to have. Besides, that particular section has seven or eight different threads that are active per day - we can\'t have one more. It\'s best to put a stop to it right away.

This wasn\'t the first time I have been annoyed by a moderator there. (I probably check out the boards there every two or three months, preferring to spend most of my forum time on the DobberHockey Boards - so I can only imagine what liberties that the moderators take in the million threads that I haven\'t seen) There have been two other occasions:

1) It was about a year ago, I think someone quoted injury information and referenced and linked to my site. The moderator closed that thread and said \"not a reliable/sanctioned site/source\"

ouch

2) I posted an ad about two years ago stating that I found the people there knowledgeable and I was looking for someone to write for my website about prospects, giving my email address. It was up for five minutes before being deleted. I asked the mod why it was done and he explained that those are the rules.

I wasn\'t advertising my site and I was actually making their site more beneficial - hell, it could launch a writing career! But, rules are rules I guess.


So therein lies the problem. To make my post today, I had to \"renew\" and \"reread\" the rules of the HF Boards forum. Terms like \"Trolling\" jumped out at me. The rules were 10 miles long.
Why can\'t a few basic rules be listed - the obvious ones - and then use discretion?

My moderators and I have never deleted a thread unless it\'s a double-post or repeated info...or went WAY over the top. And I mean WAY. Arguments happen. Swearing happens. I allow it, as long as it doesn\'t get personal. Hell, I have even had several spam posts and rather than delete them we all jump in and make fun of the clown that did the spamming. It was actually quite funny.

So are mods too controlling on HF Boards? Is it censorship of sorts? Or just plain stupidity? A bit of both?


Anyway, I\'m glad for the friendly, RELAXED environment we have here. Posting on HF Boards (I have 12 posts now, versus three \'beefs\'...that\'s a four posts per beef ratio :lol: ) is just too stressful.

B)


By the way, during the five minutes that my post looking for a writer was up, I had two applicants email me. You might know one of them. His name is Matt Bugg.

[smack]

Totally agree. I don\'t go to those HF boards often or even Hockeybuzz too often but when I do I see people arguing, making fun of each other, being totally rude and attacking each other.
Here everybody tries to help one other out and give good advice. I think I\'ve seen one heated forum and that was on Sundin, and that was a walk in the park forum compared to some of the ones on Eklund or HF. And I\'ll say this, I\'ve NEVER (not that there hasn\'t been, just never seen it) seen somebody bad mouth Dobber or this site anywhere. Eklund and HF forums, don\'t get me started.

My $.02

[larryp]

Dobber - your attitude is right and works with the spirit of Web 2.0 and the new internet. HF Boards are old school - they would be Encyclopedia Britannica whereas you are Wikipedia. I imagine there are many users whose opinion of HF Boards is the same as yours. I wouldn\'t be surprised to see HF Boards fall off the map by the start of the next season. HF could better spend their time deleting duplicitous posts that just mimic afternoon sports radio talk shows rather than getting rid of messages that are expanding the online hockey community.

[Chicleteur]

Totally! I said it berfore, but I\'ve never seen an enjoyable foruam as this one. Like smack said, we\'re all here to help each other and you and the other mods are fully allowing us to say our opinions.

With this attitude, you\'ll be there for a while. No doubt about it!

[doulos]

I agree, one of the best things that these forums have over anywhere else is the community of people that generally treat each other with - wait for it - respect.

It\'s why I\'ve pretty much stopped going other places aside from the HF Oiler board for kicks.

And Dobber, as great as it is that you\'ve earned a good reputation, you can pretty much guarantee that you\'ll get bad press the more popular this place gets. It\'s inevitable. But keep right up what you\'re doing!

[orangie6465]

I find the smaller forums like DobberHockey and my preferred Habs site are much more informative and useful because the same info is there, but is much easier to find. People tend to be more courteous when they\'ve had discussions with the same posters time and time again. HF Boards has grown too massive for its own good. On a big site like Eklund or HF, you might not see the same poster twice so flame wars and trolls run rampant and then Mods need to be strict. On the Habs site I help Mod, we\'ve found that some of our best posters are refugees from big site just like HF, but also the TSN comments, and even old Sportsnet commenters that just got tired of all the childishness. The good posters leave, and all you have left are the teenagers that are just there to flame people with different opinions and other teams.

[Crazynuck]

community and respect say it all.

if someone doesnt agree with your opinion they provide facts and back up their views unlike other forums in which the person just tells you your wrong. It is an informative debate instead of a kindergarden fight.

Keep up the good work Dobber. Others are just jealous of your site.

[Dobber]

Hmmmm...you\'re scaring me orangie. Is that what I have to look forward to? D\'oh!
About how big would the forum have to be before it starts going downhill like that? I\'m at around 2400 registered now...maybe 10,000? I don\'t know what I\'ll do when idiot kids start doing stuff like that.


I just wanted to add one more point to my rant above, since I\'m posting here anyway: I hate hate HATE red tape. Whenever I run into beaurocracy it gets my blood boiling and I go to this section and rant. When I rant here it soothes me. Very therapeutic.

[repenttokyo]

people are generally polite here, which is unusual for a hockey forum. I think it\'s because we don\'t attract thousands of teenagers, as old as that makes me sound.

[Jay1982]

Dobber, it only takes 2 moronic people before the board goes downhill. Assuming the mod team isn\'t up to the challenge to put their foot down, which will also create a scenario where these 2 create endless user names and tough. And for some reason, that attracts more and more of the very same people. Like when a bee is in danger, he sends out a distress call through pheromones (I believe). Soon you have a full scale troll army compromised of 8 year olds who act tough, 30 year olds who have nothing better to do, and people who hate things just cause.

It happened to my website I owned, which I later had to close because all the good people left. When this happened I had about 30 000 unique registered users. But not enough mods to handle the load

[orangie6465]

Sorry Dobber, it would be hard to say at what point the membership becomes a mob. I think a lot of HF and other notable sites started to deteriorate when they became well known in \"mainstream\" internet and hockey circles. That\'s what seemed to attract the trolls.

At the risk of sounding preachy and know-it-all-ish... What we\'ve found is that good, attentive Mods are very effective at deterring spamming, trolling and flame wars. We have a Code of Conduct that is well written and actually pretty funny, and when we get a new poster we make sure a Mod welcomes them to the site and politely asks them to make sure they peruse the CoC. We explain that we have a great community of posters and have very good discussions about our favorite topics. We don\'t tolderte personal attacks and are not afraid of reminding people when they cross a line. It seems to work very well as we\'ve only ever banned a half a dozen people.

[lockedge]

I would say yes, which is why I refrain from posting on HFboards. I used to in small spurts but have since stopped because the moderating there is about as ridiculous as on Gamespot(videogame website that once was pretty good).

The thing is, about forums, is that a lot of them don\'t like advertising. When I was a moderator on various boards, it was the second worst thing you could really do, behind spam/offensive material. Advertising usually lures people away from boards, and has a negative effect on the online community. Of course, larger sites shouldn\'t really care about advertising as they have such large communities that it doesn\'t matter.

One of the other forums I visit mods people for double-posting, whether or not it\'s accidentally submitting the same post twice, or making two separate posts to make two separate points. There\'s also a rule about spelling and grammar, which doesn\'t sit too well with me. I mean, shortforms and netspeak are vile, but as long as the person makes full sentences and uses punctuation and mostly actual words, I don\'t usually have a problem with it.


Honestly, I\'m all for a few basic rules, and then discretion, because some mods are power-abusers. I remember one one forum I frequent, during a time where there were maybe 3 new threads a week at most, a new member arrived and posted a bunch of topics. Some of them were solid, but others were joke threads. None were truly spam, but they were off topic and very casual. They were quickly locked and the guy was given a warning. He made a post making his case to the mods, and was simply banned. Something about protecting the concept of the board. *rolleyes* It took months to get back to normal activity levels.


These forums are pretty awesome. Casual mods, informative threads, and some fun threads as well to keep a balance.

[fargy]

I have three sites that I bother with; NHL.com, TSN.com and DobberHockey. I read your comments daily. I bought your poolguide this year. I get all that I need about fantasy hockey and more. I\'m 9 points out of first in my pool and making a run. Your site is simply the best. You\'ve found a niche. Don\'t ever worry about what other Gong Shows are doing. Just continue to focus on your loyal fans such as myself and I, along with everyone else will continue to come back to Dobberhockey.

[kozzie]

I will say this. I had no clue that there was other Fantasy hockey sights. This is the only one I have ever been on.
I have alot of respect for your fantasy hockey insight and believe it or not I try to do most of the things that you say as far as players go.
I also like the fact that you participate in your own sight. It is cool to see posts or responses from yourself. It tells me your into it.
During the trade deadline day I was on here all day keeping up with your posts.
Who cares about what goes on in other forums or sights or what other guys have to say.
Just keep doing what your doing.
I drafted my prospect team last year all off your list.

[93213]

Man do I ever wish more people had your type of attitude Dobber.

Unfortunately the world is run by ******** who rule over us, and because 2% of us are studid idiots we are all treated like idiots.
Commen sense is dead. It is now being enforced as law.

Like the other day I get this email from some whiner who is complaining that the police gave her ticket for not changing lanes on the highway or slowing down while passing a cop who had someone pulled over.
Is it just me or when you see a person standing by the side of the highway you change lanes away from them out of courtesy? Is this not common sense? I guess not and so now we have rules to enforce it and liberal PC morons to complain about their rights being violated because they aren\'t allowed to put someone\'s life in jeoperdy...

Most chat moderators are the same breed.

The best thing about this site is that everyone can speak their minds. If someone gets out of line, usually other posters correct it by reasonning with them before a moderator boots them. I have never even seen a moderator need to crack don on anyone here really and to be honest I barely knew this site had moderators...
Go on Sportsnet and say something bad about the Sens and watch how fast you get booted off.

Keep up the good work Dobber!!! Keep this site real.