maotai
Hater by Choice
- Joined
- Aug 26, 2006
- Messages
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After some Cal fans asked why the forums were not available during the 3rd quarter:
We are intenally debating the merits of shutting down these boards for a few hours after a loss - for a kind of cooling off period.
In the few hours after a disappointing loss, some quite incredible and offensive stuff gets posted here. Not always, of course, but frequently enough that howls of protest reach us from fans who find the material - and this public place - to be utterly distasteful.
The untested theory is that if given a chance to cool off, many of the readers who would initially be ugly, nasty, attacking team members, coaches, and each other - will think better of it themselves and resist those base temptations given the light of day.
What is fundamentally at issue here is our mission. It is NOT to provide a place for unfettered or unregulated free speech. It is instead to provide a place where Cal fans of all ages can assemble to enjoy their mutual support of Cal athletics. We want this site to be of interest to grandmothers and grandsons - and the parents, sisters, and brothers of Cal athletes. (Some of whom can be incredibly hurt by some of the material posted here.)
It is also a fact that this site is a commercial enterprise, free to make its own rules and policies as regards public participation. We have gone to great lengths in the past to avoid being arbitrary about that (some say excessively so) - (we have always tried to ask for public discourse and inputs on these issues) - but the fact remains that we have the ultimate responsibility to set the polices that we believe best suit our mission.
Unfortunately, there is no given wisdom on just how best to do that, so we will continue to discuss, debate, and experiment - and always to solicit reader's input on the issues.
Finally - re the events today - there was a bracket of several hours today during which we were unable to communicate internally with each other - and a few of us felt that action needed to be taken in the wake of the Tennessee game. I undid the action when I became aware of it - primarily because of my conviction that a policy like a "cooling off period" needs to be publicly announced and explained before such actions are taken.
We will also need to develop a technical means by which random visitors can be advised about why operations were suspended - and when they will be resumed. It doesn't work to simply have the boards be offline with no explanation - there are too many thousands of visitors for that to work.
I regret the sudden and unannounced interruption today even though I understand the possible merits of it. We will discuss these ideas more thoroughly, internally, then make public whatever conclusions we arrive at.
Comments are - as always - welcome.
Chris Avery
Publisher
The Bear Insider
We are intenally debating the merits of shutting down these boards for a few hours after a loss - for a kind of cooling off period.
In the few hours after a disappointing loss, some quite incredible and offensive stuff gets posted here. Not always, of course, but frequently enough that howls of protest reach us from fans who find the material - and this public place - to be utterly distasteful.
The untested theory is that if given a chance to cool off, many of the readers who would initially be ugly, nasty, attacking team members, coaches, and each other - will think better of it themselves and resist those base temptations given the light of day.
What is fundamentally at issue here is our mission. It is NOT to provide a place for unfettered or unregulated free speech. It is instead to provide a place where Cal fans of all ages can assemble to enjoy their mutual support of Cal athletics. We want this site to be of interest to grandmothers and grandsons - and the parents, sisters, and brothers of Cal athletes. (Some of whom can be incredibly hurt by some of the material posted here.)
It is also a fact that this site is a commercial enterprise, free to make its own rules and policies as regards public participation. We have gone to great lengths in the past to avoid being arbitrary about that (some say excessively so) - (we have always tried to ask for public discourse and inputs on these issues) - but the fact remains that we have the ultimate responsibility to set the polices that we believe best suit our mission.
Unfortunately, there is no given wisdom on just how best to do that, so we will continue to discuss, debate, and experiment - and always to solicit reader's input on the issues.
Finally - re the events today - there was a bracket of several hours today during which we were unable to communicate internally with each other - and a few of us felt that action needed to be taken in the wake of the Tennessee game. I undid the action when I became aware of it - primarily because of my conviction that a policy like a "cooling off period" needs to be publicly announced and explained before such actions are taken.
We will also need to develop a technical means by which random visitors can be advised about why operations were suspended - and when they will be resumed. It doesn't work to simply have the boards be offline with no explanation - there are too many thousands of visitors for that to work.
I regret the sudden and unannounced interruption today even though I understand the possible merits of it. We will discuss these ideas more thoroughly, internally, then make public whatever conclusions we arrive at.
Comments are - as always - welcome.
Chris Avery
Publisher
The Bear Insider
