WarMachine
Volunteering in Indiana
- Joined
- Jan 16, 2014
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The VolNation Recruiting forum is an attempt to identify, organize, analyze, and discuss potential (as well as current/past) players for the Tennessee Volunteers. This aim of this post is to help someone new or unfamiliar with this forum to understand the culture in this little corner of VolNation.
Organization
Typically, there are a few threads stickied to the top of the list, and followed by player threads. Here's a general description:
Occasionally another thread or type will be considered valuable to be stickied, but generally all discussion in the recruiting forum takes place in the threads above. This allows visitors to quickly locate a player's thread.
One late addition to the thread list worth mentioning is the normal appearance of a discussion centered around the number of recruits that will be included in the class. This discussion usually reaches its peak mid- to late-January. Attrition, transfers in and out, walk-ons, early enrollees, and many other related ideas are discussed. This sometimes results in the creation or revival of a "Numbers Thread" where somewhat notorious poster(s) like "LebVol" and "CrunchingTheVolz" argues incessantly with all-comers.
Culture
We have our optimists, pessimists, realists, downers, whiners, "insiders," informers, and generally annoying posters, just like every other forum. It has been speculated that, typically, the recruiting forum is more positive than the Football Forum; this may or may not be true, but the recruiting forum is usually focused a little more in general on potential new players and less on general complaints about the current program. Many do find the Recruiting Forum to be marginally more respectful/cordial.
Vocabulary
The Recruiting Forum has developed its own terminology over time. I will try to document some of the vocabulary, and if this post is helpful for anyone, we can add to it.
Proper Formatting for Player Threads
Creating a player thread is easy! Anyone can do it! But we, here at OCD-are-us (Recruiting Forum), would love to see you create a new player thread in a consistent pattern. So, no offense to the posters who have been creating new threads for years, here is an acceptable template:
Title:
Message:
Common RF Skills
Tweets, Youtube videos, photos, and attachments are common in the recruiting forum. Not everyone needs to know how to post these, but a quick reference could be helpful. In each of the examples below, remove the space before the final ]
Organization
Typically, there are a few threads stickied to the top of the list, and followed by player threads. Here's a general description:
- Recruiting Tweets - One is for tweets from media, recruits, players, coaches, staff of programs, etc., without discussion. This thread is intended to be informative.
- General News - Another informative thread type that has taken different forms. Most recently the "*****New offers under the Pruitt administration" thread fills this role. Previous threads like this one were used for general announcements like commits, hirings, firings, program announcements, etc.
- Weekend/Class Lists - Often an attempt to collect a list of names that are either visiting or targeted recruits for a certain class or classes. These type of lists typically welcome discussion in order to compile and organize a list in the original post.
- Recruiting Forum Football Talk - This is the primary place for general football and recruiting discussion. This is essentially the catch-all for anything football-related.
- Recruiting Forum Off-topic - This thread may or may not be present, but typically more active during the off-season or slow times. This is the catch-all for anything non-football-related.
- Recruit specific threads - Each player being recruited has a thread created that lists their class, where they are from, position, name, details like height/weight, 40-time, and links to player's profiles on 247sports, Rivals, Hudl (videos), ESPN, etc. Player specific updates, news, and discussion is expected to happen in the player's thread.
Occasionally another thread or type will be considered valuable to be stickied, but generally all discussion in the recruiting forum takes place in the threads above. This allows visitors to quickly locate a player's thread.
One late addition to the thread list worth mentioning is the normal appearance of a discussion centered around the number of recruits that will be included in the class. This discussion usually reaches its peak mid- to late-January. Attrition, transfers in and out, walk-ons, early enrollees, and many other related ideas are discussed. This sometimes results in the creation or revival of a "Numbers Thread" where somewhat notorious poster(s) like "LebVol" and "CrunchingTheVolz" argues incessantly with all-comers.
Culture
We have our optimists, pessimists, realists, downers, whiners, "insiders," informers, and generally annoying posters, just like every other forum. It has been speculated that, typically, the recruiting forum is more positive than the Football Forum; this may or may not be true, but the recruiting forum is usually focused a little more in general on potential new players and less on general complaints about the current program. Many do find the Recruiting Forum to be marginally more respectful/cordial.
Vocabulary
The Recruiting Forum has developed its own terminology over time. I will try to document some of the vocabulary, and if this post is helpful for anyone, we can add to it.
- Moran - affectionate, purposeful mispelling of moron
- Blue font - sarcasm; someone proposed typing all sarcasm in blue for the sarcastically challenged
- Blue shirt - a player who was not officially recruited may walk-on and be offered a scholarship at the beginning of practice (true in the past, not sure after the latest recruiting rules)
- Gray shirt - a player delays signing for a semester before becoming a full-time student and joining the team on scholarship (this is player is counted against the next class)
- Git shirt - a committed player asked to look elsewhere
- TOS - "the other site" - usually news from Rivals/VolQuest/etc. or a forum post not found on VolNation
- Rednecks - affectionate term used for other posters, usually like, "Later rednecks!"
- CB - familiar to most as Corner Back, can also be used in the recruiting forum to mean "Crystal Ball" for predictions where a recruit is expected to commit
- 'ship/natty - unwelcome (by many) abbreviation of championship/national championship
- "scholly" - similar to 'ship/natty, unwelcome (by many) abbreviation of scholarship
- Dr. Pepper - considered by some [one] to be an acceptable alternative to coffee
- Peanut butter - almost always refers to the magic nutritionist concoction that helps players like Emanuel Mosely transform from a 140lb-twig into an SEC, high-octane football player
- dog farts/barbecue (best in Memphis?)/best beer/etc. - reference to past, boring, off-season topics of the day/week/month
- Sab - wrote a creepy letter to Jesse Scroggins... what not to do
- "Thanks buddy!" - used in every post by one poster who just tried too hard
- 'Croot, 'cruit, 'kroot, etc. - short-hand for recruit, usually intended for levity
- Volatil'd - photo posted sideways, for whatever reason
- Swanson'd - when someone posts the same info before you did, you were Swanson'd - it is a tribute to a poster who brings us lots of info
- pre madonna/pocket presents/valid victorian/etc. - known misspellings used intentionally
- Killing the Cobra - one well-liked poster subjecting himself to many dangers in southern Asia failed to execute a cobra living in the foundation of his house - this was linked to our snake-bit seasons of '15-'16
- "Check my stats" - famously stated by an "insider" who arguably was never wrong
- Greg Miclisse'd - player that famously lied about offers he hadn't received, used to describe someone who repeats his offense
- "Thanks Jimmy" - usually indicates something you posted has already been posted a while ago, refers to the typically slow professionalism of Jimmy Hyams
- "Double Gauldens" - reference to Rashaan Gaulden flipping "double birds" at the Alabama crowd after a defensive touchdown
Proper Formatting for Player Threads
Creating a player thread is easy! Anyone can do it! But we, here at OCD-are-us (Recruiting Forum), would love to see you create a new player thread in a consistent pattern. So, no offense to the posters who have been creating new threads for years, here is an acceptable template:
Title:
Message:
6'3" | 190 LBS | PRO
HART
NEWHALL, CA
CLASS OF 2018
Rivals.com
JT Shrout, William S. Hart Senior, Pro-Style Quarterback
JT Shrout - Hudl
Tennessee offered today.
Common RF Skills
Tweets, Youtube videos, photos, and attachments are common in the recruiting forum. Not everyone needs to know how to post these, but a quick reference could be helpful. In each of the examples below, remove the space before the final ]
- Tweet - [twitter]http://link.to.tweet[/twitter ]
- Youtube - [youtube]http://link.to.video[/youtube ]
- Photo - http://link.to.photo[/IMG ]
[*][U]Attachment[/U] - Sometimes a photo isn't already on the internet, so you can't link directly to it. This is common for sharing screenshots from a phone, etc. To attach a file, you must click the "Go Advanced" button, click the icon that looks like a paper clip in the tool bar, choose a file, then choose upload. You can close the attachment window and complete your post. You must type at least one character in a message with an attachment.
[/LIST]
Please help me help the new people; how can I add more to this guide?
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