Thinning the herd.

I feel your pain bro. At the same time I do not support censorship whatsoever. Maybe it is just because I am in college, and therefore I feel the need to insanly liberal. But I think it is good to see all opinions on an issue, because when you see all sides, no matter how ridiculous it helps you solidify position. If someone has a crazy opinion, we are grown men and we know it is soo wrong, so we will not take that position.

I do support what the Mods are doing so far though, because it is very hard to keep the board clean and uncensored at the same time. It is easy for us to say stuff since we are not in their shoes.

Hey man, hope you stick around. Maybe you can just take a hiatus til next year and start fresh in training camp. Either way, Dallas Sucks.

Daseal, I'm sorry to see you go (even though I haven't always agreed with you.) But as someone says above, a lot of the best threads are started by vets. So lets make this a good one.

I have to agree with what Daseal is saying. In that regard, I want to throw out some ideas and see what people think. (I'm a newbie so I'm not going to try to tell people how to do things here.) In addition, I'm sure that the coaches (moderators) have far more experience and information than I do, but perhaps something might work.

(In the following a CN is a combative newbie.)

My first question goes to the moderators and is:
Are some of the CNs people who use multiple IDs on the site? If so, would it be possible to limit them to one ID? (Sort of a "soft" ban.)

Second: I have noticed that a lot of these threads are started and "pushed" by one CN. By this I mean that if they would just (kindly) turn off their computer the thread would die, because the only reason it continues is due to an escalating anger by posters, all driven by the CN. Is it possible to limit the proportion or frequency of posts made by an individual in these threads? Perhaps limits should be more stringent for the CN who initiates the thread? Another possibility is that we can have some signal (I nominate "answer 3" ;-)) to indicate that it would be better for everyone to stop responding to the "flamethrower".
Once someone is namecalling it is clear that they have made their mind up that they are better than the other(s) in the discussion. At this point rational thought on their part is minimal and it is pointless to try to have a rational debate with them.

Third: Can we overcome our anger and hold ourselves to the same behavior standards that Gibbs has for the team (and which is supposed to be respected on this board)? Don't try to win a flame war with a CN (or anybody else.) Who knows, maybe they're fans of some other team and they're just trying to mess with the board. Let's remember we're on the same side here. We will disagree as to how to improve the Redskins, but we all agree that we want them to improve. I recall reading that "arguments among friends are the devil's work." So no more "idiot", "retarded",... comments please. (And "retarted" should get one excommunicated from the board;-) As someone said, it only applies if Smoot holds "Love Boat II".)

Other ideas (alternatives to the above):
Can the mods indicate which are contentious threads of this type? And if so, can they indicate how much to read to get the meaningful content of the thread? (It may be better to open this up to the members via a poll for these threads.)

I cannot recall a single instance where even a well-thought-out idea changed the mind of someone who was "passionate" about their position. (See the old Brunell-Campbell threads.) So I think we can hope to express our arguments to explain our position, but I don't think we should expect to change someone else's mind. (Many women try to change their husbands with limited success; how can we expect to do much better on this board?) If we keep this in mind we may be able to improve the "vibe" of this board.

Can we remember that this is a game and entertainment? (Even if it does impact our mood from Sunday until ...) Does it make sense that we feel down after a game and so we go out and kick ... other Redskin fans?

Can the mods talk to mods of other fan boards (especially of losing teams) to see if they've uncovered some techniques to handle the negative situations we run into on this board?

I hope this gives some food for thought and helps spawn some ideas to mitigate the problems which are currently plaguing the board.

I'm sorry to hear that you're leaving Daseal. You were always one of the better members on the Warpath, and i wish it didn't have to be this way. Hopefully I'll see you lurking around the boards in the future.

Daseal was the original contrarian on this site. Never worrying about what the popular view point was (dig up some of his posts on Spurrier) he always offered a unique position and backed his analyses up with evidence and strong argumentation. He will be missed.

Hope you don't stay away too long.
I've always enjoyed reading your posts.

I'd like to see you stay.

If you quit, they win!

I feel the same way as Daseal about TheWarpath. It used to be a fun place to read and be a part of. Not anymore. It's a shame, really.

The worst part is that I don't think it can really be fixed. What has happened to it has happened and there's no turning back.

Daseal and I discussed this a few days ago, realizing that we each had come to this conclusion on our own. At the time, I mentioned the irony in the logo not containing the slogan "Redskins Discussion For The Knowledgeable Fan" anymore. Kinda sums it up for me.

I'm a long-time lurker but rarely post. That doesn't mean that I don't read this site everyday and haven't enjoyed the opinions and open discussion.

I really sympathize with Daseal and others who've made the same comment - when I first came here there was a real feeling that even though folks might disagree, everyone tolerated the opinions of others and everyone loved the 'Skins for better or worse. Most folks also seemed to be well-informed and knowledgeable, which made their opinions both interesting and worthwhile. Recently, however, it seems as if I'm seeing a lot more foul-mouthed diatribes and random venting than reasoned opinions.

If Matty wants to institute a paid members-only section of the site to bring back the old days of good, knowledgeable discussion and friendly argument, I'd pay just to be able to lurk and read.