Reinstate Brew City Unit

[GormanHarvey]

In honor of today's official start to the exhibition season, I thought I would start a thread proposing the notion of allowing Brew City Unit to return from self-imposed exile from bfnet. For those that may have forgotten, BCU made a prediction towards the end of the regular season last year that did not quite come true and when the prediction was made another poster told BCU to "put his money where his mouth is" so-to-speak. BCU said if what he was predicting did not come to fruition he would ban himself from this site, which he has. Now, the prediction was that the Brewers would win out the rest of the regular season (or something of the sort,I can't recall exactly how many games remained - 7 or 8 I believe) and make it to the postseason, which at that time is what it appeared it would take for them to do so. Although they did not do exactly what he predicted, they did get on a roll and make it into the playoffs, as we are all aware. It is my belief that ultimately BCU was just hoping and predicting what he had all been praying for and he actually had the gall to make a statement and and live-up to the ultimatum he put to himself at the behest of a fellow bfnetter. Another bfnetter kindly offered up an autographed Weeks jersey to BCU should the Brewers make the postseason, but BCU would not accept it because all he was trying to do was instill some hope in bfnet at a time when many of us had given up our playoff dreams. I feel that being away from a site and fellow posters that he loves and appreciates from October '08 until now has been punishment enough. What say you bfnet??

[kramnoj]

I think he should be welcomed back, especially since the enforcement of his leaving was heavy-handed. A moderator here posted that he would quit the board if Gallardo came back to pitch last season, and his statement wasn't enforced. I can understand a desire to not have posters make empty threats, but if one is enforced, I only think it is fair that all are equally treated.

[berniebrewer4life]

Heck, i'd love to see him back. That thread gave some hope to us when times were bad.

[pitchleague]

for the record, I did quit the board. I don't believe I stated how long I would quit the board but there was a good stretch in which I did not visit nor post.

 

I'm fine with the guy coming back, but I wasn't the mod that held him to his promise. I don't even think we are preventing him from posting/visiting but I'd have to check. I think it may be his choice.

[JoeHova]

I never heard about this incident (I didn't read all the panic threads and stuff) but I vote for him coming back. Being gone for 5 months is pretty long, I think his sentence could be commuted.

 

Also, why would a promise like that be enforced by a moderator? That seems mean, imo. It's like forcing someone to eat a hat if they say "if Geoff Jenkins makes contact with a curveball at his ankles, I'll eat my hat."

[GormanHarvey]

I actually don't think it was enforced by anyone but himself, but I am not entirely sure. I basically started the thread to show him that it was ok to come back because he wanted to live up to his word, but I know he misses contributing and sharing at this sight a lot. I think the point has been made and well taken from all angles

[kramnoj]

Here is the thread: http://brewersfandemonium...u.com?topic=15684?page=1

 

The Fan Forum Director wrote "Just warning you, I'm taking you up on this. " It almost doesn't matter if his posting privileges have been taken away or not. He was clearly told he wouldn't be welcomed back.

 

If he isn't suspended, I think an email from an admin telling him he is welcome would be appropriate. If he chooses to stay away based on his reputation, good for him, but he should be given the option to return.

[Invader3K]

Now that the off-season is almost over, I would think his "punishment" has gone on long enough.

 

Speaking of bannings, would it be inappropriate to have a thread in this part of the forum posting when and why bannings occur? Might serve as a good notice to others about what behavior is or isn't acceptable.

[And That]

Acceptable/unacceptable behavior is addressed in detail in the Rules of Conduct, Three Strikes and You're Out, Keep Brewerfan Beautiful, Quoting Messages and the In-Game Thread Rules. The information in those threads is 99.9% comprehensive in the reasoning for issuing strikes and bans. That being the case, it's our opinion that it is not productive to spell out the grizzly details of each or any individual strike or ban.

 

As for BCU, it's not my call, but I think if you make a plausible promise (eating a hat is clearly hyperbole), you should expect to be held to that promise. In life, and especially on a message board, you're only as good as your word.

[Brian the Automator]

It's up to the mod that banned him.

[GormanHarvey]

As for BCU, it's not my call, but I think if you make a plausible promise (eating a hat is clearly hyperbole), you should expect to be held to that promise. In life, and especially on a message board, you're only as good as your word.

 

He has lived up to his word. To me his point was that the Brewers would still make the playoffs, which at that point very few of us actually believed would happen. That was the real meaning in what he was doing and he was also trying to breath some life back into the fans on this site. So, in a sense what he was predicting came true - just not the 8-0 part or whatever it was.

 

I guess it just comes down to how much of a stickler the mod or site wants to be on this. He didn't break any rules as far as I know and even turned down an autographed jersey offered up from another poster when they did indeed make the postseason because he said that was all he wanted and cared about. He has stayed away for 5 months and did not come up with a new handle like many people predicted he would. Personally, I miss having him post on here and the inside iformation that he provided indirectly through various avenues.

[giffted1]

I surely hope he hasn't been formally banned by the moderator involved. If accountability for predictions became the standard here, there wouldn't be many people left. I'd imagine most people here have made some prediction that didn't come true..heck, we've got a bunch of these predictions archived.

 

And if this is just a self imposed ban by BCU, I think a five month exile is enough. Come back home, BCU.

[razzzorsharp]

If it wasn't an IP ban, I am sure he just made a new username anyway.

[GormanHarvey]

If it wasn't an IP ban, I am sure he just made a new username anyway.

I assure you he didn't

[Brian the Automator]

I surely hope he hasn't been formally banned by the moderator involved. If accountability for predictions became the standard here, there wouldn't be many people left. I'd imagine most people here have made some prediction that didn't come true..heck, we've got a bunch of these predictions archived.

It's not just that he made a prediction that didn't come true... When you go out and say that "if the brewers do or don't do X, i'll do Y", we're going to hold people accountable for that, otherwise it gets annoying.

 

With that said, in the moderator's absence who took him at his word, I've gone ahead and restored posting privileges.

[1992casey]

Just to note a technicality, this member wasn't actually banned. Banned profiles can't access the board, even to read. In this case, access privileges had been moved to read-only, meaning that one can still see the board and take advantage of its features while logged in.

[GormanHarvey]

You guys did the right thing IMHO

[giffted1]

It's not just that he made a prediction that didn't come true... When you go out and say that "if the brewers do or don't do X, i'll do Y", we're going to hold people accountable for that, otherwise it gets annoying.

I agree that frequent posts of that nature would get annoying but don't think it's been a problem here and don't think it's fair to go to the extent of removing posting privileges when there is nothing regarding those types of posts in the rules of conduct. If BCU had returned in, say a week, the ridicule he would have received from fellow members would have been punishment enough, IMO.

With that said, in the moderator's absence who took him at his word, I've gone ahead and restored posting privileges.

Cool, I think you made the right move. The moderation of the site addressing the concerns of it's members is one of the things that makes this place special.

[Brian the Automator]

I agree that frequent posts of that nature would get annoying but don't think it's been a problem here and don't think it's fair to go to the extent of removing posting privileges when there is nothing regarding those types of posts in the rules of conduct. If BCU had returned in, say a week, the ridicule he would have received from fellow members would have been punishment enough, IMO.

It's fair to say that the moderation team had a problem with this poster before this came up for other reasons. If this were a one-time thing for another poster, it probably would have been a different situation.

[DougJones43]

It looks as though BCU has recently returned from self-imposed exile. Surprised I'm the first to notice.

 

Anyhow, welcome back to BCU.