A bjamesw22 post mortem

[Brian the Automator]

The senior staff discussed this for a while, and we've decided to ban bjamesw22 from the site. I'd like to use this opportunity to discuss what went wrong, and I don't want this to turn into another opportunity to "pile on" that particular user.

 

To post on a message board, you need a particularily thick skin. If someone says something mildly irritating, the best way to handle it is to _ignore_ it.

 

Now obviously, flat-out name calling, cussing, and those type of comments are banned by the Message Board FAQ rules, and whenever we see these things we try to tackle them head-on either by a private inbox message, a public reply, or deleting the post.

 

There are however grey areas where users can come across as condescending or rude. In many cases, the user may just be having a bad day, and by all means, try to take the high road. There are also users who are consistently condescending, and for the most part, the message board has been self-regulating, and these users get "shamed" or ignored. That's really how Brewerfan.net's message boards have been successful up to this point.

 

It's when users become really nothing more than a distraction or a side-show, or as some would say, "attention whores", that we sometimes find it necessary to remove them. This a site to talk about Brewers baseball in a respectful manner, and I think the vast majority of users here are in complete agreement with that. I believe that this is the first person we've had to remove in the past couple of years to fall under this category.

 

The key here, is to realize that everyone's opinion is valid. Part of my mission for Brewerfan.net is to pull in fans who have a light to moderate interest in the Brewers, and turn them into die-hard fans. Arrogance and hypersensitivity is a distraction to that process, and results in people getting caught up in "message board politics" instead of having a good time discussing Milwaukee Brewers baseball.

 

You, the users, have made us the most active Brewers message board on the internet, and we've been incredibly successful up to this point. I appreciate your help in keeping the self-governing nature that has allowed us to prosper alive.

[molitor fan]

That was a tough call....he was a pretty knowledgable fan....49 posts in one thread say it all however. You were as fair as you could be.

 

Thanks again for all the work you do (to all)

[brettac1]

Thanks, Brian for taking care of that.

[berniebrewer4life]

I didn't have a problem with the guy. I personally thought he played the martyr card way too much, so i just didn't get involved. In reality, he only really contributed to the Minor League Forum, and gave nothing to the Major League Forum. All in all, we don't need guys like him here. A good move overall.

[SoCalBrewfan]

I thought he brought out the worst in a lot of otherwise rational people. A few others do the same...but the failure is collective, and not just on one person's shoulders, IMO. It wouldn't be that hard to ignore the drama...thin skin cuts both ways. And I can see his point sometimes...other people slip over the line as well, though not nearly so consistently.

 

I personally don't know that I'd ban him, but then I'm not in charge and don't have to worry about the fallout.

[Ralph Wiggum]

You had to do something. Ever thread he posted in ended up as a long, drawn out argument with no point. I am all for voicing opinions on this board, but when a poster has an innate inability to view issues with an open mind, it usually leads to problems.

[mothershipconnection]

I agree with Ralph 100%. There's a difference between some guys who get a little touchy one in a while and throw the discussion of course, but that guy did it in every thread he posted in. Everything was a quest for attention and an attempt to be an enlightened martyr unjustly crucified by the masses of uneducated brutes.

When a guy pulls that a couple times, fine, he was "having a bad day" or "upset that chicks don't dig his new mesh tanktop", and we should let it die in the thread the flame began in. When it becomes a pattern and the guy continues to be this way after being warned, he gets what's coming to him when he's banned.

[DHonks]

understandable fellas. I just hope that if any of us have these bad days, that you let us know before we go ahead and tread where we shouldn't. As you said, we all have bad days. We all have our thoughts which get us ridiculed. We all show some sarcasm. But the key is that at the end of the day, we draw more fans in. I love it each time the Brewers win, the next day I see huge numbers currently visiting. And while I'm not part of the staff, I speak for many of us in that we feel a special part of the site. We all do our best to contribute. I think one area where our site excels is in the minor league forum, because fans can come and ask a question about a prospect, and many of us can try to give explanations as to why they're at that level, their potential strengths, weaknesses, etc. Another major strength that keeps developing is the Draft section. And each year the Major league forum adds new fun twists. The strength of this site is a combination of things. It's strong leadership, dedicated disciples, constantly striving to improve, 3TO, and a whole lot of man-crushes (come on Diggins, you've got one more chance!)

[nBo Baseball]

Just to let you guys know, I know you run a GREAT site. It's my oasis that conects me to the Brewers year long. I've had times where I've had disagreements with people here, but's that's pretty rare.

You've ALL been vary fare to me. In fact you guys have been good to me. I wear my two Brewer Fan shirts with pride.

The main thing that gets to me is when a guest here, (Let's face it, all us posters are "guests" of Brewer Fan), slamms the Crew of Brewer Fan, the Positive Optimistic Fans of the Brewers or the Brewer team itself. The site is called "Brewer Fan". So it kinda means this is a place for Brewer Fans. If you're not a fan of the team there are alot of other places you can go to vent.

I don't know if that was bjamesw22 problem or not. (I'm trying to stay away for LONG negative posts). But I trust the discisions made by Brian, ColbyJack and the other guys who run the site.

This is a fun place for me and I'm just glad that Brewer Fan is here.

[pogokat]

I think it's the right decision, though definitely a hard one to make...

 

I mean, the guy could definitely be reinstated at some point,

 

he was just ruining the site...and i know he was driving you crazy

[homer]

I can't argue with your decision given the number of warnings he was given (and I think you temporarily banned him before, yes?). There are always going to be times when one's opinion is questioned (or chastised) we just need to know when to leave a thread alone. More often than not they die a quick death on their own.

[Brian the Automator]

And for the record, the IP Address "the two" bjamesw22's posted from on Brewerfan.net and BadgerNation/Badgermaniac was a perfect match. So yes, that was an outright lie.

 

mb7.scout.com/fwisconsin3...c&index=12

 

*eyeroll*

[dadofandrew]

Brian, how hard is it to trace IP's? I'm asking mainly for the "bonus whores" on the poker boards who think they are indetectable, as they set up 2-5 accounts to maximize a good bonus.

[Brian the Automator]

[ Brian, how hard is it to trace IP's? I'm asking mainly for the "bonus whores" on the poker boards who think they are indetectable, as they set up 2-5 accounts to maximize a good bonus. ]

 

You can't really trace someone's IP on a third-party site. As an ezBoard moderator, I'm given special access to view a person's IP address. I was emailed the IP address of this particular user from the moderator at the BadgerManiac board.

 

Basically, you need to have control of the server of the site you're trying to monitor, because the requests come through that server and that's where the IP address gets logged.

[dadofandrew]

So, obviously the poker sites can easily check the IP's on their own site. Thanks Brian.

[PeaveyFury]

Sorry to join the discussion late, but I think this was probably the best decision, though I hope that down the line things will be reconsidered like they were with Reed.

 

The thing that I don't get is why he felt that he had to lie about the badgermaniac thing. I don't understand why he felt compelled to hide that, despite the fact that it was the same username and obviously him.

[xisxisxis]

Is this a sort of anti-eulogy? Now we just wait until he changes ISP and comes back as WinSharesJames44.

[brettac1]

Judging by his always promoting his days as a superstar player, and having insight that no one else has because they haven't played the game, I would say he is hardly a Bill James fan.

[JoeHova]

"upset that chicks don't dig his new mesh tanktop"

 

good one. http://forum.brewerfan.net/images/smilies/happy.gif

 

 

 

Wow, I'm surprised that you banned him Brian, though he was definitely maddening. However, if the only criteria for a banning was making people mad, I surely would have got the axe back before the election. He must have really been getting to people for that decision to have been made. What I found most frustrating was the attitude (which has been echoed recently on the radio by Larry Bowa) of, "well, I played, so I know better than you" being used to justify each of his opinions. Then it turns out that he never actually played college ball, but just worked out with the team. I mean, dozens, if not hundreds, of us played high school ball too and so would have had as many "insights" as he did about that kind of thing. (That's when I realized how serious the situation was, when Brian contacted the coach at whatever college that guy was claiming to have played for. He doesn't seem like the type to do something like that lightly.)

[ccbrew]

That's when I realized how serious the situation was, when Brian contacted the coach at whatever college that guy was claiming to have played for.

 

I tried to stay away from those 7 page feuds, so I didn't know that it came down to that...What did you find out?

 

I understand if you don't want to give out the details, but it would be nice to know if he was the all-knowing all-star that he claimed himself to be.

[berniebrewer4life]

Quote:

---

I understand if you don't want to give out the details, but it would be nice to know if he was the all-knowing all-star that he claimed himself to be.

---

 

From what i remember, he worked out with the team during the offseason, catching for a few of the pitchers, nothing more.