Have A Question On This Forum?

[Crash Course]

While we're still a few weeks away from 6/26, I decided to open the Lounge now. Mostly, because it will take time for me to get those invited set up to view this forum. But, also, to prime the pump (so to speak). Feel free to start threads here now - or to reply to threads started here.
By the fact that you are reading this, consider this forum open for business.

If you have any questions about the Player's Lounge, please post them in this thread.

You can also find out more about the Lounge at: http://www.netshrine.com/vbulletin2/showthread.php?t=14977

[Skip]

See my comments in the Trivia Buffet - though I now see from the title that I am in "Private Forums (Visible Only To Invited Guests)" so some of my questions have been answered.

'Twould have been nice to have received a real invitation.

If NDF isn't really going away, then I would lump your announcements otherwise for the past many weeks as another big melodrama and abuse of your subscribers.

I'm confused and largely put off.

[Crash Course]

Skip: Did you read: http://www.netshrine.com/vbulletin2/showthread.php?t=14977 ?

The timeline is live. The shutdown went from TOTAL shut, to just the ATM/SOTS/Bruce to now that plus this. Things always are subject to change as time moves forward.

Sorry if you're put off. Think of this as a party. If you don't want to come, just ignore the invite.

[Skip]

No .. I read none of the announcement threads you mentioned in either response = they didnt show up in the "New Posts" button I always use so I didnt know they were there. Perhaps there's a software issue, or it's just an issue of the timing of the postings and the timing of my "invitation". I never did get an invitation - was that supposed to be explicit, or just a "surprise, you are suddenly in these magic forums so you are among the chosen" type thing? I guess I still dont know if my access is an accident or if I am among the truly invited.

[Crash Course]

You're invited.
If anyone can see this, they are invited.

[Ytown Tribe fan]

Steve --

I'm really glad that the forums aren't going away completely, and I'm really happy to have been invited to the new forum.

There are many forums that I visit that are overrun with SPAMers, idiots, 8-year-olds of all ages, etc. To me, that just adds variety to the forums, which is why I dislike registration so much.

That said, this is the one true registered forum that I have ALWAYS enjoyed visiting, since it's pretty hard to screw up baseball talk and I would think that actual 8-year-olds would be especially welcome. Get 'em hooked while they're young, I say (no Michael Jackson reference intended).

You have already put a ton of time, money and energy into your site, as all webmasters have done, and it is truly YOUR site, so you are welcome to do with it as you please. I appreciate that as much as anyone, and I am only sad that the forums in general are shutting down, and glad that I can still be some part of the new forums.

--Jerry

[gyb13]

btw, YTF, i like the new signature...

"and meanwhile, back in the States"

[Ytown Tribe fan]

Thanks, gyb. I found it on an online Zappa forum, after posting my favorite Zappa quote. You talk about hardcore fans! ANyway, Zappa covered "Stranded in the Jungle" in his late tours, but had used the term "Great googly-moogly" many times before.

The JayHawks borrowed from a Cincinnati DeeJay whose name has been lost to time.

FWIW, my favorite Zappa quote was, "Don't never, but never, make fun of no cripples," which was from a scene in the Monkees' movie, "Head", where Zappa is leading a talking cow across the desert, looking like Clint Eastwood on bad acid. For all I know, it may have been the cow that "uddered" the immortal line.

Sorry.

[Skip]

Steve - since I learned about the new privatized NDF on the public boards, I guess its appropriate that I post my feelings on it here too....

I always liked the NDF better than other discussion forums because I felt that it, despite the occasionally juvenile rantings of the disaffected, was an open forum for intelligent conversation on baseball and other topics, so long as people played within reasonable rules. I quit Moderating this forum because I felt the rules regarding membership were used too loosely and capriciously, but I still generally agreed with what they, and you, said and I was happy to remain a member.

You threatened to kill the NDF many times while I was Moderating; seemingly always because of frustration over dealing with malcontents or over the cost and/or time involved. This was again an issue in the "final" dissolution of the NDF you announced recently, only now things change again. After so many times crying "wolf", your current problems with running the NDF seem to have again dissipated with a decision to simply modify the board membership to one more of your liking. That's obviously your right, but you can't expect to call a pig kosher and have it go unnoticed.

I do not wish to be part of a forum with arbitrary and unpublished admission rules, or to be part of some sort of secretive buddy society. I have no desire to spend time reading only writings that echo my own point of view, or yours, or those you find worthy. I come here, even though I mostly post in jest, to learn and communicate, not to engage exclusively in attaboys with totally like-minded people.

I'll not be participating in the new NDF. I do not make this decision rashly ... between cash donations and merchandise purchases, I've put $150 or more into the NDF the past two years, not to mention the numerous hours spent taking my "job" as Moderator seriously AND ACTIVELY. I think both you and I got our money's worth.

Best of luck in the future, though I'm very disappointed. If allowed, I'll continue to look in and occasionally post during your transition in June and July.

[Crash Course]

Jerry - thanks.
Skip - door is always open here if you change your mind.

[RichG]

Steve,

You might want to put that message pointing to thread 14977 (I think that was it) at the top so we'll know the groundrules.

I figured The Player's Lounge was just a section I had been missing all these months :)

And thanks for giving this format a try, I hope it's worth your effort.

[Crash Course]

Rich - thanks - I just added the link to the 1st post in this thread - - That's what you meant, right?

[Crash Course]

I have no desire to spend time reading only writings that echo my own point of view, or yours, or those you find worthy. I come here, even though I mostly post in jest, to learn and communicate, not to engage exclusively in attaboys with totally like-minded people.

To this claim, I want to share that 76 members of the NDF now have access to the Players Lounge and Trivia Buffet. Therefore, it is highly unlikely that the banter in these forums will be as Skip expects it to be, above.

[Skip]

To this claim, I want to share that 76 members of the NDF now have access to the Players Lounge and Trivia Buffet. Therefore, it is highly unlikely that the banter in these forums will be as Skip expects it to be, above.With a group that large, I expect you are right Steve. But to announce the closing of the NDF, and then keep it open by invitation only, after numerous closing threats in the past and regardless of the size of the group, appears to me disingenuous at best. To threaten people with expulsion for revealing the secret side of the NDF is ridiculous, especially if the rest of it is going away in a few weeks anyway. Just kill it now and move on in the direction you have chosen.

You obviously have decided you have the time and resources to run a quasi-public board after all; you've just decided to exercise even greater individual control over membership than you had previously. Fine. It just seems to me that you've invalidated most of your original justification for the shutdown in the first place, and it makes me wonder about red herrings, straw men, and other plot devices.

Otherwise, all I've said is that these changes have modified the NDF into a board that I'd be unwilling to devote the time and/or money I've given in the past to supporting - not that it'd be horrid or evil or (gasp) Seinfeld-ian.

[Crash Course]

I don't have the time to run a board under the old format.

I have time to run a board in this new format - at least I hope I do. Of course, if I have to deal with a lot of drama, like this, then this will be a problem.

Last time on the shutdown Skip - - first thought was to shut it down, second thought was to just have ATM/SOTS/Bruce - - then came the thought to try the private forum

Please forgive me for having the nerve to keep thinking instead of just sticking to the first thought.

And, again, why am I on trial here and why are you judging me? There's no right or grounds for any of this. It is what it is here - if you don't like it, no one is forcing anyone to post, etc. Walk away Renee.

[Skip]

why am I on trial here and why are you judging me? There's no right or grounds for any of this. Right. My time and money aside, no-one who joins a public board should have the 'right' to question the actions of it's progenitor. Genesis = infallibility, I guess.

Walk away Renee.Nice kiss off, Steve.

[Crash Course]

Skip, I'm sorry that I have not met your needs. I'm sure you can find someone else to take to the prom. ;)

All - when I started this thread - the intent was to have questions on what to post, etc., in this forum - what's acceptable, etc. It was not the intent to open up a shooting range at me, the NDF leaders, how we do business here, the state of the NDF, or the how the evolution of the NDF has unfolded in the last few months.

I won't entertain any questions of comments on that here. It's counter-productive on what I'm trying to do - - - meaning........save time, have some fun, and be able to maintain some online baseball discourse with friends.

Let's talk baseball. Thanks.

[SmedIndy]

I prefer "Pretty Ballerina" myself!

[RichG]

Rich - thanks - I just added the link to the 1st post in this thread - - That's what you meant, right?

Yep, that's what I was trying to get across in a rambling way...

[TreAnt985]

Well, I'm flattered to have been invited. I usually only check out the Trivia Forum, so I was kind of in the dark as to the fact that you planned to shut down part of the NDF (I probably should read the other forums a little more often :D ). I figured the running of an entire forum by one person had to be time-consuming, though.
Anyway, hopefully I can add something to this forum, although I'll probably end up back in the trivia section most of the time.
Although I probably should avoid this subject, I don't think that having Steve say that he was planning to close the forum entirely and then decide not to (and even open a smaller one for more user-friendly discussion) is some sort of lead-on. It's not like in the Simpsons when Marge goes to the hospital, Dr. Hibbert tells her Homer's dead, and then screams "April Fool's!" This is the only place I can ask questions and post comments and actually have intelligent answers and opinions posted in reply. I'm just glad I won't have to start using the MLB forums! :D

[Crash Course]

Thanks Tre!