FROM THE STAFF: Please, keep it clean

[openSkies]

Hey everyone,

I really hate the fact that I have to post this. But, apparently, it may be necessary to say this to some people.

This is a board for everyone. All ages. All races. Both sexes.

If you cannot learn to respect the differences of people (on the board, at least), then you have no business being here. Everyone here (to my knowledge) has a good head on their shoulders, and knows the difference between right and wrong.

We will NOT tolerate ANY offensive material.

//

I'm sure everyone already knows, or will eventually, why this is being posted, so I might as well say it...

Larry has been permanently removed from this message board. His username, e-mail address, hostname and IP-range have all been banned.

I won't get into the details, but the basic reason is this:

(a) He posted offensive material numerous times
(b) He was warned three seperate times in less than two months
(c) Even after this, he refused to 'keep it clean'
(d) He had no regard for the CFP staff.

There is a full report on the situation, and because this is our first ban, I'm sure most of you will be wondering if it's justified. So, I will release the report on a as-requested basis. It was justified. He did receive numerous (perhaps too many) chances. I, personally, made many attempts to talk to him about the situation. I know Spence did, too.

So please, everyone... let's not do this. I hate banning people. In fact, I've never done it before now. I don't want to do it again.

Can't we all just learn to get along?

//

I have updated the CFP Rules and Regulations.

[colorado_loves_football]

Yeah, can't we all just 'get along'?
I never was offended by anything Larry posted, myself, but I am glad that there's somone monitoring the posts, that ought to assure that the CFP remains a place where we can all make arguments for or against a topic, hopefully providing insightful information, for everyone.
Where's Reginald Denny when we need him?
Can we substitute someone else?
Rodney King wasn't available either, to my knowledge.

[Spence]

So far there hasn't been anyone else that has really even come close to getting in trouble. This is about having fun and maybe learning a little. We just have to make sure we are respectful of others. There is nothing wrong with a heated debate. It is allowed and always has been.

[Eric]

Have you guys ever considered supsending Larry for a week to give him a taste of what it would be like to be permenately banned? I for one, never found anything Larry said to be the slightest bit offensive. I strongly disagree with this. I'm ticked because people take PC way too seriously. As long as he wasn't swearing, or using any anything vulgar, I think he has a right to say it.

Well, I'm aware that I'm not in charge and that my input wasn't asked for, but I loved Larry being around here. I'm sure most of us did.

[openSkies]

Well, the reason no one ever saw anything offensive was because Spence or myself got to it quick enough to delete it.

Thus far, Larry has used more swears than any person here. In triple, if not more.

No one saw it, though, because I saw it and quickly took it off, and added a bunch of words to the Word Filter.

About the week-long suspension. Had he only done one more thing wrong, he would have been banned for 7 days (as per the CFP Rules and Regulations). However, he did TWO things within 15 minutes of each other. And, after the numerous chances we've given him before (both on the old and new board), the staff decided it was time to just let it go, permanently. He also did leave the board for a while. The two most recent offenses were some of his first posts since coming back.

About the PC thing... it's not because we're trying to be PC. We're trying to protect (a) ourselves and (b) the board users.

You, Eric, might be in your 20s/30s/40s/50s/etc, but not everyone here is. There are some minors (-18) in the group. That's what we all have to keep in mind, here.

When it comes to the internet and underage kids, it's a very serious thing. COPPA will have our butts if they find out that we've allowed minors to join this site, and are not keeping it moderated.

So, we can do one of three things:

(a) Ban people who refuse to play along
(b) Put up an 'Adults Only' message, banning anyone under 18
(c) Have the site shut down by COPPA or some other group

I think that most people would agree with Option A. We, the staff, agree with it.

Like Spence said, no one has even come close to getting in trouble for anything. One person was non-chalantly warned for some excessive use of caps, exclamations, smilies, etc (which actually is in the regs). The warning has since been deleted from the records.

Larry, however, has pages and pages devoted to his warnings.

Again, if you want a copy of the records, Eric, I'll be more than happy to send them to you (so you can see what was really posted by Larry, not what was left after our editing). You can choose to either have your copy in HTML (website), PDF (Acrobat), TXT (Wordpad) or WRD (Microsoft Word). PDF is preferred =]

//

Don't get me wrong, I'm glad you said all of that. The whole reason I made this post was not to bash Larry now that he's gone, but rather to clear up any misunderstandings some users might have (such as this). This is our first ban, afterall, so of course there will be some controversy.

Let me know if you've got any more questions. And feel free to private message me.

[Eric]

Well, in that case about the PC, I wouldn't be harping on you. I just think it's gotten out of control in this country.

I don't really blame you, because I forgot about all the legal things when I last posted.

[openSkies]

I agree, PC is way off the wall here in the US (nothing against our country, though!)

It's just a legal matter, and the fact that this site is aimed to be family-friendly. That's the way it was created, and that's the way it's going to stay.

You can go on other boards, like ESPN, and find some pretty raunchy stuff on there. If I had a kid, I wouldn't let him get near any other college football message board. And I'm glad that this one is the board that can be put into that exemption.

College football is all about rivalry and spirit and debate. So go at it. But just stay respectful.

I hope that all of you are respectful to the opponents when they come into town on Saturday. And, if you don't want to get beat, when you go to their town on Saturday, haha.

So please, just let it carry on over.

//

Yes or no to the ban report?

[Eric]

Nah, there isn't any need for me to see it.

[CFP Admin]

My two cents:

Cent 1: The one thing I found missing from the explanation is that the violations were repeats of the same previously-warned offenses. It was obvious that he had no desire (or ability?) to cease and desist.

Cent 2: I am personally someone who is not easily offended. This is not a PC thing. The posts were WAY out-of-line. What has been apparent since day one of the new board is that his actions showed a fundamental disagreement with our rights to impose any limits and guidelines.

I am confident that ANY site that cared at all about its content would have eliminated those posts AND banned the poster a long time ago.

[colorado_loves_football]

In fairness, I never found anything Larry wrote to be offensive, either.
But it's possible I missed those posts, as my postings mostly deal with either Spence or Mountainman, but that makes me wonder, will I be banned anytime soon? I think there should be a way to 'deal' with someone who is offensive without simply extracting him/her from your database. But, I do understand that you have to abide by protocol, to maintain some level of civility. That being said, I never was personally offended by anything he wrote, either. And I'm not saying that simply to validate Eric's argument, I just never found his postings offensive.

[Eric]

I think if it wasn't serious enough they wouldn't ban him. openSkies said he took the text off of the screen before most anybody saw it.

I think it is best to drop the subject.

[Spence]

In fairness, I never found anything Larry wrote to be offensive, either.
But it's possible I missed those posts, as my postings mostly deal with either Spence or Mountainman, but that makes me wonder, will I be banned anytime soon? I think there should be a way to 'deal' with someone who is offensive without simply extracting him/her from your database. But, I do understand that you have to abide by protocol, to maintain some level of civility. That being said, I never was personally offended by anything he wrote, either. And I'm not saying that simply to validate Eric's argument, I just never found his postings offensive.

CLF just because your opinion differs from someone else's doesn't mean you have did anything wrong. You haven't every posted anything offensive and if you were to do something that was against the rules you would be warned first. You would be warned privitely and no one would likely ever know.

Everyone on here has been really good and respectful in their posts. I have had to do very little work in moderating this board and I thank you guys for that.

Hopefully that will be the last time someone gets banned.

[CFP Admin]

CLF, the first response of the moderators is to delete the offensive post BEFORE it can offend other users. Next comes private notification to the offender and a series of protocols go into effect. Moderators and Administrators work together to determine the proper course of action. We excercise restraint and patience. All of the things suggested - warnings, probation - are excercised first. Banning is not something we want to do. It is, unfortunately, an occasional necessary procedure. As I stated above, he was banned for repeat offenses AFTER having been warned and awarded his last chance. Ultimately, we have better things to do than to be forced to play babysitter.