Originally Posted by
DerekMiller
This has been a very interesting read and some great viewpoints and opinions from all sides, with the added Millersmad garnish of squabbling between people who don't like one another.
For my own part, I stopped posting on here last year when I breached my own code of behaviour. Regardless of any forum rules or sticky posts, I always said for my time on here I'd 1) avoid politics and 2) never get into any sort of insult slinging with fellow contributors. We may not always agree on things but we're all Millers and we can all be civil to one another. In the tap room analogy, have a debate, disagree, right who's round is it? Ironically that fell apart for me when I made the stupid error of posting after a skinful of ale then had a cringefest the next day.
There were other things going on in life too, Mrs Derek having a number of health issues, my own blood pressure issues, family issues, the on the pitch situation being very depressing. There was certainly more to life than Millersmad and a tactical withdrawal followed. Being a technophobe, I can't access this by smartphone, I have a desktop PC set up in an office in the house. So it was easy to go completely cold turkey and it was a nice break.
For the last few weeks I've been back on in an observer only mode and I still believe that we have a really decent range of football contributors on here. It's not perfect but look out at the world and show me where there is any perfection right now? Where there are human beings, there will be flaws, it is inevitable. The Mods on here are like anybody else in life who has any hint of authority or responsibility, they will always be damned if they do, damned if they don't. Moderating in a way that will please everyone will be like trying to drain a swimming pool using a sieve.
In regard to attracting new posters, various people have contributed their opinions regarding "woke" and "anti woke", political views etc, so I'll leave that well alone. But for my own experience, a big turn off to any newcomer on here will be the inevitable accusation that you are a "multi" the minute you engage in any sort of viewpoint or show any characteristic that stands out a little. As soon as I started to post negative comments about Matt Taylors management of our club, people started to drop in the vague insinuations that I was actually somebody else posting under a different name.
Is it offensive? No. Is it boring and tiresome? Yes. Very. So if we're wanting to attract newcomers on here it doesn't make sense to label anybody new a multi merely because they have a personality that differs from someone elses.
I appreciate that multis can be a problem and they obviously do exist, but the accusation is a repetitive trope on here. Since returning as an observer I was unsurprised to see it still gets banded about. I don't know what tools the mods have at their disposal to correctly identify multis, but it would make life on here better if they could be spotted and simply removed without any fanfare or attention. That is what they want after all.
My stance on multis is simple. If someone's life is so empty that they have the time and inclination to create several accounts so they can attempt to wind people up, then that is quite sad. If someone's life is so devoid of excitement that they create accounts, post on here, then log in as another account and reply to themselves in order to bolster the original opinion, then I think we've reached the point of that person needing professional help.
To loosely quote the great sci fi comedy Red Dwarf, "if being a multi is their crime, it is also their punishment."
Going back into my fox hole now for a few months
Reply With Quote