A New Start, A Message From The Administrator

First of all let me thank those of you who have registered with this board. I decided to start it up as a reliable message board for intelligent discussion about the world of soccer, football, futbol, calcio, futebol or by whatever name you call the world's game.

Some of you know me from another message board. I enjoyed posting there and was very active in recruiting new posters for that forum but I got so frustrated by the constant technical problems with that message board. It came down to not knowing if you would be able to access the board on a particular day due to a technical problem or if you did get in you'd never know with certainty whether a post you'd make would go through or not. I understand that the Invision Free message boards where we are now are much more reliable and I sincerely hope that is the case.

My intentions for this board are for it to be a place for intelligent but lively discussion of the sport of soccer. I fully hope to read discussions and debates here where posters disagree with one another but please keep those disputes civil and respect one another's views and their rights to express them. In other words you can attack the view points expressed but not the writer of those views. Please refrain from flame wars here as by virtue of my administrative powers I can eventually warn or even ban persistent wrongdoers.

Having said that I expect such steps won't be necessary. Please feel free to browse around and post to your heart's desire. I hope this can become an enjoyable place for us to intelligently discuss this sport we all love so much.

And as always please feel free to express any concerns or make suggestions for improvements here. I am new at administrating a message board so I am learning as we go along here and am open to suggestions.

I am happy to be here. The other board was fine content wise but as you say there were just too many problems associated with it. A message board should be easy to deal with and not become a hassle. That board became a hassle.

So I look forward to sharing ideas with people here about futbol.

I am glad to be a part of this message board. Like others I too often was frustrated by the other board's unreliability. I hope the enjoyable discussions we had there will also be found here. Thanks for starting this board up.

Thank you Merengue for starting this forum and inviting me. I even got my screen name spelled correctly here! We need someone to keep the Real Madrid fans in check here although I see my fellow Atletico Madrid fan rosarino is also regsitered here.

I look forward to intelligent and mature discussions of the sport here.

Good to be back, I lost the link to the old forum twice and struggled to find it again, so thanks Merengue for inviting me again.

EDIT: Actually it was enganche who invited me back, but thanks Merengue for forming the forum.

Yes it was me who invited you over minifidel. Glad to see you joined us here. I've tried several times these past few days to access the old(er) board but couldn't get in. It is just too unreliable so I am happy to come here and discuss futbol. I recruited people over to the other board and I'll try and do the same for here. I want a place where I can engage in intelligent conversation about the sport and I think this can be it.

"Administrator" now, is it Merengue?? Wow, I'm impressed.

Seriously, good job getting this up and running. Besides the technical issues, let's face it, sagexile had two or three too many know-it-alls who just could not stand to be contradicted to the point where they always got nasty and defensive any time anyone disagreed with them. Then that usually resulted in an unending litany of posts quoting and trying to tear apart every single line of an opposing post. I quit it because of that as much as the technical problems.

Nice to have a fresh start. Just, please, please, please, don't "administrate" me!!!

Thanks for setting this board up. I'm looking for a reliable place to engage in intelligent and mature discussions about this wonderful sport. I look forward to posting here.

Gee, I was just about to write a long note justifying a radical proposal I want to put before the members of this new venture, but real work has interfered. Here is a snapshot. Take pot shots at it for discussion sake.

I have lived through several groups like this one and seen them fall apart out of unnecessary bickering. I wonder if we can agree to a couple of radical ideas.

--Limit the number of posters.
--Strict rules against cheap-shotting, bickering, backbiting, etc
--The development of a process by which members can be asked to moderate their behavior, and failing that, asked to leave or be expunged from membership.

I do not necessarily like the idea of blackballing folks, but I like less the idea of yet another good-intentioned soccer discussion group ending up on the rocks.

Respectfully submitted,
Charlie Olken

As long as the administrator and or moderators are able to control any cheap shotting, name calling and personal attacks then I think this board should run fine. There already are some good discussions going on and they should only get better as this board develops and hopefully more posters join. Since this is a new entity we're getting in on the ground floor and are able to form it how we want it to be. So Zinfandel's comments/suggestions are appropriate and worthy of discussion. I would hope this doesn't become a super crowded board but at the same time I also like reading a variety of opinions and hope there will be more than just a handful of regular posters.

........................................
I have lived through several groups like this one and seen them fall apart out of unnecessary bickering. I wonder if we can agree to a couple of radical ideas.

--Limit the number of posters.
--Strict rules against cheap-shotting, bickering, backbiting, etc
--The development of a process by which members can be asked to moderate their behavior, and failing that, asked to leave or be expunged from membership.

I do not necessarily like the idea of blackballing folks, but I like less the idea of yet another good-intentioned soccer discussion group ending up on the rocks.

Respectfully submitted,
Charlie Olken

I agree with Charlie. In the long run, it seems to be impossible to control some posters on any board group without using heavy handed controls at times.
But it can't be "on" one person to regulate. He/she is not always available when necessary. Maybe a triumviatre of "adminstrators with the authority to step in a call a halt or make mandatory corrections at times is the answer.
This flys in the face of the "free-spirited soccer fan" many of us are, but looking at several failed soccer internet boards over the last 12 to 15 years, it is the only way to assure civility at all times. Once the group approaches 20 or so people, the chances for serious disagreement escalates and referee(s) are needed at times. It never fails.

Good feedback guys, keep it coming. I agree with John it shouldn't just be on one person, in this case me, to control the entire board and I hope to name some other moderators as the board expands. One of the benefits of this Invision Free message board, and to be honest it was a reason but not the sole reason, why I selected this board to start up this forum is because it gives the administrators/moderators the ability to warn and eventually ban transgressors. And I will not be afraid to use those tools when necessary.

I was very active in recruiting posters for the SAG Exile board and it pained me to see not only the technical problems but also the bickering and name calling going on there which eventually drove a lot of people away. I won't let that happen here.

As you know I love talking about this great sport. I don't care for e-mail groups or the large message boards and that is why I formed this particular board so we could develop a group of people to discuss the sport as it is played around the globe. Both myself and the future moderators will do our best to preserve this as a community where you can freely and intelligently discuss this wonderful game.

I think the fact you can punish those who violate the board's rules and/or etiquette is a pretty strong deterrent to preventing matters from getting out of hand here.

Personally I liked the other message board and the discussions which took place there. It was the board's reliability which got to me. It was only rarely when discussions got out of hand but as I said the tools available here would seem to be able to prevent a repeat of that happening here. Other than that I look forward to being able to discuss football with a group of fans from around the world and with distinct viewpoints.

Thank you enganche for letting me know about this forum. I used to lurk at the other site many of you were at but I could never register there as the site always caused havoc with my computer.

I'm looking forward to discussing soccer with many of you here. As you can tell from my screen name I am Colombian but have lived many years in the US and follow the sport both here in the US and all around the globe.

All I can say is thank god you're not another Mexico fan!!