Post Policy

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WOMBAT, Mod Emeritus
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Re: Post Policy

Post by WOMBAT, Mod Emeritus »

Matnum PI wrote:There's been no real discussion about it.

While LP's policy included posting not discussing, etc., I think LP's policy also involved, so to speak, nothing negative. With this said, I'm not sure how important LP's policies are for FanLax. It's important to live and learn but I never looked at LP's policies and thought, That is a really good post policy. Personally, I think if information is public information, it should be fair game. It doesn't mean you need to believe it. But if the information is available to the world at large, it should be available to us. Alternatively, if I decide to post a picture of three college kids with a caption saying, These three boys stole my bicycle!, I wouldn't call this public information and I would think it appropriate to remove the post. Also, along the same lines, this is a discussion board. We're here to discuss lacrosse and otherwise. I think we need to be very careful about saying, You cannot discuss that. We don't want to defame people, etc. and... Discussion is good. Even if it's about a sticky subjective.
Agreed. I’d recommend taking the path that creates the least amount of work on admin’s part and fewest headaches.
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admin
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Re: Post Policy

Post by admin »

Wombat, while the sentiment is appreciated, we want to take the path that is the right path to take. The effort involved is, for all intents and purposes, irrelevant.
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Re: Post Policy

Post by admin »

We've covered a decent amount of Post Policy stuff and... The current question is, What is our Not-So-Positive News Policy? I think it should be similar to our Profanity Policy. Saying, Did you hear about the three D1 players who...? isn't inappropriate unto itself. Especially when what's being said is true. But it is inappropriate within certain environs. With this said, this is wide-spread, public, fact-based news. i.e. This isn't slander. People should be able to discuss it. I think posts of this ilk should be posted. But they should be moved to a more appropriate locale for the discussion. For now, this environ is Hamsterdam.

Makes sense?
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Re: Post Policy

Post by admin »

Within the D3 Men's Forum, we removed a post which had a link to an article about a current D3 player who (may have) committed a crime. The article was posted within a local paper/website. Though, admittedly, we had some questions about why the post was inappropriate. Not to be difficult but to (a) make sure we're doing the right thing and (b) to create a precedent for going forward. If this was a HS thread, for sure it's gone. In some cases, the person being discussed is 13 or 14 years-old. But is the same true for college kids? What if the post was substantiated and 100% public information (vs. currently, conjecture or simply an accusation)?
Atticus
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Re: Post Policy

Post by Atticus »

My own view is this board should be about lacrosse or at least lacrosse related topics. A specific post about a player’s or coach’s personal life should be off limits. Age is irrelevant. This will become a back-stabbing, “youth hockey” board if you don’t keep it pretty straight and narrow about lacrosse. As for public substantiation, I can imagine a whole lot of personal stuff that might be “public and substantiated” in a certain close community (whether reported in a newspaper or not) that really has no business being spread through a gossip channel to a much broader community. If it’s not about lacrosse, and it’s of a personal nature, it does not belong! My two cents. Thanks.
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Re: Post Policy

Post by admin »

Atticus, first, thank you, and second, agreed. Our general overall policy has been, How would we deal with this on a lacrosse field? i.e. Would this be a penalty? And... It'd be an unsportsmanlike conduct. Keep it to lacrosse. again, thank you. the obvious is veiled and then someone chimes in and... It all becomes relatively clear. :)
ah23
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Re: Post Policy

Post by ah23 »

The only pushback I have is if the information in question is both public and relevant to why a player is not playing/no longer on a roster. No one wants unsubstantiated garbage, but news reports in multiple places (assuming the googling I did after I saw the posts in the NESCAC forum led me to the right place - I didn't see OP's initial post) don't really strike me as message board gossip.
ctbagataway
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Re: Post Policy

Post by ctbagataway »

I agree with Atticus. But I would also say that even though these college players may be older than 18, they aren't professional athletes and dont get paid to be subjected to our speculation. Posting an article with a player's name and criminal allegations isn't furthering our lacrosse discussion. It is trying a person (or st least their reputation). That isn't fair. The player can't respond, we don't know the circumstances, and the charges may later be dropped but we won't ever know. All we will remember is the charges. I saw keep it to lacrosse.

I have to admit, though, the Huguely case would be very difficult not to discuss.
WOMBAT, Mod Emeritus
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Re: Post Policy

Post by WOMBAT, Mod Emeritus »

The LP policy was no go unless it was sourced to a news website. Speculation, gossip, no go.

But... journalism isn’t what it used to be.

I like your division of HS vs College. I’m of the opinion college is fair game if reliably sourced and linked appropriately.

Huguely case is an ideal example, per the previous post.
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Re: Post Policy

Post by admin »

Agreed. huguely and duke were unique. That was national news. Not, Look everyone! I found something that says, Connor got a DWI!
WOMBAT, Mod Emeritus
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Re: Post Policy

Post by WOMBAT, Mod Emeritus »

What about coaching staff “news” vs “rumors”?

Examples: firings, suspensions - undisclosed reasons. Running afoul of the NC$$. Co-signed car loans.

Discussions of contract renewals, or lack thereof?

One topic I find a bit out of bounds, especially in the vicious way it is argued: discussions of coaches’ weights.
RhinoEph
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Re: Post Policy

Post by RhinoEph »

Posting here what I posted in the original thread:

My apologies about the story I posted. Someone had asked what happened to the player in question and I knew about the issue. I simply meant for the story to be a press account of what transpired to result in his being off the roster. I should have just kept it as a “personal issue” being dealt with. Sorry again for violating any posting rules. My intent was not to impugn but to answer a specific posted question.
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Re: Post Policy

Post by admin »

Rhino, the point is that you didn't break any posting rules, etc. Because... we're still fine-tuning them. So, in reality, you did the forum a favor in posting something on the cusp so we could figure out what's over the line. either way, not a problem. not an obvious mistake.
pcowlax
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Re: Post Policy

Post by pcowlax »

I am kind of torn on this one. Certainly rumors about high school or college kids do not have a place here (as in, I know why so and so goalie played so poorly, my cousin goes to school with him and he was totally hammered at a party the night before the game). If a kid is suspended for internally breaking team rules and they don't announce what exactly he did, that has no place getting spread here even if someone is in position to be in the know. Legal issues sourced to multiple papers are somewhat of a different story however. I agree with atticus that there is a difference between a story that is on ESPN and that everyone is already aware on and something that is only covered in hometown papers. I personally would not go out of my way to spread news of the later. However, in this case, someone specifically asked why a player was off a roster and Rhino posted a link to a newspaper story (one of several he could have chosen from and not only for this incident!) as the likely reason. I think reasonable minds might differ here.
Boomakegga
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Re: Post Policy

Post by Boomakegga »

My vote is to learn from the “Duke incident”. The media is typically easily manipulated by DA’s. Innocent people gain nothing by defending themselves in the press and counsel will always advise against it. Articles about charges are one sided and often serve a political value for elected DA. Anybody spreading an article about charges is doing their best to undermine the presumption of innocence. Articles about convictions or innocence are fair game.
pcowlax
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Re: Post Policy

Post by pcowlax »

I agree with that and take a back seat to no one in my real time disgust of the Duke story but this one, not to get into the specifics and not involving nearly as serious a charge as Duke, is really cut and dry. It’s like having to say something is “alleged” if it hasn’t been tried yet but is literally on video tape. Happy to let it go and not post articles about it but there really aren’t any facts in dispute by anyone.
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