^^ Rational, thought provoking, dead-on correct. ^^MDlaxfan76 wrote: ↑Sat Dec 10, 2022 2:11 pm ONW, I thought your promise to stick within your own thread, a self-imposed discipline, was a quite good idea given the rancor your many posts had repeatedly engendered. Laudable.
Indeed, it seemed that after that self-imposed discipline, you posted plenty on whatever topic you wished, but fellow posters could more easily avoid your posts if they wished, while other posters could directly engage...and did. Seemed to be going well...
I'm not a frequent participant on the women's side, as my nieces are beyond their playing years, but occasional reader every so often, and I find the renewed rancor unhelpful, uninteresting, and indeed off-putting.
I'm not surprised that others are experiencing that as well.
On the more general topic of discussing players, and addressing all posters/readers on here, I think analysis of stats, tactics, performances, etc is quite appropriate on a sports discussion site.
I'd contrast that with overly effusive praise, sometimes bordering (at least for this reader) on the creepy... just as is overly aggressive critique of a player's performances, particularly their motivations, 'effort', etc...emphasis on 'overly aggressive'...Expressing a view, with substance to support, is one thing, but grinding incessantly isn't helpful to discourse, much less a sense of community.
And I quite agree that some basic decency and sensitivity when discussing youth, HS or college players, young women or men, is appropriate. I feel the same way in the stands of a game when some boorish 'fan' is criticizing a player, saying really nasty things...I frequently tap them on the shoulder and point out that the player may have a parent or grandparent or sibling within earshot. Some don't care, but most decent folks realize they'd been overboard and reel it in.
I don't know about "growing the game" as a primary objective, but certainly one of the things that many of us 'old-timers' have appreciated about the sport has been the sense of community that we have enjoyed as players, coaches, parents, etc...I'd certainly hope that will be the case for future generations, with continued growth in the number of participants here in the US and around the world enjoying the community as well. Emphasizing the positives of that community can be helpful...just as challenging the impulses and actions that threaten that sense of community is important too. Both can be important; they're not mutually exclusive, IMO.
Sometimes one should stick with self-imposed disciplines but I fear the lure of debate and pontificating becomes hard to resist.
