04/19/24
January 26, 2002
Hidden: (quick meta test post to be deleted later) djacobs on mefi just posted this:
Sports get no love on mefi. Why is that? We're at halfway point of another incredible NBA season. Michael Jordan has been showing glimpses of his old self, the Lakers look beatable, the economics of the league may be turned upside down with the new TV contract, and the Blazers and the Knicks are about to swap rosters. Why not? Discuss!
What I'm trying to say is that the links posted are non-links, and the person just wants to talk about stuff for the sake of talking about it.
posted by mathowie at 05:43 PM on January 26, 2002
A post like this seems like it would have relevant news links. Perhaps it could be rewritten, with a link to the Locker Room explaining why?
posted by owillis at 06:11 PM on January 26, 2002
Yeah, if the person posted to specific sites, it could be salvageable. I guess my point is that demonstrating how new members should act is going to be difficult, as it is on metafilter.
posted by mathowie at 06:22 PM on January 26, 2002
Maybe we could be more specific on the "Post a link to SportsFilter" page. MeFi: Found something cool on the web and want to share it with everyone else? Great! Just fill the blanks and it'll go live. A sample link is shown below. If this is your first post, please read the guidelines. SpoFi: SportsFilter is not a mailing list. If you want to ask a question or state an opinion, click on one of the following sites: asportsdiscussionboardlink, anotherlink, and anotherlink. If you want to post something on SportsFilter, please make sure that you link to an interesting article . . . You get the point. What do you think? Is that too much? Too intimidating?
posted by jacknose at 08:46 PM on January 26, 2002
"or merely state an opinion (without a link) . . ."
posted by jacknose at 09:28 PM on January 26, 2002
We've done a good job of leading by example with some of our first posts (I know most of them so far are tests, but I think we've had a couple of keepers). Matt and I talked about including a link to the guidelines on the posting page, so it's more readily accessible. I also think we need to set the tone early and not be afraid to delete posts (or if it comes to it, users) that don't meet the community standards we're trying to establish. I've played team sports most of my life, and part of what you learn in team sports is to play by the rules. If you don't play by the rules, you get cut. We could explain in the Locker Room. I don't mean that we'd "disappear" them without explanation like it's 1984 or anything. Matt's done a great job of explaining in MetaTalk why he deleted certain posts; he's mostly got a hands-off approach, but definitely steps in when it's necessary and he's fair when he does it. And come to think of it, doesn't this post belong in the Locker Room? Nyuck nyuck nyuck.
posted by kirkaracha at 10:36 PM on January 26, 2002
If you don't play by the rules, you get cut. Or sent to the Locker Room. (I couldn't resist.)
posted by jacknose at 10:55 PM on January 26, 2002
Here’s the rub. The world of sports is episodic. Every day, a new turn, a new twist, a victory, a loss, an injury, a mistake, a hero, a scapegoat. Members of SportsFilter will want to discuss these daily episodes. Whereas MeFi discourages, to some extent, the posting of daily news that everyone has already read, SpoFi will most likely depend on such news. Or at least, the members will want to engage with the major episodes at hand. For example, this weekend the NFL playoff championships will be played. The great majority of NFL fans will want to talk about these upcoming games. Will they feel the pressure at SportsFilter not to post a link regarding the game? Should they feel this pressure? Will there ever be a post that will allow sports fans to discuss the game, or will the posts always steer discussions around the actual event? What would be a good example of an acceptable post that deals with the playoff games tomorrow?
posted by jacknose at 11:13 PM on January 26, 2002
I don't see anything wrong with linking to an espn story on one of the playoff games and from there starting a discussion. There is always a link for just about anything someone might want to talk about in the world of sports. For example: Do the patriots have a chance against the steelers or is Brady's cinderella season coming to an end? Yes, it's kind of a general link, and no we wouldn't want every link to be of that variety, but as jack said, sportsfilter will always be a little different than mefi. It has to be. Where mefi was about discovering unique and unknown links (was being the key word), sportsfilter, as Jack also said, will follow the world of sports, as well as look for unique links. It's the nature of the beast. I do think some type of link should be required, however. I don't think it will be as difficult a task as matt has with mefi. For one, we cover sports, which is a big and general topic, but much more specific than mefi. And two, we have seven people who can help set an example. Matt, as one person running mefi, can only do so much. And if he does something to anger his community, he takes all the blame. We have seven who can spread the responsibility. It's really the perfect number. If we had 10 or more helping out it could become chaos. I think our showing the way with solid links geared to generate purposeful discussion will be a great stride in the right direction.
posted by justgary at 11:57 PM on January 26, 2002
PS. I do think there is a limit to how 'general' a link should be. For example, if someone wants to discuss the cowboy's current situation (and who in their right mind wouldn't want to discuss america's team) they could link to an article talking about the cowboys draft, or new signings, or rumors. I don't think linking to dallascowboys.com shows much effort, nor is it what we're looking for.
posted by justgary at 12:00 AM on January 27, 2002
I think we are much more okay with "news", but encourage "deep linking". Is that the vibe?
posted by owillis at 12:15 AM on January 27, 2002
I think that's exactly the vibe.
posted by justgary at 12:24 AM on January 27, 2002
I agree. Vibe-wise.
posted by jacknose at 12:34 AM on January 27, 2002
One of the issues with MetaFilter is that it has evolved from a find-something-unique "only on the web" site into a more general news/web discussion site. (And if we want to argue about the meanings of that, we should go to MetaTalk.) Since that's the point we're jumping off from, we can concede that we'll be more newsy off the bat than MetaFilter started off being. Something like last weekend's mondo controversial call in the Patriots-Raiders game would be ideal (and preferred), but a link to a recap of the game would be...OK, right? I mean...vibe-wise?
posted by kirkaracha at 01:59 AM on January 27, 2002
Something like last weekend's mondo controversial call in the Patriots-Raiders game would be ideal (and preferred), but a link to a recap of the game would be...OK, right? That's what I'm thinking. More specific links are always better. But if someone wants to talk about the game in general, I guess a recap link would do. I'm thinking what might be a problem is someone linking to a recap, then someone else making another fpp linking to something specific about the game. In that case we could have 3 or 4 fpp about the same game, which would be redundant and quickly grow tiresome. If someone links to a recap for a fpp, it seems that further links, for example, about a specific play, should go inside the recap thread. Of course, I'm just guessing on this possible problem. I may be completely wrong.
posted by justgary at 02:42 AM on January 27, 2002
Sportsfilter: "Vibe-wise, we're okay"
posted by owillis at 05:20 AM on January 27, 2002
Ohhh....I am so in love with you guys. I'm not really a sports nut, but a SpFi is such a great idea!
posted by jennak at 10:17 PM on January 29, 2002
So the funny part is, me and kirk were talking last night at length about how to prevent this very thing. This site isn't talk radio, but people are going to want to treat it like a mailing list, troll for their favorite teams, etc. How on earth can we prevent it? (besides leading by example of course)