RobHowe
Administrator
I figure it would be a good time remind everyone of the forum rules. I won't be covering everything, but will focus on the recent COVID-19 thread on our basketball board.
With an unprecedented pandemic hitting the world, I wanted to let people discuss it. I thought it would be a good source of information and a way to hopefully bring people together during a tough time.
While it served what I felt should be its purpose to a degree, it deteriorated into a politically charged debate with news about the virus being drawn down partisan lines. It was fair to expect the discussion to become political and that was probably the sign that it wasn't going to work longterm.
I locked the thread today and we are moving back to the "old rules" here at HN. These message boards are for Hawkeye sports discussion. They're not for political discussion. They're not for religious discussion. They're not for discussing social issues. I'm not creating an off-topic board. There are plenty of places to discuss other topics. And, again, if you guys want to start your own board, here's the LINK to a free site to do so.
Now, there's a thread on the football board about whether or not college football returns in the fall. While I realize folks will be discussing the virus in that thread, it will not include politics, period. It won't include posting politically driven links about the virus. It will not include posts about what could have been done previously to contain the virus or what should be done going forward. We are not experts. We don't know. It won't include posts on whether or not masks should be worn, etc.
You get the idea.
We can discuss the virus as it relates to Iowa Hawkeye sports, when they might return and what that might look like. That's it.
Please do not push it. Moderating these message boards by myself is not easy. I'm not going to spend time babysitting people and take away time I can spend producing content.
Thank you,
Rob
With an unprecedented pandemic hitting the world, I wanted to let people discuss it. I thought it would be a good source of information and a way to hopefully bring people together during a tough time.
While it served what I felt should be its purpose to a degree, it deteriorated into a politically charged debate with news about the virus being drawn down partisan lines. It was fair to expect the discussion to become political and that was probably the sign that it wasn't going to work longterm.
I locked the thread today and we are moving back to the "old rules" here at HN. These message boards are for Hawkeye sports discussion. They're not for political discussion. They're not for religious discussion. They're not for discussing social issues. I'm not creating an off-topic board. There are plenty of places to discuss other topics. And, again, if you guys want to start your own board, here's the LINK to a free site to do so.
Now, there's a thread on the football board about whether or not college football returns in the fall. While I realize folks will be discussing the virus in that thread, it will not include politics, period. It won't include posting politically driven links about the virus. It will not include posts about what could have been done previously to contain the virus or what should be done going forward. We are not experts. We don't know. It won't include posts on whether or not masks should be worn, etc.
You get the idea.
We can discuss the virus as it relates to Iowa Hawkeye sports, when they might return and what that might look like. That's it.
Please do not push it. Moderating these message boards by myself is not easy. I'm not going to spend time babysitting people and take away time I can spend producing content.
Thank you,
Rob
