Message Boards

[HuskerNMO]

i'm not callin you out or anything jliehr, but i did just chuckle when i returned to the home page and saw that your status update thing was about blue getting hurt...

 

Yep, passed along info that TO discussed in an interview tonight (without names), but that an OWH reporter posted on Twitter hours before. Bo will address in the morning, Anthony's family knows what happened by now, but details are not public yet.

[bball_backer]

I guess you never know whos on these boards. Maybe friends of players read on some board that there buddy, whom they grew up with, just suffered a cuncusion and imediatley calls/runs over to that players house to inform parents. Grapevines.

 

maybe, but i almost gaurantee their first action would not be run over to parents' house, but text said player to find out what really happened

[n.e.husker]

I guess you never know whos on these boards. Maybe friends of players read on some board that there buddy, whom they grew up with, just suffered a cuncusion and imediatley calls/runs over to that players house to inform parents. Grapevines.

 

maybe, but i almost gaurantee their first action would not be run over to parents' house, but text said player to find out what really happened

Thats true. I was just showing the possible inner workings of a grapevine. If that makes sense?

[huKSer]

I'm thinking with today's kids he was texting, tweeting, FB-ing on the way to the hospital kids are used to the instintaneous communication parents are on the bottom of the curve.

[Enhance]

also, it's not like their kid has died... he got hurt. it happens. would it really be so terrible for a parent to find out from a stranger that their kid hurt his leg but will still live a healthy life?

 

Seriously? You must not be a parent. As a parent there's not a day that goes by that you don't worry about your child and to find out that type of information second hand as a rumor before you knew for sure would be less than ideal...to say the least.

 

then don't read message boards, that's all i'm saying. i don't think i should be unable to talk about the possibility of losing a potential starter just because his parents may be lurking in one of the message boards and their kid isn't considerate enough to call them asap before it gets leaked out, like he knows it will.

I for one understand your viewpoint and concerns on this topic, but this is a free message board with rules open to interpretation by the mods and admins. They're not always perfect, but they are the reason why a place like Huskerboard is great for online discussion and places like netbuffs and tigerboard are generally considered a cesspool if unintelligent blather.

 

Besides, he said the topic will be re-opened if an official statement is released, so it seems like everything will be O.K.

[Kruzu]

It'll be 16 years before my boy commits to DONU and 17 years before he leads them to a B10 & MNC...but anyway I don't think I'll follow the boards for information on his rise to greatness!

[BIGREDIOWAN]

My feeling on the matter is if it's hearsay then we need not beat it to death. If the injury is official, provide a link and we'll discuss it from there. From our standpoint the board goes into meltdown mode when things like this happen. When it's just hearsay people tend to blow up even more, links to the official information helps tie everything together.

[Husker_x]

The day and age where this conversation is even relevant is so far in the rearview mirror you have to squint to even make it out. The fact is by the time someone starts thumb twiddling about the family's wishes all the details are hurtling their way through cyberspace and are casting a web so wide and unstoppable that we might as well quit pretending. The parents are going to find out after a hundred other people anyway unless they happen to be standing in practice. By the time they'd express wishes on how the information should be handled, it's already over. The issue of the parents is something that the University is responsible for, not the fanbase. Communication should be precise and expedient and that's the best you can do.

 

That my friends is the internet. Love it or hate it, that's reality.

[sd'sker]

i thought this thread was about how us fanatics spend too much time on this board and it is straining the relationships we have with our families.

[Enhance]

i thought this thread was about how us fanatics spend too much time on this board and it is straining the relationships we have with our families.

Me too.

[brophog]

Just because I'm a mod doesn't mean I made the right call, so feedback on this is important. Criticize away if you like! I'm definitely going over whether it was the right call or not and whether, if it happened again in a few days or weeks, whether I'd do the same thing or not. One thing I'll agree with is that by now, the parents probably SHOULD know already. I mean, kid probably has a cell phone. I decided to be on the conservative side of the line with this one, but again, I don't know if either is right or wrong.

 

Thanks for your understanding though.

 

People read the internet........message boards are popular. Athletes read them, parents read them, coaches read them. Lots of people read these things.

 

And the internet can get people into trouble. We don't have to list the examples in the sports world of that. The openness of forums and social networking has had an enormous impact in that regard.

 

I'd actually be more conservative than the average mod in the area of message boards involving collegiate athletics, especially. The actions of a message board can get athletes and programs in trouble. Coaches would just rather these boards didn't exist. It's a headache for them.

 

What level of technology a player/parent has and what they should know shouldn't be part of your decision. They don't know everything about their kids. Sometimes guys will say things to their buddies or their coaches that they won't tell their parents and sometimes that gets leaked. Sometimes there are split family issues that occur. There are lots of situations that occur where information gets out or things are said that has a detriment on either the athlete or the program in question.

 

These boards are for the entertainment of the fan. If that gets squelched just a tiny bit at the benefit of the athlete or program then so be it. Message board readers have nothing at stake reading these boards and it is too easy to just be selfish and let your actions as a member of a board to affect those that do have something at stake.

[Marf]

All athletes are given the choice to inform parents at their own discretion, or at least that's how it works at other schools I am familiar with. From a legal perspective, if the athlete is over 18 years of age (I've never met a freshman student-athlete under age before), then it is entirely our choice as to who knows the extent of any injuries.

 

Where I play the press coverage is not NEARLY what it is at NU, but there was one particular instance where a player was hurt, and the parents of said player discovered it over a team messageboard, and became extremely annoyed with the coaching staff. But, neither the coaching staff nor training staff was at fault, so nothing really happened. I would imagine it would be a difficult way to find out.

 

And as for parents reading the message boards: of course they do. Every parent of every player on our team likes to read up what the opinions are on their kids. Its a curiosity thing. If there is some online nickname or fad regarding you, parents will address you as that at team dinners or events, so it becomes obvious pretty quick that they are well within the loop on such things.

[knapplc]

Just because I'm a mod doesn't mean I made the right call, so feedback on this is important. Criticize away if you like! I'm definitely going over whether it was the right call or not and whether, if it happened again in a few days or weeks, whether I'd do the same thing or not. One thing I'll agree with is that by now, the parents probably SHOULD know already. I mean, kid probably has a cell phone. I decided to be on the conservative side of the line with this one, but again, I don't know if either is right or wrong.

 

Thanks for your understanding though.

 

Great post, zoogs. My philosophy is to err on the side of caution every time, and I agree 100% with the locking of the thread. The Mods are not infallible, and I've sure made my share of mistakes, but there are things happening behind the scenes that the regular users are not aware of that make locking threads like that make more sense.

 

Guys, UNL watches these boards, as do many other "concerned parties." We have to remember that this is not just a fun place to come discuss the Huskers, it's also a business, and it's liable for the same legal troubles that any other business is liable for.

 

 

People read the internet........message boards are popular. Athletes read them, parents read them, coaches read them. Lots of people read these things.

 

And the internet can get people into trouble. We don't have to list the examples in the sports world of that. The openness of forums and social networking has had an enormous impact in that regard.

 

I'd actually be more conservative than the average mod in the area of message boards involving collegiate athletics, especially. The actions of a message board can get athletes and programs in trouble. Coaches would just rather these boards didn't exist. It's a headache for them.

 

What level of technology a player/parent has and what they should know shouldn't be part of your decision. They don't know everything about their kids. Sometimes guys will say things to their buddies or their coaches that they won't tell their parents and sometimes that gets leaked. Sometimes there are split family issues that occur. There are lots of situations that occur where information gets out or things are said that has a detriment on either the athlete or the program in question.

 

These boards are for the entertainment of the fan. If that gets squelched just a tiny bit at the benefit of the athlete or program then so be it. Message board readers have nothing at stake reading these boards and it is too easy to just be selfish and let your actions as a member of a board to affect those that do have something at stake.

 

Great post. Regarding the bold, we have been contacted in the recent past about posts on this board. We have had to have discussions about board content in relation to those contacts, and the bottom line is, nobody wants to end up in court over something that's easily handled by a little bit of caution.

 

We'd all like to have complete freedom to discuss everything we want to discuss, but when it's written down somewhere and someone can be held accountable for those words, things change. I think everyone would agree that a slightly cautious HuskerBoard is better than no HuskerBoard at all. Right?

[74Hunter]

I don't have a problem with it personally. It is not as if someone is being slandered or that pay-site information has been compromised.

 

It's a simple rumor, most of these rumors have legs. I think this conversation is much to-do over nothing.

[Husker_x]

1. Can Huskerboard be held legally responsible when fans speculate about rumors of player injuries?

 

2. Was not the injury information discussed taken directly from media sources who tweeted and/or published the information?

 

If the answer both these questions is no, then there was no reason to lock any threads, and it was simply a case of one sensitive mod exercising his authority to disrupt free speech. If the answer is yes––and I mean pertaining to this exact issue, not some hypothetical second thing––then yeah, good call not letting the board collapse under the weight of legal fees.