Well, we certainly wouldn't want to hurt anyone's feelings.
The recruiting myths grow every year. Someone always claims that negative posts on message boards like this hurt recruiting, now I've been informed that booing at games hurts recruiting. I don't believe either one of them for a nanosecond. If a prospect is basing his decisions on things like that, then go somewhere else.
I see this line of thought with EVERY school out there. I played a sport in college and still am friends with several others from different schools: guys I played with and guys I played against--and other athletes who were in different sports (football, included).
The Notre Dame players all complain about their fans and how they expect to compete every year for national titles. Same with Texas. Same with LSU and Arkansas. Same with EVERY other fanbase, period.
And EVERY other fanbase has a few people that say "we can't say anything negative about the coaches..or players..or the school..because then we'll lose recruits."
The reality is: it's such a minuscule factor in a recruit's mind that it doesn't even merit serious discussion. The vast majority of high school student athletes commit to a school because: 1) think they offer the best opportunity to get better at your sport and 2) think they offer the best opportunity for playing time. Sure...loving the school and its traditions play a part--but for elite talent at major sports? It's a secondary thing. And since EVERY fanbase has obnoxious fans--it's not even a tactic coaches have much success with in negative recruiting another school. Guaranteed: if someone tried to point to UF's internet message boards about Franks...the inevitable response by a UF coach will be to dig up comments about a QB (or incoming QB recruit) from certain fanboards from Bama, georgia, LSU, etc. Guaranteed that no fanbase is innocent there. It's why no coaches actually uses that to any degree of success.
Athletes DO roll their eyes at ignorant comments from keyboard warriors, sure; but it's pretty widely understood as a part of being an elite athlete at a top-tier program.