The 2017 state of the board discussion thread

URGatorBait

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One of you mods deleted all the poolside bikini pictures. Don't know why. None were risque. These aren't "models". They're real Gator girls wearing what they wear on Spring Break.

Not a "like" whore. When threads get a little testy, I like to toss in some humor or T&A to lighten the mood. Every now and then we need to be reminded what we have in common. We're ALL Gators. We ALL love the Gators. We're not 'Noles or Vols or 'Dwags. We're Orange & Blue, through and through. Gator born and Gator bred and when we die we'll be Gator dead.

And we ALL love Gator hotties (even Queenie, despite her idea of hotties being very different than mine).

If you want my serious input on this thread for a moment, I'll keep it short (for a change). I like that we don't censor ourselves. I don't like that every single thread has to devolve into Mac sucks and Foley sucks. If the thread is about recruiting, somebody will have an opinion (a correct one) that Mac isn't a good recruiter so far and Foley let our facilities fall behind which hurts. That's reasonable. You expect that in that thread. If the thread is about O'Dome renovations or your all-time favorite left guard, then there's no need to hijack that thread into Mac sucks and Foley sucks. It's the hijacking that's sometimes a problem.

And I (for one) like having both pumpers and dumpers. It's nice to get different perspectives.

Oh, and Erin Andrews just because I can.

erin-andrews-hot.jpg



Alex.
See, you're doing it again, being all likable and crap :shakehead:
 

L-boy

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Oct 16, 2014
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This is a great point! Hell, the negaters are the thin skinned ones.

Back in the time of Nole-boy at whorechant he (I) frequently criticized other Nole complaining fans for being "Neganoles".
 

aka

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I Deliver
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I think this thread is nothing but a ploy to get us butt hurt posters back.

F'n Ox.

Of course, did you really expect anything to change?
 

GatorBart

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:bandit:
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My $.02 is that I think fewer people will be annoyed if we all did a better job of staying on topic. I would elaborate more, but I'm on vacation and my pregnant wife is ready to go to dinner.
I assume you'll do the ordering?
rononbacon500x281.gif
 

Gatormac2112

The Voice of Reason
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Sep 7, 2014
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Theres really no way to "fix" it....I agree with Ox, this needs to be a place to freely cheer and freely vent. Once you start limiting the venting, then it devolves into total censorship at some point. I akso feel like its the offseason and people are naturally less interested in the board. Not alot you can do about that either.

Anybody that would leave because of the negativity didn't belong in the first place in my opinion. Why take it so seriously? Not to mention you can block certain posters if you want. I have been a member of this group since the SOS years and have never thought it too negative....some posters beat a dead horse from time to time, but thats their schtick and I don't care. It would be boring without them.
 

GatorStud

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Score Points, Be Happy
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ff988a398545c90d4c215899c8c71b5b.jpg

We DON'T need no more GSMB/Gainesville Sun hospitality... we were refugees but found a new homeland :cool:
 

Wuerffel4Pres

No offense
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Aug 27, 2016
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I also forgot to add two other things about this board that I like very much.

One, any important information in the world of all Gator sports, I generally seem to find here first. It's nice not to have to go to a thousand different sites to get the info you're looking for. Just go to Gatorchatter. It's guaranteed that someone posted the info you need and if not, it's probably because the news isn't out there ... yet.

Two, all of my physical Gator family and friends live far far away from me. So it's nice to have a place to go to talk Gator sports with. Even if I don't post, I feel like part of another group of Gator friends just by reading the threads.
 

Zambo

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Welcome to 2017 and the interweb ladies and gentlemen. Its a rough ride and getting rougher.

15-20 years ago, the only people you talked to all day were friends, family, coworkers, etc that you met face to face or talked to on the phone. Just about the only people who talked AT you were news anchors and DJs. Now, EVERYBODY has a far reaching voice. And boy do they like to use it.

But that isn't even the real story because if you heard everybody's voice equally, you would get a nice range of opinions that truly runs the spectrum of every topic. Because that is how real life is with real people. And, face to face, people temper their exuberance or their hate or whatever emotion is at hand, because face to face, people are polite. Just think about the difference between how you interact with someone you disagree with in person vs. how you might "disagree" with them while driving down the road (think screaming and obscene gestures because somebody wants to drive a different speed than you deem appropriate).

The internet is road rage on steroids. And the polite way we moderate ourselves in real society goes out the window when talking to "someone" who you'll never meet in real life. Every discussion, whether its sports or politics or whatever, is mostly carried on by the people who are the most passionate about the subject. Here's a hint...when you're passionate about something you generally aren't that even keeled or moderate. Take Gator fans for instance....the real passionate fans fall into two categories: 1st are the ones who always think the OnB are the best no matter what, and if we didn't win today for sure we'll bounce back and win tomorrow! You may label these people "pumpers." 2nd are the ones who are so proud of their program that they can't bear to ever see us lose a game. Every loss is a travesty and drastic action must be taken immediately to correct this horrible injustice. Of course, these are the "neGators."

The fact is that most of us really fall somewhere in the middle and as such don't have quite the passion that either group possesses. Ergo, we aren't very likely to spend as much time commenting of every facet of every play in every game. As such, the conversations are going to be had by the pumpers and the negators. It is totally natural.

Is politics any different? Think of any controversial subject, from gun control to abortion to immigration to welfare to elections to taxes, etc. I'd be willing to bet that the VAST majority of Americans have moderate opinions about every one of those subjects. The right approach to abortion is probably somewhere between charging someone with murder every time his sperm goes unused and killing a crying child simply because the cord hasn't been cut yet. The right approach to gun control is probably somewhere between issuing everybody a flamethrower and an M-1 tank or going door to door arresting everybody who owns a BB gun. You get the idea. But because these people aren't the wackos on the extreme ends of the situation, they aren't nearly as likely to go on the interwebs and start proclaiming this and that to anyone who will listen.

The net effect is that every conversation is controversial and the dominant voices are the most confrontational. It isn't a mirror of society, just a predictable symptom of unfettered information sharing. Sometimes it feels like the death of moderation, as its hard to be what I call "aggressively moderate." You try that around here mister and you'll just be labeled as wishy-washy. I prefer the term reasonable. Anyway, it doesn't have to be the death of moderation unless we let it. Understanding this online dynamic and realizing how the real world differs from the perception one might get from reading the internet is a critical thinking skill that probably needs to be discussed more often and perhaps even taught in school from a pretty young age.

What is the answer to running a forum such as this? Every group I've ever been a part of has been a reflection of its leader. This is a great website because Ox and the mods have done (for the most part) an exceptional job of letting people vent, smack talk, emote, banter etc without too much censorship or heavy-handedness. There have been plenty of times when people have been censored, booted, banned, whatever but only just enough to keep the place together. I think that is the right approach. Some people won't handle the smack well....that is to be expected. There is one thing I know and that is if you try and make something that everybody likes, you get something that nobody really likes. Bland, boring, and tasteless.

Did I mention Bland?
 

78

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If you were the CEO of Sears, would you be a pumper or negator?
 

oxrageous

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We've had 200 members log in since I started this thread, but only 77 have commented. Pipe up, weenies! We want to hear from you.
 

Gator98MD

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I'm calling BS on the subject of this thread. I believe it's an offseason clickbait ploy to drive up traffic. I enjoyed your nicely crafted resignation letters from the alleged poster that left though Ox. You must've killed it in creative writing class
 

gatormandan

Are we back yet?
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I'm calling BS on the subject of this thread. I believe it's an offseason clickbait ploy to drive up traffic. I enjoyed your nicely crafted resignation letters from the alleged poster that left though Ox. You must've killed it in creative writing class

He really is a slut isnt he?
 

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