This will be long, proceed at your own risk:
I posted here for a few years as one of the board originals, and several years before that in another forum with many of the same posters. I took a few years off and recently returned. The reason I took those years off was because the board had become incredibly negative. And I’m not talking about the handful of naysayers and worry warts who populate every board, but I’m talking a total domination of negativity and shutting down anything remotely positive. That was during some really crappy years so I realize that sentiment was to be expected, and in hindsight I was probably overly-sensitive and generally pissed about the state of the program, and maybe I didn’t express it all that well. However, I know I wasn’t the only poster who felt this way, and in the years I was gone, occasionally folks would comment to me about how negative and hostile the board had become to any positive or hopeful opinion. When rivals hit you with “Gator fans want to fire Mullen” type bs, and you realize they got it from a Gator board, that’s a problem. One of the last conversations I had before I left was about Marcus Maye. My point was that he was a good player for us, very solid safety, on some really bad UF teams. This opinion was met with some serious backlash about how crappy and horrible, etc Marcus Maye was, worst safety ever, etc. Hindsight says I was right about Maye, judging by his 38 career starts for the Jets and solid play in general at the NFL level. But it could have been any player, coach, administrator or really anything to do with the program. It sucked, we sucked, he sucked, they sucked.
The problem with that mentality is it becomes too tedious to those who just want to post without constantly having to defend UF’s honor. We do that on Twitter or rival message boards. What’s the fun in constantly protecting and defending Florida on the home board? That does not mean we should expect everyone to “nutswing” and “sunshine pump” constantly in favor of UF. All healthy boards have their share of “grumpy/pissy/negative” types, but when the balance swings so far in that direction, it becomes frustrating and exhausting, and why keep returning to a place that leaves you feeling that way?
I’m not asking for anyone to change for me, I’m just sharing my experience. I decided to return because I respect so many of the posters here, I respect Ox, and I enjoy the back and forth, and I’ve missed it. I’ve matured over the years so maybe I’ll better handle all the “I’m a Gator fan but I hate all things Gator” posters.
I’ve enjoyed my few weeks back and I really look forward to all of us being able to comment on recent and current Gator athletics news. I don’t have any recommendations for technical changes, it took me some time to get readjusted to the logistics of the board, but I’ve pretty much got it down now.
Happy posting, everyone.