A brief moment of thanks to the mods

DMZ · February 28, 2008 at 6:48 pm · Filed Under Site information 

Sooooo I’m going to say that the volunteer mod corp’s been great. No complaints, only minor power-mongering, continued good discussion. So I thought I’d share, because I frequently hear from people that disagree with the comment policy (generally because they’ve just seen something disappear, but often they’re just concerned.

Below, the horror. This is a new user’s first three comments:

#

takeru51 | [***]@[***] | IP: 71.188.245.81

What is the deal with this site? i really don’t understand whats up with the people here. Considering you state that Lincoln’s claims are “at first glance, provably false,” it’s astounding that you don’t have any of this evidence on hand to back up your claims.

It’s not hard, at all, to see that the Mariners were indeed 6th in payroll last year with over $100 million. Seeing as that was the first time the team had ever spent more than $100 million on a season, I’m pretty sure that qualifies as a franchise record.
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/sports/2003572621_marimoney15.html

I’m interested to see your evidence about how the average payroll in ‘92 wasn’t $35-40 mil, and I seriously doubt that you actually know whether or not the Mariner’s payroll has been increasing in recent years, since you didn’t even know what it was last year.

Also, while Lincoln’s quote is arguably a bit misleading, the Seattle/Tacoma market is actually 14th in the country… Just behind St.Petersberg/Tampa (according to the Nielson Company). Pretty sure the Rays have a lower payroll than the mariners.

For a site that claims to look at statistics, this site sure seems to have a lot of opinion based information.

Feb 28, 4:02 PM — [ Edit | Delete | Unapprove | Approve | Spam ] — A goldmine of Howard Lincoln goodness

#

#

takeru51 | [***]@[***] | IP: 71.188.245.81

You should be using statistics from multiple years. That way if somebody had a fluke year last year you can determine whether or not there will be any regression toward the mean.

Feb 28, 4:26 PM — [ Edit | Delete | Unapprove | Approve | Spam ] — 2008 USSM/LL Community Projections

And me:

DMZ | milhous@ussmariner.com | ussmariner.com | IP: 216.231.49.161

it’s astounding that you don’t have any of this evidence on hand to back up your claims.

What makes you think we don’t have evidence on hand?

It’s not hard, at all, to see that the Mariners were indeed 6th in payroll last year with over $100 million.

Our complaints with the Seattle Times continually printing whatever payroll figures the M’s give them are well-chronicled here, but suffice it to say that they’re just this side of total fiction.

The USA Today payroll figures have the M’s seventh, behind the Dodgers, with a $107m payroll.

I’m pretty sure that qualifies as a franchise record.

The argument was with the statement that every year it’s a record, which is clearly not true – go look at the M’s payroll over time and you’ll see where it dips.

I’m interested to see your evidence about how the average payroll in ‘92 wasn’t $35-40 mil,

That’s not what Howard was saying. In 1992 the M’s payroll was $22.5m. You can go look that up yourself.

and I seriously doubt that you actually know whether or not the Mariner’s payroll has been increasing in recent years, since you didn’t even know what it was last year.

Uh huh. I can see where taking a different viewpoint than the one you seem to hold clearly establishes that I have no idea what I’m talking about.

For a site that claims to look at statistics, this site sure seems to have a lot of opinion based information.

You seem to be willing to make a lot of fact-free assumptions about what I do and don’t know.

#

takeru51 | [***]@[***].com | IP: 71.188.245.81

If you have the facts, lay them out. If all you do is say things that you claim are based on facts, why should anybody take you at your word? Oh, you don’t like the Seattle Times? That means they must not know anything. Since you’re obviously biased, fuck off.

In the meantime, I’ll go back to fucking your mother. This site blows, as do you. If you’re so good at knowing how baseball works, why aren’t you a manager?

()()========D O-: < – that’s you, mr. DMZ. Have a good day! This comment is free of spelling errors! Feb 28, 5:58 PM — [ Edit | Delete | Unapprove | Approve | Spam ] — A goldmine of Howard Lincoln goodness

My wife saw that and said “What an angry person. Why would you write that?” Admittedly, she’s biased.

I mention this not to embarrass takeru51 — I don’t know him, and I don’t know what’s going on with his life, or what the circumstances are, and I don’t pretend to understand what his motivations were. I mention this to make a point:
– this is the stuff that disappears without so much as a clever bracketed comment
– this — someone registers and blows up – happens pretty frequently. Not every day, but at least once a week, and increasingly more frequently as our reader base has grown
the internet kinda sucks

But this is what the mods volunteered to see and wade through. I have no idea why they’re willing to put up with it, but I know the site’s all the richer for having them this last while.

So thanks to Graham, and Jeff, and Mike, and Jim, who had to drop out. Having been around to see this outburst today reminds me how little I miss seeing these kind of things as often as I used to.

Comments

38 Responses to “A brief moment of thanks to the mods”

  1. scraps on February 28th, 2008 7:08 pm

    Yeah, that kind of shit is why I stopped moderating high-volume sites. These guys are doing a great job. And you and Dave set the tone. It’s great to read a sports site with such a small percentage of half-literate, popoff, psycho, ellipsis and exclamation point-laden comments.

  2. dlb on February 28th, 2008 7:12 pm

    Wow that’s bad. Thanks for all you do.

  3. Taylor H on February 28th, 2008 7:26 pm

    Wow. Makes me aspire to someday be a mod, in hopes of ridding this site of that sort of trash. Thanks moderators, for making USSM a better place for optimists and pessimists alike!

  4. TheEmrys on February 28th, 2008 7:27 pm

    I’ve done a fair amount of modding on some high-volume sites, and truly, the burn out rate is high. Maybe some sort of end-time for them might be an idea. If only where they can say, “God this sucks, but at least I’ve only got to make it to….” I’m not sure if a rotation would work. I mean, where are you going to find a fifth starter? With your budget? Maybe one of the smaller sites can have someone called up…… /weirdness

  5. lailaihei on February 28th, 2008 7:36 pm

    Thanks mods! I’ve seen some of these hateful posts before they get modded, but I’m sure a lot more come through than I see thanks to you.
    A good mod team is seriously integral in keeping the goodness of a site, and this site is still good.

  6. Jeff Nye on February 28th, 2008 7:39 pm

    The minor power-mongering, by the way?

    That’s all me, baby.

  7. DMZ on February 28th, 2008 7:48 pm

    I’m reconsidering this post, now that it’s up… I’m not sure it’s useful to post comments I hope someone will want to forget soon, even if they’re demonstrative of the frequently-flung shit.

  8. abender20 on February 28th, 2008 7:48 pm

    Keep on modding, mods!

    I’m quite happy to not have to see garbage like that each time look through comments.

    I really enjoyed the ever-mature penis drawing. Maybe Takeru is Takeru Kobayashi and eating all those hot dogs leaves his head muddled with phallic thoughts?

  9. scraps on February 28th, 2008 7:51 pm

    DMZ, you could always just remove the userID from the quoted comments.

  10. DMZ on February 28th, 2008 7:57 pm

    Yeahhhhhh, but I’m still not sure that the post does any good, for lack of a better word. I’m sure people who pay attention already know this stuff comes in… and… I don’t know.

  11. Sparhawk2k on February 28th, 2008 8:11 pm

    It’s a bit silly and maybe not horribly productive but it was nice to be reminded how bad it could be. It makes me more appreciative of all the other comments.

  12. tk on February 28th, 2008 8:13 pm

    Please leave this up.

    As a lurker, this is part of why I love coming to this site. I have very little desire to comment, but I have even less desire to read inane comments like those that the mods keep off of the site. Sometimes lurkers, infrequent commenters, irrational fans, et al. need to be reminded that good discussion on the internet is not easy to come by. If the price of an intelligent private website is occasionally heavy handed moderation, so be it.

    Keep up the good work.

  13. TheEmrys on February 28th, 2008 8:26 pm

    Jeff Nye…. I went to school with a guy by that name. I’d forgotten about him. Wierd.

  14. jlc on February 28th, 2008 8:30 pm

    I’m so clueless I didn’t even understand the drawing until someone explained it. I understand less why it’s worth someone’s time be an anonymous miscreant. I may not comment a lot here, but I read through the threads a few times a day. It’s a little slice of heaven when work, kids, parents, life in general continues its normal out-of-control spin. Thanks greatly to those who make this a place I can look forward to.

  15. joser on February 28th, 2008 8:38 pm

    Hilarious. I was reading that thinking “when I get to the comments I have to post a link to penny-arcade” and there it was.

    I really enjoyed the ever-mature penis drawing.

    That is what that was? Man, I used to be pretty good at interpreting ASCII art… back when that’s all we had. Mind you, back then the artists were better, too. (This guy resorted to ASCII? Really? There’s this thing called google images, kid! Links aren’t, uh, hard!) But maybe then (like takenu51 apparently is now) I was more penis-oriented, or -driven, or -something so these associations would come, uh, quicker… oh, never mind.

  16. thefin190 on February 28th, 2008 8:54 pm

    I love the comic you linked to Derek. I cracked up when I read it because its so true. I wouldn’t think 99% of the people to talk crap like that to someone on the internet would have to balls to say the same thing to someone in person.

    Thanks guys for keeping this site so great! This is the only place I come to get my unbiased Mariners news and analysis.

  17. beef on February 28th, 2008 8:59 pm

    if this doesn’t say it all.

    http://xkcd.com/386/

  18. bubblegumcrisis on February 28th, 2008 9:09 pm

    “()()========D O-: < – that’s you, mr. DMZ. Have a good day!”

    At least that was somewhat funny!

  19. Big Mac on February 28th, 2008 9:34 pm

    Thank you, moderators. I read enough message boards or blogs with comments to know what a big difference intelligent moderation makes. Keep up the good work!

  20. milendriel on February 28th, 2008 9:43 pm

    What’s really funny is that, of all the blog entries here, it’d be one about Howard Lincoln that caused the guy to go apeshit.

  21. Kazinski on February 28th, 2008 9:59 pm

    That probably was Howard.

  22. joser on February 28th, 2008 10:45 pm

    Evil Howard. (How do you tell the difference? Perhaps he’s like a magnetic monopole?)

    beef — and to bring it full circle.

  23. Teej on February 28th, 2008 10:45 pm

    Thanks, mods.

    And I have to say that while this may not be an incredibly useful post, it does illuminate for the rest of us the kind of garbage you guys have to put up with every day. I know you don’t want to whine (“Oh, look how bad I have it! Cry for me!”), but it is interesting to see.

    Also, I’m kind of a sucker for watching idiots be publicly humiliated. Not idiots as in people who simply don’t understand, but idiots like this guy whose main purpose in life seems to be being a prick on the Internet. My two cents . . .

    Anyway, again, thanks for all you guys do.

  24. William D on February 28th, 2008 11:29 pm

    My wife saw that and said “What an angry person. Why would you write that?”

    When I read similar comments on other blogs (and comments like this are especially common in the political context), I think exactly the same thing. People who would take the time to write these things (and you can be about 90% sure they would not have the balls to say something like that to you… which also says something… ) are just so pathetic they are almost pitiable.

    I echo the thanks the mods.

  25. buhnerpinetar on February 29th, 2008 5:52 am

    People like that make me so mad. Just because they’re hiding behind their computer screen they feel like they are the smartest person in the world and everyone else is completely inferior. Ridiculous. I might not agree with everything that’s written on this website, but by no means do I feel like I’m smarter or better than you. Thanks for not being afraid to state your opinions and moderating idiots like this guy. Keep it up and go M’s!!!

    Random thought: Bring back John Olerud to be first base coach. He’s already used to wearing the new required helmets that all the base coaches are complaining about.

  26. eternal on February 29th, 2008 7:13 am

    I’m OK with the modding. If this was yahoo forums, fine, but this site has a specific reasoning around it and I believe it is OK to keep everyone on that. Thanks to the mods!

  27. smb on February 29th, 2008 7:31 am

    takeru can spend $250 a pop to take his family of four to a few games this year, watch the potential go-ahead run get picked off at first to end the game, and walk out with a smile because of the wholesome goodness of the M’s organizational philosophy and the fact that his wife got to knit in her seat. I salute you, takeru. This team would never be able to middle on forever in rank mediocrity without your ardent support.

  28. mln on February 29th, 2008 8:17 am

    This just goes to show that Howard Lincoln is one of the most beloved members of the Mariner family, more so than even Edgar, Ichiro, or Dave Niehaus. Mocking Howard will not stand!

  29. go_cougs on February 29th, 2008 8:49 am

    I have not noticed power mongering. Besides if those examples are what the moderators face, I think a small amount of power mongering should be part of the moderators benefits package, like the free subscription to USS Mariner.

  30. Mike Snow on February 29th, 2008 9:16 am

    takeru can spend $250 a pop to take his family of four to a few games this year, watch the potential go-ahead run get picked off at first to end the game, and walk out with a smile because of the wholesome goodness of the M’s organizational philosophy and the fact that his wife got to knit in her seat.

    What, is there something wrong with wanting to knit at a baseball game? My wife almost always takes her knitting when we go. Keep in mind that if you’re a decent knitter you can do a lot of it without looking, it’s not like she’s ignoring the game. So don’t mock knitting or I’ll ban you. (Gotta keep up with Jeff on the minor power-mongering.)

  31. Evan on February 29th, 2008 9:35 am

    if this doesn’t say it all.

    http://xkcd.com/386/

    I’ll admit, I do this all the time. Not so much here, but there are places where I will spend hours refuting claims I find silly.

    This is why I shouldn’t be allowed to be a mod, though.

  32. smb on February 29th, 2008 10:06 am

    Ah, the opposition isn’t against knitting at the game in principle so much as knitting at the game as a marketing angle. But, ban away, I still find it incredibly lame, can’t take it back now.

  33. MickieB on February 29th, 2008 11:09 am

    to DMZ – I assume you’re questioning the logic of having put this up on the site as wise decision. Perhaps you think you’ve stooped to this person’s level by continuing the foolishness? I must say, as a long time member of social sites, this type of stuff is so common. I had almost forgotten that that kind of nonsense goes one since it is so hardly ever seen here. In my opinion, you did a good thing by reminding us all how very nice it is to not have to deal with that stuff. Agree or not, like it or not, the pure unadulterated information gained on this site is a joy.
    On a side note: I wonder if that all started before or after Jeff’s comment in the Barry Bonds thread about how everyone was playing so nicely?

  34. Jeff Nye on February 29th, 2008 11:28 am

    On a side note: I wonder if that all started before or after Jeff’s comment in the Barry Bonds thread about how everyone was playing so nicely?

    It was after, I think, but I don’t think it was related.

    As Derek touched on in the post, we do on a fairly regular basis have someone show up and their first (or sometimes second) comment is one of a few things:

    1) This site sucks, why do you hate the Mariners
    2) This site sucks, you are all number geeks
    3) This site sucks, and I played a year of high school baseball so I know more than you
    4) This site sucks, (string of expletives)

    Some of it gets through for you guys to see; the majority of it, we are able to catch before it has the opportunity to derail a discussion.

    When I agreed to become a mod, it was for one reason alone; so that Derek, Dave, and JMB could focus more on creating good site content and spend less time babysitting comments like these and getting frustrated.

    Oh, and for the minor power-mongering. Can’t forget that!

  35. MickieB on February 29th, 2008 11:36 am

    And I forgot to say Thank YOU to all the mods. It’s a dirty, soul-sucking job sometimes, I’m sure. I wouldn’t do it for the love of anything.
    You are all greatly appreciated.

  36. SequimRealEstate on February 29th, 2008 1:49 pm

    [no posting people’s personal info, please, whether they posted dumb things or not]

  37. SpokaneMsFan on February 29th, 2008 2:24 pm

    Thanks from me too!

  38. galaxieboi on February 29th, 2008 3:08 pm

    Yeah, awesome work guys.

    Don’t take it down, please. I got a good laugh out of his last post. Funny s***.

Leave a Reply

You must be logged in to post a comment.