Couldn’t agree more about community moderators. Howeveh! I think to just dismiss @Eric_Denver as an unrelenting troll is a bit much. I’ve said it before, I’m not coming to white knight for him but my god you guys let him in your heads so easily. I honestly don’t see a single thing wrong with anything he’s posted in this thread. It becomes disgustingly sanctimonious around here really quickly and anyone who dare to have a differing opinion from the dozen or so “end bosses” of the refuge just gets lambasted. That energy is as bad as anything he brings imo. I just can’t for the life of me understand why you guys let him get under your skin so much. Hate to say it, but a lot of his posts (while I certainly do not always agree) are more well thought out than many others here. It amazes me that he continues to try.
Also, this could very well be the pot calling the kettle black for some here.
He’s not wrong, he’s just an asshole.
I don’t necessarily mean him alone. I mean letting topics devolve into completely unrelated arguments about race and other non-golf bickering.
I don’t care who are the ones partaking in it. All it does is drive the regulars away and make it increasingly more intimidating for new posters to get involved. Pretty tough to hop in and say how much you loved the new Strapped episode when 4 people are arguing about how they should raise their children or about why Baltimore is such a shitty city.
I’m not sure I follow you or see what you’re getting at here. Care to elaborate on this?
People call disagreement trolling now. I don’t understand it.
Trolling is purposefully stating stupid arguments to piss people off. I haven’t seen much of that besides " tell me one negative about labor party policy."
Just that some people around here may not realize they are ruining the experience for many others also. They would be the first to argue people like Ed are ruining the refuge without taking a look at themselves.
For the record, I don’t think anyone is “ruining the refuge”
Is this to insinuate I’m an asshole for my thoughts or about Ed?
Old Bay on corn on the cob is a game changer.
i’m all for stating your opinion…and conversing about it…debating it even…
but pages and pages of borderline ranting…about a topic that has gotten so far away from the original topic…and then beating it again and again…
if i wanted to read arguments about race…i’d absolutely find another place.
I came here for golf takes and GOLF ADJACENT takes…I have yet to see a specific person here discuss anything related to golf. and that ruins my experience. but thanks for showing me how to exercise the block. all good until April.
It is, that person is just a blip on the radar
I’m obviously talking about ed.
Haha thought so
Personally loved this. As I’m in Scotland, I am unlikely to go many golf holidays in the states - and realistically not to the types of courses Strapped are rocking up to.
But I’ve managed to bizarrely get myself into following the Orioles and visited Baltimore in a September as part of a baseball trip. Hope to definitely return to the Baltimore / DC area in the future.
This series has definitely given me an even better affinity with Baltimore and @KVV’s contributions are excellent.
So mon the Ravens and mon the Orioles rebuild!
I see the irony of me posting this response in this thread, but…
In my opinion certain topics should be kept on topic. Threads like this one that talks about NLU shows/podcast/etc. should stay on topic. It’s only fair to the NLU guys that if people come to their forum to talk about one of their products, they should be able to do that. @Soly has tried to point this out in the past, but most people were vocal against it.
As for other topics, I can see the value of going down rabbit holes. It sparks discussion, conversation, and engagement. I don’t do it intentionally, but I’m just as guilty as others for taking threads off-topic. It’s even become a refuge joke now. @anon26814599 jokes all the time that this is a food forum that talks about golf. I somehow completely missed the threads that got ED banned the first time, so my only experiences are since he came back. He can certainly be exhausting at times, but he is certainly not the only person to act like this and I would even go as far to say he’s not the worst. But unfortunately he has earned a bad reputation and is looked at differently. It’s his fault he’s in that situation, but that doesn’t mean he doesn’t bring some value.
I think community moderators could be a good thing, but I think they would have to be very careful who they pick. There are already a few strong voices that already greatly influence how discussion flow. If they are given power to literally control how topics evolve, that would be a very bad thing for the long-term health of the Refuge.
As a life-long Orioles fan, I’m sorry. We’re a great franchise, but will give you a lot of frustrations.
Only makes the good days even better Tim!
But given the evening games start at midnight my time, there hasn’t been much to stay up for the last couple of seasons.
Exactly.
I agree. The playoff runs were fun, but even they ended in frustration. I really haven’t invested much time into the team the last couple years. But as my kids get older, I’m sure start going to Oriole games. The only advantage to having a bad team is cheap tickets.
If you ever come back to Baltimore, let me know. We’ll hit up a local course and then go to an O’s game.
Ha, I’ll hold you to that.
I don’t really get what there is to “moderate” here. Of course there are exceptions and threads sometimes get out of hand, but I’ve read everything here and this surely isn’t that.
It wouldn’t be a very interesting show if everyone thought, “Wow. That place IS great.”
I think @Eric_Denver has made some fair (and, for better or worse, widely-agreed-with) points about white-washing complex issues, and if anything it shows just how much more of an uphill battle it is to change the public perception about a place that I’ve grown to really love.
Disagreement is good. This place would be very weird without it.