Throughout the years, this site has attempted to make Game Threads enjoyable for all sorts of fans, regardless of how they root. It is difficult to find a balance between allowing fans with a more pessimistic outlook an outlet to vent about the team and the games and allowing more positive fans to root without feeling that they are being overwhelmed by all of the negativity in the Game Threads. Because of this, Jim F. has spoken out in the past on the topic of excessive negativity. You can read those threads here:
http://forums.nyyfans.com/showthread.php?t=70263
http://forums.nyyfans.com/showthread.php?t=81720
This has also led to the addition of Game Thread moderators.
Due to many complaints about excessive negativity in the GTs this past season despite the threads above and the presence of GT mods, we have attempted to more clearly define Excessive Negativity with the help of several forumers. Below is a clarification of excessive negativity as it comes to negative predictions, and below that is a list of reminders about what kind of behavior is and is not allowed in the Game Threads. We will be making sure that the rules are closely followed this season.
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Negative predictions under normal circumstances will NOT be allowed in the Game Threads this year. Any such predictions will result in a warning, followed by a GT suspension for the second offense.
A negative prediction is defined as follows: "Any post in which a poster specifically says that something bad for the Yankees will happen, or specifically says that something good for the Yankees will not happen."
Some examples of posts that would be considered negative predictions:
Yankees up 4-2 on the Mariners, Bottom 8, Farnsworth coming in: “Great, here’s Farnsworth. 5-4 Mariners.”
Yankees down 2-1, Man on first, A-rod up, “Chances of A-rod getting a big hit here: 0%”
Yanks up 4-3 against the Red Sox, Man on first, Ortiz up: “homer coming up here,” or “What are the chances he doesn’t hit a homer here?” or "I'm feeling 5-4 Sox"
First inning, 0-0, the Indians hit a 3 run homer: “Game over,” or, “Well, there’s always tomorrow,” or, "We have no chance to win this game."
A few important things to remember about the above examples:We can not emphasize number two enough, but all three of the above rules are important to remember.
- They apply to ALL PLAYERS and ALL SITUATIONS.
- If one of your negative predictions comes true, IT DOES NOT MEAN THAT IT WAS NOT A NEGATIVE PREDICTION. YOU CAN STILL BE WARNED/SUSPENDED FOR IT EVEN IF YOU SAY ORTIZ WILL HOMER AND HE DOES.
- The above sample posts are not, and were not meant to be, an exhaustive list of what constitutes a negative prediction by any means. If you think it’s a negative prediction, it probably is, so say it in a different way. If you’d like further clarification on a specific post that you were thinking of making, feel free to send it to one of the GT Mods (Soriambi, Socal Pinstriper, Tifoso, Bub, or IntangiblesRule) and we’ll let you know if it’s okay.
Some examples of posts that would NOT be against our negative prediction rule:
Yankees up 4-2 on the Mariners, Bottom 8, Farnsworth coming in: “No, Joe; not Farnsworth,” or, “I really don’t have a good feeling about this based on how Farns is pitching”
Yanks up 4-3 against the Red Sox, Man on first, Ortiz up: “This is scary.”
First inning, 0-0, the Indians hit a 3 run homer: “Well, that’s quite a hole to climb out of early.”
2-1 Yanks in the 2nd, 0 outs, Yankee bunts another Yankee to second: "I don't like the bunt at all there; that could cost us a few runs."
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In addition to the new negative prediction rule, the GT Mods would like to remind you of a few rules that are already in place.
- First, saying that any player/manager/coach sucks is not allowed under any circumstances. It does not matter how bad the player is, and it does not matter what they did. This comes directly from the Community Standards, which are linked at the bottom of this post, where Jim uses "Player X sucks" as an example of player bashing. Important: This also applies to broadcasters, umpires, and anyone else involved with the games, as well as to Yankees management, including but not limited to: Brian Cashman and the Steinbrenners. To clarify a bit further, it is very different to criticize a player, manager, or ump's performance by saying it sucks than it is to just say that the person sucks. For instance, saying "Wow, Mussina sucks today" when he's given up seven runs or, "Girardi's decision to bunt there sucked" or "that called sucked; he was safe." will likely be viewed in a better light than saying "Mussina sucks," or "Girardi sucks" or, "THE UMPS SUCK."
- Second, name calling is not allowed. Once again, this includes announcers, so "calling the Fox announcers *uck and McBarfer or anything like that, or using nicknames like Farnsworthless to refer to Yankees or, for instance, Fairytek to refer to Jason Varitek, are not allowed. Normal nicknames (like Godzilla, etc, are obviously allowed.)
- Third, using stars, underscores, or alternate spellings to disguise curse words that are otherwise blocked by this forum's filters is not allowed. The words that are banned are banned for a reason. Saying, for instance, f*ck or fcuk or phuck or F_uck doesn't help, and is not allowed, as it has the same effect as the actual word.
The above is far from an exhaustive list of all GT rules. If anyone has any questions about any of the rules above, or about whether any behavior that is not specifically listed above is allowed, feel free to contact one of the GT Mods. The GT Mods are Socal Pinstriper, Bub, Tifoso, Soriambi, and IntangiblesRule.
- Finally, it is important that all GTers respect the opinion of other GTs even if they disagree with it. Again, this comes straight from the CS, linked below.
The link to the Community Standards follows:
http://www.nyyfans.com/communityStandards.php
