What has happened to Orangebloods posters?

[J.R. Ewing]

Let me preface what I'm about to say with this: I am a member of Orangebloods. I have been for the last 4 years. I find their news and information to be top notch. I believe they do their best to report news accurately and vet their sources. I find Geoff and Chip to be top reporters and I value their reports and information they provide.

 

However, over the last 12 months, it seems that I can't post anything without attacks on my character, my intelligence or even people claiming things about me without even knowing me. I get tired of the message board antics. It seems that 99% of the posters are interested in insulting or attacking the OP and subsequent replies. Has anyone else noticed this behavior or am I only seeing what irritates me?

[Topstarr]

you are seeing right.

[paidinfull23]

OB started falling off 3 or 4 years ago.

[borocat]

I too am a OB member. As well as IT. I find myself on OB less and less for the same reasons. I feel like it's turned into the Main Board with a bunch of juvenile posters that probably got free subs from Ketch and Co. I've been a member there going on 8 yrs and it's just not the same. I've been debating on canceling due to those things you are describing. I really like this site for the information and delivery of it. Seems like a more mature crowd. I guess I feel like Ketch has let the product go to cash in on more money.

[joeywa]

The community has grown larger, and as with any village, it changes when it becomes a town, changes when it becomes a city, and changes when it becomes a thriving metropolis. Some of the changes that occur are positive, some are not, but they come with growth. What is important is how the mayor and city council handles growth. In OBs case, (and I've been a member going back to the Austin360/TheUniversity.com days,) the council is spread too thin to be both mods and maintain their daily contributions on recruiting, team analysis/coverage, and everything else.

 

What I have seen here, and the growth has come quickly, is that this place is creating infrastructure to maintain some semblance of order and moderation that is not solely the responsibility of the content-contributing few. As this places grows, I think it will require more mods to handle the traffic, but if current direction holds to form, I don't think that will be an issue.

 

I still hang around OB, it just takes a bit more filtering to get to the info that I am looking for when I'm looking for it.

 

For here, I would like to see the mods allow posts that are OT stay on the BOB, provided it's a high traffic post. I realize that's a very fine line on what will be allowed and what won't but it would be nice.

[drgilbert]

This is the only board I have ever been on. I got lucky and found THE ONE on my first try! HS forever baby!

[DougNTexas]

You can not do radio gigs for hours and police the web site at the same time too. Many posters have little to add to Orangebloods so they just attack. There was a time when Ketch did not allow posters from other schools, but now he just sits back and counts his money and any thing goes. It is a shame. Censorship must be used wisely, but it must also be used firmly. It is a tough balance. Ketch sit right there and watched the ugliness run off the insiders without lifting a finger. I guess it did not matter to him.

[orangeflow]

I am on OB but post little....just read the main topics...hard to discuss anything without being handed your head. This site is refreshing in that you are giving freedom to discuss both sides of a topic without repercussions.

[joeywa]

You can not do radio gigs for hours and police the web site at the same time too. Many posters have little to add to Orangebloods so they just attack. There was a time when Ketch did not allow posters from other schools, but now he just sits back and counts his money and any thing goes. It is a shame. Censorship must be used wisely, but it must also be used firmly. It is a tough balance. Ketch sit right there and watched the ugliness run off the insiders without lifting a finger. I guess it did not matter to him.

 

I believe the bigger picture is that a lot of long-time members have left or are leaving. Insiders come/go, depending upon who they "know" in the program. It can change at any time. Long-time posters are any website's bread & butter. Those are the folks you should engage about what they see, what keeps them there and what makes them leave. That's steady money.

[HookemDTX]

OB started falling off 3 or 4 years ago.

 

That would be about the time Burton and Hamilton left.

[joeywa]

That would be about the time Burton and Hamilton left.

Also about the time that UT Football went into the crapper.

[DougNTexas]

That is true Joey. The old posters for the most part have fled or are not posting much. Place has lost so much in the last couple years. Far cry from what it was 10 years ago. I left once this year already. I rejoined when the season started, but it is not a easy place any more. More like a zoo.

[alonghorn72]

Geoff has done little to ensure that the board is properly moderated. They have rules that are clearly posted, but NEVER enforced. As we have all seen, the daily attacks on posters and the relentless berating of Mack, players, and staff has become unbearable. I still post but I bring my serious FB discussions and opinions to this board because I know that we can actually have intellectual debates and not resort to the 6 grade antics that run rampant on OB. Orangebloods.com has turned into a cross between a frat house and a 7 grade classroom with a substitute teacher.

[North Texas Golfer]

It's not just Orangebloods. I haven't seen it on here yet but I read Orangebloods, Inside Texas, 247, Shaggy Bevo, Barking Carnival, and Burnt Orange Nation and what the OP describes is happening on all on of them. Not to mention the totally inane, irrelevant threads that are total waste of time to read. But this could also be a by-product of being on a site several years. It might just be getting old. For example, being a golfer, I have been reading GolfWrx for several years and it has gotten the same way.

 

I will say that the best writer by far on any of the Texas sites is Scipio Tex on Barking Carnival. They should have put him on the search committee.

[RoyalCrowns]

I find arrogance and condescending attitudes from various posters at both OB & IT. But, for the most part, they are pretty goods guys at both. OB tends to have more gooner and aggy trolls. Nothing can touch this community, IMO. I think everybody on here shows respect for each other and gets along. Even in moments wher we may disagree, it remains civil as it should. FWIW

[Darrell McPhaul]

The community has grown larger, and as with any village, it changes when it becomes a town, changes when it becomes a city, and changes when it becomes a thriving metropolis. Some of the changes that occur are positive, some are not, but they come with growth. What is important is how the mayor and city council handles growth. In OBs case, (and I've been a member going back to the Austin360/TheUniversity.com days,) the council is spread too thin to be both mods and maintain their daily contributions on recruiting, team analysis/coverage, and everything else.

 

What I have seen here, and the growth has come quickly, is that this place is creating infrastructure to maintain some semblance of order and moderation that is not solely the responsibility of the content-contributing few. As this places grows, I think it will require more mods to handle the traffic, but if current direction holds to form, I don't think that will be an issue.

 

I still hang around OB, it just takes a bit more filtering to get to the info that I am looking for when I'm looking for it.

 

For here, I would like to see the mods allow posts that are OT stay on the BOB, provided it's a high traffic post. I realize that's a very fine line on what will be allowed and what won't but it would be nice.

 

I think Dank Bank said it best when he said this site is the grownups table. I just never understood the reason you talk any different to a person when you are behind a keyboard than you would in person. For the most part, the members here have done a really good job of policing their own. Which is a testament to the type of members we have here.

 

OB's is the largest Horn site but, it has lost the members that built that foundation. Those former members have migrated over here and are building the foundation of this site.

 

Damn, we are blessed.

[CoachBobbyFinstock]

You have a lot of Internet tough guys that wouldn't have the balls to say it to your face.

 

Tons of them on OB.

[skj7]

I am on OB but post little....just read the main topics...hard to discuss anything without being handed your head. This site is refreshing in that you are giving freedom to discuss both sides of a topic without repercussions.

 

agree with you 100%

[hornrush]

It's almost like a contest as to who can be more of a sarcastic, smart-ass to nearly every post, posing under the guise of cynicism. You're right. It gets old in a hurry.

 

Hook'em!

[Guest POCKEY]

I was an original member of theUniversity.com which became OB. Was a member until last month. No Mas.

[HornEsch]

Been at OB for a long time and still like going there. I just avoid the piss-ant juveniles, but it is getting harder and harder. The mods are spread waaaaaaaaaay too thin and it does not help when they are doing radio gigs at the same time. Between the radio gigs and the fact that UT has been down for a while it has drastically gotten worse over the last 4 years. You add in so many people it is a recipe for disaster.

[Txhunter67]

I have noticed more mean-spirited attacks and sophomoric attitudes over the

past 3-4 years. In addition, the quality of topics has been on a downward slope.

Maybe because people are becoming afraid to post out of fear of the negativity and

sarcasm.

 

I still like the content and reporting on OB; but find myself spending more

time here lately.

[pringlelake]

I think Dank Bank said it best when he said this site is the grownups table. I just never understood the reason you talk any different to a person when you are behind a keyboard than you would in person. For the most part, the members here have done a really good job of policing their own. Which is a testament to the type of members we have here.

 

OB's is the largest Horn site but, it has lost the members that built that foundation. Those former members have migrated over here and are building the foundation of this site.

 

Damn, we are blessed.

You speak the truth McP.

[badboy783]

5-7 happened to OB and split that board in half. Posters who had or have decent football knowledge and insight were drowned out by personal attacks that try to fit an agenda. I have been there 5 years and still post there but sometimes I need to get away to have rational discussion.

[Bustonius]

You guys are all idiots and this board is horrible!

 

Oops, wrong board.

 

I think the grown up table is the best analogy for what HornSports has become. I've been a member of OB since the Wash St Holiday bowl debacle, but I rarely ever post there. I only lurk, just because of all the reasons mentioned above. I haven't been active here yet, but I really want to be because from what I've seen so far there are actual discussions here. On OB, and even IT, most discussions end up one of two ways; a full on bullying session or a gif war. Don't get me wrong I love funny gifs as much as the next guy, but they get old when trying to have an actual discussion.

 

Another thing that kills OB for me is the constant infatuation with "blasting". To clarify, I'm a hetero male so of course it's a weird complaint. But I am also a 39 year old happily married man, and it pisses me off that I am tentative to scroll through a thread while my wife is beside me on the couch. My wife is almost as big a Longhorn fan as I am and I'd like to be able to show her threads without a half naked chick or some perverted gif showing up. (Exception being the Lucci gif - that one should be universally accepted in any situation!)

 

In general, this board is off to a phenomenal start and I'm looking forward to being an active part of the family and excited to see where it grows from here.

Edited December 21, 2013 by Bustonius
Grammar