Attention Members

[Akrasian]

I don't see why relocation talk should be totally banned. It's relevant. Like any topic, I can't see justification for disallowing civil discussion on it.

In theory, yes. In practice, the discussions invariably end up not being civil. Over and over again.

It's a risk that might be worthwhile if there were actual news - but there isn't. Just speculation by media types looking for web page views.

I'm sure that if there is any actual news either way that a thread would be allowed - although the mods would probably have to make the decision.

Frankly, I never read those threads anyway. While I grew up a Rams' fan in LA (and even worked hawking food in the stands as a teen) I currently live in the Phoenix area, and so the Rams will not be local for me regardless. And I had moved away from LA before the Rams did, which did take some of the sting away, of course.

 

[Prime Time]

I waited two and a half hours before commenting in order to allow members to express both their approval and disapproval.

1) There is no such thing as free speech on a privately owned internet forum. The owner of ROD - Phx- decides what's allowed to be posted and what is not. He hands off the moderation of this forum to myself and others who do this for free. When Phx comes back and if he decides that articles and threads about the Rams possibly moving out of St. Louis are fine with him, then that's the way it will be. It is my opinion that those types of articles cause negativity here at ROD and serve no good purpose but I am willing to be overruled.

2) If your post or thread got deleted then contact me or one of the other mods and we will find out the reason why. Btw I've had several of my threads locked or deleted and sometimes posts have vanished for no discernible reason. It happens. We have yet to reach a state of perfection, how about you?

3) "No negativity is allowed at ROD" This is total b.s. There's been practically nothing but negativity here at ROD since Sunday and 99.9% of the members are still here. However if that's all you have to bring to the party then you should probably move on before we move you on.

@Angry Ram put it perfectly:

"We're here to talk about the Rams.

Not bad mouth them.

We're all fans of this team and want them to do well. Constant negative talk accomplishes nothing but create bad blood.

Criticism (when it's warranted) and disagreement is different, but nonetheless is welcome.

Oh, and I really don't care what "rap" I get. I will never shit on my team. 0-16 or 16-0."

4) We want members to stay here and interact. That's why this site was created by -X-. But it was intended to be a forum where Rams fans could gather without the constant abusive posts and threads by members towards players, coaches, and fellow members. We will not stray too far from that vision even if some don't agree and go elsewhere.

5) Ask yourself this, if you were a Rams player, coach, or part of the front office staff, would you feel welcome here? Some are members here and probably stop by to read the threads and posts at ROD when they have time. We aim to make sure that they know they can get fairly treated here. Criticism is fine and even warranted but post the same way you would say those things if you were standing in front of them.

6) HomersOnDemand is better than HatersOnDemand.

 

[-X-]

I don't see why relocation talk should be totally banned. It's relevant. Like any topic, I can't see justification for disallowing civil discussion on it.

You'll point me to a thread that's been civil on that? Not just here, but anywhere. I think a good compromise would be to dedicate a thread to it as an information source and just keep adding to it. We really just hate it when the whole "U NO SUPORT TEM!" comments surface, because there's rarely any going back from that. In a Utopian society, people would absolutely be able to just discuss it with civility. Unfortunately, it only takes one or two bad apples to spoil the whole thread in these cases.

We just want people to get along, man. If I was an LA fan who wanted to tell you that your piss-poor support of this team is going to be your undoing, and no matter what you say would only make me dig in harder, would you really wanna be my friend? I'd rather hear about your take on the team, your interests, and what makes you tick as a person. I don't want want to be your regional nemesis.

 

[blue4]

I understand the reasoning, but I'm not sure I would agree. The Rams remaining in St. Louis is every bit as important to me as winning a game. I'll miss discussing it. Most of my info on the subject have come from here, and certainly all of my LA perspective info.

 

[MerlinJones]

You'll point me to a thread that's been civil on that? Not just here, but anywhere. I think a good compromise would be to dedicate a thread to it as an information source and just keep adding to it. We really just hate it when the whole "U NO SUPORT TEM!" comments surface, because there's rarely any going back from that. In a Utopian society, people would absolutely be able to just discuss it with civility. Unfortunately, it only takes one or two bad apples to spoil the whole thread in these cases.

We just want people to get along, man. If I was an LA fan who wanted to tell you that your pee pee-poor support of this team is going to be your undoing, and no matter what you say would only make me dig in harder, would you really wanna be my friend? I'd rather hear about your take on the team, your interests, and what makes you tick as a person. I don't want want to be your regional nemesis.

So what you're saying then is that Los Angeles based fans have the moral high ground in this conversation?

 

[Stranger]

I hope Bernie is still censored. There is no way I can read that guy's dribble in down times like this. He's probably the only sport fan in StL who is relishing in the Rams' and Bradfords' demise.

 

[-X-]

So what you're saying then is that Los Angeles based fans have the moral high ground in this conversation?

As a soon-to-be Asheville North Carolina Rams Fan, I thumb my nose at all of you.

Peasants.

 

[dieterbrock]

Well, I live in New Jersey, and 2 NFL teams play here. Although neither team calls themself New Jersey.
So I guess it would be fair for the Rams to move here, and totally acceptable to still call themselves St Louis Rams
Problem solved

 

[Thordaddy]

Hell yes it's censorship and if you want a decent sight you have to censor ,that's NOTHING NEW,you already can't call people names for long and get away with it .
CAN WE PLEASE dispense with the idea you have freedom of speech in any forum you please ,you do not. This is a privately owned forum ,go to your neighbors house start an argument about something he doesn't want to talk about and you will likely be asked to leave. Same principle .
This forum has grown by leaps and bounds BECAUSE others are acrimonious shit buckets ,the people who are trying to keep up the standards of civility here are highly experienced in what does and doesn't start trouble and the bigger we get the harder it becomes ,Irish eloquently made the case for the emotion that is behind the St.Louis faction and what must be recognized is that the same is true of the loyal LA fans ,who BTW have seen their team torn from them and want what they still consider theirs back,the topic here is as volatile as gasoline and has caused enough divisiveness .
It hasn't even been banned their is a sunset ,when Stan or I suppose his representatives make a public pronouncement IOW when there is a reason to go into it.
Input has been taken a decision has been made by those who have say, like Doc said ,you can still talk about it,just not here ,but I would encourage you to notice when you do,if you do, what a waste it is and how few if any new perspectives you'll encounter,it's just a food fight.

 

[Thordaddy]

As a soon-to-be Asheville North Carolina Rams Fan, I thumb my nose at all of you.

Peasants.

You spelled pheasants wrong

 

[DaveFan'51]

So what you're saying then is that Los Angeles based fans have the moral high ground in this conversation?

Of course we do! We're perfect in every way!!

 

[jjab360]

As a soon-to-be Asheville North Carolina Rams Fan, I thumb my nose at all of you.

Peasants.

That's awesome bro, been there a couple times myself, seems like a nice place to live.

 

[-X-]

That's awesome bro, been there a couple times myself, seems like a nice place to live.

It really is. Things are about 80MPH slower there, and the weather is 100X better than South Florida (IMO). We vacation there once a year and finally decided that since it's a nice place to visit, why not just live there. I'll keep you posted. lol.

 

[Angry Ram]

Have to disagree with that. I've had to take several month long breaks from this place more than once because of how it can get towards people that don't think the Rams are doing everything right.

I'd like to see where that is.

What is trying to get a handle on is a recent trend for this board. And this is before the Vikings game.

 

[sdakotaram]

Great job mods!!!!

 

[rdlkgliders]

I Have to say I was going to comment on this very censortive topic and decided to read some more posts first. The stands being made were for the most part very well thought out, intelligent and well stated leaving me feeling like I don't have anything of relevance to add (I know as usual) and it hit me. The way this topic has been handled, expressed, debated and retorted Is exactly what is right with the people on this forum and the mods that try and keep the creative spirit for which it was started alive. It is seldom what we say in life and nearly always how we say it, yes there are exceptions and it is even more tricky when you are not face to face. Great job to all those who clearly with compassion and consideration express there views on these sensitive subjects. Honesty without compassion is often brutality.

 

[DCH]

You'll point me to a thread that's been civil on that? Not just here, but anywhere. I think a good compromise would be to dedicate a thread to it as an information source and just keep adding to it. We really just hate it when the whole "U NO SUPORT TEM!" comments surface, because there's rarely any going back from that. In a Utopian society, people would absolutely be able to just discuss it with civility. Unfortunately, it only takes one or two bad apples to spoil the whole thread in these cases.

We just want people to get along, man. If I was an LA fan who wanted to tell you that your pee pee-poor support of this team is going to be your undoing, and no matter what you say would only make me dig in harder, would you really wanna be my friend? I'd rather hear about your take on the team, your interests, and what makes you tick as a person. I don't want want to be your regional nemesis.

I get the issue, believe me, I do. But I'm just not a fan of policing the topic rather than the tone.

 

[André]

This is a fan site.

Ramstalk is a chat forum for a public newspaper. You can't and shouldn't expect the same level of completely 'free' speech. This site was created (I believe) so that fans could have a place to talk about the team they like without trolls, tools or fools. And the owner/mods get to determine the definitions for those terms.

It took me a long time to get past the hate at Ramstalk and realize that folks there had the right to slam the Rams all they wanted - the purpose of the forum there was discussion, not intelligent or pleasant discussion.

The reason I moved here is because I would rather have moderated discussion that removes those trolls, tools and fools. And it just so happens that a lot of them seem to be drawn to two primary topics when it comes to the Rams - Bradford and moving to L.A.

 

[bomebadeeda]

Since we are on a very close subject I thought a lot about this weekend, I'm going to chime in......

On the board I went to most often this time last year, I wouldn't even go in for a day or 2 after a loss.....and even longer w/ a ugly loss like Sunday. And once I did I would lurk till later in the week and then might post here, there, or yonder. But never on a real active thread and certainly not on a issue that most would take sides. But this past Sunday, I stayed away for an hour or 2 to cool down myself and was pleasantly surprised when while no one was happy, most were conversing in a respectful way. There was a couple that went a bit far but most within the threads would ask that things be racheted back. It was nice. I mean, my world had already been wrecked that day, did I really need to read some reactionary crap that someone threw together. And for the most part I didn't. Even a guy I had had a debate w/ the previous day and he could have come back and thrown some of the content back at me, didn't. He was respectful even though he was upset w/ the game as well.

On my old site someone would have thrown a "hello, how are you" back in your face after a loss. And anyone who could would "call out" any they had any disagreements with before the game. I was able to post back and forth and probably had my busiest day to date here on Sunday. And we were posting about problems. But it wasn't personal.

So while some might object to this or that being done. Folkers.....these guys have walked that mile before. They understand what works and what doesn't. And please.....Kudos to the whole staff and the core of the site. You have built something great. Keep on keeping on.

 

[-X-]

It is seldom what we say in life and nearly always how we say it