Eels Blogs

You might have noticed that the number of contributions I've been making have decreased a lot of late. Basically, my business is going through a steep growth stage at the moment and I'm working ridiculous hours. I'm also involved this year with coaching a couple of junior sporting sides and all that combined with the usual family commitments mean I just don't have a lot of time to put towards the site at this present point in time.

This has happened at various stages over the life of this site, but it just so happens to be happening in the middle of one of Parramatta's worst form runs, when there is obviously a lot of controversy and contention surround the club. And unfortunately, some of you feel particularly strongly about this, to the point where there has been something of a mob mentality that I feel is hurting the site right now. The beauty of this site is there are always divergent opinions - some are hopelessly optimistic, some are always seemingly never happy. Usually, when the balance tips, I can clean things up, or put different strategies to restore the harmony. Right now, I don't have that luxury. As such, right now it seems that whenever somebody stands up to suggest things aren't as bad as they seem, they immediately get shouted down by an avalanche of criticism.

To make matters worse, the feel of the site and the actions of some have basically driven away my most active moderators, who have gotten jack of being derided or the constant criticism and hassling of moderators. Let me be clear about this, without the assistance of the moderators there is no site. Especially with my time commitments at present if I don't have people moderating, I'm not going to take the risk that the site is not being monitored for defamatory material. I've put eight years of my life into building this site up as a community for ALL Parramatta supporters to discuss the Eels, and I'm now literally begging you all to appreciate the circumstance the site is in, and act accordingly going forward.

I've tried various things of late, like the Sin Bin to make managing the site easier, but I've not had the time to make them work. So what I'm about to describe is the only way I can think for this site to be sustainable at least until the mood around the club changes.

I've got someone who is going to be helping me out with moderating. This person isn't even a Parramatta supporter - I want someone with no links to anyone who will judge everything absolutely objectively. Whereas, I know some of the members here who have been here a long time and I probably tend to go easier on them, this person knows nobody and has been told to simply follow the guidelines. They will simply have the username Moderator and they will be the first person I've ever given the right to suspend/delete users. If you abuse or attack another member of this forum, your account will be deleted. If you post an overly offensive post with excessive swearing or abuse, your account will be deleted. If you bully or intimidate other members your account will be deleted.

I don't expect "rainbows and unicorns". The club is not travelling well and there is a disturbing lack of leadership being shown at any level and I expect people want to vent and this is obviously a forum for you to do so. However, please respect that other people will just want to support the club, and whoever is at the club, blindly. That doesn't make them unintelligent or give people justification to hack into them. That's just the way they like to support their footy team. Let people express their opinion and respect that people do have different opinions. I know some of you enjoy the cut and thrust of a more "robust: debate, but don't expect that to be the case for everyone. 

I would like it if the time I do get to put towards the site, could be put towards writing content rather than dealing with moderation issues. So again, please, for the sustainability of this site, can we all calm down on the vitriol and hate. Respect other members, respect their right to hold a different opinion. Think twice before you post something in anger or antagonistically. And I encourage those who might have something thoughtful to say, to blog about it because I really do need a bit of help from you guys at the moment to help the site find its balance again.

Thanks all,

Phil