Al Eschbach

[SoonerDave]

^

Just so you guys know, LandThieves has a style (choose it on the lower left corner of any page) that filters out anything not safe for work.

I miss OU Insider... I was a poster, then a moderator than an administrator. I learned a lot about message boards from that experience.

I really like the guys that run LandThieves but it's way too out of control for my tastes. I prefer more intelligent, less sophomoric discussion and there don't seem to be any limits over there at all, which in the Internet world leads to all kinds of crazy and often hateful outbursts.


It's a very difficult call about setting tone and moderating but once you let the barn doors swing fully open, it's impossible to close them.

Pete, as a former admin over there, given your insights and experience here, you think there's any room for a more "family friendly" OU-themed board? Or is the 'net just too saturated with them, or is it just too hard for a new one to get any traction? I don't like LT, even with the "filter" it just seems every post is a race to put more...ahem...nsfw content in them, and its just not my bag. The old OUI was a *great* place, and I wish we could bring it back. I understand their reasons for doing what they did, but I never quite understood the scorched earth policy they undertook to get there - even if it was unintentional, it was certainly careless and unnecessary.

I just mused a few posts back here about whether a new OU board that was not in the LT vein would have any hopes. I know its a lot of work - and I know one guy from a long time ago that tried to start one on his own, and I don't think it really went anywhere. Any thoughts?

[SoonerDave]

I didn't know OUI was even still around.

It died a horrible death. It got to where you'd go there and there'd hardly be any new post for days. That's when I went to LT. And yes, the guy that started it based it on Shaggy. I understand what you mean though. On OUI there was one guy, DM, who really pushed the envelope of being a total jerk. On LT, everyone was being DM. In fact, DM is one of the more tame guys now.

Yeah, there's still an "Ouinsider.com," and it looks a lot like the old OUI, but the majority (?) of posts on the "free" Owen Field forum are restricted to "VIP" (translated - paid) users, and as you pointed out, the thing is largely dead. Really, really sad - I was a very regular contributor there - in fact, posting to the game threads was kind of a blast, and was there right in the midst of the big meltdown before they moved to the new structure/format.

No idea if they've been as successful as they'd planned/hoped, but to say the least I sure wouldn't use their approach as a model.

[Pete]

Pete, as a former admin over there, given your insights and experience here, you think there's any room for a more "family friendly" OU-themed board? Or is the 'net just too saturated with them, or is it just too hard for a new one to get any traction? I don't like LT, even with the "filter" it just seems every post is a race to put more...ahem...nsfw content in them, and its just not my bag. The old OUI was a *great* place, and I wish we could bring it back. I understand their reasons for doing what they did, but I never quite understood the scorched earth policy they undertook to get there - even if it was unintentional, it was certainly careless and unnecessary.

I just mused a few posts back here about whether a new OU board that was not in the LT vein would have any hopes. I know its a lot of work - and I know one guy from a long time ago that tried to start one on his own, and I don't think it really went anywhere. Any thoughts?

I know LT is not for everybody but they have incredible traffic -- wildly successful endeavor. I was never involved with running LT, only OUI.

I just don't want to interact anywhere there is a good chance people will say all types of random and hostile things. I go out of my way to treat others with respect, and try very hard to put myself into situations where I can expect the same in return.

As far as starting something new, it's an incredible amount of work and it would have to be a passion project and labor of love. And even then, sports incite high passion and thus leads to a lot of conflict, even between fans of the same team.

Frankly, I generally feel worse about being a fan of any team after reading most of what my supposedly fellow fans have to say.