Softball Discussions and Civility

[Simo]

Once upon a time there was a place called the Fastpitch Forum. At its peak it counted among its members some of the greatest names in fastpitch. It was not uncommon to log on at night and have chat sessions with the likes of the legendary Ernie Parker, Cat’s dad G.O.,TB coaches like Andy Anderson, former president of the San Diego Renegades and our own coach Marc. Current members who participated in the FP forum understand how special Discussfastpitch.com is. They also understand that the basis for maintaining its integrity is predicated on the civility and manners of the participants. Egos, flaming, and intolerance ultimately killed the FP forum. Having gone through this I was reluctant to post in this new forum. My first two posts after a considerable hiatus resulted in responses that were less than courteous, lacked objectivity, made erroneous assumptions about my character, and were at best disappointing. However, after reading subsequent posts and visiting other forums on the site, my faith in site and the overall objectiveness and civility of the majority of posters has been restored. It is easy in the anonymity of the web to hide and post from behind a pseudonym. I have learned from experience that you can learn something from every post, accept what you want, and discard what you do not without feeling like it is an affront to your way of life or philosophy. What I have found is that within this forum there is a wealth of knowledge that is humbling to even the most seasoned veteran. In a country where manners, and respect for other opinions seems lost, lets work to keep this forum a bastion of common sense in an otherwise uncivil world. It is truly worth it.

 

[Coach-n-Dad]

Well said Simo, thanks for addressing this

 

[ang4yanks]

How encouraging, Simo. With social media comes responsibility. It is the way of the future. The written word can be ambiguous and combined with anonymity, it can be hurtful. I have been teaching my children that the internet is a tool...like that of a knife. A knife can cut your meat or it can kill someone. It comes down to user responsibility : ) Great post!

 

[Coach JV]

Every forum has some ego-maniacs! The type that feel secure at the keyboard and
are probably powder puffs face to face. My advice on this or any forum, try to
proof read from the unbiased reader's point of view. You will find great use for the delete key.
Choose your criticisms carefully and it becomes a useful tool for all of us

 

[George R.]

Speaking as one of those who participated frequently on the old Fastpitch Forum, I'd like to second Simo's remarks. What we have here, in DiscussFastpitch, is an opportunity to revive a valuable resource for all of us involved in the greatest game on Earth. I am convinced that the discussions and sharing of information/opinions by participants in the old Fastpitch Forum were in large part responsible for the evolution of the "softball swing" from squish-the-bug to today's MLB model.

I'd also like to point out that the demise of the Fastpitch Forum was brought about by two people. Yes, just two. One was the the owner of the site who acquired it from Alan Ross, and then allowed an egomaniac to moderate it. And the other was the egomaniac himself, the infamous Gene. What's most amazing is that Gene pretty much ruined a great fastpitch resource and yet he was never a coach and never put an ounce of energy into growing his personal knowledge of the game. He was simply an instigator who loved to stir the proverbial pot.

Let's all learn from history and not let it be repeated here.

 

[Simo]

Nice to hear from you again, George. Always enjoyed your commentary!

 

[druer]

First ... Let me say that I agree whole heartedly. In all things we should first remember that every invisible signon name has a real human being somewhere on the other end of it.

Second ... Let me say that we do have a few "instigators" if you will on this site that I think people who've been here for a long time are aware of. However, I think for the most part I've actually liked the end results of some of their "instigating." They've forced all of us to get away from just using key words and vague suggestions. They've forced us to dig deeper in trying to support our comments. I haven't liked getting *whacked*, but I do enjoy forcing myself to go deeper in defending my position and deepening my understanding of what others really think.

Third ... I believe that we are all here for the sake of growing ourselves, so that we can offer more to the players that we work with. We should remember that there are players that participate here and if we should all try act in the ways that we would want them to emulate.

Lastly ... We alone should be in control of our efforts and our attitudes. Don't let people drive you away from something that you enjoy and benefit from. That just gives them power over you, and we don't want to model that for our players either.

 

[George R.]

Dalton,

There is the "instigator" who challenges the status quo in a civil manner (OK, maybe sometimes not so civil!) and there is the "instigator" who is a raving lunatic who'll argue that a white horse is black merely to grasp an opportunity to belittle others. The second are the ones that we need guard ourselves against.

 

[druer]

George - I totally understand what you mean. Part of my point in #2 and #3 was merely that sometimes I've actually enjoyed having to figure out a way to defend my position that it is actually a "horse" and that it is "white." In other words -- If for whatever reason someone is throwing what looks like lemons, I'm going to be drinking soon afterwards.

 

[Amy in AZ.]

Yes, I remember Gene P. and I was sitting here trying to remember his name. Now, I will have to google and see if he died or what.

Trolls were allowed to ruin Eteamz, along with the fact that all of the announcements for team tryouts were allowed on the main page.

The old posts from Eteamz remain there and are easy to access. There is a lot of good information archived there.