2009 memes that should stay in 2009
by azruavatar on Dec 30, 2009 1:43 PM EST
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PrintTo say that VEB has been taken over by memes would be an understatement. Threads are populated with .gif wars, pictures that turn my stomach and constant repititions of phrases. It'll be hard, but here are 5 memes that I would like to see go away in 2010.
1) Bacon - It's gross. A bacon gun isn't functional. A bacon cup wouldn't hold water. Bacon is unhealthy and, while it might taste good, inundating the web with pictures of it has run it's course at VEB. There just isn't a valid reason to post pictures of bacon anymore; Canadian or any other nationality included.
2) Colby Rasmus - See what I typed there. That's his name. The constant variations of it, besides becoming more and more sketchy in their allusion, are confusing at times.
3) First - I guess I should have typed this first but it's over folks. The fist was funny; the phonetic sound alikes were clever. That said, having every post start the same way is tiresome. Reading the comments of people correcting the first comment are more tiresome.
4) 6 and other 2009 specific memes. Just like "10 run sundays" ran it's course in previous seasons, attempts to prolong memes that are specific to events in a certain year are lame.
5) TWSS - I hate this meme more than any other. For one, it's closely related to The Office, which I think is completely overrated. Secondly, somewhere, someshe has probably said that at some point. There's 3 billion women in the world. I'm sure "she" said that. If people are too stupid to catch inuendo on their own, well let their innocence and naivity last a little longer.
Also, as 2010 gets started, I'd really like to see VEB gravitate back towards the intelligent baseball discussion that it's been known for in the past. Memes are fun when they are organic and germane. They're annoying when they aren't (nertlab, I'm looking at you). But memes aren't really what made VEB so fun to be here in the past and they won't sustain an intelligent community going foward.
The forum is still about civil, well-reasoned baseball analysis and discussion. It's a pretty lax environment without any heavy handed moderators. I think that's been taken for granted a bit in the past year and it's been detrimental to the discussion and tone on the site. This isn't a chastisement from me as I'm as guilty as the next person. It's just a request or a hope that VEB members remember what the site is about after they crack their 20th joke post in a row.
Here's to a tremendous 2010. Cardinals beat the Yankees in the WS! You read it here first.
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I couldn't agree more
I was much less interested in reading comments and contributing to VEB in 2009 than in years past, and this stuff probably had a lot to do with it. Witty banter is great, but I think people were losing sight of what made this place great in the first place.
I have a love/hate relationship with the Cardinals' middle relief corps. | Cards on Cards
by madding on Dec 30, 2009 1:55 PM EST reply actions 1 recs
amen
i also have felt it to be more of a chore to read the goings ons here, than a joy, more bs and less actually base ball talk. this place is still a daily stop for me, but i don’t post or read as much as i used too.
"Chuck Norris CAN divide by zero"
Same here.
Think of how stupid the average person is, and realize half of them are stupider than that.
I agree too
I can’t say that I am a prolific poster but if I want to have a legitimate Cardinal related discussion it is nearly impossible to find amongst all the other stuff.
"I learned a long time ago if you keep checking your stats all year, you're going to end up in the toilet." - Chris Carpenter, 2009.
Yes
The comments are becoming unreadable.
Hell half the time I cant even get the comments to load because there are 1000 comments. I think something big must have happened, like a major trade, only to find out that people were just really excited about bacon or giving dating advice or some other tripe.
only to find out that people were just really excited about bacon
lol
Of course, hope means being cut down on some street corner, as you run like mad, by a random bullet.
bacon (said with a french accent)
you mean this guy isn’t excited about bacon?
You do also realise that this post is an open invitation for everyone to excessively post all of these memes, right?
by Notorious PSC on Jan 3, 2010 9:44 PM EST up reply actions
It was to the point where I was considering not reading anymore
I emailed RB a giant rant for him to send to Dan. I felt like a dick doing it, but I’m too lazy to find another cardinals blog. I feel like we probably have the most intelligent base of followers, but I feel like that intelligence is rarely focused on cardinal related subjects anymore. I realize that this part of the off season probably isn’t the easiest to find topics about, but there is still a lot of stuff to talk about. One thing I would like for us to have a greater emphasis in is the minor league side of things. I live in Springfield, MO and would love to hear more about the prospects (and not just links to futureredbirds or snide comments on descriptions used for minor leagers), since I get the chance to see many of them.
to be fair
this is a Cardinals blog, and there IS a lot of interesting discussion at FR (which I too frequent as often as I can) about prospects. I feel it’d be somewhat stealing the thunder of FR and the excellent posters there if we went overboard on the prospect stuff here.
RELEASE THE CENTIQUID!!!!
by Felonius_Monk on Dec 31, 2009 5:33 AM EST up reply actions
They used to coexist quite nicely though
VEB used to have a weekly farm recap while FR covers more minor leaguers (not just the big names) and on a daily basis. If you want to know how many bases DJ stole yesterday FR is for you, if you just want to know how Garcia is progressing so far this year a single main threat post once in awhile on VEB should do the trick.
"Come test me every day if you want," says Pujols, "Everything I ever made in this game I would give back to the Cardinals if I got caught."
Yeah, that perhaps seems fair
I’d be all for a bit more prospect talk here, although I’d be aware that we don’t want to tread on Azru/Erik’s toes over there.
RELEASE THE CENTIQUID!!!!
by Felonius_Monk on Jan 8, 2010 6:51 AM EST up reply actions
I did get to the point where I was not reading anymore
I read the articles now and then but I couldnt stand all the comments so I stopped reading them. I only read this out of curiosity. I’ve found a lot of the people here to be plain annoying and frankly, reading the comments is like watching an episode of the Office. Every once in a while there will be a good episode. But most of the times its just awkward and not funny at all. The only episode I’ve liked was the fire drill one after the Superbowl. Anyway, can’t stand reading the 1000s of post that mean nothing. If it were a smaller community I might have stayed involved, but there are just too many people. There are over 300 comments before I even read the post every time and I’m just not going to read all those comments everytime, especially when they are useless pictures and inside jokes that only two people would get. I wonder if you took out all unbaseball related comments, how many would be left.
I've definitely been at that point for awhile
Back in 2006, 2007, etc. I used to read and comment a lot. This year I’ve just kind of lost interest. I still love reading Red Baron’s posts because he’s such a solid and entertaining writer, and Dan Up has done a hell of a job filling in for Larry, but as a whole, it’s just not the same, and I think that’s mainly due to the threads. I feel like a lot of the more prolific commenters now are mainly known simply because they post a lot instead of the insight they add. I’m going to quit ranting before I sound like an old man on his front porch (which, as a college student, I am anything but), but yeah, I don’t know if I’ll have the interest again that I once had.
On with the (good) youth movement!
could that not just be a function of time, though?
i’ve been a member of a number of these sort of things in the past, and I’d say it’s fairly typical that people lose interest after a year or two. Especially young people (i.e. college students). Maybe it’s less that the site has lost quality, and more that you’ve moved on to other interests?
RELEASE THE CENTIQUID!!!!
by Felonius_Monk on Jan 4, 2010 5:26 AM EST up reply actions
yeah
this isn’t unique to VEB. i expect myself to be in a similar place in a year or so
Of course, hope means being cut down on some street corner, as you run like mad, by a random bullet.
Nice generalization there.
But no, I don’t think it’s that at all. I’ve been reading this for 4-5 years now. I don’t live in St. Louis, so this is where I get my primary Cardinals news. I don’t see the Cardinals being much of a “faze” in my life, considering that I’ve been a fan since I can remember, and since this is my primary source of Cards news, I don’t think it’s a matter of moving onto other interests.
I honestly think the quality isn’t the same anymore, and apparently I’m not alone after reading this thread. The discussion used to be much more relevant, and most comments were more thought out (there were less one liners where someone would just come in and say “no” before moving on without any support, etc.).
On with the (good) youth movement!
Yep
I’m on board with this plan, but I’m a math geek so I’m on board with anything that leads to more analysis and thoughtful baseball discussion
I can get behind this line of reasoning
As long as I can still enjoy the Ludwick meme in game threads, I will be satisfied.
Lighten up, Francis - Sergeant Hulka
* sarcasm might be involved in this comment
Anything goes in game threads
I’m okay with that. But we could use a little more focus in the day thread.
exactly how I feel
while watching a game I think the game thread should be treated like a bar, just chit chat about anything. But even though this is a “community” that wants to talk about anything and everything doesn’t mean that you have to do it all day long in the main thread. I make large use of the z button to breeze through some of the non baseball priveledges.
"Come test me every day if you want," says Pujols, "Everything I ever made in this game I would give back to the Cardinals if I got caught."
What game threads?
When there are no game threads and not much going on I feel like no one can blame people for going off topic.
Who needs affection when you can have blind hatred?
Talking about during the season
I understand the offseason is slower and there isn’t much baseball talk to thrive on. I agree with others that while an OT thread might help this some it would probably be logistically too hard to keep up with. I can deal with long OT comment subthreads during the offseason but I hope it doesn’t continue into the season.
"Come test me every day if you want," says Pujols, "Everything I ever made in this game I would give back to the Cardinals if I got caught."
Well many people are complaining about RIGHT now, rather like a week or so ago.
When nothing was happening. Right at this moment people seem to be staying on topic because there is news.
Didn’t mean to single you out, it is just something that either I have missed being answered or wasn’t answered.
Who needs affection when you can have blind hatred?
I think people are confusing the offseason with the season
since we are getting 1k comment threads on the main post which didnt happen last offseason it almost feels like the season right now, and I think people are worried about it.
"Come test me every day if you want," says Pujols, "Everything I ever made in this game I would give back to the Cardinals if I got caught."
I think so too.
But I really think people will be on topic during the season. or at least I will.
Who needs affection when you can have blind hatred?
absolutely agree with 1,3,5
especially 5- I really don’t understand how “TWSS” was ever considered acceptable in any format. If I said “TWSS” to a woman at work, I’d probably lose my job, and it’s just not funny at all. Even when Carroll said it, it was meant to be funny only in that it was the caricature of an annoying personality archetype. Why people want to BE that archetype is beyond me.
OTOH I enjoyed the stuff in 2 and 4. I don’t see anything wrong with having a little fun, as long as it’s kept clean and doesn’t go overboard.
it's Clydesdales vs Goats. Actually sums up Cards vs. Cubs quite nicely. -all4tookie
2 is the only one I will miss
4… nah, if you can’t come up with something original in a game thread during at least the first week of the season, then you aren’t really trying hard enough.
I do hope that memes stay in game threads more this season, I find the main post really don’t need to get cluttered up with that stuff. I always loved the main post threads in the past because I learned the almost all I know about advanced sabermetrics from those threads.
This is what will happen when there are no games for us to get our silliness out. I think we should submit a proposal to MLB for a 300 game schedule. I expect to get a rec or two for this idea.
Lighten up, Francis - Sergeant Hulka
* sarcasm might be involved in this comment
I can also get on board
with the idea of the game threads being more of a free for all, and keeping the main threads “cleaned up”. To that end, do we just need an open thread, meme, cluster-fu@% thread every day during the offseason? That way folks can bs in that thread and leave the main thread to discuss the topics broached in it…
Just a suggestion, clearly I’m a fairly infrequent contributor…
by stevesommer05 on Dec 30, 2009 3:07 PM EST up reply actions
I agree...
but I’m also an infrequent commenter. I will admit that the reason I stay away (from contributing and usually even reading the comments) is because so much of the content is filled with this type of discussion.
A weekly bs thread would not be a terrible idea.
I have long thought that a weekly OT thread would satisfy people. I can understand some of the grumbling from people who think VEB is too silly at times, but I also believe that doing away with all of it is just as insulting to those of us that enjoy some of the lightheartedness.
Lighten up, Francis - Sergeant Hulka
* sarcasm might be involved in this comment
yeah
There’s clearly value in BSing with people of similar interests, and I wasn’t suggesting limiting that. I also know that there are definitely intellectual / analytical type things that get said in the comments that get lost in the shuffle. If somehow both needs could be met that’d be better IMHO. I have enjoyed reading some of the UZR discussions that have gone on in the past, or when ya’ll were talking about my BtB piece, I’m just concerned about some of that getting lost in the shuffle.
by stevesommer05 on Dec 30, 2009 3:23 PM EST up reply actions
I like the idea of a weekly BS thread as well
As long as it’s titled as such:
WEEK 1: The season begins
WEEK 2: Those pesky Pirates
WEEK 3: Who misses Joe Thurston yet?
WEEK 4: We paid $18mm a year for that?
etc…
Testicle-exploding shit storms, to date: T.E.S.S '08, T.E.S.S '09
I like this idea
btw, I know stuff can get out of hand and its not my site by any means but recently it had kind of been fun and there was a sense of community as opposed to rigid stuck up ness, which can happen on sites.
The place kind of had some character and not just a math blog or whatever (not that this place was but you know)
I know I dont add much around here but I had left for a long time because this place was a little too straight laced and, well bland (not to be rude). I would check in every once in a while and lately Id been coming almost daily because it loosened up. But i guess you want this to be a businesslike blog or something and I can understand that.
by jealousblues on Dec 30, 2009 5:51 PM EST up reply actions
It's a tight rope
While I think most do want it to be a little more (less?) than a strictly “math blog”, what the meme-ness does is actually alienate more readers.
Not only are they annoying to many who don’t want to dig though it all, they can also become inside jokes that the casual or new reader doesn’t get.
Also, like someone up further said (OCCardsFan), when there’s only one post per day, this means pretty much every little thing that happens during the day gets dumped into the 1000 comment daily thread because people don’t want to make a FanPost about it due to the rules or whatever.
So, if there’s something that has happened and I’m wondering what VEB thinks about it and I see no FanPosts about it and a main post with 850 comments, well I’m not going to waste the time looking through it.
Think of how stupid the average person is, and realize half of them are stupider than that.
Being on-topic doesn't necessarily mean all-math all the time
There’s a whole lot more to talk about regarding the Cardinals than just WOBA’s and whatever.
They say that it's never too late, but you don't get any younger...
and being on topic can result in a 850 comment thread
have you people met VEP and fourstick?
Lighten up, Francis - Sergeant Hulka
* sarcasm might be involved in this comment
this is the best part about the blog
Of course, hope means being cut down on some street corner, as you run like mad, by a random bullet.
agreed
I love watching fourstick and anyone else go back and forth about something, or reading VEP’s analysis of something.
"Come test me every day if you want," says Pujols, "Everything I ever made in this game I would give back to the Cardinals if I got caught."
I know.
I was just using jealousblues’s words and was trying to state that most here don’t want it to be just a “math blog”. There’s plenty of other stuff (opinion even) that is relevant. But it can go too far the other way which is partly what azru (IMO) was getting at.
I guess I shoulda been more clear.
Think of how stupid the average person is, and realize half of them are stupider than that.
nothing's happened.
there was the crazy marathon with five comment threads, but none of that really merited a fanpost. not unless it was going to be a fanpost using the word “babydaddy”.
The rest is being faithfully transcribed in the Hot Stove Post(s).
Also, as stated below, any in-joke that’s baseball-related should go in the glossary to address that problem specifically. If there’s anything out there that isn’t properly explained, let me know. (I.e. no, bacon is not making it. It has nothing to do with baseball.)
Quite honestly, that’s a helluva lot better than some of the other active SBN blogs do. There are many that are completely unintelligible. And we’ve had some new posters come in who were able to skim the glossary and jump right into the conversation. If someone’s feeling “alienated”, and they have no other reason not to participate, then that’s… too bad. They’re by definition not contributors to VEB.
Now, if the mods were to impose restrictions on the number of images posted to threads to save people’s computers… that would be addressing a real block. Just to pick an example.
"It was like two ankles." AVENGE BOOG
"But listen, and understand: more Molinas are out there. They can't be bargained with. They can't be reasoned with. They don't feel pity, or remorse, or fear." - THT
I agree for the most part.
And it’s the whole bacon-like stuff that bogs down the place. You said it yourself, you don’t want to put that in the Glossary, well, if someone who’s either new or an infrequent poster wants to come here to read something but has to wade through a bunch of bacon stuff (or whatever the next thing is), it’s annoying.
But, I do find it interesting that someone who isn’t a moderator nor an official poster takes the stance of this
If someone’s feeling "alienated", and they have no other reason not to participate, then that’s… too bad. They’re by definition not contributors to VEB.
I wonder if DanUp shares the same views?
Anyway, not only is it not the point of VEB (a public forum linked to Yahoo, Sprint Mobil, and some others), but I’m not sure it’s your position to say who is and who isn’t a “contributor” or who you want around. You have no idea where your next great “contributor” is going to come from and that kind of stance might dissuade someone from wanting to participate.
Or, maybe that’s the intention.
Think of how stupid the average person is, and realize half of them are stupider than that.
like I said -- they have no other reason not to comment other than feeling bad about commenting
Then in my opinion, "feeling alienated’ is a lame excuse to knock on VEB. Why do you feel alienated? If there’s something that can be done, then — it can most likely be taken care of. Usually by that same person.
and they have no other reason not to participate, then that’s… too bad
I never, never said I was the arbiter of who is or isn’t a contributor.
I simply said, if you don’t comment, you’re not contributing. It’s pretty… uh. It’s that logic thing.
"It was like two ankles." AVENGE BOOG
"But listen, and understand: more Molinas are out there. They can't be bargained with. They can't be reasoned with. They don't feel pity, or remorse, or fear." - THT
I mean a lot of the complaints of late
have been people walking in here and saying I HATE THIS THING, and then they… don’t do anything productive about it. I mean, again, not to knock on you specifically, but that’s complaining for complaining’s sake. And it has happened quite a bit in the last few months or so.
"It was like two ankles." AVENGE BOOG
"But listen, and understand: more Molinas are out there. They can't be bargained with. They can't be reasoned with. They don't feel pity, or remorse, or fear." - THT
Yes, I agree
that’s far worse than memes, or joke posts, or whatever. People moaning about content on a FREE and open forum really p*ss me off, if they are not contributing anything to the forum themselves. It is what we, the users, make of it.
Various people moaning about RB and Dan’s more irreverent posts (especially in the off-season) have annoyed me more than any meme has in the last few weeks, and it’s fairly obvious that those people are not even ones who regularly contribute fanposts or discussion in the more baseball-related threads.
RELEASE THE CENTIQUID!!!!
by Felonius_Monk on Dec 31, 2009 5:42 AM EST up reply actions 6 recs
totally agree with the last paragraph
i couldn’t make it a week of having to write posts as long as rb, danup, tom, vep, etc. and they do it week in and week out. and it’s almost always entertaining. even when they have very little to work with. much appreciated, guys
Of course, hope means being cut down on some street corner, as you run like mad, by a random bullet.
hedonism bot says:
if someone who’s either new or an infrequent poster wants to come here to read something but has to wade through a bunch of bacon stuff
the fact that I just read this is delightfully absurd!
by jealousblues on Dec 30, 2009 10:25 PM EST up reply actions
That's not really a solution IMO
If someone makes a joke and I don’t get it, I’m not going to go searching through a glossary just to understand a joke that only frequent posters will get/find funny.
by waino on Jan 1, 2010 12:47 PM EST up reply actions 1 recs
I'm sure you get every single joke said around here
And never let yourself fall behind, since I see you’re averaging 42 posts a day for over 500 days, assuming you post everyday. That’s an actual fact. Thought that would interesting to see since I see your name in comments more than anyone else’s. But some people just can’t follow the blog that much and don’t have time to read every single joke around here, and because we don’t comment over 40 times every day I suppose we aren’t real contributors. I once was a frequent poster, so I’m familiar with things around here, so its not like I’ve commented 10 times ever and don’t know what I’m talking about.
by waino on Jan 1, 2010 1:02 PM EST up reply actions 1 recs
btw don't let my 25 comments fool you
I had a different name when I was a frequent poster.
You don't have to get the jokes to contribute
Hell, I don’t get (or really care about) half of the jokes and memes here. Does that stop me from commenting on other stuff relating to Cardinals and baseball? Hint: click on my profile.
yeah
i post probably about as much as yadi (40 per day zomg!) and i don’t get most of the non-baseball jokes and i do just fine. of course, my z button is almost broken, but that’s a different issue
Of course, hope means being cut down on some street corner, as you run like mad, by a random bullet.
you're right about it being a balance
I’m really glad this place isn’t like 9/10 SBN blogs out there, with a half-hearted main post and 5-10 comments a day, half from the blog author. And i like the inside jokes. That’s a big part of what makes it a community. I don’t really care that much about what the casual fan who drops by understands or doesn’t understand.
but my finger gets really sore from z’ing through 800-2000 comments a day, most of which don’t contribute anything…
it's Clydesdales vs Goats. Actually sums up Cards vs. Cubs quite nicely. -all4tookie
you could... ask if you missed anything?
"It was like two ankles." AVENGE BOOG
"But listen, and understand: more Molinas are out there. They can't be bargained with. They can't be reasoned with. They don't feel pity, or remorse, or fear." - THT
I mean, it's not like we secretly hate you.
"It was like two ankles." AVENGE BOOG
"But listen, and understand: more Molinas are out there. They can't be bargained with. They can't be reasoned with. They don't feel pity, or remorse, or fear." - THT
speak for yourself
Of course, hope means being cut down on some street corner, as you run like mad, by a random bullet.
shut up man!
Every morning I wake up & smoke a dart. Then I eat five strips of bacon, & for lunch I eat a bacon sandwich. And for a midday snack? Bacon! A whole damn plate! And I usually drink my dinner. And I'm still here! Sometimes I wonder if God forgot about me.
just kiddin, yo (wink)
Of course, hope means being cut down on some street corner, as you run like mad, by a random bullet.
F wasn't here to say it so i thought someone should
Every morning I wake up & smoke a dart. Then I eat five strips of bacon, & for lunch I eat a bacon sandwich. And for a midday snack? Bacon! A whole damn plate! And I usually drink my dinner. And I'm still here! Sometimes I wonder if God forgot about me.
You are probably right
Ive seen some of these places look INSANE with these and I feel VEB is probably by far the best on SB nation, so you are so right about the tight rope
(I dont know if thats "homerism [God can you have homerism for blogs?] but I think its true)
by jealousblues on Dec 30, 2009 10:14 PM EST up reply actions
I like this idea
btw, I know stuff can get out of hand and its not my site by any means but recently it had kind of been fun and there was a sense of community as opposed to rigid stuck up ness, which can happen on sites.
The place kind of had some character and not just a math blog or whatever (not that this place was but you know)
I know I dont add much around here but I had left for a long time because this place was a little too straight laced and, well bland (not to be rude). I would check in every once in a while and lately Id been coming almost daily because it loosened up. But i guess you want this to be a businesslike blog or something and I can understand that.
I agree with all of that. Personally, I think the balance has been fine. There’s still plenty of interesting content. It’s just that it’s the off-season and nothing much baseball-related is happening.
This has (I guess) become a much bigger community. I know I lurked for a good year before I started posting here, and I get the feeling it’s kind of “taken off” somewhat in the number of regular posters, and I can only think that’s a good thing. Obviously, when you increase the number of contributors, you increase both the signal AND the noise, but FWIW I think the ratio is just about right.
Some of the “comedy” posts from people like Mattybobo and GDM and others are genuinely funny. I kinda agree that maybe the memes have got a bit out of hand but I don’t think it’s anything to the great detriment of the board overall.
Maybe I’m just unusual in that I enjoy both in-depth baseball discussion with dry stats AND people posting pictures of bacon-winged pegacorns.
RELEASE THE CENTIQUID!!!!
by Felonius_Monk on Dec 31, 2009 5:38 AM EST up reply actions 2 recs
I can't resist pointing out that the pegacorns serve a function
that’s why I include them in the glossary. there are only so many ways we can say “what the fucking flying fuckity fuck” when management hangs the club’s future on a wish and a tipped pitch. it’s a common enough occurrence that the meme has persisted in general conversation. and since we are not encouraged to post— well, there you go.
"It was like two ankles." AVENGE BOOG
"But listen, and understand: more Molinas are out there. They can't be bargained with. They can't be reasoned with. They don't feel pity, or remorse, or fear." - THT
What Would Happen..
…is that the BS thread would have moore comments than the ‘serious’ baseball thread. Life is to serious as it is; we need our bacon and pegacorns!
Big McLargehuge!
:=8O
this is all pretty ironic given the main post.
When there’s nothing going on, and no new news, it’s perfectly natural to just chat amongst ourselves. What galls me is when the conversation continues when something actually happens. (Like right now in the main post….)
It ought to be possible to reread an old game thread without a scorecard and still piece together what happened. And for some people who are at work or school, that’s what they’re looking for that day. But there are a lot of game threads where the side conversations are so much more involved than the actual baseball game.
Same with the main post. I’m as guilty as anyone, but quite frankly when the mods join in on the side conversations, I see little reason to stay on-topic either.
As for the memes, I maintain the glossary for a reason — so anyone, and I mean anyone, can talk baseball and still understand what a “regular” VEBer is saying. Some of those memes mean something; they’re a marker for a time and a place. For instance, the Colby meme is dying anyway… because its purpose was to highlight the perception that no matter how good Colby was, he’d be overlooked by TLR. Right now, Colby’s reputation is quite different given recent personal developments… and the memes that prevail will reflect that.
Half those memes do not have to be killed. They’re going to die on their own. Some of them are already dead. I stand by my assessment here.
By the way, the glossary is NOT a popularity contest. I do not add things to the glossary to make you famous, or to prolong memes that I happen to like. There are things in baseball that can’t be measured, don’t end up in a box score, and I try to capture that so more people can come to VEB and talk about it. I have defended many of the stats-oriented discussions on the premise that it’s okay to talk about baseball in this way, too. Quite honestly, if you guys want VEB to be a certain way, then you’d better step up and contribute — it’s true of pretty much any community.
"It was like two ankles." AVENGE BOOG
"But listen, and understand: more Molinas are out there. They can't be bargained with. They can't be reasoned with. They don't feel pity, or remorse, or fear." - THT
by Yadi2Second on Dec 30, 2009 5:20 PM EST up reply actions 11 recs
it would be nice if
the glossary was permanently sticky-ed at the top…
it's Clydesdales vs Goats. Actually sums up Cards vs. Cubs quite nicely. -all4tookie
...it's on the front page
thanks to the mods, and campaigning by gdm.
"It was like two ankles." AVENGE BOOG
"But listen, and understand: more Molinas are out there. They can't be bargained with. They can't be reasoned with. They don't feel pity, or remorse, or fear." - THT
oh, i see it now
excellent.
it's Clydesdales vs Goats. Actually sums up Cards vs. Cubs quite nicely. -all4tookie
rec'd for good sense and troof.
RELEASE THE CENTIQUID!!!!
by Felonius_Monk on Dec 31, 2009 5:44 AM EST up reply actions
If that's a reference to TWSS, I agree.
Of course it’s tasteless. And pretty stupid.
My impression has always been that people are doing it because it’s stupid and tasteless, not in spite of it.
by arch support on Dec 30, 2009 5:50 PM EST up reply actions
hence the "why would you want to be that" part of my post.
z
it's Clydesdales vs Goats. Actually sums up Cards vs. Cubs quite nicely. -all4tookie
it is stupid and tasteless
being intelligent and tasteful all the time is boring
Of course, hope means being cut down on some street corner, as you run like mad, by a random bullet.
>reluctantly stows his best “that’s what she said”s away<
you’re right, azru. most of those i won’t miss, though.
My daddy told me, lookin' back, The best friend you'll have is a railroad track So when I was 13 said, I'm rollin' my own, And I'm leavin' Missouri and I'm never comin' home . . . Now I woke me up with a cardinal bird, And when I wanna talk, He hangs on every word. . . And I'm lost at the bottom of the world. - Tom Waits
Thanks so much
I appreciate this and I agree. There’s a place for both in-depth discussion and some lighthearted too, I think. There’s been a good balance in the past, but the balance seems to be lost lately. I haven’t said anything about it, maybe because I thought I was in the minority, but glad that you brought it up.
I wish I could rec this more than once
not to single out, nor to bash the group, but the further these went on, the more I missed lboros – well to be specific, the time when he was more involved here. It just seemed like these things were few and far between back then and didn’t happen with the regularity that they did this past year.
Which is not to say that I don’t enjoy the front page posts now – Danup and the rest of the contributors are excellent writers, and I enjoy their posts immensely. I visit VEB everyday, usually first thing in the morning as a result of their fine contributions.
I suppose what I’m getting at is that I’d really like to see, and would feel more inclined to post more often with, a resurgence of the intellectual baseball discussion – and much less of the “meme humor.” They say that the first rule of comedy is that “three is funny,” and after that the audience starts to lose interest – I think that this would be a great rule of thumb for the memes to follow.
agree
I check in for the baseball and leave because of the other stuff. The site seemed much more baseball oriented when lboros ran the show. And, most people are here to read haikus or get music listening suggestions.
by secretweapon on Dec 30, 2009 3:11 PM EST up reply actions
I'll never apologize for coming here on Wednesdays to get my baron fix and music suggestions.
Lighten up, Francis - Sergeant Hulka
* sarcasm might be involved in this comment
by mattyfrommo on Dec 30, 2009 3:19 PM EST up reply actions 1 recs
honestly
you need to post something about baseball, then. Or, you know, contribute to the many discussions taking place in the daily threads about baseball. Or in the hot stove thread. It is the off-season after all.
I think it’s entirely unreasonable to criticise a free and open forum for its content when you have not contributed any of your own – if you don’t like it, you can do something about it.
Please do not read this comment as being overtly critical or unpleasant – it really was not meant that way. I just feel that if everyone who wanted “intelligent baseball discussion” was prepared to both instigate and contribute to it, there’d be a lot more of it.
RELEASE THE CENTIQUID!!!!
by Felonius_Monk on Dec 31, 2009 5:49 AM EST up reply actions 1 recs
That's such bullshit
Look how many comments guys like me and Felonious have on a daily basis. I would bet 100 dollars at least half of the main page comments are still in depth baseball talk – and it’s the middle of the offseason right now. To say that most people are here to read haikus and get music listening suggestions is patently ridiculous. There are PLENTY of serious baseball debates and discussion every day.
And not to single you out, but you have 88 comments over the past year and a half. You might just be a lurker, or unable to comment much for whatever reason – and if it’s something valid than I apologize for this, but you are clearly not a very active contributor. If you were making 10 comments a day trying to start something, but nobody paid attention because they were busy posting pictures of bacon, I would empathize with your situation more – but that doesn’t appear to be the case. If you want to read more stuff about baseball than post more comments about baseball for starters.
I don't understand why you can't just NOT READ Baron's stuff then
A lot of us like it.
by Mulliganstew on Jan 5, 2010 11:47 AM EST up reply actions 1 recs
Shit if I had to read 7 math posts a week I would go insane and I LOVE math!
RB adds a different dynamic to the site and I love it, I even read his even less PC blog at RFT. Also Leach, who is along with DG one of the best Cardinal’s beat writers, always has a playlist in his blog posts, it is an additional item to the main discussion. Comments about the playlists are usually kept to a minimum but are also just a community building thing.
"Come test me every day if you want," says Pujols, "Everything I ever made in this game I would give back to the Cardinals if I got caught."
yes, I agree
I think the actual QUALITY, from a journalistic/writer’s standpoint, of Dan and Aaron’s posts really is above and beyond what we should expect from a mere sports fan blog. It really would be a shame to lose either of them, even though much of their material (especially RB), especially in the off-season, is not baseball related.
I feel I should point out that, come the season, RB actually does a bunch of previews for various “interesting persons” in that year’s draft, which is one of my personal favourite features on the whole site (because I don’t follow college/HS ball at all and it’s nice to be educated about it). That’s about as “on-topic” as it gets.
RELEASE THE CENTIQUID!!!!
by Felonius_Monk on Jan 8, 2010 6:55 AM EST up reply actions
That said...
I agree with this… the level of memery around here has grown to idiotic proportions.
MB for LF in 2010!
goddam I LOL at every rally penis sighting.
"How depressing is it being you? Would you equate it to being a lifelong Cubs fan?"
Yes
Some of these things are funny, but a lot gets old. I read posts daily but it seems like more and more half of the comments are all about bacon, music, movies, and OT stuff. That really discourages people from posting about baseball.
The Godfather himself has decided to grace us with his presence. This is his damn house. He sleeps 20 feet away.
While your goal is noble
I’m afraid the mission is already lost.
Internet forums only degrade, they do not revert.
I imagine this impassioned plea will make a difference … for a time. But the meme waters keep rising; we’re already on the roof.
I agree that it'd be great to see threads get a little more on-topic
and I think during the season that it’d be useful to have a daily open thread in addition to the more analytical posts and the game threads (which latter should be more focused on actual baseball).
Having daily open threads would allow the community to keep the dating advice &c separate from the beisbol. These could even be auto-generated.
by nota bene on Dec 30, 2009 5:09 PM EST reply actions 1 recs
I'm perfectly ok with this...
but lets not single out certain meme’s, let’s just apply it to all of them if that’s the way we’re going to do this.
Most of them die out after a while anyway, so I’m not sure why we need to set a certain date for dumping things altogether.
I also think that most of our threads are filled with pretty good baseball discussion. Does the OT stuff get out of hand at times? Probably, but I think some of the OT discussion is pretty good, and eliminating all of it gets rid of the good stuff too. I enjoy the various personalities of the posters around here and enjoy the discussion among the community members. Rarely does anything delve into politics or religious discussion here, so as far as things being “lax” I think that’s stemming from people who are here to read this like it’s a new site when it is not.
Please consider any Hot Stove talk in the above comment is spoken under the assumption that the Cardinals are not signing Matt Holliday.
by fourstick on Dec 30, 2009 5:35 PM EST reply actions 2 recs
I guess
would you rather have 10 comments when nothing is going on, or a running conversation that moves in the direction of news as it happens? I’d rather have the latter.
Please consider any Hot Stove talk in the above comment is spoken under the assumption that the Cardinals are not signing Matt Holliday.
by fourstick on Dec 30, 2009 5:36 PM EST up reply actions 3 recs
all that above said
I appreciate that the mods have a helluva job. It’s like herding elephants, and man, that’s not easy. I wish some of those new posters would get off their back for all the work and creativity and energy they put in.
"It was like two ankles." AVENGE BOOG
"But listen, and understand: more Molinas are out there. They can't be bargained with. They can't be reasoned with. They don't feel pity, or remorse, or fear." - THT
by Yadi2Second on Dec 30, 2009 5:46 PM EST reply actions 2 recs
also, psst
quickest way to instantly kill a stupid meme is point out how much BCB does it.
works every time.
"It was like two ankles." AVENGE BOOG
"But listen, and understand: more Molinas are out there. They can't be bargained with. They can't be reasoned with. They don't feel pity, or remorse, or fear." - THT
I've pointed out how much BCB uses TWSS and "First"
only to see it gain in popularity.
So, I gave up.
Think of how stupid the average person is, and realize half of them are stupider than that.
then talk to the mods
It’s a moderated community for a reason. The worst that can happen is they say, too bad. It’s anonymous, quick, and with proactive mods, effective.
The reluctance to involve mods re: anything that precludes your participation is a brain-scratcher for me. There are communities of this size without any mods at all — they’re like monkey houses without any glass. We are damned lucky.
Not to get on you, Tackle Box, but I should point out the same mindset that produces rollicking threads trying to shut down trolls (and yet no flags) also produces public shots at the main posters. Just e-mail the mods. Politely. It’s not hard.
"It was like two ankles." AVENGE BOOG
"But listen, and understand: more Molinas are out there. They can't be bargained with. They can't be reasoned with. They don't feel pity, or remorse, or fear." - THT
Personally
I’ve felt over the last year, that the direction of VEB is less and less welcoming to me. I don’t mean this as an insult to you or the mods and contributors, not at all. It’s just that maybe I’m looking for something slightly different. I’m not 100% sure. I find the sabr stuff fascinating even though I have a difficult time understanding it (never was good at math on any level).
In all honesty, maybe it’s me. Things have changed in my life that preclude me from having tons of time to read every post and comment section. So, for the most part I’ll point the finger at me. No biggie.
As for emailing mods about “first” and whatnot, are you serious? First, you said all you have to do is point out how much BCB does it and that nips it in the butt. Well, I pointed out that I had done that, without the desired success, and you say I should have emailed the mods. Was I the only one who had an issue with it? No. I’d see people complain about it, but to no avail. Then today, azru (who I’m pretty sure has mod priveliges) just wrote a FanPost urging people not to use it anymore. (and i know with certainty azru has complained about a lot of the side discussion stuff in the past, and that hasn’t ended much of it either) But, I guess my email would have ended all this nonsense months ago.
Probably not.
Think of how stupid the average person is, and realize half of them are stupider than that.
I *am* serious.
In one of the latest shots at the main posters, DanUp stated that he had received no e-mails complaining about the main posts.
And yet, we were scoring about one rant about the main posts every three weeks.
ZERO E-MAILS.
I mean, it’s your right to sit there and speculate about what will or will not happen once you e-mail them. But if you don’t send the e-mail, you’re never gonna know. I mean, does that make sense? They may well come back and say, well, if we get more complaints, we’ll look into it. I don’t know.
On the other hand, no one but the other mods will know you e-mailed them. What do you have to lose?
I guess it doesn’t make sense to me to be so bothered by something and then not do anything about it. But whatever I might think or believe, the message that wasn’t sent will not magically get sent.
"It was like two ankles." AVENGE BOOG
"But listen, and understand: more Molinas are out there. They can't be bargained with. They can't be reasoned with. They don't feel pity, or remorse, or fear." - THT
It's not that big of a deal really.
It started in the game threads which I quit reading this season for various reasons (not 100% due to VEB or its membership).
Then it leaked into the main posts, which I often read but I don’t have the energy to get into the comments because by the time I do, there are already 300 comments. So, I’m not losing sleep over it.
But, all I did was respond to your comment that all you had to do was point out that BCB does it and that ends it. It doesn’t. That was the point. It wasn’t worth fighting since 1) I was reading less and less and 2) more and more people were joining in so I gave up on it.
Honestly, the only reason I mentioned anything is because BCB has done this stuff for quite some time (longer than VEB) and I found it to be dumb and childish over there and didn’t like seeing it over here.
Btw, where is the Hot Stove Thread?
Think of how stupid the average person is, and realize half of them are stupider than that.
It fell off od the rec list
someone needs to get on the ball and make a new one.
Lighten up, Francis - Sergeant Hulka
* sarcasm might be involved in this comment
well fwiw I was wondering where you went
re: BCB = I was being facetious.
though when it works… it works really quickly. nothing unites a Cardinals fanbase like being compared to the cubs.
the current one is here: http://www.vivaelbirdos.com/2009/12/15/1202501/12-15-09-drop-it-like-its-hot
It’s sleepy. really sleepy. nothing is happening other than Boras jerking us around.
"It was like two ankles." AVENGE BOOG
"But listen, and understand: more Molinas are out there. They can't be bargained with. They can't be reasoned with. They don't feel pity, or remorse, or fear." - THT
That is true.
No harm anyway.
Yeah, just a new job that requires a lot more of my time and just other life stuff that has interfered with my baseball enjoyment has effected my overall attendance.
It’s nothing bad, mind you. Unless you want to consider having less time for baseball and VEB a bad thing ;-) But at some point we all have to grow up (responsibilities, etc) and it probably took me too long to get here in the first place….heh.
Think of how stupid the average person is, and realize half of them are stupider than that.
That is a bad thing
but I might be Peter Pan-ish when it comes to baseball.
It is good to see you pop back in here though, hopefully you can find your way back at least a couple times during the season.
Lighten up, Francis - Sergeant Hulka
* sarcasm might be involved in this comment
I don't think I could ever go away completely
to the chagrin of a few I’m sure….. ;-)
Think of how stupid the average person is, and realize half of them are stupider than that.
Not everyone is going to have that kind of passion about this
It’s not worth it to most to go to Dan, Azru, Tom – and what are they going to do about it anyway other than what Azru just did? What many will do is either just stop clicking. More likely, they click once to read the mod’s usally strong, well thought out main post and completely ignore the comments littered with tips for picking up women, class schedules, television show critiques….
This is not the same discussion as railing on a mods post(s). I agree if someone continually doesn’t like what the mods are writing that maybe this isn’t for them. This has nothing to do with that. This is about us as commenters and our responsibilities here. The main post can get people to visit this site once a day. The only thing that gets people to click on this multiple times a day are strong comments in the main threads and well reasoned fanposts. Bacon jokes, Corky Ramos mentions, use of the word 6, et al….they don’t do that for the masses, only for the choir.
There’s an unhealthy focus on number of comments. I’m sure the people that put hours into this site would rather have 10,000 readers with 300 comments than 2,000 readers with 1,000 comments. Sometimes less is more on our end.
Now I’ve wandered into politics here before, I’ve used the 6 stuff, I’ve got into plenty of stupid discussions. So I’m no saint or anything. I’ve just noticed it’s trending in a bad direction as far as volume of that stuff, and if it continues to evolve at this rate it isn’t going to be good for the site as whole. Now that’s just one man’s opinion and isn’t worth much, but sounds like I am not alone in this.
by Merry CRasmus on Dec 30, 2009 8:36 PM EST up reply actions 2 recs
you're right
I did not mean to conflate the two — other than point out that it’s the same mindset. A metaphor, if you will. Why not tell the mods in private?
My point is mainly that if no one tells the moderators that something is building up, there is a 100% chance of nothing changing.
And not to put too fine a point on it, but the participation of the mods, in some instances, is as good as permission to continue.
I do disagree with one point — as long as we are better than the P-D forums, people will continue to click on and link to VEB. It’s a sad truth, yeah. But it is a good point… in that a lot of us act like we are the only ones reading this stuff. Very, very, very untrue. 5 times the lurkers is probably a conservative estimate. Linkage on ESPN, Yahoo, and various other major online sports networks guarantees traffic.
For a lot of people, we are part of the face of Cardinals Nation. Personally, if that’s how you want to look to everybody else, then go ahead and post it. Part of that, though, is that it’s online — and in that sense, we are most in control of our own contribution, not everyone else’s.
"It was like two ankles." AVENGE BOOG
"But listen, and understand: more Molinas are out there. They can't be bargained with. They can't be reasoned with. They don't feel pity, or remorse, or fear." - THT
Participation of mods
To me a lot of the issue is a matter of degree. Mods could chime in with sidebar stuff and that’s no big deal to me, at least. It’s like a lot of other things in life – what may be good in moderation is awful in excess. I can have a few drinks every once in a while, but I’ll pay for it in many ways if I down a 12 pack every night. I like a good cheeseburger, but when I’m eating them every day at lunch I put on some pounds fast.
This does have more of community feel than most other places, to its credit. That means we’re going to have some of these things. What brings us together here, above all, is our love for baseball and more specifically, the Cardinals. When this site is at its absolute best is when that is what comments center around. In my opinion.
by Merry CRasmus on Dec 30, 2009 10:02 PM EST up reply actions
my comments below are not meant to dissuade anybody from emailing a mod and saying "i hate X. can
we stop X?" there are SOME things we can do; i may have overstated that part of things.
i guess the larger point was that the best way to deal with these problems is action by readers/posters rather than waiting and hoping that people stop posting things that poster doesn’t like.
but an email saying “‘fist’ is ruining my life,” would probably get a response and would at least let dan and azru et al. know how readers/posters are feeling.
My daddy told me, lookin' back, The best friend you'll have is a railroad track So when I was 13 said, I'm rollin' my own, And I'm leavin' Missouri and I'm never comin' home . . . Now I woke me up with a cardinal bird, And when I wanna talk, He hangs on every word. . . And I'm lost at the bottom of the world. - Tom Waits
Not to be a jerk or anything...
but I have followed this blog since early 2006. I am an infrequent poster but a longtime lurker. To say that an email to the mods is the only way the mods know the quality of the comments has lessened is ludicrous. The level of discussion has gone downhill ever since VEB joined SB nation. Maybe this even contributed to Chuckb’s departure, who I thought was great for discussion and learning.
I know that I may get slammed for this, but so be it. Maybe there are others that agree—I didn’t think many felt the same way I did about all the memes and irrelevant conversation until Azru made this fanpost. I should also note that I don’t think this is the mod’s fault…what can you do. They all do a great job and always have insightful posts. It’s just the level of discussion in the comments section.
and I don't want to sound like a jerk ( or a dick, like the infrequent poster above put it)
but really, lead and we will follow. VEB mostly goes off the rails when there is not a lot or real baseball news to discuss. I still think 90% of the great content is from the mods’ content in the main post. If you feel things are going off topic, jump in more often and get us back on topic.
I know that this place is not just for those of us who comment a lot, but if the people who lurk and don’t comment (and obviously don’t make noise about it until a thread like this pops up), how in the world is anything going to change?
Lighten up, Francis - Sergeant Hulka
* sarcasm might be involved in this comment
by mattyfrommo on Dec 31, 2009 12:08 AM EST up reply actions
Oh c'mon
Have you see some of the debates we have? They last for ~300 comments, include multiple perspectives. I’ve ran more regressions for VEB than I have for my stats class.
by vivaelpujols on Dec 31, 2009 12:20 AM EST up reply actions 1 recs
Obviously not talking about the quality stuff
And there is alot of it, especially from posters like yourself. I always enjoy your contributions. But as another poster said, quality of posts is better than quantity. I’m concerned about the quantity part—stuff pertaining to movies, music, bacon, unicorns, etc.—which overwhelms the comment section. Hell, the stuff over at Fangraphs hardly ever hits 100 comments.
I’m just trying to give an “outsiders” prospective who has been creeping around this website for years.
heh...you beat me by a couple seconds.
and….that’s what I thought.
Think of how stupid the average person is, and realize half of them are stupider than that.
Oh ok, sorry
I personally don’t mind a lot of comments in the main thread that aren’t about baseball. And I definitely think it gets “worse” in the offseason.
I don’t think it’s fair to ask all of the guys to stop talking about non-baseball stuff, so there are two options.
1) Have a seperate fanpost for off topic dicussions
2) Let the main thread be whatever we want it to be, and encourage people to create more baseball specific fanposts.
I personally like 2 better, because having a specific off topic thread seems artificial and weird.
I will say this, if you go into the main thread and ask questions about baseball, you’ll get a ton of replies.
by vivaelpujols on Dec 31, 2009 12:30 AM EST up reply actions
2), please
I don’t think one can sanction their way to the right tone; you have to foster the culture you want. Or at least, that’s the better way to get it done.
you have to foster the culture you want. Or at least, that’s the better way to get it done.
Exactly. Could part of it be that we’ve lost two main page commenters who posted interesting, but basically very on-topic, relatively dry baseball analysis stuff (Azru, Chuckb) over the last year or so, and now have a couple of new guys whose style is a little more irreverent and (sometimes) slightly less dry (DanUp, and to a lesser extent Tom, whose material I’ve really enjoyed, personally).
FWIW, I really like the balance now. We have VEP’s posts, which are VERY analytical, RB’s, which (at least in the off-season) are very irreverent but are generally thought-provoking and interesting (and I always enjoy his draft previews immensely, when we’re back on-topic and on-season), and Tom & Dan, who fall somewhere in the middle. I think the actual quality of writing (if not necessarily the quality of analysis and baseball insight) has actually gone UP with the new additions.
Arguably a bit more analysis would be of more interest and benefit to the community, but sometimes it’s up to the community to provide that. I hold my hand up and say I’ve contributed (and perhaps in the case of “fist”, largely propagated) some of the nonsense and memey-stuff, but I’ve also written at least 7 or 8 fanposts in the last year (and many more blog comments) that I’ve actually spent an hour or more on, and done some analysis, research, reading etc. about baseball to make. I’m not sure many of the posters who have been overly critical (IMO) of the blog’s tone in this thread can say the same.
RELEASE THE CENTIQUID!!!!
by Felonius_Monk on Dec 31, 2009 6:09 AM EST up reply actions
I haven't posted in a couple of weeks
But when I finish with finals, I’ll be able to make my weekly post, which is going to be analytical 95% of the time.
by vivaelpujols on Dec 31, 2009 6:25 AM EST up reply actions
also
you generally have the longest and best to read comments in general in every thread.
there’s plenty of baseball discussion. well more than proportionate to what baseball stuff we actually have to talk about
Of course, hope means being cut down on some street corner, as you run like mad, by a random bullet.
I would also hate it if VEB became like FanGraphs
I really hate most of the commenters there.
by vivaelpujols on Jan 2, 2010 3:13 AM EST up reply actions 2 recs
When I read his comment
I didn’t at all think it had anything to do with stuff that actually is informative or enlightening like the work you typically do.
I thought he was just commenting about the side (inside) stuff that bogs down everything else.
Think of how stupid the average person is, and realize half of them are stupider than that.
also, see the link to my exchange at the DeRosa thread
or the bit below with tom s.
stuff just… doesn’t work that way in a large community.
"It was like two ankles." AVENGE BOOG
"But listen, and understand: more Molinas are out there. They can't be bargained with. They can't be reasoned with. They don't feel pity, or remorse, or fear." - THT
I Agree....
…the moore my non-SABR oriented baseball remarks were jumped on, the moore inclined I was to just hang around and be silly – which is fun on its own part. But its no fun to make an observation and have 5 or 6 people make personal comment on its content simply because THEY have a different (and therefore better!) way of stating something. I had actually left VEB for a while and deleted much of my original stuff because it felt so unwelcoming; then I decided it was more fun to just hang around and be the class clown. It would be nice to do both,and I have tried to walk that line. but if it makes the VEB folks happy, you have seen your final nertlerb.
:=8)
Big McLargehuge!
:=8O
by The MooCow on Dec 31, 2009 9:54 AM EST up reply actions 1 recs
robots like to piss on everyone's parade
that’s our fun, suckers!
Future Redbirds - tracking Cardinal prospects for Cardinal Nation
by azruavatar on Dec 30, 2009 8:25 PM EST up reply actions 1 recs
you seem to be leaking coolant at an alarming rate...
^is stuff like this discouraged?
(honestly just asking)
by jealousblues on Dec 31, 2009 1:14 AM EST up reply actions
leaking coolant is discouraged
but I’m not sure what human analogy you’re making
Future Redbirds - tracking Cardinal prospects for Cardinal Nation
this site
i have been coming to this community since early 2006, in that time i have made close to 500 comments
there was a point however, where i stopped even looking at the comment sections, not because i despised them, which i dont, but because it just took so long to get through
i still come here every day, read the main post, and if i am very interested, may comment; now i dont want anyone to think that i dont like the silliness, i think it is ok at times, in fact i have read the actual comment threads the last few days for the first time in a while, and i enjoyed them, despite not knowing what some stuff meant
so this is my opinion of what azru is saying here: i think he is right that some things may have been out of hand, at least when they were seen alongside a serious discussion subject, however, i think that there should be a daily catchall anything goes thread (well not anything, but everything that he listed above anyway); plus the normal threads and i believe you would keep everyone happy
this site means a lot to many cards fans; i feel we get certain things here that are not available from newspapers or tv, or any other type of media; we get the feelings of other fans, and we also get the analysis from some pretty bright people; i think we should be very proud of this site, but lately i do wonder if a person coming here for the first time would know what the hell to think?
Pujols is the greatest Cardinal in my lifetime.
i think i've said variations on this theme before, but i'll say it again.
the comment section is your forum. this site is what you make out of it. if you don’t like the tone or the content of the comments (which i readily understand) the best way to address it is to provide on-topic, thoughtful baseball commentary.
if you are waiting for somebody else to fix the site for you, then you’re waiting for someone who is not coming.
i have no interest in trying to police the content of people’s comments (beyond very basic civility) nor in trying to decide how much off-topic fun is too much. azru’s plea to our collective wisdom and reason here is probably the most anybody should expect for the mods to do.
if you want to change the contents of the comment section, then the best way to do it is to put the kind of content you want to read on the page. if you have a substantive piece of analysis and you’re worried about it getting lost by posting it as a comment, make a fanpost or a fanshot. more cerebral fanposts tend to get pretty cerebral fanpost comments.
My daddy told me, lookin' back, The best friend you'll have is a railroad track So when I was 13 said, I'm rollin' my own, And I'm leavin' Missouri and I'm never comin' home . . . Now I woke me up with a cardinal bird, And when I wanna talk, He hangs on every word. . . And I'm lost at the bottom of the world. - Tom Waits
by tom s. on Dec 30, 2009 6:49 PM EST reply actions 4 recs
good point
I shouldn’t complain unless I’m going to be part of the solution (understand this wasn’t necessarily aimed at me, but I was complaining some..)
by stevesommer05 on Dec 30, 2009 6:53 PM EST up reply actions
nor do we want to make possible contributors feel unwelcome, either
I was pretty excited to see your comments, to be honest. More points-of-view and more analysis make VEB so much better.
But tom s. is right on with how it works on a large internet forum. And VEB is one of the largest covering the topic.
As a non-mathy person, I have to suggest one quick way to get an analytic discussion going: ask a question.
"It was like two ankles." AVENGE BOOG
"But listen, and understand: more Molinas are out there. They can't be bargained with. They can't be reasoned with. They don't feel pity, or remorse, or fear." - THT
Never felt unwelcome
Just tough to wade through 700 comments to find that someone asked you a question or that someone answered one you asked. Granted there is the distinct possibility that I’m not using the software up to its full capabilities and it’s my own fault… and there’s the distinct possibility that I need to just be less lazy
by stevesommer05 on Dec 30, 2009 7:22 PM EST up reply actions
I think you can check it via your profile
It’s limited if you comment a lot, but I think it does show replies to your comments.
"It was like two ankles." AVENGE BOOG
"But listen, and understand: more Molinas are out there. They can't be bargained with. They can't be reasoned with. They don't feel pity, or remorse, or fear." - THT
See there ya go
I learned something today. Thanks!
by stevesommer05 on Dec 30, 2009 7:41 PM EST up reply actions
and it was in a non baseball related thread
ironic eh?
by stevesommer05 on Dec 30, 2009 7:46 PM EST up reply actions
I may actually add "SBN'd" to the glossary
if… I haven’t already. oops. unfortunately, technical difficulties are a necessary part of the vocabulary.
"It was like two ankles." AVENGE BOOG
"But listen, and understand: more Molinas are out there. They can't be bargained with. They can't be reasoned with. They don't feel pity, or remorse, or fear." - THT
A lot of times what I do is I search the page for what I'm trying to find (CTRL+F)
If I’m jumping into a thread, and I want to find the sub-thread on the Holliday negotiations. Then I just CTRL+F and type in Holliday. If I am trying to find the question I asked earlier and the responses to that question, then I’ll just CTRL+F and type in my name.
(Insert Your Own Joke)
by AWolfAtTheDoor on Jan 1, 2010 8:39 PM EST up reply actions
That's a feature I was not aware of.
thanks.
Think of how stupid the average person is, and realize half of them are stupider than that.
ctrl-f
is the generic windows “find” hotkey. In IE it brings up a find dialogue box, but in Firefox it really shines as it allows very quick and fast searching and doesn’t have to be reopend each time you want to hit next.
"Come test me every day if you want," says Pujols, "Everything I ever made in this game I would give back to the Cardinals if I got caught."
that is so awesome
this is gonna change my VEB experience a ton
why have people been holding out with this information?
Lighten up, Francis - Sergeant Hulka
* sarcasm might be involved in this comment
you do know about z and c as well right?
I love keyboard shortcuts since almost anything you want to do in a windows program has a keyboard shortcut and usually each program follows the MS standards.
Here is another tip, if you open a menu (file, edit, view, etc.) and there is a listing on the right side of the menu after the name of the option (Edit→Copy has Ctrl C after it) that is the keyboard shortcut. The problem with IE7, IE8 and MS Office 2007 is that they did away with these menus and limited them even if you force them to show. For those like me that have 90% of them memorized (or at least the useful ones) it is fine but for new people it is a waste of a valuable resource.
"Come test me every day if you want," says Pujols, "Everything I ever made in this game I would give back to the Cardinals if I got caught."
Also, J and K
allow you to go forward and backward through comments without marking them unread.
Now with extra feisty!
c goes forward
and shift c goes backwards without marking read, I didnt know about j and k
"Come test me every day if you want," says Pujols, "Everything I ever made in this game I would give back to the Cardinals if I got caught."
Those are Google Reader shortcuts.
And just like I try to ‘z’ through Facebook, I found out VEB used ‘j’ and ‘k’ by accident.
Now with extra feisty!
hmm
Guess I shoudl play aroud with the GR shortcuts more, I tend to use my mouse way too much in my reader and I have tons of feeds from webcomics, to video games to sports to news to movies, the list is endless, love me some google reader.
"Come test me every day if you want," says Pujols, "Everything I ever made in this game I would give back to the Cardinals if I got caught."
gmail has some great shortcuts too
though you have to turn them on first
by brackenthebox on Jan 7, 2010 5:02 PM EST up reply actions
yeah, I knew all that other stuff
but ctrl F was a complete shock
Lighten up, Francis - Sergeant Hulka
* sarcasm might be involved in this comment
the 2007 office ribbon is fantastic for learning keyboard shortcuts
when you alt to it, it shows the little letters of each icon to activate it.
by brackenthebox on Jan 7, 2010 4:10 PM EST up reply actions
Thanks for that, but it is different
I hadn’t really tried that before but it seems those are all “alt shortcuts” so like “alt-h” opens the home tab, then “alt-c” performs a copy, or “alt-h” would then select the background color. But the old “ctrl” shortcuts like ctrl f, ctrl c, etc. aren’t as easy to find anymore.
"Come test me every day if you want," says Pujols, "Everything I ever made in this game I would give back to the Cardinals if I got caught."
it was neither aimed at any one person nor intended to be hostile or accusatory.
it’s just an observation about what will and won’t be effective.
i’m just pointing out that in reality, there is very little control over who shows up and who comments and how they comment.
My daddy told me, lookin' back, The best friend you'll have is a railroad track So when I was 13 said, I'm rollin' my own, And I'm leavin' Missouri and I'm never comin' home . . . Now I woke me up with a cardinal bird, And when I wanna talk, He hangs on every word. . . And I'm lost at the bottom of the world. - Tom Waits
mm, I disagree with the last
Online, it’s not about a top-down, whomever is on the stage direction. It’s about directing momentum. Once you break 50 people (and judging from the number of recs in the glossary, there are well over 100 active accounts, and probably 5x the number of lurkers), managing a forum is like steering a boulder on a hill.
If you want something to stop, you’d better dig in and stand pat every single time. Not just sometimes, or whenever, or in certain situations. Because, on the flip side, all it takes to get it rolling is one little nudge. That’s why I agree with you — in all my years, I’ve never seen a large online community successfully subtract established elements. Adding elements, on the other hand, is relatively easy.
Most undesirable stuff fades away. For the rest, well, that’s why we have flagging.
"It was like two ankles." AVENGE BOOG
"But listen, and understand: more Molinas are out there. They can't be bargained with. They can't be reasoned with. They don't feel pity, or remorse, or fear." - THT
I know there was no intent or aim
It just made me rethink my level of complaint, that’s all
by stevesommer05 on Dec 30, 2009 7:19 PM EST up reply actions
rec'd.
I couldn’t agree more.
Also, more substantial fanposts invariably get rec’d and stay up on the “recommended fanposts” section for a couple of weeks.
RELEASE THE CENTIQUID!!!!
by Felonius_Monk on Dec 31, 2009 6:12 AM EST up reply actions
yes, what this offseason needs is more in-depth
conversation about the blockbuster Ruben Gotay signing. Kidding, kidding. But there really isn’t too much “baseball news” to discuss this off season, so I’m okay with the general discussion nature of the threads lately. Besides, just in the last few days, we’ve had spirited discussions/arguments about FIP, pitching, Holliday and plenty other baseball topics. That being said, I think a good rule of thumb (doesn’t have to be a strictly enforced requirement or anything) for the season would be too keep the baseball talk to the main thread and the general chat to the game threads.
...
I think a good rule of thumb (doesn’t have to be a strictly enforced requirement or anything) for the season would be too keep the baseball talk to the main thread and the general chat to the game threads.
And this is how I recall the regular season. The Daily threads seemed to be on topic, and all of the inanity was let loose in the game threads.
* is an Asshat
yes, what this offseason needs is more in-depth
conversation about the blockbuster Ruben Gotay signing
I actually did a whole fanpost about that!!!
RELEASE THE CENTIQUID!!!!
by Felonius_Monk on Dec 31, 2009 6:14 AM EST up reply actions
I'm down....
…unless the “6” ad is used again next year.
If they bring it back, I say so can we. If not, it dies.
Nice Fanpost
The site has been getting a little insular and off-putting with all the “memes.” I come here because I’m fanatic about Cards baseball (and have been since I was a little kid) but I’m not sure I would’ve recognized VEB as a worthwhile community to contribute to if I came to the site for the first time over these past few weeks.
by Willie McGee's Twin on Dec 30, 2009 8:05 PM EST reply actions
I just want to add how pleased I am that everyone's being so sane in this thread.
Obviously my intent was not to slam any particular writer or commenter. I enjoy (most of) the off topic conversation as much as the next person but it really has gotten excessive lately. I think we’re going to have to gravitate toward some way of containing the OT stuff once the season begins. People have requested OT fanposts before and that’s how other sites seem to self-moderate. That may be a solution. Either way, thanks for the input and not going at each other’s throats on what can be a touch subject.
Future Redbirds - tracking Cardinal prospects for Cardinal Nation
I was actually going to start a trial OT Fanpost
but I barely had the wit to pull off the Hot Stove Thread
Lighten up, Francis - Sergeant Hulka
* sarcasm might be involved in this comment
I don't like an OT fanpost
I love that the mainthreads basically become a free for all.
by vivaelpujols on Dec 30, 2009 8:42 PM EST up reply actions
As long as it happens organically, I'm all for it.
That being said, the gifs, bacon, & various firsts have all gotten really old for me, so I can’t complain about other people complaining about other memes.
The best way to intelligence up the comments and get good baseball talk going is to post an intelligent comment about baseball. Feedback will follow.
If there’s nothing going on, then yeah, people will probably talk about food and music and relationships along with the happenings of the hometown nine and other MLB franchises, because that’s what communities do: they communicate. I, for one, appreciate it.
(And I’ll stop saying “That’s What She Said” the same day I recognize the state of Missourah: When I’m dead in the cold, cold ground. That saying gets me through the day.)
by Mister Eff on Dec 30, 2009 8:55 PM EST up reply actions 2 recs
Do you not recognize the state that you live in?
And yeah, it would be nice if nothing else comes of this, I hope the first line of your comment does happen.
Heck, I love bacon way too much, and even I am sick of that crap.
Lighten up, Francis - Sergeant Hulka
* sarcasm might be involved in this comment
Tell it Mister Eff!
I agree with pretty much everything you said. Except TWSS maybe should go away. Here’s my thing: right now, not much baseball-wise is going on so the only thing I can see to talk about are stats (because they’re always there) and I just don’t do numbers. When something baseball-wise does happen people usually find it and talk about it. People will get off topic and in the off season it may be a little bit easier to talk about off-topic things. During the season I feel like people did a good job of staying on topic.
As far as people not wanting to comment because they feel left out of the memes (which do get old, so I’ve just begun to ignore them if they bore me) just comment, people are here are super-nice and aren’t going to be mean to you because you don’t know what the latest bacon meme is.
If they use that 6 commercial and promotion next, 6 stays. Otherwise, I like spelling serious so I’ll probably just say serious.
Who needs affection when you can have blind hatred?
I don't think the complaint is with things going off-topic
There’s just a lot that goes on these days that doesn’t add anything to the discussion whatsoever. Even though this is a baseball site, I’d still much rather read someone’s thoughts about some new movie than scroll through a bunch of one word “TWSS” style comments and “wacky” images.
I have a love/hate relationship with the Cardinals' middle relief corps. | Cards on Cards
i for one go to whole foods and buy only the organic memes because they taste better and they don't have
pesticides in them.
My daddy told me, lookin' back, The best friend you'll have is a railroad track So when I was 13 said, I'm rollin' my own, And I'm leavin' Missouri and I'm never comin' home . . . Now I woke me up with a cardinal bird, And when I wanna talk, He hangs on every word. . . And I'm lost at the bottom of the world. - Tom Waits
by tom s. on Dec 30, 2009 9:35 PM EST up reply actions 6 recs
Rec'd.
A little bit of self-referential humor is fun. A lot of it is like joyless masturbation.
Now with extra feisty!
joyless masturbation.
Contradiction in terms???
RELEASE THE CENTIQUID!!!!
by Felonius_Monk on Dec 31, 2009 6:19 AM EST up reply actions
agreed
especially about how you said it feels artificial earlier
Of course, hope means being cut down on some street corner, as you run like mad, by a random bullet.
you had me all the way
until you had to go and suggest that the greatest TV show of the decade is overrated. Now—well, now I might have to create sockpuppet accounts and go on the biggest meme rampage that she ever said.
Anyway: I will say, first, that this is a strange time for VEB; this has been our biggest year ever, in terms of readership—and certainly in terms of comments, especially off-topic comments. This is normal, and on the whole I’d say it isn’t a bad thing. We’re all here because we like the Cardinals, and baseball analysis, but it makes sense that beyond that we would have other things, and a general temperament, in common.
Without fresh baseball news it’s easy to become overly concerned with those other interests. I’m trying to work on that balance just like everybody else is, and I can’t say I’m totally satisfied with what I’ve done so far. But I can say that I’m glad we’re trying to work on it this way. The things about Viva El Birdos that make it different, as blogs and even SBN blogs go—the omnibus posts, what could easily be seen as an insular community, what can most easily be described as a haiku bent—I like those things. We can work on and disagree about the extent to which they should be in control of the direction of the site, but it’s good that we’re starting from what VEB is and moving from there.
Also, I’d like to thank azruavatar for doing this, and for in general playing bad robot to my doting uncle. He doesn’t get paid anything for his work moderating the site, both directly and indirectly, and he does an outstanding job. If we all worry about the direction of the site as constructively as he does, we won’t have any problems.
by DanUpBaby on Dec 30, 2009 10:39 PM EST reply actions 10 recs
+infinite on The Office = greatest TV show of the decade
And that’s the whole comedy in “that’s what she said”. It’s always something obvious and then you revel in your own comedic genius. The Office always finds a brilliant way to do it.
"How depressing is it being you? Would you equate it to being a lifelong Cubs fan?"
trying really hard not to take this into a huge tangent
Of course, hope means being cut down on some street corner, as you run like mad, by a random bullet.
I'm with you, Dan
Yes, “The Office” is slipping, but to simply call it overrated is wrong-o. Seasons 2 and 3 were some of the best TV I’ve ever seen, and I’ve been watching TV for darn near 40 years. A show with Steve Carell, Ed Helms, Dwight, and Jenna Fischer is never overrated.
VivaElBirdos: Celebrating glorious mustaches since 2009
by redbirdnation8206 on Dec 31, 2009 10:11 AM EST up reply actions
The Office is wonderful
It’s so good even British television has a version of it.
"on gameday it says duke loves to face the four seamer and hates to face the four seamer" -VolsnCards5
"perhaps it's a computer joke about the duality of man." -tom s.
by Tudor's Electric Fan on Jan 2, 2010 11:29 AM EST up reply actions
i hear they're shooting a version of "happy gilmore" and "a christmas story" in canada too
other countries need to stop ripping off the USA’s good ideas.
"on gameday it says duke loves to face the four seamer and hates to face the four seamer" -VolsnCards5
"perhaps it's a computer joke about the duality of man." -tom s.
by Tudor's Electric Fan on Jan 2, 2010 11:39 AM EST up reply actions
did you know 75% of the canadian population live within 100miles of america, not including alaska
I am the Batman
i was told there would be no math
…aaaaaand we’re back on topic.
"on gameday it says duke loves to face the four seamer and hates to face the four seamer" -VolsnCards5
"perhaps it's a computer joke about the duality of man." -tom s.
by Tudor's Electric Fan on Jan 2, 2010 11:47 AM EST up reply actions
Are all memes from 2006 dead?
I still look back fondly on how great Edwards was as a CFer and how evident is the wash. But I guess I don’t post those here often. There are plenty of other memes that stick around a long time, although apparently kicking puppies will now see its end. I think “hi guys in the truck” should stick around.
That said, I agree this place has turned a little too much like a high school boy’s locker room. Maybe not to the point that a manifesto be written, but whatever.
And for all those who like to be first, you can win the respect of the veteran VEBers by racing to post the night’s lineups first instead. Same concept, just in a slightly more productive form.
The memes annoy me, mostly
A lot of times it feels like wading thru inside jokes that are mostly privy to the 5% of the readership (wild guess) that are responsible for 90% of the posting. And, like most good things that become popular, they get stretched to a point beyond which they can be funny – like the Peter Principle for conversatsions, or something.
But, I’d hate to see some kind of systemization to force us away. Maybe a post like this now and again to show that not everyone thinks Meme Abuse is a paragon of cleverness would suffice? Might keep it in check, while still allowing people to have their fun, and the occasional picture of a toolbox full of meat products (which was so weird and such a beautiful cross of two worn out memes that I gazed for many seconds at it’s ugly beauty, and thought flattering things about the creativity of it’s poster).
In other words, thanks AZ. But I hope the pendulum isn’t forcibly moved too far the other way.
this is pretty much how i feel about the subject
for the most part i just z through all the things that aren’t baseball related. i might stop in some music or movie comments but not for long.
and its just seemed that over the past year my z button has been in use more and more. i used to just z through one chain of OT topics and then it was back to baseball. lately it has seemed to turn into the opposite where its almost all OT stuff and just a couple chains of baseball. plus all the new memes pop up so quick i can’t keep track of all of them nor do i care to. (i usually go to Rock M Nation for my meme action. The meme creation moves at a slower pace over there.)
i come here to read about the cardinals and when i don’t find a lot of cardinal talk its frustrating. i would never want the OT stuff to be taken away its just that i prefer more of the baseball analysis. that doesn’t mean its not a place for the OT stuff, just that i don’t really get into it.
"Sorry about him, he's dealing with being an inker. " - Chasing Amy
since azru is pleased that everyone is being sane
let me be the first to start shit:
azru, what the hell? since when are you 80 years old? let people have their fun and go about their lives? if you don’t like, so what? you don’t have to read it. just move on and get on with your life. who made you all seeing king anyway?
and if we’re going to blame someone for this, i blame dad. f*in gdm.
follow me on twitter @nickg105
by stlcardinalsfang on Dec 30, 2009 11:44 PM EST reply actions 1 recs
good work.
follow me on twitter @nickg105
by stlcardinalsfang on Dec 31, 2009 12:21 AM EST up reply actions
I'll charitably assume this is sarcasm.
Future Redbirds - tracking Cardinal prospects for Cardinal Nation
thanks for posting this azru
I wholeheartedly agree that these memes have become annoying, and weren’t especially funny in the first place. It has become tiresome to wade through all the comments to find interesting reading, I have pretty much just gave up on reading all the comments in the daily threads, when I used to give time to each person’s entry in the past. now it seems there’s just too much unnecessary and uninformative clutter.
and yeah, I totally agree The Office is very overrated
I cannot repeal the words of the golden eel
by Cards Fan in Chitown on Dec 31, 2009 12:39 AM EST reply actions
"The Office is very overrated"
Agree 100%
Think of how stupid the average person is, and realize half of them are stupider than that.
it was on 2 different channels tonight
and I was exposed to how very unfunny it is… whether it be a new episode, or a rerun, they both were lame imo. I need to get cable again! miss mlb network, even though it could be better heh
I cannot repeal the words of the golden eel
by Cards Fan in Chitown on Dec 31, 2009 1:00 AM EST up reply actions
Surprise
comedy is subjective!
who knew?
by jealousblues on Dec 31, 2009 3:49 PM EST up reply actions 1 recs
yeah
heh
I cannot repeal the words of the golden eel
by Cards Fan in Chitown on Jan 1, 2010 4:30 PM EST up reply actions
thats supposed to be non rude sounding
but Ive come to realize im terrible at conveying stuff like that in type
yeah
when I vent my opinion I usually just sound opinionated
I cannot repeal the words of the golden eel
by Cards Fan in Chitown on Jan 1, 2010 5:42 PM EST up reply actions
I silently wonder
I missed the beginning of this thread. How many “fist” comments did Azru have to remove, until he got somebody normal?
But in seriousness, lets come up with some new jokes and good analysis folks. Happy New Year!
First!
FAIL
6ly, I don’t see what the big deal is. So some people have some memes. I mean memes are as awesome as bacon. Cloby would be upset that we’re abandoning memes, and he carries a big stick (TWSS).
/pre-emptive flag
You know what they call a quarter pounder with cheese in France?
by jd is legend on Dec 31, 2009 3:27 AM EST reply actions 1 recs
Also
When I read the title of this fanpost, I first thought that you meant you had 2,009 memes you wanted to see gone for 2010. Sometimes it seems like VEB has that many.
I don’t mind the memes. Yes, they’re off-topic; yes, they clutter up the comments section. But I have enjoyed VEB in its many iterations, and I don’t foresee anything that will change that for me. I equally enjoy the baseball discussion and goofy sides of the comment threads. Whatever the mods and the commenting populace wishes for this blog, I’m supportive.
In other words, it would take alot to deter me from VEB.
You know what they call a quarter pounder with cheese in France?
by jd is legend on Dec 31, 2009 3:31 AM EST up reply actions
a royale with cheese.
You know why they call it a royale with cheese?
RELEASE THE CENTIQUID!!!!
by Felonius_Monk on Dec 31, 2009 6:23 AM EST up reply actions
Amen
I have to admit…I have been thinking this blog has been going down the wrong path for the past couple of months. It has become too over the top with silly pictures and WAY TOO MANY “in jokes” and “memes” to put up with as late. It’s like if you don’t post something funny anymore your comment is somewhat ignored. Or maybe if you don’t talk the “slang” around here you kind of feel left out. And guys don’t take this the wrong way but if you are over 30 and not in college like myself…it’s tought getting into some of these conversations. I know I’m old.
I have been known to post a silly picture from time to time…but I think it has become a little overboard. I’m getting tired of having to scroll through pictures upon pictures of bacon and unicorns. The first couple of times it was funny but it has ran it’s course. I’m all for posting a picture if it’s original and has to do with a baseball subject or even a pop culture photo every once in awhile. But I think the pictures that get me the most are the VERY LARGE photos that take up so much space. If you’re going to post a photo try and make it a reasonable size…please!!
One last gripe I have is the constant use of the word “fuck”. I’m not a prude and yes I use the word myself quite a bit. But seeing posts with “fuck” or “fucking” so much is becomming a little too much for me to take as a serious comment anymore.
Ok off the soapbox and thaks for giving me the space to vent a little.
Boy a frosty cold Budweiser would be great about now"…long pause…then an "aahhh". --Mike Shannon
by KYCards on Dec 31, 2009 9:00 AM EST reply actions 1 recs
+1
On the F word.
Swear words are like spices, you know? They’re meant to accent, highlight, liven things up. If you have nothing in the pot but a spice, then there’s nothing to even spice up.
I love the F word myself now and again, but there are some posters here who you’d think had JUST discovered it. Come on guys, is doesn’t make you any tougher to be able to swear over the internet.
My .02 as one of the biggest non-baseball contributors...
1. I hate the bacon meme…hate it…hate it…..HATE IT. Have I or will I bitch about it? No. Bitching about a meme obv fuels it. If everybody else likes it, go for it. I just cringe and move on. (But I do love bacon…it’s just so good.)
2. I hate the many variations of Colby Rasmus, HOWEVER, I LOVE the meme. If it just stuck to Corky Ramos (my personal fav) it should be immortalized like Jed, Snow Cones, ADAM, etc. Funny Player nicknames are my absolute favorite thing about VEB…I LOVE the fact that we refuse to go by nicknames that aren’t ours….Skip??? no no fuck that…let’s call him Jared.
3. Fist sucks. Can’t wait for it to die.
4. 6ly is epic enough to stay.
5. Wrong. That statement is so wrong it doesn’t require a rebuttal.
The reason I stay away from baseball talk is simply I don’t know what I’m talking about. There’s some pretty bad ass SABRs in here that can far more SABR grit than me. I let the smart people sort shit out.
Getting the most from VEB is pretty simple. For baseball talk I know what names to look for. That’s pretty much it. For entertainment I know who to look for. When I see a 200 reply comment I do a quick scan…if I see tom s, vivaelpujols, all4tookie, etc then it’s going to be an awesome baseball thread. If I see it’s a 200 reply and see it all started with Spants or Clemsongirl I know most of the replies are going to be from dudes trying to make rapport with the elusive VEB female. If I see JD, GDM in there something in there is entertaining enough for them to join in on. If I see a thread with sooner or other anti-moms basement posters I know it’s going to be more of a PD forum thread.
Just like EVERYTHING in life, this place is cliquish. Like Danup has already said…you don’t like what’s being talked about…fucking bring up something that you consider worth talking about…if you get 0 replies it’s probably because it wasn’t worth talking about and had little to do with lack of meme or your popularity.
"How depressing is it being you? Would you equate it to being a lifelong Cubs fan?"
by rocKStark5 on Dec 31, 2009 9:16 AM EST reply actions 4 recs
you only liked it cause i named dropped you :-D
"How depressing is it being you? Would you equate it to being a lifelong Cubs fan?"
Naw, that's exactly what I do aslo
I rarely partake in the bacon/fist/corky memes, but I comment as much as anyone here. If I see a thread with fourstick, hazel and all4tookie then I know it’s gonna be my cup of tea. If I see a long thread with a bunch of pictures of bacon and pegacorns, then I know it’s probably not worth reading through (no offense gdm, matty’s, et al).
by vivaelpujols on Dec 31, 2009 9:29 AM EST up reply actions
Actually, I did enjoy the fist
For some reason the last one with Durst made me laugh for like 5 minutes. Probably cause he looked so retarded.
by vivaelpujols on Dec 31, 2009 9:31 AM EST up reply actions
Random D-List celeb cameos are always funny. yup yup.
"How depressing is it being you? Would you equate it to being a lifelong Cubs fan?"
You got it
it’s like some posters here have become too much of a “persona” or “character” and if they don’t post something that is wacky…then it has become unusual for them. Not going to name anyone…but I think some around here try to live up to their past “funny posts” and they go overboard and tend to run things in the ground. That’s where the memes start. But it’s all good…. and mostly in good fun if things don’t get too overdone as it has here lately.
Boy a frosty cold Budweiser would be great about now"…long pause…then an "aahhh". --Mike Shannon
I disagree with that characterization
but I’ll let one of the “persona” people reply first.
by vivaelpujols on Dec 31, 2009 9:44 AM EST up reply actions
I think rockstar5 was kind of pointing this out
and I was agreeing with him. “Characters” may have been a little harsh..and probably not the right thing to say. I probably shouldn’t bring it up and I will stop…because I can see this could go in a bad direction.
And yes I tend to be a “grumpy persona” :)
Boy a frosty cold Budweiser would be great about now"…long pause…then an "aahhh". --Mike Shannon
archetyped-american is the preferred nomenclature.
But I do see where “characters” can be applied…that’s delving into a philosophical debate about if your online persona is really “you”.
I’ve been meeting people from online since the 90s due to online poker…I’ve even flown out to Atlantic City for a Poker Forum home game. Some people are identical to their online persona and some are flat out different to the point of shocking. Then again like Chris Rock said you don’t meet somebody, you meet their representative.
FWIW I am this abrasive in person.
"How depressing is it being you? Would you equate it to being a lifelong Cubs fan?"
I have noticed :-)
RELEASE THE CENTIQUID!!!!
by Felonius_Monk on Dec 31, 2009 10:10 AM EST up reply actions
you can blame a lot of thing on us mattys
posting bacon pics is not one of them though!
Lighten up, Francis - Sergeant Hulka
* sarcasm might be involved in this comment
Scanning is what I do to
I just hit z while scanning comment titles and poster names, I know who to look for and who to avoid (because it usually isn’t my style), but when people chang their names (houstoncardinal>Chuckb, etc.) I sometimes get lost for awhile, especially if I miss the day they announce the change.
"Come test me every day if you want," says Pujols, "Everything I ever made in this game I would give back to the Cardinals if I got caught."
that reminded me
of when I had the job title “scanner operator”
I cannot repeal the words of the golden eel
by Cards Fan in Chitown on Jan 7, 2010 8:52 PM EST up reply actions
Wait, you're not actually a cow?
You know what they call a quarter pounder with cheese in France?
by jd is legend on Dec 31, 2009 11:49 AM EST up reply actions
I'm with you on the not talking about baseball a lot.
I don’t what I’m talking about when it comes to baseball numbers and stuff. I have stated my opinion on all of the Matt Holliday stuff and there is no point in saying it over and over again. I don’t know much about the free agents available now so I’m not really going to talk about that. During the season when stuff happens I’m much more likely to talk about baseball and my opinions on what’s going on. I don’t like talking about the gossip magazine things about baseball players so I won’t even really talk about that much. If I come up with something interesting about baseball to say I’ll say it. I just don’t very often especially in the offseason.
Who needs affection when you can have blind hatred?
It's the offseason right now,
and that pretty much only leads to three courses of discussion: general baseball theory, cardinals free agent/trade options and off topic/memes. To be honest, free agent discussions really bore me. I already have my opinion pretty much made up, and speculating about what the Cards should and shouldn’t do gets old for me quickly. General baseball theory is the stuff I love. Debates regarding FIP, UZR, Pitch f/x, or basically anything to do with math and physics and logic I love – and there have been plenty of amazing discussions relating to that, and I’m sure there will be at least a mini-one today.
However, not a lot of people have the stomach for the really hardcore baseball discussion – and, like me, I assume a lot of them get bored with the offseason speculation – so they resort to talking about politics, music, weed, rockstarks party life, JC Bradbury (okay that ones for me), BCB, etc. – and I have no problem with that. I actually enjoy a lot of that kind of discussion.
I do agree that memes are generally bad, because they get old quickly (unless they are really good) and are pretty much just a waste of time (they don’t make you think, or say anything new). I strongly disagree that off topic discussion, especially in the offseason, is bad.
Like rockstark said above, if you don’t like what’s currently being discussed, then try to start a new topic. If nobody cares, then you probably have to be a bit more direct (even abrasive if necessary). If nobody still cares then it’s probably because it’s not interesting.
I'm with you on these
but no mention of “Franklin sucks”? That’s gotta stay in 09.
Best moment I've ever seen at a Cards game in person
Follow me on Twitter: @zoomzoomj88
Looking forward to Cardinals baseball in 2010!
Just like saying "That's a winner!!" with one out left in a playoff game?
Especially with Franklin on the mound?!
You know what they call a quarter pounder with cheese in France?
by jd is legend on Jan 1, 2010 1:01 AM EST up reply actions 2 recs
tough but fair
Every morning I wake up & smoke a dart. Then I eat five strips of bacon, & for lunch I eat a bacon sandwich. And for a midday snack? Bacon! A whole damn plate! And I usually drink my dinner. And I'm still here! Sometimes I wonder if God forgot about me.
hey now...
at the time i wasn’t watching all that close and got caught up in the moment. if you wanna go ahead and talk crap, go right ahead. ‘franklin sucks’ lost its reverse-psychology luster long before that game.
Best moment I've ever seen at a Cards game in person
Follow me on Twitter: @zoomzoomj88
Looking forward to Cardinals baseball in 2010!
in reply to jd
Best moment I've ever seen at a Cards game in person
Follow me on Twitter: @zoomzoomj88
Looking forward to Cardinals baseball in 2010!
nice to see you're still not paying attention
Every morning I wake up & smoke a dart. Then I eat five strips of bacon, & for lunch I eat a bacon sandwich. And for a midday snack? Bacon! A whole damn plate! And I usually drink my dinner. And I'm still here! Sometimes I wonder if God forgot about me.
thanks.
if everyone wants to turn on me, that’s cool. have at it.
Best moment I've ever seen at a Cards game in person
Follow me on Twitter: @zoomzoomj88
Looking forward to Cardinals baseball in 2010!
it's not a meme
and even if it was, it has elements of truth in it
Lighten up, Francis - Sergeant Hulka
* sarcasm might be involved in this comment
I read VEB every day
and comment very rarely, yes the memes have gotten a little out of hand lately, but there hasn’t been a lot of news to comment on. I mostly agree with the ones listed by azru above but trying to tone down the memes that are Cardinal related would be unwise because it’s part of what makes the community. 6ly.
Memes are a part of internet culture, Bacon certainly didn’t start here and even if it dies here it will live on elsewhere (even though it’s one I personally hate and hope dies soon). I had another profile here name back in 06 / 07 and there were memes then too (evident the wash, puppy kicker etc.)
Cardinal related memes will have their own natural lifetime based on the current season and what’s going on. No one is overusing Corky Ramos or 6ly right now IMHO and they will die a natural death if Colby is the starter without question and that stupid commercial goes away.
The rest I agree with. They’ve run there course.
My biggest three suggestions
for the main thread are:
1. stop posting pictures
2. show a little restraint on the amount you post so the comment counts don’t go crazy
3. leave the memes for the game threads
There’s a lot of great stuff on VEB — just getting harder and harder to find.
Just win
by The Duke on Jan 1, 2010 6:52 PM EST reply actions 1 recs
I disagree with 1
it’s a feature that this site offers and if I want to post a picture I will, but there should be a few guidelines in doing so.
1.Pictures that might seem offensive to some should be banned.
2. .a gif should be posted with extreme care, especially if the gif is long and will slow down computers.
3.think about the size of the picture before posting it, one picture should not take up a whole screen.
4.Subject Line!!!!
Also the main thread seems to be a free for all for me, if you really really want to start a discussion I would make a fan post, the majority of fan posts are on topic.
I am the Batman
I have the biggest problem with your 2
People should be allowed to post as much as they want. If their material is interesting, thought-provoking and/or insightful, especially if it is about baseball/Cardinals, then I really doubt anyone will complain that there are too many comments. The fact that the comments are no longer as few as they used to be is not a bad thing, but also not necessarily a good thing. Just different. I see people having problems with gigantic subthreads regarding completely uninteresting (to them personally) topic material, i.e. dating advice, meme-creations. Personally, I find nearly all of the conversations and comments to be some level of interesting and I if ran the ship, I would not discourage the OT threads, but I definitely understand that the way this site is demands a rules set that prevents this great place from becoming just any old site on the interwebs.
Leaving the memes in the game threads is fine with me, although I realize I am not one of the prolific posters. Any problems with pictures in the gamethreads?
Really, the only bad part of bacon is that it makes you thirsty . . . for more bacon
what game threads?
Of course, hope means being cut down on some street corner, as you run like mad, by a random bullet.
one easy solution on the picture thing
would be to add a couple of “show pictures in game threads”/ “show pictures in daily threads” / “show pictures in fanposts” etc check-box option in the profiles. I’d really like to be able to disable pictures at work, and see them at home, since every deep-link to some picture hosted at collegehumor.com or whatever gets reported to my network people.
That would pretty much solve the picture problem, really.
The other thing I’d really like to see is a true “collapse conversation” function. Instead of having to hit “z” 300 times, it would be cool to be able to hit some other key and skip past an entire conversation tree.
it's Clydesdales vs Goats. Actually sums up Cards vs. Cubs quite nicely. -all4tookie
Totally agree on collapsing a an entire conversation!
I love reading this blog though I rarely comment. I love the humor juxtaposed with the intelligent analysis. I have looked at baseball in a whole new way in the past year. Silliness on the game threads should be embraced (I actually would like more pictures here) but the daily posts should be more about intelligent baseball discussions.
I guess the formatting is up to SBN but when I start to see discussion about college football, or dating/relationships, I want to skip the whole thread.
Maybe it could be the next new meme here...
The “3 little words” related video will never stop being funny.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XA2Z9fVRohk
i agree with both these suggestions
even though i wouldn’t use the “show pictures” option, i think it would be very useful to a lot of people. it can’t be that hard as it’s a function on every vbulletin board (mlbtr forums for those not familiar with such geekery)
also. can we get avatars on the left side? maybe that’s just me
Of course, hope means being cut down on some street corner, as you run like mad, by a random bullet.
nah, shift-A marks everything in the entire article as "read"
i just want to skip to the end of a conversation.
it's Clydesdales vs Goats. Actually sums up Cards vs. Cubs quite nicely. -all4tookie
also
while we’re on the topic of improving the board, how about an edit feature for comments? i would hell of use that if it were available. i mean, i can think of few people who are worse at typing than i
Of course, hope means being cut down on some street corner, as you run like mad, by a random bullet.
Yeah
I don’t want an edit button. Would fuck with my head too much.
You know what they call a quarter pounder with cheese in France?
by jd is legend on Jan 2, 2010 11:14 PM EST up reply actions
i've been begging for an edit button for years if only to correct spelling errors
i dont like the idea of deleting comments unless you’re dan n red n az. if you post something you should stick to your guns & live with it. it’s the VEB way
Every morning I wake up & smoke a dart. Then I eat five strips of bacon, & for lunch I eat a bacon sandwich. And for a midday snack? Bacon! A whole damn plate! And I usually drink my dinner. And I'm still here! Sometimes I wonder if God forgot about me.
if it's like most boards,
mods would be able to see the posts pre-edit
i jesus need to be able to grammatically clean up my posts
Of course, hope means being cut down on some street corner, as you run like mad, by a random bullet.
wtf
i know no one is going to believe me, but i have no idea how i typed that. i even cleaned up one typing error from that post
Of course, hope means being cut down on some street corner, as you run like mad, by a random bullet.
prophetjohn wept.
RELEASE THE CENTIQUID!!!!
by Felonius_Monk on Jan 3, 2010 4:48 AM EST up reply actions
alright, i've given this a lot of thought, and here's what i have to say
i know i haven’t been around for a while, and there’s a damn good reason why but i won’t go into that now. even though no one called me out by name, you don’t have to be a rocket scientist to see most of you are talking about me. i’ve always feared there was a silent majority here who hated seeing my name pop up so often, and i feel even worse now knowing the truth. it’s no fun being embarrassed like this in front of God & every body. i wish AZ would have just sent me an email in private to discuss this, but since they used to hold public executions, i guess it’s also appropriate i get killed in a very public fashion.
it’s true, i am responsible for most of the things you all now hate about VEB. somehow i became the ring leading pied piper of all the jpgs, gifs, bacons & TWSS’s. i don’t know how it happened, it just did. i never asked for it, i never set out to try & make it so, it just happened. don’t be mad at fang, cody, cow or anyone else for jumping on board. they were just following my lead. if you’re going to point fingers, point them at me. i started it, and whatever if any punishment is going to come down should come down on me. i can take it, i’ve got big shoulders, throw it all on me. leave the rest of them alone. they’re good kids.
back in the early days of VEB, you dared not make a comment unless you were damn sure you knew what you were talking about. even though it was never enforced, you pretty much had to be a math professor or rocket scientist to be heard & conversed with. slowly over time that changed, and it really changed after LB started taking a back seat & letting Red & Chuck post, and eventually stepped down & leaving Dan in charge of us. unlike most of you, i don’t see that change as a bad thing. over the last two years the uses of VEB have become much more tight nit & close, almost family like & if you feel left out that’s not our fault. no one set out to exclude you, no one made an effort to make sure you weren’t included. VEB is now more than ever much more welcoming & open to any & all fans of not only the Cardinals, but baseball in general. and yes the bacons. if you don’t believe me then you weren’t here back in the early days & need to go back & read those early threads. i was here, i know what it was like & i don’t ever want VEB to go back to those days where new people were not welcome. i lurked for almost a year because i knew i didn’t fit in & wasn’t smart enough to talk to everyone. VEB is still head & shoulders above any & all other Cardinal related sites. they cannot & will not ever hold a candle to the conservations here. they will never be as civil or as informative as VEB is. go read the PD boards if you think VEB is bad. trust me, you don’t know what bad is.
now moar than evar VEB is a family. and like most family’s there are things you can’t stand about each other & things you wouldn’t change about them for a hundred million dollars. with me, what you see is what you get. i’m not too different in real life than i am here. sure like everyone i’ll say something out of character once in a while. but i always try & uphold one of LB’s only rules. if you wouldn’t say it to someone’s face in a sports bar, don’t say it at VEB. so the funny jpgs, gifs & goofy shit i talk about is real close to how i really act. i try to keep things lite & fun because my real life is anything but lite & fun. most of you all know the story so i won’t repeat it. as sad as it sounds, in many ways VEB is all i’ve got. i never asked for this life, it was forced onto me. and the more i try & change it the worse it gets. unlike the rest of you, i don’t have a sig other or friends i can go hang out with. life happened & they’re all gone. i repeat this not to garner pity or sympathy from any of you, but to remind you why i am how i am. everyone has problems, i know that. i’m not so special or different than the rest of the world. i just don’t know how to fix mine unlike the rest of the world.
now have i crossed a line here? i can only think of twice i have, and quickly apologized for those actions. have i helped beat into the ground meme’s, jpg’s, gif’s? absolutely. but it wasn’t out of malice that you all perceived it to be. i never woke up one day & thought to myself that today was the day i begin to try & bring down the mighty VEB. every thing i have said & done has been out of genuine good intentions to try & make this a fun place for everyone. i’ve done nothing but try & keep making VEB the best of the best. i will never apologize for that. i’ve tried to keep the high standards LB set for us, and if you don’t think that there’s nothing i can do to change your mind. but you must also keep in mind LB’s not coming back. he’s gone & VEB isn’t going back to the way it used to be. to set here & bitch & moan that VEB isn’t as good as it once was is a slap in Dan’s & Red’s faces. they not only have kept up the high standard LB set, they’ve gone above & beyond most everyone else’s expectations. with tom & vep’s additions they’ve stepped up to the plate & knocked it out of the f’ing park. with the exceptional contributions of many, many other posters who make in depth analysis in the threads & fanposts, VEB is bigger & better than ever. that’s a fact jack & if you don’t think so, you are either blinded by your bitterness & pettiness or flat out lying. you can come here & attack me & say i’m bad for VEB every day of the week, and you may have a valid argument. but you are flat out wrong to say Dan & the others are less than advertised. LB is the godfather, he was & still is the best of the best. i will forever be in his debt for what he has made & what he has brought into our lives. i am a much better fan because of him & i can never thank him enough for that. he can never & will never be replaced. as much as you want it to be, there will never be another LB. so stop mourning his absence & start embracing Dan & the others greatness. you are missing out big time by not doing so.
i will abide by whatever rules Dan & the others hand down. this is their house & i will always try to play by their rules. will i bend them everyone once in a while? i can’t really say because they haven’t come right out & said what’s kosher or not anymore. i’m not going to fight them about it, it’s their house after all & i wouldn’t walk into their real home & tell them how to arrange their furniture. if they decided they want me gone, i’ll also leave without a fight. posting at VEB is a privilege, not a right. i am well aware of that & very, very grateful i am allowed here. there’s no doubt i wouldn’t have made it through this past decade without VEB & i don’t take this privilege lightly at all.
to those of you who hate me & despise me, i say hate on. you can’t please everyone 100% of the time & i stopped trying years ago. so go ahead & take your shots, i can take them. you can’t say or do anything to me that hasn’t already been said or done a hundred times worse. just know i’m not here to piss you off & i’m not here to make your life miserable. i’m here to learn things about the Cardinals & baseball i can’t learn anywhere else. and i’m here to have some fun. i don’t know why you come here, but if you come here for either one of those reasons, or for that matter any other reason, there’s no reason why we can’t be internet pals. i hope to see you all around & i hope we can all come together & enjoy some great times this year.
peace.
oh & because i know it’s going to be said, i’ll save you all the trouble. there’s no way i’m reading all of that.
Every morning I wake up & smoke a dart. Then I eat five strips of bacon, & for lunch I eat a bacon sandwich. And for a midday snack? Bacon! A whole damn plate! And I usually drink my dinner. And I'm still here! Sometimes I wonder if God forgot about me.
by gdm426 on Jan 2, 2010 12:22 AM EST reply actions 9 recs
thanks, for making this post
all of this needed to be said. Community=Everyone it ≠ one’s own view of what a discussion should be.
I am the Batman
i actually did
read all of that. I didn’t take this post as calling you out individually. I think there are plenty of people who are responsible for their own actions, so don’t feel like it was all you and dont worry about getting run off.
"Baseball is like Church, many attend, few understand" - Wes Westrum
F'ing gdm
Nobody hates you, and don’t even fucking think that. The only objection I’ve seen on this thread is that people don’t like having to z through “your” comments to get the other stuff. While that’s a somewhat legitimate concern, it’s also bullshit.
If you see a long string of replies with gdm and pictures of bacon and pegacorns, I think you can tell what that thread is going to be about and there is no need to read the thread if you don’t care about it. Skip to the next thread, or look for names that are generally associated with the topics you enjoy reading about. If there is something you want to discuss, bring it up and if it’s interesting people will reply. I don’t see why what certain posters do should affect you experience on the site.
by vivaelpujols on Jan 2, 2010 1:32 AM EST up reply actions 1 recs
To further add on, I am basically the exact opposite of gdm in terms of posting substance
Nearly everything I post is something sabermetriccy or research driven, and I don’t think I have ever posted a picture of bacon or pegacorns.
I joined VEB a little over a year ago, and I have made over 7,000 comments, 28 fanposts, 40 fanshots and a written a handfull of front page posts. On a total word basis, I would bet that I’ve been one of the most prolific participators here, maybe even more so that gdm.
I don’t understand how anyone can say this site has been overrun by memes, when you look at how much I, and guys like I, comment and on this site.
you're a rare breed VEP
not that it’s a bad thing to be so active in VEB, but your content is levels above anything I would post.
I am the Batman
I don’t understand how anyone can say this site has been overrun by memes, when you look at how much I, and guys like I, comment and on this site.
That’s because
I joined VEB a little over a year ago
Future Redbirds - tracking Cardinal prospects for Cardinal Nation
by azruavatar on Jan 2, 2010 11:02 AM EST up reply actions 1 recs
but i don't think i'm all pics & bacon
that’s where my problem lies. like i said below i can’t whip out the SABR stats like you can, but that doesn’t mean i don’t bring anything to the baseball table. yet my rep is the OT ring leading pied piper of bacon & jpegs. i am more guilty than everyone else when it comes to the OT & silly crap, but that’s not because that’s all i want to talk about. i don’t want to talk about dating & bacon all the time, and if that’s all we did the site would die a quick death. there’s more in depth baseball analysis & discussions here than there ever was, but there’s also more OT topics as well. the problem is there’s a silent majority that hate the OT & want it all gone, but the vocal majority do not want all the OT gone & understand there’s a time & place for them & get AZ’s points & want to follow them. i personally think the OT is good when done right & add a lot to the “community” & charm of VEB. they help bring people in & keep them in & then they are exposed to all the great SABR talk & in depth analysis & are therefore better fans because of them & can help bring more new people in & hopefully they too can learn & grow.
i don’t think VEB will ever get away from it’s core of the best baseball analysis you can find with Dan, RB, AZ, tom & you guys running the show. you won’t let it. posts like this will always be here to keep things in check & in line. we all could use a refreshers course every once in a while & i have no problem with that. my problem is with the silent majority who try & put labels on people & pile on them because of some sort of pettiness or bitterness or whatever. and trust me vep, there are those who hate me. as an example i used to have a troll a few seasons ago & this person would go through threads & make all sorts of nasty comments about me. you don’t talk as much as i do & not piss someone off. i get that & accept that. if i ever get my life in any sort of order i won’t be here a lot & the hate will stop. but trust me, the hate is there & it’s very real.
Every morning I wake up & smoke a dart. Then I eat five strips of bacon, & for lunch I eat a bacon sandwich. And for a midday snack? Bacon! A whole damn plate! And I usually drink my dinner. And I'm still here! Sometimes I wonder if God forgot about me.
I never said you were nothing but pics of bacon
I said that pics of bacon were nothing but you, if that makes sense.
I don’t have a problem with Azru’s main post either, which wasn’t personal and didn’t condemn off topic posts or say that they were ruining VEB. He simply wanted regulation. I do have a problem with the guys above, who are saying “this blog has become entirely pictures of bacon”. That’s hyperbolic and untrue in itself, but when coming from guys who have 70 comments and clearly don’t try participate much at all it sounds as though they are clearly just trying to gripe about something.
yes that makes sense, & i agree with everything else you say too
Every morning I wake up & smoke a dart. Then I eat five strips of bacon, & for lunch I eat a bacon sandwich. And for a midday snack? Bacon! A whole damn plate! And I usually drink my dinner. And I'm still here! Sometimes I wonder if God forgot about me.
i'm playing catchup as best i can kid
Every morning I wake up & smoke a dart. Then I eat five strips of bacon, & for lunch I eat a bacon sandwich. And for a midday snack? Bacon! A whole damn plate! And I usually drink my dinner. And I'm still here! Sometimes I wonder if God forgot about me.
I think your a pretty knowledgeable fan dude
I cannot repeal the words of the golden eel
by Cards Fan in Chitown on Jan 2, 2010 7:19 PM EST up reply actions
danka
Every morning I wake up & smoke a dart. Then I eat five strips of bacon, & for lunch I eat a bacon sandwich. And for a midday snack? Bacon! A whole damn plate! And I usually drink my dinner. And I'm still here! Sometimes I wonder if God forgot about me.
how can there be two majorities!
but in seriousness, i think you’re being a little dramatic about all this. irriatation is easily the closest anyone comes to hate. and most of the people railing against any OT discussion at all are infrequent enough posters that they probably don’t know any of the non-mods by name
Of course, hope means being cut down on some street corner, as you run like mad, by a random bullet.
i know. it's just a blog about baseball yo, why all the drama?
f’in gdm
Every morning I wake up & smoke a dart. Then I eat five strips of bacon, & for lunch I eat a bacon sandwich. And for a midday snack? Bacon! A whole damn plate! And I usually drink my dinner. And I'm still here! Sometimes I wonder if God forgot about me.
I didn't think azru was calling you out individually
I cannot repeal the words of the golden eel
by Cards Fan in Chitown on Jan 2, 2010 2:33 AM EST up reply actions
If I wanted to slam people directly
I would. I’ve got no problem doing that when it is warranted. This isn’t a matter of calling out individuals because it isn’t an individual problem.
As far as calling you out beforehand, you probably misinterpreted a joke because I can’t recall saying anything negative about you.
Future Redbirds - tracking Cardinal prospects for Cardinal Nation
Right
which was a joke. You hadn’t even made any Mr. Freeze pictures to date at that point. I think you’re personalizing this post as much as gdm
Future Redbirds - tracking Cardinal prospects for Cardinal Nation
My bad,I guess I misinterpreted it as something else
I’ve posted my share of .gifs and bacon pics though, I used each of those memes listed far too often.
I am the Batman
i can vouch for this
i’ve even gotten written warnings for my foul mouth and my nature. i wouldn’t worry too much, gdm
Of course, hope means being cut down on some street corner, as you run like mad, by a random bullet.
this thread was awesome before that tirade
i don’t know about the rest of you, but i’m tired of long gdm posts in fanposts about things we’re tired of. can we stop long gdm posts please? stop being a bunch of gdm jerks.
also, i’m not trying to single out gdm personally. i just wanted to say i’m tired of people who exhibit any behavior similar to what gdm would typically display. again, nothing against gdm – it’s just anything that reminds me of gdm is unacceptable.
"on gameday it says duke loves to face the four seamer and hates to face the four seamer" -VolsnCards5
"perhaps it's a computer joke about the duality of man." -tom s.
by Tudor's Electric Fan on Jan 2, 2010 10:09 AM EST up reply actions 2 recs
ditto
Every morning I wake up & smoke a dart. Then I eat five strips of bacon, & for lunch I eat a bacon sandwich. And for a midday snack? Bacon! A whole damn plate! And I usually drink my dinner. And I'm still here! Sometimes I wonder if God forgot about me.
of course i'm not serious
and i rarely am around here for the very reason we’re seeing in what is quickly amounting to a very awkward intervention. we’re talking about grown men hitting twine with a stick. if you can’t have a sense of humor about that, then…well…you’re doin it wrong.
it’s why i found the golden days of sportscenter (patrick, olberman, kilborn, etc.) so enriching – you were entertained and informed. they aren’t mutually exclusive. and if you think there isn’t repetition involved in such entertainment… guh!
we had a rich tapestry of humor peppering the game threads this past year. i, for one, came for the analysis and stayed for the witty comments. it’s a damn fine format and folks like gdm, yadi2second, (the artist formerly known as) alxfritz and of course tom s. were a big part of that.
yes, their stuff yields much repeatable content that has a definite shelf life. it can be overdone. but, then again, so can in-depth analysis of the ability of GROWN MEN TO HIT A TWINE BALL WITH A STICK. balance, people. balance.
i guess what i’m getting at is, i’m a little bit of the goofiness camp. when pitchers and catchers report, i’m all for moving forward. until then, good god please repeat any meme necessary to keep my mind off the fact that there is no baseball and scott boras trying to milk stupid contracts out of baseball teams.
now look at what you’ve done. you made me exceed my serious quota for the month. time to rescind back to the dark recesses of the internet where i exist. stay classy, veb.
"on gameday it says duke loves to face the four seamer and hates to face the four seamer" -VolsnCards5
"perhaps it's a computer joke about the duality of man." -tom s.
by Tudor's Electric Fan on Jan 2, 2010 6:04 PM EST up reply actions 3 recs
You're personalizing a post that wasn't meant to be personalized.
Future Redbirds - tracking Cardinal prospects for Cardinal Nation
As an addendum
This isn’t a call for an end of levity or for every comment to be topical all the time. It’s a plea for moderation, which I think has gotten lost lately. If the pendulum swings back to the other extreme and everyone is completely serious all the time, that would be just as detrimental as having memes overrun every thread.
Future Redbirds - tracking Cardinal prospects for Cardinal Nation
Perhaps more sports sites will follow Deadspin's lead on handling commenters
It kind of goes against the gist of SBN’s all-inclusive nature, but Deadspin’s “audition process” that participants hate but readers enjoy may just solve some of these issues.
"on gameday it says duke loves to face the four seamer and hates to face the four seamer" -VolsnCards5
"perhaps it's a computer joke about the duality of man." -tom s.
by Tudor's Electric Fan on Jan 2, 2010 11:32 AM EST up reply actions
here here
I think this is the most important point.
"I learned a long time ago if you keep checking your stats all year, you're going to end up in the toilet." - Chris Carpenter, 2009.
Agreed.
Make this comment the first sentence of AZ’s post.
by arch support on Jan 4, 2010 10:43 AM EST up reply actions
i didn't think you were talking shots at me
and i don’t take your words personally, i know you are trying to do a thankless job of keeping VEB high standards in tack. i appreciate you efforts & applaud you every chance i get. i’ve never had any issues with you & i can’t see a time where i ever will. i guess what i wish you would have done was be more specific and maybe show some examples of what you’d like to see less of. if that meant naming names fine, i know you could have done it without insulting & i think that would have shown everyone not just the regulars how VEB as a whole works. as i read it, you listed the things you want gone & then the rest was left up to each person to comment on what they do & do not want & those that don’t post at all ran with it & started piling on.
and i do think almost all of the names no one recognizes here are taking shots & they are very personal. and that’s fine, they are free to think & feel what they want. i just don’t think they are right. there’s more to me than jpegs & gifs. i honestly believe i bring a lot to the table when it comes to the “serious” baseball discussions. just because i can’t whip out the SABR stats doesn’t mean i’m a complete moran. i think i know a lot about baseball, i’m just better at in game reactionary decisions than i am at some pre & post game analysis or the really heavy stat discussions. i’ve never actually had someone set down with me & try to explain all the SABR stats, i don’t learn very well by just reading something, i actually need it shown to me & explained to me how it works. if that happened, i guarantee you i’d be the most SABR posting fool here. i get the basics of SABR, so i am able to communicate a little with the big boys here. but i’m not even close to where i’d like to be.
which is why i guess i fall back on all the stupid stuff. and even before you said something a few weeks ago in a thread about this, i was beginning to moderate myself. it just got stupid & dumb & i recognized that & made the decision to stop on my own. now a lot of people have ran with meme’s & the like following my lead, and again i take full responsibility for that. i didn’t realize how influential i was. i still don’t get that btw, 6ly guys there’s better role models here than me. if you want to be like someone, be like HL, f, vep, chitown, tom & the like. trust me, you don’t wanna be like me. but now that i know i carry some sort of weight around here i guarantee you i’ll be more careful in the future. i don’t want to be the reason anyone stops coming here or posting here or thinks less of VEB. i take VEB’s rep very seriously & want it’s high standards to stay in tack forever. moderation is the key to life, not just meme’s. i whole heartily agree & support that decision to keep all topics moderated & in their place. and i will try & do a better job of that in the future.
Every morning I wake up & smoke a dart. Then I eat five strips of bacon, & for lunch I eat a bacon sandwich. And for a midday snack? Bacon! A whole damn plate! And I usually drink my dinner. And I'm still here! Sometimes I wonder if God forgot about me.
a side effect of the B's
Every morning I wake up & smoke a dart. Then I eat five strips of bacon, & for lunch I eat a bacon sandwich. And for a midday snack? Bacon! A whole damn plate! And I usually drink my dinner. And I'm still here! Sometimes I wonder if God forgot about me.
the beers?
all I know is after reading all of that, I want more bacon
I cannot repeal the words of the golden eel
by Cards Fan in Chitown on Jan 2, 2010 7:25 PM EST up reply actions
bacon, brownies & bourbon
over the summer it was reviled that’s mostly what keeps me ticking
Every morning I wake up & smoke a dart. Then I eat five strips of bacon, & for lunch I eat a bacon sandwich. And for a midday snack? Bacon! A whole damn plate! And I usually drink my dinner. And I'm still here! Sometimes I wonder if God forgot about me.
sounds like a heart clogging combination
I cannot repeal the words of the golden eel
by Cards Fan in Chitown on Jan 2, 2010 7:34 PM EST up reply actions
i'll let you in on a little secret if you promise not to tell anyone
it’s not really true. but keep that to yourself. i’ve got a rep to uphold & all
Every morning I wake up & smoke a dart. Then I eat five strips of bacon, & for lunch I eat a bacon sandwich. And for a midday snack? Bacon! A whole damn plate! And I usually drink my dinner. And I'm still here! Sometimes I wonder if God forgot about me.
there's now way i'm reading all of that.
follow me on twitter @nickg105
by stlcardinalsfang on Jan 2, 2010 6:43 PM EST up reply actions
wow
lemme grab a bite to eat first. i’ll be back
Of course, hope means being cut down on some street corner, as you run like mad, by a random bullet.
don't feel bad gdm
you’re a part of what makes this blog a great place. i read that whole thing, and while i agree that some of those things should go, it’s not taking a shot at you. don’t take it personal… you weren’t called out.
Best moment I've ever seen at a Cards game in person
Follow me on Twitter: @zoomzoomj88
Looking forward to Cardinals baseball in 2010!
i feel gassy right now more than anything. and a little hungry too
Every morning I wake up & smoke a dart. Then I eat five strips of bacon, & for lunch I eat a bacon sandwich. And for a midday snack? Bacon! A whole damn plate! And I usually drink my dinner. And I'm still here! Sometimes I wonder if God forgot about me.
haha
Best moment I've ever seen at a Cards game in person
Follow me on Twitter: @zoomzoomj88
Looking forward to Cardinals baseball in 2010!
That is so funny gdm
I totally was going to come call you out by name. You and the British Monk.
by FlimtotheFlam on Jan 3, 2010 8:56 PM EST up reply actions
FWIW
I just joined this site recently, and I wouldn’t have ANYTHING of value to add without the kind of conversations you initiate. I know this is true because the few times I tried to talk SABR, I ended up offending people or having eyes rolled at me. Not the kind of welcome I was looking for. I didn’t really feel comfortable here until I gave up on SABR commenting and just talked like the average Joe fan I am.
by Mulliganstew on Jan 5, 2010 12:04 PM EST up reply actions
that's a shame
I tend to agree that the response of sabr-conversant posters to people who have alternative opinions (and aren’t up on the very latest sabr stuff or have less than an encyclopedic knowledge of it) can be a bit aggressive and maybe has the unfortunate side-effect of putting people off, even if it’s not intentional.
Sometimes it’s hard to see people saying that Jermaine Dye (or whoever) would be a “great signing” for the Cards and not want to put them right, but I think sometimes we try to do it in a manner that becomes overly confrontational, and I hold myself to account for that one as much as anybody. I work in science and I sometimes forget that overly-analytical responses to people regarding data or information can come over a bit cold and confrontational.
Maybe one of our new year’s resolutions ought to be to be a bit more welcoming to neophyte sabr posters.
RELEASE THE CENTIQUID!!!!
by Felonius_Monk on Jan 5, 2010 12:14 PM EST up reply actions
Heh
I know just enough to realize wins shouldn’t count for Cy Young. I’m proud I’ve made it that far in the past few months. The one thing I love about these forums is how involved with the players the board is. Thanks to VEB, I can now place personalities to people like Carpenter and Boog even if, in some cases, these personalities are completely made up or just observational. Before I came here, I just knew Ryan was a soft hitting short stop with Rex Hudler potential.
except with stellar defense
I cannot repeal the words of the golden eel
by Cards Fan in Chitown on Jan 5, 2010 3:01 PM EST up reply actions
I think gdm jumped the shark with this post
You know what they call a quarter pounder with cheese in France?
by jd is legend on Jan 5, 2010 12:55 PM EST up reply actions
i thought i did that in 08?
Every morning I wake up & smoke a dart. Then I eat five strips of bacon, & for lunch I eat a bacon sandwich. And for a midday snack? Bacon! A whole damn plate! And I usually drink my dinner. And I'm still here! Sometimes I wonder if God forgot about me.
memes
This is the first I’ve heard of the acronym for them. I’m sorry those types of posts are so common that they deserve an acronym (or is it a nickname)? anyway I just wanna talk baseball. such as
When is McGwire going to start talking!!?? He should do it now so its not BREAKING NEWS when spring training rolls around. People will be tired of it then if he starts now and we can skip about 2 weeks of straight gossip
Jermaine Dye fan since KC. He's STILLLLLLLLLL GOT IT!!! now lets get him...and a real closer (named rafael soriano). Thats all, thats all I want.
bacon
also, bacons not that bad azruavatar….but the infatuation with it on here was a little overboard….just weird really.
Jermaine Dye fan since KC. He's STILLLLLLLLLL GOT IT!!! now lets get him...and a real closer (named rafael soriano). Thats all, thats all I want.
obviously you're not a golfer.
"on gameday it says duke loves to face the four seamer and hates to face the four seamer" -VolsnCards5
"perhaps it's a computer joke about the duality of man." -tom s.
by Tudor's Electric Fan on Jan 2, 2010 10:01 AM EST up reply actions
i don't think an acronym is what you think it is.
RELEASE THE CENTIQUID!!!!
by Felonius_Monk on Jan 2, 2010 8:30 AM EST up reply actions
yeah
very confusing post
unless he thinks ‘meme’ is an acronym
Of course, hope means being cut down on some street corner, as you run like mad, by a random bullet.
that's fine and good, azru
but what are you currently listening to?
"on gameday it says duke loves to face the four seamer and hates to face the four seamer" -VolsnCards5
"perhaps it's a computer joke about the duality of man." -tom s.
by Tudor's Electric Fan on Jan 2, 2010 10:11 AM EST reply actions 1 recs
Long time member, infrequent poster
I’m torn on what I want to happen here… less memes, less bacon, more pegacorns? What?
I used to read most day’s posts and all the comments in the evenings because I found that I got nothing done at work if I tried to keep up during the day. Lately, with 600-1000 comments in each post, that’s almost impossible to do. The memes/inside jokes have gotten a little out of hand. I, generally, enjoy such drivel sprinkled in, but it’s hard to keep up with all the new ones. I did ask about one a couple weeks ago and a couple folks tried to bring me up to date but that involved wading through another couple of 600+ comment posts, so I didn’t.
That said, I would miss Corky and 6. (My 4 y/o grandson says “6 is a serious number” without prompting), but I, too, would be happy to never see another fist/first post. In a lot of ways, though, I like the jokes, running gags, etc. I often get my silly quotient for the day from VEB. The threads that do annoy me are the (sometimes endless) discussions of obscure (OK, probably not, but certainly to an old fogey like me) bands and their music, none of which I’ve ever heard of anywhere else but here (not even from my teenager daughter). So, I skip them.
Anyway, not to ramble on, I wouldn’t want VEB to become a dry, no non-baseball comments at-all place but a bit more restraint would be welcome.
Music: guilty
I enjoy the music discussions that break out infrequently but I can understand why they annoy people.
Personally, I hope to never read the words “man stew” ever again. A mild joke by a player who had a short run in StL and is now gone. Let the joke go with him.
I enjoy the man stew, it describes the current state of team chemistry
and player behavior that may or may not jeopardize that clubhouse chemistry.
I think amateur psychoanalysis of player behavior is a valid subject for discussion.
What about the phrase “man stew” is bothersome to you? Just curious.
"She gone! Airplane time! Airplane Time!! AIRPLANE TIME." Boog
"I think those scorers must be from Mars or Venus. Or maybe they're just from that book." --Mike Shannon, 7/09/2009
with dick gone, who are we going to analyze now?
are there any head cases left on the team? i’m not counting Boog. he’s on a whole other level & is more into the funness of life than dick ever will be
Every morning I wake up & smoke a dart. Then I eat five strips of bacon, & for lunch I eat a bacon sandwich. And for a midday snack? Bacon! A whole damn plate! And I usually drink my dinner. And I'm still here! Sometimes I wonder if God forgot about me.
This post gives me hope for the site in 2010.
I largely quit reading when people were spamming the threads with silly pictures and way off topic threads. I hope the site gets back to the site that I looked forward to reading each day back in 07/08.
There are millions of sites to go to for misc humor, but very few about our baseball team. Lets keep it on subjects.
mainly agree about colby
he’s not a rookie anymore and tony knows his name now. seems like it had died out on its own anyway
also. danny haren. probably not ‘09 specific. but that meme is hell of tired. he’s one of the best pitchers in baseball. he’s going to be talked about quite a bit. encountering this meme every time you try to discuss him was old the first time i saw it. it’s beyond tiresome now.
bacon isn’t even 2009 specific. it’s december specific. it was kind of entertaining.
TWSS was and still is funny. but holy shit is it overused here. might as well go ahead and toss it aside because people use it way too often and half the time it doesn’t even make sense, let alone bring lolz.
as for intelligent basbeall discussion, i think you’re just jonesing. it’s january. i’m just glad there’s something to read every day at work. and comments from people i quasi-know to read after that. now if may rolls around and every post is about luggage (another ‘09 meme which might could die, too) bacon and corky razzle, then we have a problem. for now, though, i’d just let it roll and be glad this blog is still semi active and the writers have an audience even when they have little to write about
Of course, hope means being cut down on some street corner, as you run like mad, by a random bullet.
Totally agree on Colby.
As someone who always called him Colby, that meme can die.
Who needs affection when you can have blind hatred?
I think TESS is more funny
I cannot repeal the words of the golden eel
by Cards Fan in Chitown on Jan 2, 2010 7:27 PM EST up reply actions
the loss of danny hurts so much, and it's expounded a billion fold because of mulder's epic failure
it’s a coping mechanism for me, it’s just easier to believe he was never here & isn’t out west pitching lights out & isn’t one of the best pitchers in the game
Every morning I wake up & smoke a dart. Then I eat five strips of bacon, & for lunch I eat a bacon sandwich. And for a midday snack? Bacon! A whole damn plate! And I usually drink my dinner. And I'm still here! Sometimes I wonder if God forgot about me.
bring back the haren!
I cannot repeal the words of the golden eel
by Cards Fan in Chitown on Jan 2, 2010 7:33 PM EST up reply actions
i would do just about anything to bring him back
i knew he was going to be great & i hated letting him go. one of RB’s recent articles on the RFT talks about what might have been if he was still here & Dick never had his melt down. that was a very hard read
Every morning I wake up & smoke a dart. Then I eat five strips of bacon, & for lunch I eat a bacon sandwich. And for a midday snack? Bacon! A whole damn plate! And I usually drink my dinner. And I'm still here! Sometimes I wonder if God forgot about me.
yeah
I regretted that trade the moment I heard about it
I cannot repeal the words of the golden eel
by Cards Fan in Chitown on Jan 2, 2010 7:37 PM EST up reply actions
i screamed with joy when i heard we got mulder
then i screamed with agony when i heard who we gave up. that entire summer peter gammons kept saying how he cracked up his hip one day in bean town & that messed up his mechanics because he was trying to compensate for the bad hip & that was going to cause him to get seriously injured. but if he fixed his hip he would be OK because then he could go back to his old delivery. and i had hoped he was going to get the hip fixed & then he would be great again. oh how wrong i turned out to be.
Every morning I wake up & smoke a dart. Then I eat five strips of bacon, & for lunch I eat a bacon sandwich. And for a midday snack? Bacon! A whole damn plate! And I usually drink my dinner. And I'm still here! Sometimes I wonder if God forgot about me.
the management that lost haren
is the same management that brought us albert pujols, scott rolen, mv3 in general, adam wainwright, chris carpenter, etc. danny haren is not a cardinal and is almost certainly not going to again, at least not during his prime. i’m okay with that. and our new management is in line to bring us much farm talent and what is probably (despite a “down” year in ’09) a top 5 or so hitter in baseball.
we’re doing pretty good danny haren or not.
also, sorry. i know this isn’t nearly the first time i’ve bitched about the haren meme
Of course, hope means being cut down on some street corner, as you run like mad, by a random bullet.
i guess i can't let go of what might have been, and in my eyes what should have been
if any one has any advise about letting stuff go, feel free to pass it along
Every morning I wake up & smoke a dart. Then I eat five strips of bacon, & for lunch I eat a bacon sandwich. And for a midday snack? Bacon! A whole damn plate! And I usually drink my dinner. And I'm still here! Sometimes I wonder if God forgot about me.
actually, i really agree on dan haren
i find pretty much all the memes at least vaguely funny, but the haren one has gotten old for me quite a while ago.
RELEASE THE CENTIQUID!!!!
by Felonius_Monk on Jan 3, 2010 4:56 AM EST up reply actions
VEB is experiencing growing pains
after discovering the site at the beginning of the ‘08 season, it really added a whole new dimension to my baseball experience. the site keeps evolving, even though lboros left quite while ago now, there will always be some sort of a template to work with. I think azru putting his virtual, robotic foot down every once in a while gives us a good point to reflect. I think the best result of this might just be people with slower computers and connections can read every thing more easily. and the site seems to get a little more civil after some of these “warning” posts, which annoyed me at first but I think it’s cool that he does it every once in a while. it will be interesting to see if the site keeps gaining in popularity, where this sort of stuff will be very necessary so that it doesn’t get out of hand. the coolest part is that I’ve met some good friends on here in real life, like tacklebox, madeintaiwan, flim, indakind, solanus, and dan of course, liam, dang a lot of people at veb day, I think it will be even bigger this season.
I cannot repeal the words of the golden eel
by Cards Fan in Chitown on Jan 2, 2010 7:33 PM EST reply actions
if there's another VEB day i hope i can make it
and i hope AZ can do. i want to meet the man behind the robot
Every morning I wake up & smoke a dart. Then I eat five strips of bacon, & for lunch I eat a bacon sandwich. And for a midday snack? Bacon! A whole damn plate! And I usually drink my dinner. And I'm still here! Sometimes I wonder if God forgot about me.
yeah, there's supposed to be one this year
hope azru can make it!
I cannot repeal the words of the golden eel
by Cards Fan in Chitown on Jan 2, 2010 7:41 PM EST up reply actions
wasn't he at the first one?
Every morning I wake up & smoke a dart. Then I eat five strips of bacon, & for lunch I eat a bacon sandwich. And for a midday snack? Bacon! A whole damn plate! And I usually drink my dinner. And I'm still here! Sometimes I wonder if God forgot about me.
probably
I just went last year though
I cannot repeal the words of the golden eel
by Cards Fan in Chitown on Jan 2, 2010 7:44 PM EST up reply actions
Found a potential job in the Lou
Maybe I can make a VEB day!
You know what they call a quarter pounder with cheese in France?
and hell
we are so baseball discussion deprived that we have 200 posts subthreads on other teams’ moves. remember the vazquez deal? the yankees/tigers/dbacks trade. the lee/halladay trade? it’s not like people aren’t interested in baseball discussion. there’s just not much to talk about. you can only discuss the merits of a hinske/craig platoon so many times. and even with a holliday signing seeming inevtable we’re still giving it a brief mention every day
Of course, hope means being cut down on some street corner, as you run like mad, by a random bullet.
I wonder if Holliday gets signed if Craig will be the 4th outfielder
also, does he suck that bad at third base? might be insurance for Freeser
I cannot repeal the words of the golden eel
by Cards Fan in Chitown on Jan 2, 2010 7:43 PM EST up reply actions
the general consensus among people who have seen him play
is that he is plenty average at third base and his denial of any chance there is little short of baffling
Of course, hope means being cut down on some street corner, as you run like mad, by a random bullet.
yeah, I don't get it
but I’m sure if in spring training he impresses he will make the team, and maybe beat out freese
I cannot repeal the words of the golden eel
by Cards Fan in Chitown on Jan 2, 2010 8:47 PM EST up reply actions
also
i’m still working my way through the thread and maybe this has been mention. but the football meme. some on guys. it’s tired. it was ironic at first (lol, people like football!?!?!?!). but now it’s just tired and you’re trying too hard when you go on for 100 comments talking about guys rolling around on the ground with each just to try to get some laughs. no one likes football. we get it. the joke can die now
Of course, hope means being cut down on some street corner, as you run like mad, by a random bullet.
by prophetjohn on Jan 2, 2010 7:58 PM EST reply actions 1 recs
i'd like to say something
I’m pretty new. I read the main posts for a while and then started reading the comments as well. The way they are cascaded, it is very easy to quickly see which sub-discussion is about baseball and which are just chit-chat. Since I’ve been here, every post has had at least one lengthy, really good, deep baseball discussion that was both interesting and educating.
I also enjoy the chit-chat very much, because it’s light and entertaining. It’s the off-season after all, there’s only so many times in a day one can ask “Has Matt Holliday signed yet?” and “What are our options?”
I have to say, the memes were overwhelming the first few days but the glossary is excellent (thanks Yadi2) and I laughed my heart out reading through it and the links. Most memes have a way of making certain things more memorable that one would like to remember (e.g. to me, the Carp luggage, regardless of how dumb the relation, will always put a big goofy grin on my face). Unlike any other community I’ve encountered before, frequent posters here are so nice and patient with newbies – they would explain, repeat, link, and clarify anything and everything you ask. I was pleasantly surprised and though I have little to contribute to real in-depth baseball talk, i would like to stick around and learn more. The only reason I choose to stick around though, is because the atmosphere is so welcoming and light. I like to laugh, I have a serious job and I need some fun in my day. Combined with talk about my favorite team, it gets no better. Inside jokes make me feel a little closer to the community, and even though it sounds dumb, a little closer to the team somehow. Feels like you’re more than just a generic fan with a baseball hat and a jersey.
One more thing: bacon is tasty. People tattoo pictures of bacon on their bodies. Bacon is a meme of strength way beyond VEB. Forums grow, people join and people leave for whatever reasons. I would like to point out that I have absolutely no intention in insulting the original poster, but when I read this post, my first thought was “this must be a girl” and my second was “oh, lighten up”. Maybe if everyone stopped trying to change and influence things in an open community of this size and learned to just lighten up, the experience will get better for everyone. After all, no one forces anyone to read anything they don’t want to read. The cascading style of the comments is your friend, and so is the literate adult’s ability to scan through blocks of text for keywords, you can trust me on this.
by d-dee on Jan 3, 2010 12:07 AM EST reply actions 2 recs
I'm not upset.
Just pointing out that anyone can be sexist, no matter the gender.
Now with extra feisty!
you're only saying that because you've got your pretty little head in a spin, deary.
RELEASE THE CENTIQUID!!!!
by Felonius_Monk on Jan 4, 2010 11:42 AM EST up reply actions
If you were a dude the "this must a girl" was funny
since you’re a chick it’s even funnier.
"How depressing is it being you? Would you equate it to being a lifelong Cubs fan?"
+1
my sentiments exactly, except bac…
by kkkkathmandubirdsview on Jan 3, 2010 1:39 AM EST up reply actions
not that i was counting (that would be lame!)
but more than half of the threads in today’s main post were about baseball. and probably 75% were from material mentioned in the main post. jus’ sayin’
Of course, hope means being cut down on some street corner, as you run like mad, by a random bullet.
by prophetjohn on Jan 3, 2010 12:11 AM EST reply actions 1 recs
I don't even know
what a meme is. But as a Cards fan since 1959, a neophyte sabrmetrician (because I was overseas for so long with no access to this stuff), and someone who enjoys a community of baseball analysts, I find that you have missed one of the biggest yawns of the site. That is, all of the (admittedly) smart allusions to movies, and discussions of things not related to the game. Of course I realize it is a site where people end up enjoy exchanging views about anything, but I would prefer to talk about who our 3rd baseman should be, who we pick up as a 5th starter given the remaining money, who should be our LH bench strength, should we pick up Lopez. whither Lugo,, and so on. Anyhow, I love the jocular repartee that I find on this site, so it is all great, but not quite in the dimension that I would prefer. For instance, in all the debate about Holliday, I have never seen anyone analyze his WAR and his value compared to the salary he is seeking. In other words, based on all of the performance projections and associated $ value, what is the bottom line for his contract?
Also, I want to add a comment about so called home town discount. I think that any discount that a player would provide has nothing to do about having redbirds on his uniform. The hometown discount, if it exists, has to do with kids going to the same school for some years, or like Russ Springer, a facility for son’s special needs. Playoff probability enters into this, but that is about the team, not the hometown in terms of fans, tradition, etc.
by kkkkathmandubirdsview on Jan 3, 2010 1:11 AM EST reply actions
meme
The term “Internet meme” refers to a catchphrase or concept that spreads rapidly from person to person via the Internet, largely through Internet-based email, blogs, forums, Internet-based social networking sites and Internet-based instant messaging.
src: link
Thanks
for the elucidation. Need to google more.
by kkkkathmandubirdsview on Jan 3, 2010 1:30 AM EST up reply actions
There have been WAR analysis' of Holliday
I made on in a comment here at VEB:
http://www.vivaelbirdos.com/2009/10/18/1089815/2010-payroll-what-do-we-have-to#23099960
And Driveline Mechanics had a breakdown as well
http://www.drivelinemechanics.com/2009/10/22/1095619/jason-bay-vs-matt-holliday-bill
Thanks
sorry I missed it, Will read it now and come back.
by kkkkathmandubirdsview on Jan 3, 2010 1:40 AM EST up reply actions
So
the contract values that PD is reporting Cards are offering are lower than the values mentioned in the links above. My question is why are most fans on this site and others saying thaqt more than $16.5 is too much?
by kkkkathmandubirdsview on Jan 3, 2010 2:06 AM EST up reply actions
16.5 for 5 is definitely not too much
Whoever you are talking too is an idiot – even if they are us. 16.5 for 8 might be too much, simply due to the amount of years, injury risk, loss of flexibility.
Trying
understand your comment .I am not saying it is too much, I am saying the links you gave indicate that it is too little. So, $17 or $18 for 5-6 years is OK?
by kkkkathmandubirdsview on Jan 3, 2010 2:27 AM EST up reply actions
It's borderline
Holliday might have been worth that last year, but in the somewhat collapsed market this year combined with the dearth of teams that actually seem to be in him, it might be too much. I think 6/90 – 6/100 might be by limit in both years and dollars.
as to the comment about holliday's war
I linked either last sat or the sat before to an article on beyond the boxscore showing that holliday had a decent chance of exceeding his contract value (29 war on an 8y/$128m contract).
It’s a great question, but I didn’t want to redo (poorly) what other folks had done better.
My daddy told me, lookin' back, The best friend you'll have is a railroad track So when I was 13 said, I'm rollin' my own, And I'm leavin' Missouri and I'm never comin' home . . . Now I woke me up with a cardinal bird, And when I wanna talk, He hangs on every word. . . And I'm lost at the bottom of the world. - Tom Waits
by tom s. on Jan 3, 2010 1:40 AM EST via mobile up reply actions
Thanks
as usual Tom. Missed it. So, if we do $17 or more for him, plus $7.5 for Penny, how do we spend the remaining $5.5? Setup, LH from the bench, or go for Lopez and trade Julio for a setup guy?
by kkkkathmandubirdsview on Jan 3, 2010 2:13 AM EST up reply actions
i think we need a backup CF
preferably a cheap one who can hit right-handed, and another starting pitcher. I’d love to add an arm to the pen as well – I imagine Smoltz can accomplish the last two (5th starter and, if franklin struggles, possible future closer). I’m really struggling to come up with a valid CF option – I guess perhaps Jay makes the team and we just roll with Colby vs LHP, and let him sink or swim.
My preference would be Smoltz, if he’ll sign for that little, and, if not, get a good RHRP (Calero or Springer) and a cheap lefty bat (Eric Hinske ideally).
RELEASE THE CENTIQUID!!!!
by Felonius_Monk on Jan 3, 2010 5:07 AM EST up reply actions
Clarification
The name is a reference to Bob Seeger’s song, and plus I spend half of the year there.
by kkkkathmandubirdsview on Jan 3, 2010 1:52 PM EST up reply actions
I didn't
actually know what he looked like. Just checked and obviously there was no need for clarification!
by kkkkathmandubirdsview on Jan 3, 2010 1:57 PM EST up reply actions
apparently
we aren’t the only ones that need to retire things
Every morning I wake up & smoke a dart. Then I eat five strips of bacon, & for lunch I eat a bacon sandwich. And for a midday snack? Bacon! A whole damn plate! And I usually drink my dinner. And I'm still here! Sometimes I wonder if God forgot about me.
I for one will be not changing my ways
Witty one liners is my bread and butter. Not really a meme person though. I tend to steal others peoples work outside of the VEB community and than pawn it off as my own here. It has made me look funnier and original than I really am. I will be continuing to do this in 2010.
by FlimtotheFlam on Jan 3, 2010 9:00 PM EST reply actions 6 recs
"I tend to steal others peoples work outside of the VEB community and than pawn it off as my own here. It has made me look funnier and original than I really am. I will be continuing to do this in 2010."
beautiful. this is like a new years’ anti-resolution.
by DanUpBaby on Jan 6, 2010 2:14 AM EST up reply actions 1 recs
I really thought this list was going to be 2009 items long.
Misleading title, man.
On with the (good) youth movement!
I only know noticed this and read it.
Thank you for this, honestly. When I first joined VEB and lboros was still here there was never all of this inanity on every single thread. And the quality of discussion has just plummeted, whether folks want to admit that or not, it’s absolutely plummeted. Hopefully this year we can push a return to the discussions and debates that made this forum the best baseball blog on the internet.
Well I've now waded through all of that
It took awhile and the flu, but I did it!
I have one thing to say… I noticed a lot of comments in this thread to this effect :
Yeah, AZ, gosh, those memes were getting out of control. I mean I like a few but gosh golly I was so sick of pegacorns like three months ago!…
It’s fine if that’s what you think and I have no idea if that was what really was going through anyone’s mind. But we have to keep in mind that VEB cannot work if it’s only run by the mods. We as commenters have to be willing to take ownership as well. This includes a few things:
- When decent threads/frontpage posts spiral into endless bacon discussions or whatever, someone HAS to step in and try to rein it in. It cannot always be a mod, that would get old and besides we’re adults and can referee ourselves.
- When someone’s tone is uncivil they should be told to knock it off. It’s happened in the past, and it will happen in the future.
- I think we’re pretty good at this one, but when someone’s points are simply wrong it should be pointed out. After all, this is supposed to be a smart-people site. You don’t have to be a SABR-level genius to make it around here, but positive claims require positive evidence and so on, and when that doesn’t exist we have to make note of it.
Anyway, I just think we, as posters, cannot simply let this site spiral this way and that and wait for a mod to step in. These kinds of “Hey knock it off kids!” fanposts don’t have to happen.
VivaElBirdos: Celebrating glorious mustaches since 2009
by redbirdnation8206 on Jan 5, 2010 1:16 PM EST reply actions 1 recs
On that third point
no one is saying that wrong things shouldn’t be called out, but there is an appropriate tone for it, and there is a pointlessly combatitive tone for it. It think almost everyone would be better off avoiding the latter.
They say that it's never too late, but you don't get any younger...
Let me note...
…I was pointing that out as a general rule. It’s not really come up on this thread but as long as I’m talking about self-policing then comment-quality is just as, if not more, important as 6ly limiting bacon-and-pegacorn pies. A combatitive tone should be like number 75 on a list of 24 good ways to deal with incorrectness.
VivaElBirdos: Celebrating glorious mustaches since 2009
by redbirdnation8206 on Jan 5, 2010 5:48 PM EST up reply actions
Yes
I’m just noting that a lot of what people are complaining about above is a combative tone toward, (as above, for example) signing Jermaine Dye.
They say that it's never too late, but you don't get any younger...
SODOMIZE JERMAINE DYE.
RELEASE THE CENTIQUID!!!!
by Felonius_Monk on Jan 6, 2010 7:25 AM EST up reply actions 1 recs
Ah... I see
VivaElBirdos: Celebrating glorious mustaches since 2009
by redbirdnation8206 on Jan 6, 2010 12:21 PM EST up reply actions
took me a while
to stumble upon this post. as a long-time reader who rarely comments (don’t call me a troll or a lurker please), i can definitely say that the quality of comments has gone downhill over the past several years. the posts are still exceptional. dan-up is an insanely talented writer. the comments are not. obviously, i come here for the main posts so as long as there are great writers like larry and dan-up i’ll be here. it adds to my reading experience when there is intelligent discussion in the comments regarding the issues brought up in the main post, but it’s hard for me to complain being as how i don’t comment much and all…i do predict that if the comments continue to be dominated by the ridiculous pictures and bacons, etc. a certain type of person will be driven away and a certain other type of person will be drawn. hopefully VEB can find a middle ground.
looking forward to many more great main posts (and hopefully some insightful comments).
by iaintsentimental on Jan 7, 2010 9:58 PM EST reply actions
There are plenty of insightful comments. Plenty.
There’s just also a lot of joking and goofiness. I agree it got out of control the last few months, but there is plenty of baseball discussion to be had.
I was just telling someone this, but I lurked for years before commenting. I just felt like every word I typed needed to be worthy of VEB. Now I feel like there is space for us all to be a bit silly, but I come here for baseball talk. The real, in-context jokes and camaraderie just make it all the more fun.
Now with extra feisty!
by spants on Jan 8, 2010 12:41 AM EST up reply actions 1 recs
tons of great comments, tons
to say otherwise is insulting to some of our better contributors in the comment section. I am far from being one of them, but there are a lot of people who contribute great stuff to this site. I know there are some of us here that have gone over the line from time to time, but I feel it is safe to say that most of us understand this and are going to make a effort to help get this site back under control.
I am not saying this to slam iaintsentimental, so please don’t take it that way, but I will be glad when the comments to this thread and the community guideline one are closed. There have been several great points made in these threads, but it is getting to the point of piling on, and quite frankly, some of it comes off as self-aggrandizing.
Lighten up, Francis - Sergeant Hulka
* sarcasm might be involved in this comment
by mattyfrommo on Jan 8, 2010 2:00 AM EST up reply actions 1 recs
It would be really cool
if your name was Iain Terrance Sentimenal.
RELEASE THE CENTIQUID!!!!
by Felonius_Monk on Jan 8, 2010 6:57 AM EST up reply actions 1 recs
Hilarious.
I joined here a while ago (I don’t know how long and I’m too lazy to look it up).
When I joined, LB was at his peak of production. Some days there literally wasn’t a post at all, and that was fine by me if there just wasn’t anything to say.
My introduction to VEB was like being thrown into a 10 foot deep pool with a blindfold on. I was disoriented, confused, and thoroughly over my head. I didn’t know what OPS was. I didn’t understand the significance of LD%. Hell, I still thought WHIP was the best statistical measurement for a pitcher’s effectiveness (I still think it’s a pretty good one). Thanks to the discussion of several really intelligent people (AZ, LB, and many more), I came to understand how most of these measurements work and how to measure the effectiveness of baseball players.
After LB left, we had several new moderators show up. I believe AZ was one of the first. Anyway, while I don’t pine for the days of LB like a love-stricken junior high student, I do miss his concise, baseball-related posts. I also miss his unwavering dedication not just to all things Cardinal, but to baseball itslef. In the time immediately following LB, the conversation remained very intelligent and focused. As time went on, things began to drift.
I see less and less of that today. RB is a fantastic writer. He is entertaining, witty, and exceedingly sharp. However, he tends to go off on these tangents that are neither Cardinal nor baseball-related. It’s hard to keep a thread on track if the original author of the post is discussing his suicidal past, losing his girlfriend, carnival games, or music. That merely invites discussion in the thread that will cover things like suicide, loss of loved ones, carnival games, or music. I am not saying this to single RB out, because it seems to be a condition endemic to both the moderators and the posters alike. Some current VEB’ers seem to want to flex their VEB muscle constantly by referring to strange invented terms and nicknames for all sorts of people and/or events. Hey, nicknames are cool, to an extent. I still call a certain former bad-ass center fielder “Jimmy Ballgame”. But, really, Corky Ramos? Mildly funny once. Annoying and impossible for the layperson to understand later on.
I am very thankful that VEB exists, and has existed for the past several years. I really am a better educated person about baseball, the Cardinals, and statistical measurement. I wish that path could continue.
Hell, guys and girls, this thread even got distracted by strange photos and comments about usernames, and the post above is completely about staying ON TRACK!
I quit posting all together after discovering that I could really care less about the average daily thread. Some of the main posts are interesting, so I still check in from time to time. I anticipated reading about the Cardinals or baseball, or prospects or SOMETHING of substance, but instead I read about bacon, fists, some dude named Corky, another guy named Luggage, dozens of inside jokes that I didn’t care about, music selections, and the like.
Baseball's only fun if you're playing it, watching it, or thinking about it.
got a kick out of this paragraph
My introduction to VEB was like being thrown into a 10 foot deep pool with a blindfold on. I was disoriented, confused, and thoroughly over my head. I didn’t know what OPS was. I didn’t understand the significance of LD%.
that was much how I felt, except I didn’t even know WHIP
I cannot repeal the words of the golden eel
by Cards Fan in Chitown on Jan 8, 2010 4:59 PM EST up reply actions
and I still can't format blockquotes properly, heh
I cannot repeal the words of the golden eel
by Cards Fan in Chitown on Jan 8, 2010 5:00 PM EST up reply actions
And I remember when VEB was a place where people didn't complain everyday about the free product they consume.
le sigh
Now with extra feisty!
by spants on Jan 8, 2010 6:11 PM EST up reply actions 4 recs
Red Baron has one goddamn post a week
DanUp doesn’t do much analytical posts, but he stays on the topic of Cardinals and baseball and is a fantastic writer. Tom and chuck and all all do VERY analytical posts.
Then there's that guy who say's he's gonna do a bunch of analytical stuff,
and instead takes Sunday off…….
* is an Asshat
i really wanted to leave a VEP
type response here, but it would probably be inappropriate.
* is an Asshat
can we close comments on this Az? please?
enough is enough already
Every morning I wake up & smoke a dart. Then I eat five strips of bacon, & for lunch I eat a bacon sandwich. And for a midday snack? Bacon! A whole damn plate! And I usually drink my dinner. And I'm still here! Sometimes I wonder if God forgot about me.
by gdm426 on Jan 8, 2010 5:53 PM EST reply actions 3 recs
Not before I say this:
I think you’re all doing a wonderful job. Writers, commentators, moaners, everyone. I’m sick of people bad mouthing everything on here and pining for the good old days of VEB. You know what happened in the good old days? Posts got fifteen comments and ten of them were telling Larry he never played the game and to put down the stats. VEB rules and if you don’t like it, s my d.
by Mister Eff on Jan 8, 2010 6:54 PM EST up reply actions 12 recs
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