We Need To Get It Together

[GothamistDan]

Hi guys.

So let me clarify what bothered me about the post yesterday: it was taking what was one of the most powerful moments from last year's MLS season - RBNY and Revs fans coming together just days after the Boston Marathon bombing and marching as one - and turned it into a weird rant about the "USA!" chant. I have no issue with debating the merits of most supporters' song books, or endless banter back and forth about the RBNY/City rivalry. But it lacked any sort of awareness as to what was happening in that video that it really took me aback. It also threw me that no one really challenged it - there was a meme post or two and some light "This is from something else", but there wasn't actually a rebuke.

Those of you who have been following me a while know that I care about supporters culture across MLS. I've spoken about "YSAGate" and all the finger pointing that came with that, including Garber's hypocracy about language; the weirdness with the "snow-out" in the 2012 playoffs; homophobia with a Houston supporters group; FC Dallas banning "the beer shower" and booting their supporters; the Portland-SJ drama...long story short, I try to remain even handed. That means occasionally having to call out bad behavior.

As for the comments above:

That "media" guy is a NJED fan though

Nope.

so his presence on the forums is just to find dirt and make a scene to paint us in an unfavorable light.

No, I'm actually trying to get a read on what the NYCFC fan base is talking about. Same reason I read Metrofanatic.

Their "I'd like you guys to be successful because it helps soccer" shtick is a big sack of bullshit.

Don't even know where to start with this. When I say I want City to be successful, it isn't subterfuge or passive aggression or reverse psychology. I actually want City to be successful.

It's a perk of being a NJ season ticket holder.

Not a season ticket holder. Sorry.

I hate his fat cozy smug ***** face.

Thanks for this. Really shows me your heart is in the right place.

And you just wait. As we get closer to march I expect us to get trolled, users starting ridiculous threads and someone on twitter "exposing how every single NYCFC fan agrees with it".
I hope the staff keeps a tight ship.

Funny enough, this was *exactly* my point. I've done more than my fair share of community moderation, and the key to a successful community is tight moderation (see link shared above). And long before City, I saw more than enough back and forth trolling between Metro fans, RBNY fans (yes, those are two different groups), and Cosmos fans to know what you guys are in for over the coming months. A tight ship is exactly what's needed.

 

[NYCFC_Dan]

So you take a post by a kid who EVERYONE on here disagreed with and send it over to some MLS Analyst like you just discovered the next nobel piece prize equation or something...
How are we supposed to respect you and what you do in any shape or form? And for him to reply with "didn't realize they had enough fans to have forums" is exactly why people don't give two shits about the MLS.
You have people on here really fighting to start something with the supporters group and trying to make an identity for ourselves and then people like you and your analyst buddy shooting down everything.
Not once have you bothered to portray us in a positive light. But you've already had numerous bad things to say. You're literally looking for things.
You DONT care about the supporters culture. If you did you'd know that 1 person that people disagree with does not equal a culture.

 

[NYCFC_Dan]

You also seem to be pretty good with quotes so let me help you.
You say NO ONE challenged it?

If this happened at any other time it would be stupid, but this was after a tragedy in our country so I don't have a problem with them singing about our country.

I was hoping starting a brand new club would keep us free from the fools that have plagued other MLS supporter's groups. Apparently I was wrong.

For context, this was uploaded the week of the Boston Marathon bombing. It wasn't random.

That's a lot more than 'some memes'
only 1 meme actually... so again, why are you just shooting stuff out of your ass to prove a point. Some meme's? No just 1 meme. No one challenged it? Yes, everyone that replied challenged it, they just didn't call him names and tried to explain why he was wrong.
So again, why should we respect you or care at all?

 

[einwindir]

Hi guys.

So let me clarify what bothered me about the post yesterday: it was taking what was one of the most powerful moments from last year's MLS season - RBNY and Revs fans coming together just days after the Boston Marathon bombing and marching as one - and turned it into a weird rant about the "USA!" chant. I have no issue with debating the merits of most supporters' song books, or endless banter back and forth about the RBNY/City rivalry. But it lacked any sort of awareness as to what was happening in that video that it really took me aback. It also threw me that no one really challenged it - there was a meme post or two and some light "This is from something else", but there wasn't actually a rebuke.

Those of you who have been following me a while know that I care about supporters culture across MLS. I've spoken about "YSAGate" and all the finger pointing that came with that, including Garber's hypocracy about language; the weirdness with the "snow-out" in the 2012 playoffs; homophobia with a Houston supporters group; FC Dallas banning "the beer shower" and booting their supporters; the Portland-SJ drama...long story short, I try to remain even handed. That means occasionally having to call out bad behavior.

As for the comments above:



Nope.



No, I'm actually trying to get a read on what the NYCFC fan base is talking about. Same reason I read Metrofanatic.



Don't even know where to start with this. When I say I want City to be successful, it isn't subterfuge or passive aggression or reverse psychology. I actually want City to be successful.



Not a season ticket holder. Sorry.



Thanks for this. Really shows me your heart is in the right place.



Funny enough, this was *exactly* my point. I've done more than my fair share of community moderation, and the key to a successful community is tight moderation (see link shared above). And long before City, I saw more than enough back and forth trolling between Metro fans, RBNY fans (yes, those are two different groups), and Cosmos fans to know what you guys are in for over the coming months. A tight ship is exactly what's needed.

Thanks for coming into the Lion's den to speak your piece.

Here's why people are going to be upset with you. Rather than doing your duty as a journalist to investigate prior to reporting you decided to be a White Knight and save the world from those evil City boys. OP is a kid, 17 if I'm not mistaken. So the White Knight defeated a child, good on you brother. Way to keep our internet safe from a junior in High School.

We aren't going to persecute one of our guys because he made a mistake. Other users were able to give him context....he even came out that his intention was wildly misinterpreted. He apologized. What else do you want? Would you like his scalp too?

 

[Kjbert]

GothamistDan While I respect you coming on here to respond, I do take issue with your response re: why you are viewing the forums. This was obviously your first post, but it's apparent you have been reading through the forums. I udnerstand that part of your job as a journalist is to get a sense for what is being discussed by different supporters club. I think that's great and we all welcome that. What concerns me (and I am unfamiliar with your other work) is that the one item you picked out was a thread most of us never saw or participated in. We've had some great debate these past few weeks on DP Rumors, the Stadium Survey, our thoughts on Landon Donovan and even a vote where we picked the very first Supporter's Group name - yet none of that was the focus of your article.

Like any new group or club, we are still finding our legs and we are doing the best to police ourselves. I'm sure you read the thread about "The Sheikh." I think we are doing a good job of policing ourselves. You didn't do us any favors - but it is certainly within your right to publich and editorialize whatever you like. I just think we deserve a little leeway right now.

I hope that your next article will be about the group holding it's first meeting, it's first pub crawl, the selection of a Group Name or anything else. Ball is yours to run with...

 

[Kjbert]

I'm not even sure Scouse is state side is he? I know he's a Liverpudlian - but is he here or over there?

 

[Slick Rick]

Hi guys.

So let me clarify what bothered me about the post yesterday: it was taking what was one of the most powerful moments from last year's MLS season - RBNY and Revs fans coming together just days after the Boston Marathon bombing and marching as one - and turned it into a weird rant about the "USA!" chant. I have no issue with debating the merits of most supporters' song books, or endless banter back and forth about the RBNY/City rivalry. But it lacked any sort of awareness as to what was happening in that video that it really took me aback. It also threw me that no one really challenged it - there was a meme post or two and some light "This is from something else", but there wasn't actually a rebuke.

Those of you who have been following me a while know that I care about supporters culture across MLS. I've spoken about "YSAGate" and all the finger pointing that came with that, including Garber's hypocracy about language; the weirdness with the "snow-out" in the 2012 playoffs; homophobia with a Houston supporters group; FC Dallas banning "the beer shower" and booting their supporters; the Portland-SJ drama...long story short, I try to remain even handed. That means occasionally having to call out bad behavior.

As for the comments above:



Nope.



No, I'm actually trying to get a read on what the NYCFC fan base is talking about. Same reason I read Metrofanatic.



Don't even know where to start with this. When I say I want City to be successful, it isn't subterfuge or passive aggression or reverse psychology. I actually want City to be successful.



Not a season ticket holder. Sorry.



Thanks for this. Really shows me your heart is in the right place.



Funny enough, this was *exactly* my point. I've done more than my fair share of community moderation, and the key to a successful community is tight moderation (see link shared above). And long before City, I saw more than enough back and forth trolling between Metro fans, RBNY fans (yes, those are two different groups), and Cosmos fans to know what you guys are in for over the coming months. A tight ship is exactly what's needed.

Now you can add "USAgate" alongside your light shining crusade on homophobia, YSAgate, and beer showers. Seems pretty even handed.

 

[Joename]

Everyone here knows the poster in question is an enthusiastic kid. Some pretty light research would have revealed that. Telling him off would have been totally out of proportion to what turned out to be a silly, confusing, and meaningless post.

 

[Gene]

No, I'm actually trying to get a read on what the NYCFC fan base is talking about.

Appreciate you taking the time to respond Dan, but I'm not buying. If you spent any reasonable amount of time of this site I think it's rather obvious that the person in question A: doesn't represent what this forum is about in the least and B: who more times than not leaves a post that you simply roll your eyes at and move on.

 

[Coop]

I'm not even sure Scouse is state side is he? I know he's a Liverpudlian - but is he here or over there?

He's from (and lives in) College Point, Queens. Hence the CP. He's just always liked the city of Liverpool.

 

[CP_Scouse]

I'm not even sure Scouse is state side is he? I know he's a Liverpudlian - but is he here or over there?

Nah im here

 

[Christian]

Context is everything.

Someone posts something without context. Others retort without context and someone comes in and exposes without context.

Everyone should slow their roll.

 

[BxLio91]

So many guests on the site. If you're so interested why don't you create a username and post?

 

[GothamistDan]

Lots to chew on, so let me be general rather than trying to quote specific comments:

The general feeling is that there's a feeling that singling out this post wasn't done fairly or in absence of the context that CP_Scouse is young/prone to these sorts of statements. That's absolutely reasonable - I've only been coming by about once a week to catch up on forum threads, and not every last one. I haven't yet learned all the personalities in the forum, and I haven't been correlating threads to people to judge their merit. So my apologies on that front.

I'm going to make a personal resolution to leave both these forums and Metrofanatic (and if there's a Cosmos analogue, which I haven't found yet, that place too) out of my primary reference points for tweets going forward. I don't want anyone to feel like they're in the crosshairs for taking part of a community, or that I'm bringing some agenda, because I'm absolutely not. Forums will be for background, and that's all. (I would again reiterate that my point was not about tarring and feathering the community, but about needing tight moderation. But Twitter is unfortunately not a place for nuance, I've been reminded.)

There's a more general thread here that I've never said anything nice about NYCFC and/or its supporters and/or the forums. I've looked back in my archives - I was positive on the name "The Third Rail", I tried to intervene before the NYCFC SG went to Legends at the same time as ESC/GSU in the name of avoiding conflict, I've highlighted discussions and by fans (not from here but from /r/nycfc), and I have put out as many noteworthy quotes from team officials as I've gotten. I'm more than happy to get word out about the good stuff that's happening with the club, because (again) I want the club to succeed. In fact, I may be a little hypersensitive about the club succeeding because what I truly don't want is the team to fail. If that happens, NYC soccer is in a really bad place.

That hypersensitivity about NYC soccer has, historically, included the occasional highlight if fan behavior is over my personal line. Same way Viking Army's Facebook group turning into a complete shit show was. Same way someone saying they were going to "send me home in a New Jersey bodybag" on a different RBNY Facebook group was. Ultimately, I just don't want everyone to act like jerks, but maybe this isn't my fight to have.

Will keep an eye on the thread - happy to talk further, either here or on Twitter.

 

[einwindir]

Lots to chew on, so let me be general rather than trying to quote specific comments:

The general feeling is that there's a feeling that singling out this post wasn't done fairly or in absence of the context that CP_Scouse is young/prone to these sorts of statements. That's absolutely reasonable - I've only been coming by about once a week to catch up on forum threads, and not every last one. I haven't yet learned all the personalities in the forum, and I haven't been correlating threads to people to judge their merit. So my apologies on that front.

I'm going to make a personal resolution to leave both these forums and Metrofanatic (and if there's a Cosmos analogue, which I haven't found yet, that place too) out of my primary reference points for tweets going forward. I don't want anyone to feel like they're in the crosshairs for taking part of a community, or that I'm bringing some agenda, because I'm absolutely not. Forums will be for background, and that's all. (I would again reiterate that my point was not about tarring and feathering the community, but about needing tight moderation. But Twitter is unfortunately not a place for nuance, I've been reminded.)

There's a more general thread here that I've never said anything nice about NYCFC and/or its supporters and/or the forums. I've looked back in my archives - I was positive on the name "The Third Rail", I tried to intervene before the NYCFC SG went to Legends at the same time as ESC/GSU in the name of avoiding conflict, I've highlighted discussions and by fans (not from here but from /r/nycfc), and I have put out as many noteworthy quotes from team officials as I've gotten. I'm more than happy to get word out about the good stuff that's happening with the club, because (again) I want the club to succeed. In fact, I may be a little hypersensitive about the club succeeding because what I truly don't want is the team to fail. If that happens, NYC soccer is in a really bad place.

That hypersensitivity about NYC soccer has, historically, included the occasional highlight if fan behavior is over my personal line. Same way Viking Army's Facebook group turning into a complete shit show was. Same way someone saying they were going to "send me home in a New Jersey bodybag" on a different RBNY Facebook group was. Ultimately, I just don't want everyone to act like jerks, but maybe this isn't my fight to have.

Will keep an eye on the thread - happy to talk further, either here or on Twitter.

Thank you. Hopefully we can all agree that this is buried since all parties involved have come out and made ammends.

Now that that's out of the way:
Welcome to the Forums! Normally I say: feel free to head over to the Introductions section for a proper Hello, but I think we all know who you are at this point.

Hopefully you've had a look around the Forum so you can see how much depth this group of Supporters has. You'll see we are growing rapidly. You'll also see that CP_Scouse brings more to the table than what your first impression suggests.

I look forward to proving to you, MLS Analyst and everyone else that WE ARE the standard to follow.

 

[Trone]

I am glad that you have decided to leave comments on this board out of your tweets. The board is meant to be conversation amongst fans and not broadcoast on twitter, posters must feel comfortable that they can say what they feel and not have their comment criticized on twitter. By criticizing posters on twitter we are in effect censoring the board, you are using your forum as a journalist to impose your views and shape the supporters club into what you think it should be. It is refreshing to see this group stick together and defend their members, the personality of the group as a whole will be built organically not by you or anyone choosing what they think is best but rather by the members finding their common voice. You may like that common voice or you may hate it, if your opinion is of the latter you are free to start your own group. .

 

[NYCFC_Dan]

Lots to chew on, so let me be general rather than trying to quote specific comments:

The general feeling is that there's a feeling that singling out this post wasn't done fairly or in absence of the context that CP_Scouse is young/prone to these sorts of statements. That's absolutely reasonable - I've only been coming by about once a week to catch up on forum threads, and not every last one. I haven't yet learned all the personalities in the forum, and I haven't been correlating threads to people to judge their merit. So my apologies on that front.

I'm going to make a personal resolution to leave both these forums and Metrofanatic (and if there's a Cosmos analogue, which I haven't found yet, that place too) out of my primary reference points for tweets going forward. I don't want anyone to feel like they're in the crosshairs for taking part of a community, or that I'm bringing some agenda, because I'm absolutely not. Forums will be for background, and that's all. (I would again reiterate that my point was not about tarring and feathering the community, but about needing tight moderation. But Twitter is unfortunately not a place for nuance, I've been reminded.)

There's a more general thread here that I've never said anything nice about NYCFC and/or its supporters and/or the forums. I've looked back in my archives - I was positive on the name "The Third Rail", I tried to intervene before the NYCFC SG went to Legends at the same time as ESC/GSU in the name of avoiding conflict, I've highlighted discussions and by fans (not from here but from /r/nycfc), and I have put out as many noteworthy quotes from team officials as I've gotten. I'm more than happy to get word out about the good stuff that's happening with the club, because (again) I want the club to succeed. In fact, I may be a little hypersensitive about the club succeeding because what I truly don't want is the team to fail. If that happens, NYC soccer is in a really bad place.

That hypersensitivity about NYC soccer has, historically, included the occasional highlight if fan behavior is over my personal line. Same way Viking Army's Facebook group turning into a complete shit show was. Same way someone saying they were going to "send me home in a New Jersey bodybag" on a different RBNY Facebook group was. Ultimately, I just don't want everyone to act like jerks, but maybe this isn't my fight to have.

Will keep an eye on the thread - happy to talk further, either here or on Twitter.

I appreciate you taking the time to respond.
We do try to keep the forums open and not police it. This is a general forum open to fans and anyone for that matter. If a member chooses to post something offensive towards another member, we will quickly take care of that. However, if it's directed at something outside of our realm then it is up to us to educate and inform but that member takes on responsibility for what they said and the incoming flak they might receive.
We have to walk a fine line. The general consensus was that the post was offensive and the poster misinformed so we closed the thread.
If a member chooses to be vulgar and is consistently on the edge the community as a whole will in time alienate them (we have a handy block function). I wont tell someone to be something they are not in order to satisfy those outside of our community.

Just keep in mind people here have a voice, just as you do, don't take that away from them. We all come here with good intentions towards our club. No one wants THEIR opinions to be distorted and used to generalize the entire community by someone with bad intentions. It's one thing if other team fans come here and lurk and take things back to their community but we don't expect the same from those who cover the sport.
If you search through this entire forum you will not find 1 instance of our members lurking on any other teams forums and discussing it here.

 

[GothamistDan]

I am glad that you have decided to leave comments on this board out of your tweets. The board is meant to be conversation amongst fans and not broadcoast on twitter, posters must feel comfortable that they can say what they feel and not have their comment criticized on twitter. By criticizing posters on twitter we are in effect censoring the board, you are using your forum as a journalist to impose your views and shape the supporters club into what you think it should be.

Hold up for a second. Doesn't this forum have a Twitter account (@NYCFCForums) that occasionally tweets out new threads? Are these forums not public?

I agree that people should feel comfortable sharing their views, but I would be worried if the hope is that anyone should be able to throw out any view they feel without being subject to criticism, debate, or moderation, regardless of what channel that criticism comes through.

I appreciate you taking the time to respond.
We do try to keep the forums open and not police it. This is a general forum open to fans and anyone for that matter. If a member chooses to post something offensive towards another member, we will quickly take care of that. However, if it's directed at something outside of our realm then it is up to us to educate and inform but that member takes on responsibility for what they said and the incoming flak they might receive.
We have to walk a fine line. The general consensus was that the post was offensive and the poster misinformed so we closed the thread.
If a member chooses to be vulgar and is consistently on the edge the community as a whole will in time alienate them (we have a handy block function). I wont tell someone to be something they are not in order to satisfy those outside of our community.

I have more years than I'd like to admit running online communities, and the word of advice I will give you as the moderation team is: don't fall into the trap and believe that light moderation is viable in the long term. It can be okay when a community is starting out, but things like tone and typical interaction are things that develop quickly and get cemented early on. Think not of today, but what you want the forums to be like in a year, two years, five years - and make sure you can scale and grow in those paths.

 

[einwindir]

Hold up for a second. Doesn't this forum have a Twitter account (@NYCFCForums) that occasionally tweets out new threads? Are these forums not public?

oh please. There is a difference between promoting the Forum and cherry picking threads that suit an agenda.

 

[Christian]

I'd say that 'reporting' a message board thread is an easy cheap shot. If there had been 100 positive responses to the opening of that thread then I'd say we deserve the negative attention but as you pointed out the OP was educated quickly.

There's plenty of good and positive content here. Hopefully in the future we'll see that highlighted rather than the negative.