Jon Ralph started this last week on SEN's Morning Glory and now Robbo has written this article, which has some valid points. However, it really annoys me that people like Ralph and Andrew Maher can accuse forum users as being cowardly hiding behind nicknames while potting players. They somehow think they are morally above us because they put their name out there.

There is one small point they missed, they put out their hand and take money to do it. What difference would it make if we put our real names to our posts, none of the players reading would know us anyway, say we would be no different to the faithful hanging over the fence at the game and yelling out the same(or worse) abuse.

If a journalist makes scathing attack on a player in a much larger medium such as the paper, radio or TV, does it hurt the players feelings any less that he knows the persons name making the attack?

What would be worse for Nick Stevens, having Andrew Maher accusing him of being fat and unfit on SEN, or some nobody on a Carlton forum saying the same thing?

IMO, It would be wise for players not to view many of these forums, but i think in most part if a player is attacked on these forums, he is more often than not equally defended.

well said

Something that has been missed so far. On Mondays Mark Robinson has his little Column with John Anderson. On Many occassions i have seen RoBinson take a cheap shot at a player. So why is he so "High & Mighty" Now.There are many better Journalists around than Robinson. Listen to him on the Radio. He is just an over wieght suburban slob, who granted loves football(Essendon) but his Diction is no more than average. Well suited to the Hun.

Demonland is Constuctive the Majority of the time.

The bottom line is, we can criticize players, but we need to do it in a way that is not personally offensive.

I'm sure every AFL player has been heavily criticized and sworn at by their coach, so it's not the actual criticism that is the problem. It's when people are writing personal or overly abusive messages that it can get really hard.

If for example someone wrote: "Bruce's kicking is letting him own. His kicking is seriously terrible at the moment", it's very different from someone writing: "Cameron Bruce is a crap footballer who has female genitalia and he'd be a better player if he chopped both his legs off".

Thankfully we don't get a lot of that being written here, and the bits we do get usually get removed. On BigFooty on the other hand, people send death threats to players and take it way over the line.

To say that supporter forums in general are poor is a misjudgment. Demonland and Demonology both do a lot for the club, especially in terms of raising much needed funds, and the fact that our club allows one of their players to attend a function run by these websites is a great indication that on the whole, we have a positive relationship with our football club.

Players, Families caught in web

And here we go again!

Depression is a serious illness that affects many people in our society. Its victims are not only the people who suffer from depression but their families and loved ones who must live with its effects on those who suffer from it. The mother in this case might well be bitter about criticism of her son and its relationship to his illness but I'm not convinced that the mere publication of criticism on the internet is the root cause. Psychiatrists themselves can't agree on the causes of depression and it's likely that there are many causes. They might be chemical or they might be deep-seated causes going back to the depression sufferer's childhood. I guess what I'm saying is that with respect to this woman, its unfair to blame website chatter for her son's problem and it's irresponsible of Mark Robinson and the Herald Sun to wage their war on fan sites and to attempt to shame or silence the many fair and reasonable people who post on them.

There is a fine line that people like us would do well not to cross, and as most people here have already said, that line separates criticism of a player's football ability or performances from personal criticism. IMO, professional footballers need to be able to take a look at what people may be saying about their football, even if some of the criticism is harsh. As has been said, for every bagger there is usually a defender. Also, I think a lot of the time criticism stems from supporter passion - we all want to see our club win, so we get worked up over what prevents those wins.

Overall boards such as this one are mainly positive, and are nothing more that a place where supporters can share news, ideas and opinions. They are just that. Opinions. Mark Robinson has blown a legimitate topic out of proportion.

Players, Families caught in web

And here we go again!

Cyber bullying.

Flavour of the month atm.

Players, Families caught in web

And here we go again!

I believe that this may be a Melbourne player.

At a guess or something else?

At a guess or something else?

More or less, I was thinking about it the other night after I opened my chilled bottle of stolichnya and settled down for a drink.

Edited August 20, 200915 yr by Jarka

Jarka, I hope you are being careless and flippant rather than vindictive. Vindictive would be bad, and you would gain so much more of my attention...and that of moderators, more importantly. If you were being a smartalec about a psychological condition afflicting a player than you actually had accurate knowledge about...gee, that would be as big a dog act as ever perpetrated on this site. Let's hope that you are not setting a new standard.

Jarka, I hope you are being careless and flippant rather than vindictive. Vindictive would be bad, and you would gain so much more of my attention...and that of moderators, more importantly. If you were being a smartalec about a psychological condition afflicting a player than you actually had accurate knowledge about...gee, that would be as big a dog act as ever perpetrated on this site. Let's hope that you are not setting a new standard.

Agree.

Jarka, if this story is correct, what right do you have to not so subtley reveal this information on a public forum?

Perhaps you should mind your own business.

Edited May 22, 200817 yr by Nasher

and you would gain so much more of my attention...

Luckily for me this is something I don't seek

Agree.

Jarka, if this story is correct, what right do you have to not so subtley reveal this information on a public forum?

Perhaps you should mind your own business.

Weren't you the one having a sook at an acquaintance of mine because he said something personal about you? and here you are posting about someone else's medical conditions...

I made the comment because I believe that if it is a Melbourne player (I have no evidence either way tp prove or disprove, just a rumour) then that would put this whole issue into perspective and hopefully the end result would be for our fellow demonland posters to ease up on the personal attacks about the players I've met personally and enjoy watching play.

Edited May 22, 200817 yr by Nasher

I made the comment because I believe that if it is a Melbourne player (I have no evidence either way tp prove or disprove, just a rumour) then that would put this whole issue into perspective and hopefully the end result would be for our fellow demonland posters to ease up on the personal attacks about the players I've met personally and enjoy watching play.

It's not your right to name names, no matter how well you think you've hidden them.

Im sure the last thing an individual suffering from depression wants is to be outed, probably on one of the forums they worry about.

If it's not true, then you're still casting dispersions on someone else's mental state, hardly the thing a focused footballer on the fringe of selection wants travelling round.

Edited May 22, 200817 yr by Nasher

well having said all that wasnt thompson from North diagnosed with depression?? and trent croad?? so it is probably about a few players..

Now one key thing is what happened b4 the internet.. is this witer seriously suggesting that before the internet people didnt have suggestions?? or opinions and the media was always nice b4?? kinda laughable .. sure its easier to access now and even if people are saying :"big a dog act as ever perpetrated" thanks TimD Kinda stuff about people then that is progress and the way technology is going so once again the gmae will have to change to adapt.. the afl cant shut down the internet no matter how powerful it thinks it is lol so clubs should invest in it and use it as the tool it is maybe even invite the players to answer their critiques or give the players a councellor for this if it gets to much for them..or add a polices sugggesting they talk about it as a group each week for a hour so the players get air there opinions if they do take it to heart?? something.. but having pot shots sat us through other media isnt going to do anything constructive...

I made the comment because I believe that if it is a Melbourne player (I have no evidence either way tp prove or disprove, just a rumour) then that would put this whole issue into perspective and hopefully the end result would be for our fellow demonland posters to ease up on the personal attacks about the players I've met personally and enjoy watching play

That's good Jarka. I'm glad you were not betraying a confidence for the cheap thrill of creating controversy. Now you're just a rumour monger creating controversy for a cheap thrill - much better. "Have people go easy"...you're dreaming if you think anone believes that is an accurate read of your motivation. If it was, then you would have said nothing of your 'understandings' about a melbourne player and just posed a series of hypotheticals. Oh well.

And surfa, what are you talking about? I am suggesting that Jarka would be low releasing personal and otherwise confidential info on the internet...and you say that it is the way of the world...which is entirely unrelated to the ethics of the action. Try again. And the nice thing about this new internet revolution is that you get unlimited attempts.

That's good Jarka. I'm glad you were not betraying a confidence for the cheap thrill of creating controversy. Now you're just a rumour monger creating controversy for a cheap thrill - much better. "Have people go easy"...you're dreaming if you think anone believes that is an accurate read of your motivation. If it was, then you would have said nothing of your 'understandings' about a melbourne player and just posed a series of hypotheticals. Oh well.

And surfa, what are you talking about? I am suggesting that Jarka would be low releasing personal and otherwise confidential info on the internet...and you say that it is the way of the world...which is entirely unrelated to the ethics of the action. Try again. And the nice thing about this new internet revolution is that you get unlimited attempts.

Lol i wasnt having a go at the term ... i was borrowing it lol and thought i would say thanks..

thats the main thing about text.. hard to read the emotion into it.. especially if you dont like using those little emotionicon thingys/...

That's good Jarka. I'm glad you were not betraying a confidence for the cheap thrill of creating controversy. Now you're just a rumour monger creating controversy for a cheap thrill - much better. "Have people go easy"...you're dreaming if you think anone believes that is an accurate read of your motivation. If it was, then you would have said nothing of your 'understandings' about a melbourne player and just posed a series of hypotheticals. Oh well.

And surfa, what are you talking about? I am suggesting that Jarka would be low releasing personal and otherwise confidential info on the internet...and you say that it is the way of the world...which is entirely unrelated to the ethics of the action. Try again. And the nice thing about this new internet revolution is that you get unlimited attempts.

The one consistent thing about you is that fact that you've always tried to make yourself appear more important than what you really are. Oh well.

Jon Ralph started this last week on SEN's Morning Glory and now Robbo has written this article, which has some valid points. However, it really annoys me that people like Ralph and Andrew Maher can accuse forum users as being cowardly hiding behind nicknames while potting players. They somehow think they are morally above us because they put their name out there.

There is one small point they missed, they put out their hand and take money to do it. What difference would it make if we put our real names to our posts, none of the players reading would know us anyway, say we would be no different to the faithful hanging over the fence at the game and yelling out the same(or worse) abuse.

If a journalist makes scathing attack on a player in a much larger medium such as the paper, radio or TV, does it hurt the players feelings any less that he knows the persons name making the attack?

What would be worse for Nick Stevens, having Andrew Maher accusing him of being fat and unfit on SEN, or some nobody on a Carlton forum saying the same thing?

IMO, It would be wise for players not to view many of these forums, but i think in most part if a player is attacked on these forums, he is more often than not equally defended.

You are so spot on. These journalist hipocrites, who bottom feed off the AFL make me sick when they get on their moral soap box. I think MR's article inadvertibly answered the question whether footballers read our blogs anyway. No. And I'm pretty sure Penny Grange from the AFL has too much time on her hands to be worrying about supporters like us.

Just a little warning people. Please read our code of conduct very carefully.

One of our players has been wrongly smeared on this forum and it just so happens that the person in question has a legal representative who also posts regularly on Demonland.

If anyone is reckless enough to attempt a cheap shot like that again they face being banned from here for life (not to mention the possible consequences of litigation).

I hope that's understood.

Thank you.

Just a little warning people. Please read our code of conduct very carefully.

One of our players has been wrongly smeared on this forum and it just so happens that the person in question has a legal representative who also posts regularly on Demonland.

If anyone is reckless enough to attempt a cheap shot like that again they face being banned from here for life (not to mention the possible consequences of litigation).

I hope that's understood.

Thank you.

Thank you.

As I warned previously ,litigation , is possible and PROBABLE , in the future.

Y_M comment when he said one of our players was an "out of control alcoholic", although deleted, is in the hands of the person concerned.

Make careless and STUPID comments at your peril!!!

I would of thought Demonland would have some sort of responsibility allowing certain posters post so much crap and let them get away with it. If demonland lets a poster continue post after even making 1 bad post then Demonland should be careful themselves.

I would of thought Demonland would have some sort of responsibility allowing certain posters post so much crap and let them get away with it. If demonland lets a poster continue post after even making 1 bad post then Demonland should be careful themselves.

I think the moerators here do a pretty good job of drawing the line at the appropriate places fOlly. They even let you post some crap here.

I would of thought Demonland would have some sort of responsibility allowing certain posters post so much crap and let them get away with it. If demonland lets a poster continue post after even making 1 bad post then Demonland should be careful themselves.

We delete anything that is illegal or inappropriate, however we are not around 24 hours a day to read every single post. As moderators, we look after the forum for free in our own time because we want to, because we love the club and we feel this site is very important to a lot of Melbourne supporters.

If posters make serious allegations which could get this site into hot water, their post gets deleted and more often than not they get suspended or banned. However, we cannot suspend people if they only make 1 poor post, or let me tell you, there won't be anyone left. If we go too hard, people whinge, if we're too soft, we run the risk of getting into serious trouble, so basically, we're damned if we do, and damned if we don't.

We try to be as fair as we can, and we often make the decision to ban someone as a collective group.

If some idiots feel the need to write things that they cannot substantiate, which are wrong, hurtful and illegal, then they are not only doing the wrong thing by the club and our players, they are also running the risk of getting the private owners of this website into a lot of trouble.