Amoeba

Well put. Thank you for your response! Again, my primary contention is that bans aren't a good idea even for vitriolic attacks that I've seen (and which you've linked to, though there may be some truly vicious ones I have missed). It's my belief that an unfortunate aspect of celebrity is the hate/harassment they will get both in public and on the internet, and footballers, being in the public eye, will know this and be able to accept this. The anonymity of the internet allows people to say things they wouldn't dare say in real life and that's the nature of the internet. You could curb the negativity through bans, yes, but I think this is forcing people to think a certain way which detracts from the individuality of a forum (which is the point of having one in the first place IMO). At the moment while some are negative the overall attitude towards JW is such that I don't believe action needs to be taken. I agree with you completely though that the posts you have linked to are not normal discussion, and I feel sad that people feel the need to belittle/make fun of a player who has served our club for a number of years now. I just don't think it's ban-worthy.

I pretty much just lurk here but I just wanted to say that I heavily disagree with this sentiment (and JW is probably my favourite player too). Fact is, this is an internet forum where people have their own opinions and everything and it's inevitable that some of this creeps into postings - every player cops it, albeit some much more than most. Banning someone for having negative opinions of a player is bad because it reduces the amount of independent thought posted on this site. Yeah people could be definitely be nicer with their comments, but you know, everyone's entitled to free speech and you're entitled to disapprove if you disagree with their comments. But banning someone for being harsh towards a player is a bit much to me. I also don't think his post was really abuse; I read it just as being tired of the continual expectations of Jack. But yeah, maybe I read it wrongly!