[Professey Chin]

Actually the more I'm looking around the forum, we have (obviously) countless threads ranging from fighters to events and general news but surprisingly little relating to our own activities in the sport. We have people here with experience ranging from professional fighting experience down to years/months training in MMA or individual aspects of it and others who are just considering getting involved but outside the occasional "What club?" threads youd hear very little about peoples own experiences with the sport.
Would there be anyway to kinda get this out more? I'm not talking about people offering direct training advice but just hearing more about peoples own training experiences etc (like the Tiger MMA discussion that briefly popped up in the GSP thread)

I'll stop babbling soon I swear!

[El Guapo!]

A bit of an update on what's been happening so far.....

You'll notice the club details sticky is gone. It was way out of date and some of the clubs in there don't even exist any more. At some stage in the future we might compile an up to date list but for now it's gone.

The seminars sticky is also gone. Seminars seem to be few and far between. If one comes up, then by all means start a new thread and we can sticky it until the seminar is done. This way they won't get lost in a sticky that no one reads.

The upcoming events sticky has also been binned for now. A new, more comprehensive one will be making an appearance when events are scheduled.


An off-topic thread is a no go for the moment. It probably won't work in here anyway and can get a bit messy.

Regarding the general news thread: If you feel that a news snippet will generate a good bit of discussion, then start a new thread if it deserves it. Some important news pieces get lost in that thread which is a shame.
Also, if something is posted in there that warrants it's own thread and is gathering momentum, we'll split it away from the main thread and leave it out on its own.

I think that covers everything for now. I'll leave this thread open and if you have any more suggestions etc then fire away.

[MrStuffins]

Originally Posted by The Dark Lord Cthulhu

Actually the more I'm looking around the forum, we have (obviously) countless threads ranging from fighters to events and general news but surprisingly little relating to our own activities in the sport. We have people here with experience ranging from professional fighting experience down to years/months training in MMA or individual aspects of it and others who are just considering getting involved but outside the occasional "What club?" threads youd hear very little about peoples own experiences with the sport.
Would there be anyway to kinda get this out more? I'm not talking about people offering direct training advice but just hearing more about peoples own training experiences etc (like the Tiger MMA discussion that briefly popped up in the GSP thread)

I'll stop babbling soon I swear!

We could call it the "Do you even UFC bro?" thread!

[El Guapo!]

Well this has been up for 3 weeks now, I reckon that's just about everything that needed to be covered.
I'll remove it as a sticky now but the thread will remain open. If anyone has anything else to add then please do.

[teotwawki]

What are people's thoughts on what should and shouldn't be discussed in the MMA section ?

Lately it seems the "no non-MMA related discussion" rule is quite controversial. I can understand the intent of the original rulings - to outlaw celebrity-trivia style discussion. I am totally on board with that. But in recent days/weeks I think it's obvious there is a need for clarity on what exactly is MMA related, and why.

In the recent Tony Ferguson situation - Tony having some legal and mental heath issues - I don't see how this is not MMA related. It's going to affect the title picture, it's one less possible opponent for Conor etc. I can understand not allowing gossip about his mental health but some of the details are on the record.

Can a mod provide some clarity on the thought process behind this, and whether it is flexible at all ?

[ASOT]

I'll post my two cents when I'm on the laptop later.

[martyos121]

I’ll express my views as civilly as possible; the modding in this forum lately has been exceedingly heavy handed. I can understand why that is the case and how it’s gotten to this point, but it’s pretty much killed the two biggest threads in the forum stone dead since the latest warnings.

I’m not even sure how the situation could be fixed, but a zero tolerance policy for trolls and those who don’t wish to discuss the sport in any capacity (and by that I mean instant forum bans, not swathes of warnings such as “next time you do X you’ll be banned for Y weeks” which are often not followed up on. That’s just a suggestion, not me having notions or trying to backseat mod). Fighter’s personal lives are absolutely relevant to the sport and their careers in many situations, so to outlaw discussion of that entirely is not the right move in my opinion. Certain things that have occurred lately couldn’t be discussed here for legal reasons and most understand that and have no issue with that, but to extend that embargo to prohibit discussion of any matters outside of the cage in the news thread or elsewhere is going to kill this forum soon enough.

There are plenty of posters who discuss fighting and fighters’ lives within reason here, there are also plenty who discuss just fighting, and unfortunately there are probably even more who discuss anything other than fighting. The first two categories are mostly fine, the third one is obviously a problem. It all stems from the McGregor thread, which might be one of the most hostile, vitriolic threads I’ve seen anywhere on the website in all my time posting here. One possible idea to cut out a lot of the shîte in there could be to enforce a registration policy to that thread similar to the one in the soccer forum but specific to that one thread in this case, where you could have to reach 50 non-spam posts elsewhere in the MMA forum before requesting access to post in that thread. I don’t know if that’s even possible or if it’s even a good idea, but it is an idea at least and something needs to change with the McGregor thread. Maybe even a modified charter for that thread specifically. Again, I’m just spitballing here.

Drastically limiting what we can post in here isn’t the solution I believe, but limiting the posters who can post in here could be, perhaps? I have sympathy for the mods of this forum, I really do, it’s probably one of the hardest to mod across the site but it’s mostly because of one thread (I’ve had my own issues posting there in the past, but it was always reactionary, now I mostly avoid posting there at all). If some of the problems with that thread could be addressed without affecting the rest of the forum and those of us who post in event threads, gambling threads, the humour thread or discuss the sport in general anywhere else within the forum, that would be ideal I reckon.

None of this post is a criticism of the mods themselves, just to be clear. The forum up until very recently was being modded fairly and effectively for the most part, I feel. This is only a few ideas on how to possibly make it a forum that fans of the sport actually want to post in.

[Steve]

Thanks for the feedback it is very welcome.

I agree that the moderation has had to become quite narrow of late , that is because the forum is short handed and for the last few months we have been trying to recruit a new mod but to no avail.

More scope of discussion means more mod time needed to stay on top of it, something that is simply not there right now.

[Axwell]

That is one factor but there is clearly another as regards common sense in what is and isn’t appropriate to post in the forum.

There is a high number of posters who only post in the McGregor thread and only when its in relation to his life outside the UFC. Whether thats an attempt to just provoke a reaction out of others, or a sign of a lack of interest in MMA and only in McGregor or a combination of both, the reality is it tends to add little to the forum and usually spirals into nonsense name calling and remarks which are inappropriate in an MMA forum.

Moderation clamping down on what can and be discussed would not be as necessary if the discussion itself was kept at a level where it didnt need such excessive moderation to begin with and there was some common sense and a lack of treating this as as if its Sherdog or a forum on TMZ.

[Fromvert]

The McGregor thread and any of his event threads are just a toilet full of ****, destroyed by a handful of dickheads who cant discuss anything without name calling (and I get I just stooped to their level). The rest of the forum is great for discussion about fights, match ups, tactics etc and if we let the 5% of idiots on either side of the McGregor spectrum ruin the forum it'll be a another **** up on an already dying website.

[Beasty]

As I have just posted in the McGregor thread - speculation or commentary on ongoing/likely legal cases is not permitted here or elsewhere on the site. This is not an issue for further debate here

I am sure many of you will be aware of comments made by the judiciary in light of social media commentary surrounding the (fairly) recent case involving Rugby players. Such commentary can seriously prejudice cases.

[Steve]

I'm going to put a time limit on the feedback for whether this MMA forum is strictly sport related or includes 'celebrity gossip' so please get your opinions in.

You have till the end of the month (March 2019).

[pastorbarrett]

Modding unnecessarily punitive and disciplinarian of late. Litigation aside, it's unrealistic at this point to expect discussion on someone of McGregor's stature to remain solely fight orientated - for better or worse.

[darced]

The tone of the modding is terrible lads, absolute worst on the site. I know its the MMA forum but less of the hard man 'open your mouth and ill ban you' posts would be very welcome. I appreciate that you may not have enough mods but every time I see this nonsense I think I can't be arsed posting.

On the mixing private life and MMA the sport issue I'd say simply ban anything that could realistically get boards in bother, Everything else should be fine. Its ridiculous to try and enforce no off-topic posting, its an unworkable and unwanted rule.

I don't even bother with the rumour stuff myself but its 2019, it'll be happening here or somewhere else anyway, maybe open a gossip thread keep it all in there.

[The Rooster]

Agree with Teo above, not being able to mention Ferguson’s current issues is utterly ridiculous!

As for McGregor, Axwell had it perfect in relation to legal issues, that if it’s in the mainstream press, then it’s fine to mention, but no going repeating unsubstantiated rumours.

So we should be able to mention that a person has been arrested for assault or damage to property or whatever, when it’s a 100% fact and is reported in, for example, the Irish Times. And we should be able to discuss what’s the timing for any court appearance, where does that put him in terms of likely being able to fight again, the arrest report showed his weight and if that can be relied on then it’s looks like he’s been training well, will the UFC punish him, etc etc

What we can’t say is -
typical Scumbag Mcgregor = ban!
I heard he gave the photographer a broken nose = ban
Scumbag paparazzi, deserved a beating = ban
My mate’s mate saw it, he’s definitely guilty = ban

The other issues that should be addressed are:
Whiskey and other sponsorships - that should all be 100% fine. It’s derived from his MMA and if people find it interesting to talk about in the McGregor thread, that should be fine.
Drug taking and infidelity is the one that need to be carefully considered and specifically dealt with.
Personally, I think the ‘rule’ about if it’s in mainstream media (and maybe Ax or some other knowledgeable person can list 1 or 2 or 3 reputable MMA media outlets as well as normal Irish media) then it’s fair to mention and discuss implications. But in any event stuff like;
-I saw him in Lillies and he was doped up, or
-My friend saw him in leeson st getting stuck into some young wan
Should equal Ban.

Finally, and back to my first point, somebody on the MMA forum started roaring and crying that there was one rule for talking about McGregor and another rule for everyone else. That resulted in talk about Ferguson being shut down. There should be no apology for treating McGregor different (if that’s what mods decide). He’s the only one with his own thread and he’s Irish and the biggest star in the sport. Unique person, unique rules.