Re: getting the story straight

[Snoopy the Celtics Beagle <snoopy@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

At 11:10 AM 9/29/03 -0400, Shawn Niles wrote:

>Well i figured when I posted my comments that you wouldn't like them. but 
>I've never been one to hide my feelings about a topic. I put it out there 
>and deal with the consequences.

Fair enough.

>I'm not hard to fine either. I even use my real name.


Let's not start THAT argument again, please.

>We just disagree on a few things, that's all. We have different opinions. 
>I may not agree with your opinion, but I do respect it as your right.
>
>It seemed you took what I said personally. I apologize for that because it 
>was not meant as a personal attack.

In your post, you belittled my efforts to do the site and the predictions 
list:

"The extra e-mail thing for predictions is foolish. I know that Snoopy is 
happy with his little site but quite frankly there's not a whole lot of 
need for it. I figure it is something he does to try and pass the time in 
his retirement."

In that quote, you said I was foolish, literally belittled my site, and 
assumed this was a retirement hobby.  Then, you went on to say:

"And then he creates a separate e-mail for predictions to try and 'force' 
us in a way to use the website."

That's hard to not take personally, but I'm willing to try to be reasonable.


>I was simply agreeing with Greg that I don't see the need for a separate 
>site for predictions. It clouds the reason why we are all here. Doing 
>predictions on this list has always worked in the past.

This may be part of the problem, in that your reply agreed with Greg's with 
no obvious differences, and his comments were bothersome, particularly in 
light of Greg's previous behavior, both on-list and in private e-mails.  To 
some extant, I "tarred you with the same brush" because you appeared to be 
throwing in with him in every aspect.  If I was incorrect, I apologize.

I fail to see how having a Celtics-related site mentioned on a 
Celtics-related list in any "clouds the reason why we are all here".  There 
were several logistical problems with doing predictions on the list.

First, there was no way to easily keep track of the list itself, so anyone 
who was interested had to dig out the relevant e-mail and refer to that.

Second, the only way to track predictions made by various individuals was 
to read each and every e-mail on the list and look to see if the prediction 
was mentioned as a by-product of another discussion.  This is hard enough 
if you have all your marbles.  I wanted to be able to find out quickly who 
predicted what and have a list accessible by anyone who wanted to 
look.  The CBW was ideal for this, in my opinion.

There were 101 predictions on the list last season.  Hopefully, there'll be 
more this year, but that means there has to be a means to keep better track 
of over a hundred people's different predictions.  The fact that some 
people only have e-mail access online and not web access necessitates 
updates via e-mail.

There's been some two dozen predictions submitted this season so far, four 
in the last 30 hours.  And this is the QUIET time.  Last season, when the 
C's had a bad stretch during the preseason, at least half a dozen people 
changed their predictions.  You don't have to participate.  You don't even 
have to look.  No one requires that.  It's an option available to those who 
want it.

>As for being told to go to the site in every post of yours, maybe i'm just 
>tired of being forced into things in this 'telemarketing' age that we live 
>in. I get enough calls asking me to do things and buy things. When I read 
>this list, I don't want to have to think about all the other sites I also 
>have to go to to find the info I want.

Again, with the "forcing".  I think that's a loaded description in this 
particular instance.  Incidentally, one of the main purposes of the site is 
to cut down on the number of sites to go to for info.  A lot of people have 
internet access, but not very fast access. that makes it sometimes 
difficult to load up NBA.com, or ESPN.com, for example.  Is it a 
"commercial" for my site?  Yes, but it's one line at the bottom of the 
post.  There's no popup ads (I despise them), and no obligation on anyone's 
part to go to the site.  It's no different from Jim Metz, who writes 
"unchain my heart" at the end of HIS posts.  It's a signature line, nothing 
more.

I do the site to give back not only to the Celtics team, which has 
entertained me (and occasionally caused migraines); but to the other fans 
online, who give me a chance to experience being a Celtics fan more often 
than living in Florida would otherwise permit.  And yes, I enjoy doing it.

So, unless the listowner says otherwise, the signature line stays.  You've 
expressed your opinion, and I've expressed mine.  Perhaps we should both 
move on to other topics.

>Sorry my grammer is not up to your standards. I never claimed to be a 
>public writer.

I never said anything about that, so I don't know what you're referring to 
there.  For what it's worth, it's the content I disagreed with, not the 
sentence construction.

Snoopy the Celtics Beagle
Please visit the <http://www.celticsbeagle.net/>Celtics Beagle Website