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SoCalHoops News

The Message Board. . . A Word
From The Sponsor--(Jan. 17, 2000)

We've received a lot of e-mail and several message postings since this weekend. We're not going to recap all of the events which occurred, but suffice it to say that there were just a ton of messages which were clearly intended as harrassing and abusive. We're dealing right now with the ISP's (Internet Service Providers) for the person(s) who posted them. AOL and UUNet are investigating the matter. They won't comment on it, and neither will we, and that matter will simply run it's course. We will say that most of the messages involved the Mission League, and predominantly involved one school in particular.

We received lots of differing "reports" from several people who e-mailed us, purported to identify several people at one or more schools who may have been responsible. We won't comment on it further. Because the matter occurred over a holiday weekend, there was little we could do except impose a blanket "blackout" on messages and coverage for the entire league, since we weren't sure who or what would incite further incidents of this nature.

In response to our position, we received several more e-mails (actually close to 150 on this subject alone in one day) and there have been several message board postings requesting that we change our position with respect to the Mission League. Most of these have been the same: Don't punish the good kids, the players who work hard because of a few bad apples. Those messages remain posted, and you can read them if you want; we won't summarize them here. But we will say that upon further reflection, we have to agree with that position.

We don't want to punish anyone, least of all a whole league, one team, or any group of players. The Mission League, like every other league in SoCal has some of the finest players around, great teams, spirited competition, and intense rivalries. Mission League fans are passionate about their teams. Sometimes too passionate.

At this point, the AOL and UUNet security people will do their job, so we'll continue to do what we've done in the past.

We will cover and report scores from all leagues and teams, including the Mission League. Message posts about the Mission League will not be deleted unless they violate the rules of the board which are posted plainly for everyone to read.

As we've said, we continue to reserve the right to delete messages and to install blocks from IP's if we find that those people are abusing the board. On the subject of "freedom of speech" as any good constitutional lawyer would tell you, this is a privately run site, and the First Amendment only applies to governmental abridgements of speech. . . We're not the government, so to put it bluntly, there ain't no such thing as freedom of speech here. We'll allow a lot, but there are limits. Just use your common sense.

If you wouldn't want someone to say or write it about you or your son or daughter, don't write it. Think before pushing the "submit message" button.

Lastly, with respect to posting scores and details of games, we can always use help with the actual details of what happens at a game on the court. If you're a Mission League fan (or indeed a fan of any team or league), and you attend a game, let everyone know what happened on the court. No one is interested in conduct in the stands, or reading messages intended to incite or inflame other fans, nor does anyone want to read messages which trash other players, teams or coaches. We will continue to delete those which, in our judgment, violate not only the letter of our rules, but what we believe the spirit of the board and this site are about.

We just have one request: Behave yourselves and act responsibly (ok, that's two request. . . shoot us).

It's not an easy task trying to maintain this site (and practice law full time as well as raise a family, earn a living, and also have some semblance of a life too). We would like to continue to offer SoCalHoops as a place that people can call "home" . Evidently a lot of other people want that as well.

Treat this though as you would your own home: Act responsibly, be polite and leave the trash outside.

Thanks for listening and for your understanding.

J. Gale
SoCalHoops