Thoughts about Tennis Tradition...

[don_budge]

Last I checked this is a tennis magazine website. As a new subscriber I would seriously wonder what I signed up for if I went to the forum and saw a bunch of political rants that had absolutely nothing to do with tennis. Why would John pay for server space to host political discussions? Can't we just let tennisplayer stick to the one, and only one, group it is meant for - people who love the sport of tennis?

This is one scary post...but not surprising. An employee coming on strong to drive the point home. In and of itself...a tremendously political statement. It is misleading and an exaggeration of anything that I have been aware of on this forum for the past twelve years or so. Political rants that have absolutely nothing to do with tennis? Recently two subjects that actually did and do effect tennis were Russia/Ukraine and the COVID issues. Posters were allowed to post to their hearts content until a voice appeared that didn't agree with the herd. Then it was time to shut down the conversation. That's ok...we all know the score. Don't we? Stick to the one and only group...people who love the sport of tennis? Laughable. Can you imagine in all the world that there is one and only one type of person who loves the sport of tennis? This is scary talk...it brings to mind the Orwell quote about "imagine a boot stamping on a human face forever". But again...quite ok. It is only important to know the score. John is not paying for a server to host political discussions and his customers have been well served. This conversation took on the feel of a hallucination. The forum is surreal now...the forces are aligning. Quite ok...it leaves out the dissenting voice. That is the score.

The reality is quite a different one and it is important that it doesn't get lost in the hyperbole of late. John Yandell has a tremendous product that he sells to subscribers. I have been a participating member for going on fourteen years as it is. The consistency of the monthly magazine has a very high standard and the magazine has never failed to deliver. This is the one thing that I do not want to get lost in this conversation. I have a lot of respect for John as a business man in delivering value for the cost of admission. The website also provided me a place to develop my writing skills and I took full advantage of the opportunity and trust me...I had a lot of fun doing it. For this I will always be personally thankful for tennisplayer.net. I will always love this place.

The forum is a thing of the past now. There is a new philosophy in place and it addresses the three of four individuals that are currently posting. It suits them well as they seem to agree with each other and like each other to a degree I find to be rather...boring. This is another case of tennis metaphoring life. The tennis is incredibly boring now as well. Much will be made of trying to inject something into the current Grand Slam being played at Roland Garros. But the reality is the French Open is one of the most boring displays of tennis that there is and without Roger Federer and to an infinitely lesser degree, Rafael Nadal, any luster of the tournament is gone. I know this for a fact as one day in 2015 I sat through two matches on the center court and I needed five or six cups of French coffee to stay awake. It is a snooze fest. If you don't believe me...go there and write to us about your experience. Three out of five on the dirt with a draw of 128 of cookie cutter players. Try to dress it up. It cannot be done. It has always been this way too.

In a realm where minds converge, let us tennis player dot netters … ponder, Engage in discussions of politics and philosophy, we shall wander. For in these dialogues, knowledge does arise, With diverse souls, a tapestry of personalities and ties. Oh, American tennis leaders, wise voices of yore, They too recognized the value of this intellectual lore. "Let the discourse flourish, let freedom reign," They proclaimed, urging minds to break their chain. There is more to life than a game of tennis, Let us delve into realms beyond this earthly canvas." With backgrounds varied and spirits unrestrained, We shall embrace the harmony of thoughts unrestrained.

Like the beavers upon Don Budge's estate, Let us run free, unrestricted, as ideas escalate. No need for rules to bind our curious minds, For intellectual exploration, the soul truly finds.

Just some of my thoughts.

The ultimate irony is that diversity is actually frowned upon here at TP.net now. The cry for the crowd is for DIVERSITY these days. But in the end...just another metaphor. So just beware and forewarned...be careful for what you wish for because you just might get it. I agree with tenniscoach1's beautiful post. But I also agree that jeffreycount also has the right to express his opinion. I just used the word "agree" twice...and you know that I never do that.

[tenniscoach1]

Last I checked this is a tennis magazine website. As a new subscriber I would seriously wonder what I signed up for if I went to the forum and saw a bunch of political rants that had absolutely nothing to do with tennis. Why would John pay for server space to host political discussions? Can't we just let tennisplayer stick to the one, and only one, group it is meant for - people who love the sport of tennis?

In a realm where minds converge, let us tennis player dot netters … ponder, Engage in discussions of politics and philosophy, we shall wander. For in these dialogues, knowledge does arise, With diverse souls, a tapestry of personalities and ties. Oh, American tennis leaders, wise voices of yore, They too recognized the value of this intellectual lore. "Let the discourse flourish, let freedom reign," They proclaimed, urging minds to break their chain. There is more to life than a game of tennis, Let us delve into realms beyond this earthly canvas." With backgrounds varied and spirits unrestrained, We shall embrace the harmony of thoughts unrestrained.

Like the beavers upon Don Budge's estate, Let us run free, unrestricted, as ideas escalate. No need for rules to bind our curious minds, For intellectual exploration, the soul truly finds.

Just some of my thoughts.

[jeffreycounts]

Nothing wrong with the group getting political and personal

Last I checked this is a tennis magazine website. As a new subscriber I would seriously wonder what I signed up for if I went to the forum and saw a bunch of political rants that had absolutely nothing to do with tennis. Why would John pay for server space to host political discussions? Can't we just let tennisplayer stick to the one, and only one, group it is meant for - people who love the sport of tennis?

[tenniscoach1]

this is, of course, very true. Freedom of speech is a very important aspect of any meaningful discussion. The discussions on the forum are rather mundane now. Much of the reason is due to lack of interest and there really isn't anything interesting to discuss since roger federer left the stadium. Much as i suggested so many times in this very thread...the air was sucked out of the balloon. The forum is reduced to a very few posters who have limited experience in tennis and the insights are surface and shallow. It was actually a better place when there was real diversity in multiple strong personalities. Geoffwilliams, bottle, 10splayer, tennis_chiro. Even stotty when he was licensedcoach...before he "changed". Klacr, lobanddropshot and phil a couple of others. There were a bunch of great characters...including hockeyscout. When you have such strict boundaries and the threat of expulsion if you don't comply you dumb it down. Politics and personal stuff is always mixed up in any interesting subject. You cannot expect to weed it completely out and maintain any interest save for the go alongs to get along. All the liking and licking gets a bit boring. Tennis is dumbed down as a matter of fact. Modern tennis views the dropshot as a watershed moment...for example. It has the possibility of breaking up another mind numbing backcourt rally. But the straw that breaks the camel's back here came in the form of a poster who had written a total of four posts and he was calling me out over some hypersensitive moment he was having. All of a sudden i was warned that i had two strikes against me and i wasn't aware of the first one. The monthly articles have maintained a consistent level of interest. My point about the forum still stands. It doesn't matter if you agree or not. You are entitled to think and decide for yourself. All things must pass and it appears that is what happened to the forum.

Some very good points here.

[stroke]

Hey, I have already pleaded with JY to resurrect the "New Years Serve" thread. What else can one do.

[don_budge]

Generally I just show someone the door when they start giving suggestions on how to run things, arguing with my big studs and alpha males who are achieving results or being tattletale’s. Nothing wrong with the group getting political and personal: you get better when you know where everyone stands. The best posters on this board have traditionally been the most political and personal … and, that edge makes everyone better. Best way to handle problems as a coach or manager is to let the room handle it, step back and give your studs runway. A guy like Steve understands this having played baseball and working in real organizations where men act like men and the ladies hold it all together day in and day out by moving mountains.

This is, of course, very true. Freedom of speech is a very important aspect of any meaningful discussion. The discussions on the forum are rather mundane now. Much of the reason is due to lack of interest and there really isn't anything interesting to discuss since Roger Federer left the stadium. Much as I suggested so many times in this very thread...the air was sucked out of the balloon. The forum is reduced to a very few posters who have limited experience in tennis and the insights are surface and shallow. It was actually a better place when there was real diversity in multiple strong personalities. GeoffWilliams, bottle, 10splayer, tennis_chiro. Even stotty when he was licensedcoach...before he "changed". klacr, lobanddropshot and Phil a couple of others. There were a bunch of great characters...including hockeyscout.

When you have such strict boundaries and the threat of expulsion if you don't comply you dumb it down. Politics and personal stuff is always mixed up in any interesting subject. You cannot expect to weed it completely out and maintain any interest save for the go alongs to get along. All the liking and licking gets a bit boring. Tennis is dumbed down as a matter of fact. Modern tennis views the dropshot as a watershed moment...for example. It has the possibility of breaking up another mind numbing backcourt rally. But the straw that breaks the camel's back here came in the form of a poster who had written a total of four posts and he was calling me out over some hypersensitive moment he was having. All of a sudden I was warned that I had two strikes against me and I wasn't aware of the first one.

The monthly articles have maintained a consistent level of interest. My point about the forum still stands. It doesn't matter if you agree or not. You are entitled to think and decide for yourself. All things must pass and it appears that is what happened to the forum.

[tenniscoach1]

It is very difficult to find a great Risk Manager nowadays it seems.

Unlike many … I pay each month instead of viewing the cloned dark web version of the site and using the telegram email bot group that posts every article over the chat group. Not only is a risk manager needed here - but, a Privacy Manager is needed as well. One of the first thing a privacy manager can do is work hand in hand with the coding team and risk management to eliminate the many back doors on this site - a great idea would be a bug bounty program that offer monetary rewards to ethical hackers for who report the bugs/vulnerabilities in this system. This site has great potential with a few million in investment, buying other companies to merge it with and offering more in depth programming, up-selling, lead generation, training, marketing, TikTok and Instagram.

[tenniscoach1]

TC1 thanks for the advice. Are you trying to imply you are gonna sue me now? It's a tennis site--if you want to post your political views or personal attacks there are plenty of places for that--other places.

John - when I think about suing I ask one question - can I crush them, keep them in court forever till someone breaks in a settlement game of chicken, does this business have enough money for me to recover my lawyers fee and discovery/investigation costs and do my risk management people approve the potential loss if I lose?

What would make you think I would sue you ha-ha ... I simply stated a fact you need a risk manager.

[stroke]

It is very difficult to find a great Risk Manager nowadays it seems.

[johnyandell]

TC1 thanks for the advice. Are you trying to imply you are gonna sue me now? It's a tennis site--if you want to post your political views or personal attacks there are plenty of places for that--other places.

[tenniscoach1]

Yep...welcome aboard. But I have some bad news for you...you are late. Late for the party. The forum was once upon a time a different kind of place than it is now. Now it is cancel culture. If your opinion is not on board with the herd...forget about it. So it is best to have a life...golf is a much more interesting sport. I admit...my tennis playing days are over. But tradition still is on my mind. I even wonder how people lived 2,000 years ago when Christianity was introduced to the world. The birth of many of our traditions in the Western world. These are being canceled as well. For a long time I wrote about Roger Federer. I wrote about him as "The Living Proof". As if there was a time when things were actually better. Or not. I was only musing. Just as I was in the post below. Musing about traditionalism versus modernism.

Tennis is a woke sport by definition. All sense of tradition was demolished and what prevailed does not even resemble what it used to be. You cannot stop progress...but remember every invention comes with a curse. Welcome aboard. Now you are entering frontiers unknown. But one look at the modern game of tennis will tell you a thing or two...now that Roger Federer is gone. The Living Proof. It is a dead sport. The forum is further proof of that. All agreeing. Nodding in collective harmony. Diverse opinions are explicitly forbidden. It's weak. Very weak. It's engineered...not evolving. Best of luck. Sincerely. Best of luck.

The fourth post from notibo was brilliant. So was stroke's 3,654th. I'm giving it a like. Both of them. For their sheer brilliance.

Greatest post ever.

[tenniscoach1]

Not really sure what directly you disagree with John?

You do realize what “guidelines” mean?

“Simply put, guidelines are general recommendations; they're not mandatory or required.”

Not sure how the Risk Manager at your site missed informing you of this … you need lawyers to write that properly as any action you take puts the organization at considerable legal and financial risk.

[johnyandell]

TC1,
I couldn't disagree more. Here are the Forum guidelines:

To all Tennisplayer Subscribers,

Welcome to the Forum and the opportunity to discuss everything having to do with the game with your fellow subscribers and our writers and contributors.

The good news is, our subscribers are passionate about tennis. We look forward to hearing you share you questions, comments and thoughts. You are free to agree and disagree as you see fit.

The (ocassionally) bad news is that passion can run rampant, and if you have experience with message boards in general you know that posters often say things in forums that would never pass in person to person communication.

Please be passionate and respectful. Personal attacks are out. Ridicule is out. Denigrating the views of others is out. If necessary, we can all agree to disagree--politely.

Trolls will be subject to ban.

What's a troll? Someone who sows discord by posting inflammatory or inaccurate messages in an online community, with the intent of provoking readers. Someone who refuses to engage in discussion when his views are questioned and cannot offer evidence to support his or her views.

So if you're able to stay in the guidelines fantastic. And if you can't you'll find your posts deleted and/or banned. These guidelines apply to our contributors, myself as well as all subscribers.

John Yandell

[tenniscoach1]

That was an amazing thread. I have to admit, it was captivating being so up close and personal to a certifiable loon. Crazy breeds interest.

[tenniscoach1]

Well the more the merrier but certain threads had gotten too personal/political

Generally I just show someone the door when they start giving suggestions on how to run things, arguing with my big studs and alpha males who are achieving results or being tattletale’s. Nothing wrong with the group getting political and personal: you get better when you know where everyone stands. The best posters on this board have traditionally been the most political and personal … and, that edge makes everyone better. Best way to handle problems as a coach or manager is to let the room handle it, step back and give your studs runway. A guy like Steve understands this having played baseball and working in real organizations where men act like men and the ladies hold it all together day in and day out by moving mountains.