Me, Her, the Boy and a Dog

Earlier today I wrote a blog post titled “Ruling Your Blog with an Iron Fist” that addressed taking control of your blog and running it how you want and not to fall into the politically correct trap if you can avoid it.

A few hours ago, a so called Hokie fan took umbrage to a post I wrote about Virginia Tech’s stuggles on the football field. This fan, whom we shall call “Will,” has disagreed with many things I’ve written in the past. As a former sports writer and columnist, I’m perfectly accustomed to people disagreeing with my point of view.

I don’t know how old he is, but he is clearly not capable of making an intelligent counter argument. Below is the comment he tried to post on my VTHokieFans.com site.

You have got to be the worst hokie fan i have ever seen. Your ignorant and not informed.

the acc is up in the air and we have just as good of shot as anybody. and saying that we go 5-7 or even 6-6 is a joke. come on dude. seriously STFU!

and by the way we actually played a good game saturday. with our quarterbacks back to full strength, we should beat these next 4 opponents or at least 3/4.

Keep in mind, I don’t mind people disagreeing with me, but I do mind when they attack me personally and resort to foul language - even when “hidden” in acronyms like STFU which stands for “shut the f*** up.”

Unacceptable. If you disagree with me, disagree. Don’t call me names like ignorant or tell me to STFU. “Will” has done this before. He has told me on my site to “STFU.” I did not allow his comment and sent him a polite e-mail (the first time) asking him to refrain from personal attacks and profanity. Apparently “Will” isn’t a good listener because two months later, he’s up to his old tricks.

First offense gets a warning. Second offense results in a ban from my site. Below is the e-mail I sent to our buddy “Will.”

Will,

This is the second time you’ve told me to “STFU’ on my site. I warned you once and you failed to heed that warning. Since you cannot seem to disagree with me without attacking me personally, I have banned your IP address from my site. Any posts coming from you or your e-mail address will be blocked.

If you wish to have your commenting priviledges restored, you can e-mail me a sincere apology for your personal attacks and I will consider it.

Let me be clear: I do not mind people who disagree with me. Quite the contrary, I encourage it because it stimulates debate. But if you are not mature enough to have a healthy discussion about differences of opinions and result to name calling and foul language - yes, STFU qualifies as profanity - then you will not have your posts published on my site.

Regards,

Gary Cope
General Manager
VTHokieFans.com

Do you agree or disagree with how I handled this situation? Either way, I’d love to hear your thoughts, but please, keep it civil and respectful … or I’ll have to ban you. Mwuahahahahahaha!