Today is a sad day for me.  I have seen my beloved 11W Forum degenerate into a string of mindless faux banter.  I understand the reasons.  I know theads have been nuked.  Hands have been slapped.  Feathers have been ruffled and undergarments twisted on both sides of the Great Banter Debate.  A new rebellion has been fomented, spearheaded by many longstanding and respected members.

I am unabashedly pro-banter.  The commentary, conversations, and dare I say, relationships that have been forged in the Forum are part and parcel of my 11W experience.  While the staff-provided news and commentary on this site continue to be top-notch, I admittedly spend much more time in the Forum than commenting on staff articles.  I know that many share my experience in that regard.

The thread liberating  jacking that routinely took place during the offseason was an outgrowth of that banter.  Yes, it was a violation of the commenting policy.  Certainly it was annoying to some.  But the commenting policy was more of a passive reminder, and I would like to think that if there had been a clear directive from the staff that it was unwanted, we would have largely curtailed the practice.  In fact, when it became clear through the site upgrade and subsequent discussions that our thread-jacking was indeed an irritant to some staff and commentariat alike, we took our banter to our own threads, where we could talk amongst ourselves without gumming up the comments in other threads.

Alas, there is apparently a reason that we can't have nice things.  Apparently, an attempted thread aimed at mocking (albeit in good fun) one of the regular banter threads raised the ire of some anonymous MOD (or incognito staff member).  For the record, I do not think that thread should have been nuked, but that is really beside the point.  A subsequent (or concurrent) thread entitled "Crap" was also deleted (I missed this one), and our fearless leader saw fit to create a thread to address this and other "fluff" threads like ones created for the sole purpose of giving each other upvotes.  Please correct me if I'm getting the timeline or facts mixed up.

In the meantime, a long-standing member mixed it up with a staff member, and subsequently took a break from the site in protest of the anti-banter attitude he experienced.

I don't know what other discussions have been had within or outside the Forum, but the current passive-aggressive commentary to protest this perceived anti-banter attitude from the people who have created this place for us all to hang out will not accomplish your goals.  I certainly understand how important banter is to many of us, but as I have commented in several places, I don't think that this is the way to go about solving the issue.

My TL;DR plea to my former liberation bros and current banter buddies is this:  Stop the faux banter.  There's plenty of banter to be had in our regular threads, just don't abuse the privilege.  It's Jason's and Ramzy's site.  We're all just houseguests, as much as we like to act like we own the place.  Don't leave your dirty underwear in the middle of the floor.  Put your dishes in the sink.  Don't act like an entitled Saban brat.  And don't spam the comments with your misguided attempts to prove a point (however valid it may be).  I say this as an internet friend.  I once did a brief stint in 11W jail.  I do not wish that on anyone.

I will leave the voting on for legitimate discussion, or even real banter, should you choose to engage in it.