I'm not a real frequent poster, but I've watched this board alot. What I see, are a select few Hawk posters who just wander into ISU threads and then just **** on everyone. There are quite a few Hawk posters on this board who are fine and provide balance and insight, but there are some that just can't help themselves from making snide, arrogant, or rude comments in threads that had nothing to do w/the Hawks AT ALL. After a while I can really understand why some posters get fed up w/this and just want them gone. What you described happens, don't get me wrong, but there is a trend on this site of certain Hawk posters just clogging up non-Hawkeye threads and bringing these fights on themselves. The worst part of it is that they're allowed to keep doing it, and ISU fans are the ones in trouble for responding (albeit sometimes inappropriately) and trying to put an end to it.
FWIW, eons ago, on the old Rivals.com board like CF now, a free board, it was a problem then. Almost exactly like you say now.
The Rivalry board was started specifically to provide a place for Hawk fans to provide their input. If they wanted to comment on a post on the main board, they were to link to it there. That Rivalry board was actually outstanding for quite a long time after that. Many (not all) Cyclone fans would go there to see what was being discussed. And it was a far more reasonable discussion than the comparable site on the Hawkeye Rivals.com site (not even close). It caused some hurt feelings, at first at least, but I liked it. You also had a definite rule for telling people where to take things.
IMO, in fact, that site went downhill when the pay board was started, and that rule was no longer enforced. Without a doubt the chain of events after that surely helped drive traffic to this site. I stopped posting because I got tired of having to respond to Squawk fan smack (of whatever degree) - even in response to simple article links.
I, too, got tired of responding to it, instead of having a decent discussion among Cyclone fans. Everyone's time is limited. It doesn't much affect me now, and I'm a little indifferent, because I read so few threads. But if I did, I imagine my opinion would be like it was before. Like many Cyclones here.
