Since there are still some people that think there has to be a rivalry between CF and CR, Paul Clark and I wanted to share letters to the community to help explain how we feel about the situation...
Hello Fanatics,
I asked Jeremy if I could share some comments with you via him and he has graciously agreed. I appreciate the opportunity to do so, thanks Jeremy.
Another discussion has flared up here in regards to premium recruiting information and I wanted to address the topic, hopefully once and for all, in the spirit of continued improved relations between the CF and CR web sites and communities. Recruiting coverage is the niche that CycloneReport.com and Rivals.com fill especially well and so it’s important for us to protect the investment of our subscribers and our business interests as much as possible. To not do so would just be negligent.
Jeremy and his team of moderators here have been doing a great job in watching for information that even has the appearance of being premium content from somewhere else. They’ve proactively contacted me several times through the past few months and it is very much appreciated. It’s really not a problem any more from my perspective because I’m confident they are going above and beyond to do all that is possible in this regard. You can’t ask for more than that. At the end of the day, they can’t moderate honesty and integrity.
The philosophical discussion about what information is premium and what is not and how it can or cannot be shared is still a lot more convoluted than it needs to be. It’s really very simple and muddying the waters to create doubts about the black/white nature of the subject is disingenuous at best. If I’ve reported something that can only be accessed by premium subscribers to my site or another site on the Rivals network, it’s cut and dried what is allowable. The user agreement that every subscriber signs off on spells out the terms and conditions of use quite explicitly. There is no gray area, there is no room for confusion. I can’t expect non-subscribers to know those terms of use and some subscribers may not know them, either. But they do exist and they are always in force and there is no rationalization or justification that trumps their validity.
The reality is this: what is exclusive, premium information for subscribers only in the short term becomes common knowledge in the long term. That’s just how it works. But that does not give license to anyone to violate the terms of their user agreement with Rivals. Whether that is a subscriber posting premium info somewhere else, whether that is a subscriber hinting what the premium info is, whether that is a subscriber letting others use his account, whether that is a subscriber passing along info to friends via e-mail. All are forms of stealing, there is no other interpretation of it. If you see it differently, you are wrong, I don’t know how else to put it.
If Iowa State gets a recruiting commitment and you have ways to get that information on your own and post it here, great, go for it! What objection could anyone possibly have to that? But if your ways involve accessing or obtaining premium information from CycloneReport.com in any way, don’t go for it! It’s really as simple as that. Let your conscience be your guide and if your conscience doesn’t stop you, then really that becomes your problem and not mine or Jeremy’s or anyone else’s.
Jeremy and I have each accepted responsibility for our part in past differences and we’ve buried all of that. It’s ancient history. He and I are long past it; you should be, too. CF and CR serve the Cyclone community in different ways and it’s entirely up to fans to decide how they use one or both of the sites. I know CR is here to stay and I see no reason to think CF isn’t here to stay as well. Cyclone Country is big enough for both so the days of any kind of spat between the two sites and communities are long gone. We’re all going to be better off with a universal helping of forgive and forget all around because we’re all genuine Cyclones and that should count for a lot more than anything else.
Thank you.
Paul Clark, Publisher
CycloneReport.com
Hello Fanatics,
I asked Jeremy if I could share some comments with you via him and he has graciously agreed. I appreciate the opportunity to do so, thanks Jeremy.
Another discussion has flared up here in regards to premium recruiting information and I wanted to address the topic, hopefully once and for all, in the spirit of continued improved relations between the CF and CR web sites and communities. Recruiting coverage is the niche that CycloneReport.com and Rivals.com fill especially well and so it’s important for us to protect the investment of our subscribers and our business interests as much as possible. To not do so would just be negligent.
Jeremy and his team of moderators here have been doing a great job in watching for information that even has the appearance of being premium content from somewhere else. They’ve proactively contacted me several times through the past few months and it is very much appreciated. It’s really not a problem any more from my perspective because I’m confident they are going above and beyond to do all that is possible in this regard. You can’t ask for more than that. At the end of the day, they can’t moderate honesty and integrity.
The philosophical discussion about what information is premium and what is not and how it can or cannot be shared is still a lot more convoluted than it needs to be. It’s really very simple and muddying the waters to create doubts about the black/white nature of the subject is disingenuous at best. If I’ve reported something that can only be accessed by premium subscribers to my site or another site on the Rivals network, it’s cut and dried what is allowable. The user agreement that every subscriber signs off on spells out the terms and conditions of use quite explicitly. There is no gray area, there is no room for confusion. I can’t expect non-subscribers to know those terms of use and some subscribers may not know them, either. But they do exist and they are always in force and there is no rationalization or justification that trumps their validity.
The reality is this: what is exclusive, premium information for subscribers only in the short term becomes common knowledge in the long term. That’s just how it works. But that does not give license to anyone to violate the terms of their user agreement with Rivals. Whether that is a subscriber posting premium info somewhere else, whether that is a subscriber hinting what the premium info is, whether that is a subscriber letting others use his account, whether that is a subscriber passing along info to friends via e-mail. All are forms of stealing, there is no other interpretation of it. If you see it differently, you are wrong, I don’t know how else to put it.
If Iowa State gets a recruiting commitment and you have ways to get that information on your own and post it here, great, go for it! What objection could anyone possibly have to that? But if your ways involve accessing or obtaining premium information from CycloneReport.com in any way, don’t go for it! It’s really as simple as that. Let your conscience be your guide and if your conscience doesn’t stop you, then really that becomes your problem and not mine or Jeremy’s or anyone else’s.
Jeremy and I have each accepted responsibility for our part in past differences and we’ve buried all of that. It’s ancient history. He and I are long past it; you should be, too. CF and CR serve the Cyclone community in different ways and it’s entirely up to fans to decide how they use one or both of the sites. I know CR is here to stay and I see no reason to think CF isn’t here to stay as well. Cyclone Country is big enough for both so the days of any kind of spat between the two sites and communities are long gone. We’re all going to be better off with a universal helping of forgive and forget all around because we’re all genuine Cyclones and that should count for a lot more than anything else.
Thank you.
Paul Clark, Publisher
CycloneReport.com
