Disagreements happen. Failing to see eye-to-eye with another person is common. Feeling insulted by negative things others say about you is natural. Poking good-natured fun at people can be awesome.
Allowing those things to degrade into internet slap fights helps no one, however.
It seems like MHH has had a war with one site or another constantly this season. I admit I have taken my part in the battles. For that, I owe the MHH, SBN and Avalanche communities a huge apology. Sadly, I'm human and have made mistakes in managing this site. When I agreed to take it on, I had no idea the demands my IRL job would unleash. While I know it's not an excuse, it's a reason I've been less than I should have around here and, as a result, I have been setting a poor example.
I'd like to do what I can now to change that.
While we've had some fun with those wars, I think it's time to move past them. I'm asking that everyone take a step away from the insults and trash talk. I am not saying everyone should think alike. I'm also not saying you can't express your opinions. I would just like it if we could criticize without demoralizing and keep our comments about other blogs here, not trolling on their grounds. I'm going to be the first to make this change and sincerely hope I will set a better example for all of our members.
The Avalanche media community is a small one. We don't have many places to go for our news. Creating a divide between those resources does nothing but harm all of our access to Avs news, analysis, and community. SBN is an amazing brainchild and offers so many opportunities for advanced coverage of our team. Some of our sister sites have access to teams we don't and can give us stories we otherwise wouldn't get. It's time we rise above the pettiness so that our Avalanche experience can be the best possible one.
I'm not going to delete comments as that starts getting us into censorship. Instead, I'm going to rely on the individuals to police themselves and hit "preview" before posting a comment to make sure you really want to say what you're about to say.
I am, however, telling you that going over to other SBN blogs and trolling their fan bases will be grounds for time outs and bannings at MHH. That. Stops. Now.
I want MHH to be valued by the hockey community, and I need your help to make it happen. Right now, there's a lot of backlash coming our way. While I know there's a strong contingent of readers that love the site as it is and who are respectful when visiting other blogs, I truly believe that letting go of the insults and trolling will go a long way to making MHH even better.