Over the last few years I've noticed more and more fans contacting recruits and current players via social networking. I do think there should be some kind of guidelines as far as this goes. I'm going to list a couple of do's and dont's but feel free to add your own. I'm noticing way to many people crossing the line and moving more into the creeper/ stalker territory and I would hate it to result in losing a recruit.
If you are in High school or under 22 it's ok to "friend" a potential recruit or current player on Facebook or twitter. It is ok for you to tweet or post positive comments regarding a game or combine performance. However it is not cool for you to comment on personal issues such as their family,friends or relationships. You are not really these people's friend so interjecting your opinion is completely inappropriate. It is also not cool to trash other schools that a prospect may be interested in. In fact I'd leave kind of recruiting tactics completely up to the coaching staff. If a prospect commits to a different school it is far beyond crossing the line if you insult him or any of his friends/followers. It makes all of us look petty and trashy.
If you do not meet the age requirements above you shouldn't contact recruits at all. Unless you are a reporter trying to get a story there isn't any reason why a grown man that is a total stranger should be contacting a child that is underage. It is just plain creepy and as a father I would be very upset if some strange man was contacting my child on Facebook or Twitter.
If you follow some of the writers from this site or any of the other recruiting sites on Twitter you will notice that they retweet quotes from recruits and players. You have to treat these tweets as pieces of info that a writer is passing along. It is ok to retweet those messages because you are just passing the info to others. However it is not ok for you to reply to the recruits tweets. Once again you are crossing over into older guy randomly reaching out to underage boy territory. I know a lot of these recruits and players are constantly putting their business out there for everyone to see but it's up to us fans(especially adults) to be responsible and not intrude into their private lives.
I am a big time diehard Buckeye fan and I think we have the best fans period. I just want to make sure we represent ourselves in a way that is perceived as passionate and not as psychotic fan boys.
It's sad that you even have to post this, but i have seen some straight fanboy stuff on Twitter that is borderline weird and makes me cringe, so good post !
I'm a sophomore here at OSU, and I have never friended or tweeted at a recruit. However, with this Elliott stuff, I kind of want to Tweet him and let him know that Buckeye Nation still supports him, and that the people at/around the university are not the ones being assholes to him.
I wouldn't cheer for Michigan if they were playing the Taliban.
I'm a sophomore at OSU and I think any contact with a recruit you do not have a pre-existing relationship with is inappropriate and creepy.
Oh, and checking the 11W recruiting forum, reading interviews, watching highlights, and obsessing over rumors ISN'T inappropriate or creepy?
I don't think that tweeting is always inappropriate. It lets them know that they're appreciated by their peers at the university. Now, if you're out of college and have a job, then it's creepy.
I wouldn't cheer for Michigan if they were playing the Taliban.
There's a difference between reading news and contacting them. To be honest, most of them are under 18, and I find fans reaching out to underage boys that you don't know and who have not enrolled to be wildly inappropriate. And I just turned 20, fwiw.
Either way, you won't help us get a recruit by tweeting at them, but you can certainly help us lose them. That's the core of the issue, if nothing else. It's best to leave the recruiting to the coaches and leave the analysis/reporting to the analysts/reporters. (Credit to Marc at BG for that, I'm on my phone or I'd find the tweet)
So there has been a case where an Ohio State fan has lost the school a recruit?
"YOLO" = I'm about to do something extremely ignorant/stupid & I need an excuse to do it.
I'd say one creepy pervert cost Ohio State 2 recruits.
Who? AA?
"YOLO" = I'm about to do something extremely ignorant/stupid & I need an excuse to do it.
Two out of the three recruits who were in a picture with the perve decommitted.
Alex was just looking for a reason to decommitt.
"YOLO" = I'm about to do something extremely ignorant/stupid & I need an excuse to do it.
Twitter was the catalyst for AA. He had been tweeting at Schlegel et al. seemed like he wanted to stay a Buckeye, but it's hard to tell.
We really don't know that, plus Heurman did after all that mess too. Perhaps it had nothing to do with it or perhaps it was that they were being twitter stalked by a perve who ended up getting close to them at an event on their visit and was in pictures with the kids he was twitter stalking.
If you are out of college and don't have a job it is even creepier
I don't really care for the most part. If it's just a simple tweet here or there, I see no harm in it as long as it's not insulting.
"YOLO" = I'm about to do something extremely ignorant/stupid & I need an excuse to do it.
I've got a nephew that plays at another University and I don't even follow him on twitter. I think it's OK, as long as your in the same age group.
An angry fan...rooting for an angry team...led by angry coaches
"groan man"... that's a really rough typo
Lots of good points here though
Cause I couldn't go for three
I posted this from my phone using swype. I sent it without reading it. My bad.
A little nonsense now and then is relished by the wisest men
"groan man" - that's some textbook Freudian issues for sure.
“You have to make decisions, ... I've never pretended that every decision I've made was right. And I've been reminded of that.”
- James Patrick Tressel
@ Crusher: WARNING....the grammar police are here. 5.0...look out! Get your words write or Ill tel u al bout dat bra ;-)
Just kidding man...loved your points and you're spot on. Don't worry about the grammar police...I wouldn't apologize because ppl don't have common sense to just not comment on every English misspelling or what not. I can understand if you wrote like OSU4LIFE...but you're all good. You don't butcher the English language...it's ok to not spell every word correctly. It shows you're just human.
"There's nothing that cleanses your soul like getting the hell kicked out of you."
"I love football. I think it is most wonderful game in world and I despise to lose."
Woody Hayes 1913 - 1987
There should be no reason to follow recruits. Just follow the 11w staff. They retweet anything of substance.
If you do feel the need to follow them, you definitely should not send them messages. I forget who it was, but one recruiting "expert" said it best when he said fans can't help land a recruit, but they can certainly help lose a recruit.
Yep I read that today, I think it was Givler at BuckeyeGrove, but I'm on my phone and can't find it. I mentioned it as well. I would agree, you never hear a recruit say "I committed to _____ due to the fans on Twitter", but it is certainly something that could be polarizing.
Yes.
Yes.
Yes.
It's a free country, but just remember Steve Bartman
I have to say, if I were a recruit there's no way in hell I'd be on Twitter. 1000's of people who I'll never meet, mostly grown assed men constantly making comments (positive and negative) about me would drive me nuts. If I were the parent of a recruit, I definitely wouldn't want them on Twitter.
All that being said, I just don't get what is gained by Tweeting recruits. If you are in the same age group or not, I just don't see what advantage is gained by that. We have far better sources of information about the recruitment from posts on here like "Catching up with" and the updates that Miles and Alex give in the forums. The recruit on Twitter can only give a few words worth of information. When Alex and the experts do some digging and talk to their sources we get much much better information.
Oh, I think it would be pretty great. Making vague, angsty comments or subtweets, and not only would people care, they would FREAK OUT.
I wouldn't cheer for Michigan if they were playing the Taliban.
I agree with what Andy vance said about the possibility of entire organized groups of Twitter/Facebool trolls/fanboys existing for one purpose, to cause drama. It's akin to a bunch of TTUN fans banding together and sending threatening tweets and FB posts to OSU recruits. Not to flip them to TTUN but to embarrass the school to get them to decommit and hence making OSU weaker in the long run. Maybe not a single one of those tweets sent toward EzE or Vonn Bell's brother were from actual OSU fans. Just because someone has OSU or Buckeye in their screen name doesnt mean they're a Buckeye, right?
You can bet there are groups of Bama, LSU, Florida, and Oregon fans who do the same thing. Sure, some are individuals just being jerks to get a rise out of someone on a message board. But I'm seeming to thing we're seeing social media warfare. What better way to affect the strength of a rival than to cause someone a headache for associating with another school?
What's even scarier? Groups who are paid to do these things. Professional trolls. I truly believe that both the Republican and Democratic parties use trolls for those precise reasons. To get you to vote for someone else or not vote at all.
"Sherman ran an option play right through the south" - Greatest.Civil.War.Analogy.Ever
This is the social media world we live in. Anyone can hide behind a computer and be anyone and say anything. Some recruits encourage fans to tweet them about their fav schools to show which fan base is more prevelant. Some of these kids crave the attention of the recruiting process, so they should be aware of possible creepy older fans trying to contact them. We can try to keep our fans from these types of interactions, but that would be impossible. These young men should know the dangers of being a public figure on a major social media site. That being said, kudos for making 11W a place where we keep the kids at arms length and leave the interactions to the reporters and writers.
Wayne Woodrow Hayes
Attention adults - Get the f@8k off of Twiiter and FB of these players! Yes, come to 11W and see who may potentially be the next great Buckeye. But if they dont, for the love of Lake Erie just move along, enjoy your family or whatever the hell you do on your spare time but please don't reach out to these kids. If you are a college student - hit the books and stop sending garbage to these kids. You do know that everyone one of they can whip your ass, right? Please stop...please make it stop.
uh, do you really think the idiots that are doing what you say shouldn't be doing are actually going to read this? and do you really think the idiots that do tweet and friend these recruits are actually people from this site?
this is the 5th post on this that I have read over the past 3 days. 11W DOES NOT HARBOUR THESE CREEPS. We get it, you all want to tell the world to stop being weird and creepy. Enough already!
and hate to say it but much like walking into a bad neighborhood, having a twitter account as a recruit is a bad idea to begin with. Can't stop the idiots, so get off of twitter then!
I can sum it up in a few words....leave the recruiting up to the coaches. DON'T TWEET or FB friend under aged kids. When they're on the OSU football team...fine...tweet/shoot out a friend request...whatever. This is something I wish could be addressed but that's the world of social media....anyone you let in can see and try to talk to you. To me...it's just weird....but I guess I'm old school. Like Herman Edwards says...Don't Press Send!
"There's nothing that cleanses your soul like getting the hell kicked out of you."
"I love football. I think it is most wonderful game in world and I despise to lose."
Woody Hayes 1913 - 1987