In this case I noted that the article made some negative referances to the All Whites victory v Bahrain so I took the liberty and indeed opportunity, to expound on this further, by suggesting that Soccer as a code, as with any code I might add, has it’s specific flaws. I sincerely meant this as constructive crit with a not so subtle twist, this being my style.

My personal sentiment towards Soccer was expressed, granted, which is consistent with all the other comments on respective threads going around. I actually believe Soccer to be a highly skilled game, i just can’t get inspired watching it despite my greatest efforts.

This has been an impulsive reaction on the part of the moderator as far as I am concerned and yes – more about where it was expressed as opposed to what was expressed.

I am certainly in agreeance with the potential for these threads to degenerate into a jingoistic induced code war so if that was the sole motive behind the moderators vetting, then so be it and my apologies to you also Zac.

Thankyou Andy, for your objectivity in this respect

I am not expecting a lot of posts to dissapaear just the obvious “trolling for a reaction” ones.

I don’t support drivel and am happy for my drivel to get deleted. Debate is good, comments like “AFL is boring” I can live without. And it would be pretty out of place in an article of genuine interest say how West Sydney consessions would effect the rest of the league.

West Sydney is obvioulsy going to be involved in code war topics though… it’s one of those issues that will be written about by people from a non AFL background and used to stir the pot.

The ‘code war’ has been created by the media, AFL fans should be able to discuss Western Sydney’s prospects and development without drivel.

This is what I expect. In a thread that is just about AFL I don’t expect too see it randomly bashed as boring Aerial Ping pong… in a thread about West Sydney you could somewhat expect it but it wouldn’t belong in say the Port Power new jersey thread.

I would hope overly rude comments are deleted and that general code bashing stays in the “many” code war threads.

In saying that, website moderation is a very difficult task and as none of us pay the bills for the Roar we must accept the umpires decision. As they say “you can please some of the people some of the time, but will never please all of the people all of the time”

Respect all round would be a change and many soccer posters as just as guilty as anyone.

Redb

Your post was pretty much “I don’t like football”. Their are plenty of code war topics that such debate is welcome in but it is very tiresome that in a week full of genuine news on the sporting front (World cup qualifiers and the Crawford report) that your coments come into this discussion.

It’s well known you hate Football and NZ (so this topic must be hell on earth for you) …although not sure if it is a hatred but more they are opposition towards your ultimate goal (A Canberra based AFL team).

I would expect if I wrote something like “I don’t like AFL” in any of todays topics other than the Sheedy one that it would be deleted. As it should.

I have been exposed to rather deflamatory posts on Roar in respect of the Aust Footy, League and Union threads myself, that make mine pale in comparison.

So Zacs moderation of my fairly gentle comment is quite reactionary as far as i’m concerned and reflects the Soccer contributors and it’s thin skinned sub cuture thereof, compared with the rest of the Roar threads.

~~~~~~~
KB

In the end the All-Whites had to pull something special out of the bag to get through and now have no competitive fixtures remaining to strengthen the squad for the finals. If you want to be a competitive side then Asia provides the better route. Good luck to the Kiwi’s as they have a tough time ahead if they are to make a mark in South Africa.

It wasn’t easy, they just did a good job.

This is not about censorship. You are generally free to comment and say what you want on this site as long is it’s within our comments policy.

We are, though, actively working to avoid two things from detracting from the site.

1. Flaming and abuse. This is the norm on so many other sites, but The Roar is reasonably unique in that almost all commenters are informed, respectful and articulate. We don’t want abuse to be acceptable on The Roar.

2. Off topic posts which bring back code v code debates. We hear from hundreds of you that this is tedious – the same guys keep bringing up this code v code debate. There is a time and place for it – as AndyRoo points out.

But people weighing into an otherwise sensible debate with comments that they don’t like this sport or that…well, it just ruins the discussion.

We receive over 14,500 comments on month and the last thing we want it to moderate or censor the site. But we also listen to you when you say you don’t want to be abused, and you don’t want threads taken off topic.

This is what we work towards and we ask you guys help towards this goal. We also value your feedback – so let us know your thoughts anytime on how the site can be better. It’s your site at the end of the day.

just replying to all the “who have no right to an opinion” comments.

If you bother to look at it a bit closely you’ll detect a degree of pride in my comments re Australia’s efforts at making the WC in 2006 and now to lesser extent 2010.

Redb

I suggest you take it easy. This is an opinion website, I’m not interested in you appointing yourself moderator of what can or cant be said!

Redb

“for an Australian, “I dont want NZ to make the World Cup because I want it to be special for us” is what your comments sound like.”

That is sort of what I’m saying yes. Not so much that I dont want them to qualify but by them qualifying it makes our achievement seem less special/difficult.

Looking at it from a purely Australian view.

Redb

By your definition it is a MEDIOCRE result when a minnow qualifies for the WC.

For example the last 32 at Wimbledon is not made up of the top 32 seeds.
Even though the top 32 have been seeded to meet each other in the last 32, quite a few of them would have fallen in the opening to rounds to lowly unseeded players (even qualifiers ranked in the hundreds). Some of those unseeded players through the good fortune of the draw might not have even played a seeded player to reach the last 32.

Next time redb. Why don’t you complain on a tennis blog and tell everyone on how a qualifiers making the final rounds of Wimbledon is a mediocre result. Your argument as I have just proved is ridiculous and you are making yourself look silly in the process. Give this blog a rest and focus on something else. That’s what I am going to do.

Thankyou Freud!

You will find I criticise my code of choice quite regularly as well. This is quite a healthy thing to do. Levity is also healthy however being as thin skinned and insular as many here including your moderater appear to be, is NOT.

I can assure you I will not be commenting on any ‘roond’ ball threads again as is clearly your want however I will be scrutinisng some of the bloggers here, who frequent other threads in order to keep you all very honest indeed.

To continue would be akin to treading on egg shells so -

Good day and good luck!

I think you may have got a little excited over the fact is was just a penalty shootout – possibly the most inhumane way of deciding a winner – the heights of ecstasy for the winners and thoughts of throat slitting for the losers.

for an Australian, “I dont want NZ to make the World Cup because I want it to be special for us” is what your comments sound like.

I dont have a ‘problem’ with it. The outcome though has produced a mediocre not a magic result IMO.

Obviously purists are in love it as they see it as some brilliant result for the game in NZ.

You all say I’m wrong but you would all acknowledge that Australia qualifying for 2006 was a magic result – it was magic becuase it was hard to acheive.

Redb

Every confederation in is allocated a certain number of the 32 places based on size and strength of the confederation. Europe got 13, Africa 5, South America 4.5, Asia 4.5, etc, etc. Each Confederation then organises their own qualifying tournaments to see who from their respective confederations will attend the finals.

You have to earn the right to qualify. You can’t just invite the 32 top ranked teams. The magic of WC is that it allows small countries to dream about qualifying and sometimes it becomes a reality.

No one seems to have a problem with this concept, except you.

If you get down on bended knee and plead sheer ignorance – I might forgive for wasting my time

But it would be fair to say that a greater number of Euro nations would make it compared to say Asia if based on FIFA rankings (averaged) ?