PSA for our most idealistic and vocal pessimists

[BirdsCommaAngry]

One of my favorite books is The Talent Code. It's a book about the finer nuances of coaching and teaching, and their affect on the development of talent in a person's brain chemistry. The author, Daniel Coyle, dabbles in research in regard to violinists, singers, collegiate QBs, and several other competitive professions. In regard to the motivations behind our pessimists, which range anywhere from seemingly logical ideas like not being able to solve a problem until we emphatically state that we do in fact have this specific problem, having high ideals about demanding excellence day-in and day-out, and the like, this book derives a simple conclusion about that mindset. To put it simply:

Right now, you're just not helping.

Yes, there are some of us who are merely venting frustrations to feel better and I certainly don't disagree with using an internet forum to satisfy this notion (it would nice if you guys specified when you're doing this though..), but there are also those who are griping with a perceived purpose of improving the team through a form of fan dissatisfaction. This, of course, is well within one's right to do but it's also well within one's right to tell you that it doesn't work.

The noted trend covered in The Talent Code with increasing performance through criticism and praise was criticism was vital but only in heavy moderation. Regardless of the skill in question, people improved more quickly when they were praised ~3 times as much as they were criticized and that such criticism only be done in a manner that was largely emotionless and matter-of-fact (as in the opposite of talking about how the Seahawks issues in weeks 1-6 will directly result in a play-off loss). This trend occurs because the human psyche must maintain a balance of confidence and caution to be at pique performance and one statement of negativity makes a much greater impression than one positive statement. In other words, if what was currently being said on this forum were to have an affect on our team's performance, it would serve to only hinder them.

You guys can certainly say what you like, do what you feel, and believe what you want, but if you're to help ensure the best season possible, it would behoove us all to speak nicely, find that silver lining (which is pretty easy at 5-1), criticize seldom and without worry, and simply enjoy what could still be one of the best seasons this franchise has ever had. This concludes your Public Service Announcement.

 

[MOCHawk]

And by the same token, they aren't hurting either. If anyone actually in the organization is coming here for answers, we have big, big problems.

 

[Smelly McUgly]

This was a lot of words for a bunch of people that have no effect on these players, but thanks?

Every time I see someone post about just enjoying 5-1 without criticizing, my impulse is to enjoy it less. Not that I begrudge others who can enjoy it without criticizing - I wish that I could sometimes - but man, the preaching just makes me less happy with it than I was before.

 

[BirdsCommaAngry]

Our organization wouldn't look here for answers but some of our fans use it as one of many sources for answers and that has an affect. For example, if your circle of friends absolutely hates Sweezy, the conversation of about what, how, and why he's allegedly terrible is going to go a little differently for the fans who haven't read something like one of Kearly's threads about the guy, PFF, FO, or anything that has spoken to his prowess as a run-blocker than it is for the people who are more read. Better understanding a player's strengths and weaknesses may cut down on embarrassing moments like the silly Charlie chants of '10 and whatever negative impact that kind of instance might have on a team.

Every time I see someone post about just enjoying 5-1 without criticizing, my impulse is to enjoy it less. Not that I begrudge others who can enjoy it without criticizing - I wish that I could sometimes - but man, the preaching just makes me less happy with it than I was before.

The post isn't about not criticizing. It's about criticizing less than we currently are. As a member of the team's fan-base, you have at least a subtle, indirect affect on the team, and as you demonstrate by speaking to how what you perceive as preaching motivates you to enjoy our success less, this forum would appear to have an affect on you and thus, maybe even the team as well. (This would also ironically mean, at least in regard to you, that my thread is as much a problem as the types of posts I'm attempting to ameliorate).

 

[Cartire]

This was a lot of words for a bunch of people that have no effect on these players, but thanks?

Every time I see someone post about just enjoying 5-1 without criticizing, my impulse is to enjoy it less. Not that I begrudge others who can enjoy it without criticizing - I wish that I could sometimes - but man, the preaching just makes me less happy with it than I was before.

Except I remember less negative threads during losses then I have ever seen during this time period. This is more then just criticizing for the sake of discussion. This is almost preemptive striking. So later on, if we begin to lose a lot, people can say "see, I told you guys so. We didnt change this, and look now, I called it. See guys, I said it, but you didnt listen." Thats gonna be the best times. We dont make the playoffs, and were gonna have "told-you-so's" on the forum during a real depressing time. Thats all I can see anymore.

1? 2? 3 criticism threads after a game? ok, fine. But this is beyond crazy. Its more upbeat on the jags forums right now.

 

[MontanaHawk05]

People are allowed to post what they want. Unless we want the mods to turn into the thought police, that has to include emotional and even irrational opinions as well. My opinions have precisely squat to do with either the outcome of the season or your enjoyment of it.

 

[SonicHawk]

Hey look, it's BirdsCommaAngry with a 6 paragraph nonsense post.

 

[hawksfansinceday1]

Another post questioning people's fanhood?
:34853_doh:

 

[hawk45]

That was a fantastically poor attempt at an OP, thanks for that I got a laugh.

I think the author of your book would back away from you slowly and call the white coats if they heard you were trying to apply those principles to a situation where the people doing the criticizing have no connection whatsoever with the people performing other than the fact that they make comments on a message board.

 

[BirdsCommaAngry]

People are allowed to post what they want. Unless we want the mods to turn into the thought police, that has to include emotional and even irrational opinions as well. My opinions have precisely squat to do with either the outcome of the season or your enjoyment of it.

Yes, people can complain and cite ideas about how these kinds of complaints are okay just as I can complain and cite studies saying those complaints won't help what they're complaining about. No one here knows enough about the finer nuances of human psychology to say what effect your opinion has on the outcome and enjoyment of this season. Neither of your statements dismiss the uselessness of some of our behaviors.

Hey look, it's BirdsCommaAngry with a 6 paragraph nonsense post.

And it's closely followed by SonicHawk with a baseless statement about a poster and not a post.

Another post questioning people's fanhood?
:34853_doh:

I'm not questioning fan-hood. I'm stating that if our current overt criticism has any effect at all, it isn't a helpful. People can do whatever it is they please with that information.

 

[MontanaHawk05]

No one here knows enough about the finer nuances of human psychology to say what effect your opinion has on the outcome and enjoyment of this season.

Correct. And that "no one" includes you. So you have no basis to tell others how to post.

 

[BirdsCommaAngry]

That was a fantastically poor attempt at an OP, thanks for that I got a laugh.

I think the author of your book would back away from you slowly and call the white coats if they heard you were trying to apply those principles to a situation where the people doing the criticizing have no connection whatsoever with the people performing other than the fact that they make comments on a message board.

No, I'm afraid what we say here does have an effect. It might not be much and it might not even be enough to matter, but it's there. Did you know that most home-field advantage, with the exception of places like CLink, Arrowhead, and Mile High, is basically created entirely by conscious and unconscious referee bias? Yeah, booing the refs makes them less likely to throw the flag against the home team. Fans slightly affect the outcomes of games and if the forum can affect fans, then the forum can affect the game. This stuff isn't hard, guys!

 

[BirdsCommaAngry]

No one here knows enough about the finer nuances of human psychology to say what effect your opinion has on the outcome and enjoyment of this season.

Correct. And that "no one" includes you. So you have no basis to tell others how to post.

Which is part of the reason why I'm not telling people how to post. I have preferences for how people post, yes, and those preferences are very easy to tell from my post, but as long I don't actually tell you guys what to do and stick to theories and facts, that notion of telling people what to do is entirely an assumption. What I'm doing is sharing information about the potential outcomes of our posts so we don't have to read a book like the one I referenced, unwittingly hamper our team, and all else we might not be privy to.

 

[ImTheScientist]

And by the same token, they aren't hurting either. If anyone actually in the organization is coming here for answers, we have big, big problems.

No, but they are SUPER annoying.

 

[TwistedHusky]

I myself feel like some of my high expectations were destroying my enjoyment of some of the football games.

I post for 2 reasons:

1 - To vent

2 - To discuss

I agree that in some ways it is weird to see people taking potshots at a team that is 5-1 and won some games in spite of the many reasons they shouldn't have. It is also weird not to acknowledge that some of those wins came from some fortunate outcomes, and that over time those kinds of things tend to balance out a bit. We could very easily have 1-2 more losses but part of the reason we were in a position to take advantage of those fortunate outcomes was that our players are constantly putting themselves in positions to create opportunities for themselves. So it might be more than luck, but it still isn't reasonable to count on the ball bouncing back into your QB's hands each time.

That said, there would be a lot less dark cloud types of posts if we were not subjected to people predicting we would win the World Series, or beat Denver with 1/2 our starters resting, or have an easy walk to the SuperBowl, or some of the other more breathlessly exuberant posts that have little grounding in reality. The natural inclination is to do a "What the hell are you talking about?" and immediately point out where the issues still are.

 

[Sarlacc83]

No one here knows enough about the finer nuances of human psychology to say what effect your opinion has on the outcome and enjoyment of this season.

Correct. And that "no one" includes you. So you have no basis to tell others how to post.

Except that needless criticism and venting begets more of the same, especially among newer posters. I'm not saying everyone has to be rose-colored glasses, but it does have an effect on the board when it's ceaseless negativity. People who want to vent about wins should be prepared to find out that the rest of us think they're immature children who don't deserve what they've got, let alone more.

 

[therealjohncarlson]

What a totally illogical and odd post. I can only imagine someone with their head entirely in the clouds would make a post saying that fans being pessimistic is tangibly hurting the team. Like even a little affect, at all. We are watchers, not players.

 

[SoulfishHawk]

This one time......

 

[razgriz737]

There are 44 active threads on the first page of the main forum as I am posting this.
5 or 6 of those threads are either saying there is too much negativity or we should all be happy, or something of that nature.
If I'm being generous, there are like 4 threads that are overwhelmingly negative.

Can we stop acting like this board is being torn apart by negativity and pessimism? Any hyper-criticism we're seeing is mostly relegated to the threads mentioned above, and there is a lot of genuinely good discussion taking place in those threads as well.

 

[AVL]

I find the pessimism much easier to take when we are 5-1 than 3-3. When everyone starts agreeing is what scares me.