Should this post be approved?

[Benjamin Grimm]

This is an unposted memory on the UMDB page:

I met [Redacted] at a TGIFridays in [suburb] when he first came to [American League City]. [Redacted], if you read this, just want you to know - it took me a few years, but I experienced a flashback, and I realized what you did that night.

My inclination is to reject this, but I wanted to know what everyone else thinks.

[Fman99]

Holy moly



I don't have an opinion on whether or not you post it. The important thing is that you shared it here so that I could absorb the idea of that.

[Johnny Lunchbucket]

maybe you can contact the poster and express concern that a fan-focused website may not be the appropriate forum. Also that vague-posting is never good, as it begets vagueposting. Now I don't what the accusation is or who is accused and where. Kansas City was my first guess

[MFS62]

I agree with JL - too vague for us to judge..

If you feel it isn't fit for a public forum without the redactions, don't permit it. And if it does mention names and something illegal, you might get sued for printing it.

Later

[Benjamin Grimm]

It does mention a name; it's posted to the memories page of a particular former player. But you've seen the entire post; it doesn't specifically reference anything illegal, but it seems to imply to me that it involved some kind of a date rape drug in the poster's drink. (The poster's first name is one that can be male or female but is more commonly female.)



If the player did indeed do that, it's not really something I'm interested in protecting him from, but it's also not something I want to be involved in in any way at all.



I like Johnny's suggestion. I'm going to think about that. When posting to the UMDB, email addresses are optional, but in this case the posted did provide one.

[Benjamin Grimm]

Oh, and no, not Kansas City!

[kcmets]

Reject

[metirish]

Damn, for whatever reason I'm thinking Cleveland and rhe dying embers of a career, anyway I think like most people I'm assuming something bad happened , I would reject it too, agree with above , a post like this leads to much speculation

[Benjamin Grimm]

I don't want to turn this into a guessing quiz, but no, it's not Keith Hernandez, if that's what you're thinking. It's someone much less prominent.

[G-Fafif]

I wouldn't post it unless you can confirm that what was done that night was a big hit against the hometown team. But since it's probably not baseball, I'd steer clear of publication.

[Cowtipper]

I say keep it.



I don't really what the fear is in posting it. Not being a lawyer, I can't say for certain, but it is to vague to be considered libelous if that is your concern.

[Johnny Lunchbucket]

I got it: Houston



It was a trick question since most of us are old farts who still think Houston as an NL town!

[stevejrogers]

=Cowtipper post_id=169816 time=1726157432 user_id=166]
I say keep it.



I don't really what the fear is in posting it. Not being a lawyer, I can't say for certain, but it is to vague to be considered libelous if that is your concern.

[Edgy MD]

I haven't voted. I'm not sure I know the answer.

[Cowtipper]

I say keep it. I don't really what the fear is in posting it. Not being a lawyer, I can't say for certain, but it is to vague to be considered libelous if that is your concern. Then that would set a precedence for a slew of unverifiable lurid and explicit stories posted on UMDB, a VERY PUBLIC SITE BTW, Yancy is not referring to a forum post. Plus the player memories section isn't meant for things harsher than “he said fuck off to me as he drove past the line of autograph seekers” Not that those should be welcome, but they, and variations, probably are the tamest of the “I had a bad experience with the noted person being discussed” stories you can tell in public forums.

We can't even be sure what the original poster's flashback made them remember. Maybe it was Rodney McCray doing terrible karaoke and the poster blocked out his version of "Always Something There to Remind Me" until two days ago.



How do we even know its referring to something bad? Folks automatically jump to it being a date rape or something. Maybe the player did something GOOD and the person didn't even realize he did it until just now, when two-and-two were finally put together? Maybe when the person wasn't looking, he slipped a $100 dollar bill in her wallet without her knowing? Who knows? This whole thing was framed to assume it was something bad right off the bat with the words "My inclination is to reject this," which colors it with negative bias right from the get-go.



You could do the "if you post this, this could happen" game with anything, ever. There is always a potential for a precedent being set with any action that's ever taken.



Could it be perceived as suspect? Yes. But the words that are there are vague and could refer to a lot of things. The people HERE are the ones reading what they want to into them.

[Bob Alpacadaca]

Absolutely, reject it. It looks to me like someone is trying to use your site to settle a score. I don't believe that's your intent for the memories forum.

[metsmarathon]

should i post an unverifiably vauge unspecific anonymous accusation of presumably date rape or otherwise sexual assault to my fun and authoritative fan site?



hmm....



yeah, man, i don't think you want to go down that road. maybe a bunch of old dudes isn't the right arbiter on this topic, but i'd steer clear of it if you can, since you have the ability to moderate things.

[whippoorwill]

Seems to me if someone had a beef against someone there are better ways to confront him than an innocent baseball site.

[whippoorwill]

And if it was a good memory they'd have no need to be vague.



‘I met Tim Tueffel at a Fridays and I was so drunk he hired me a cab' would be something the world should know

[stevejrogers]

I say keep it. I don't really what the fear is in posting it. Not being a lawyer, I can't say for certain, but it is to vague to be considered libelous if that is your concern. Then that would set a precedence for a slew of unverifiable lurid and explicit stories posted on UMDB, a VERY PUBLIC SITE BTW, Yancy is not referring to a forum post. Plus the player memories section isn't meant for things harsher than “he said fuck off to me as he drove past the line of autograph seekers” Not that those should be welcome, but they, and variations, probably are the tamest of the “I had a bad experience with the noted person being discussed” stories you can tell in public forums. We can't even be sure what the original poster's flashback made them remember. Maybe it was Rodney McCray doing terrible karaoke and the poster blocked out his version of "Always Something There to Remind Me" until two days ago. How do we even know its referring to something bad? Folks automatically jump to it being a date rape or something. Maybe the player did something GOOD and the person didn't even realize he did it until just now, when two-and-two were finally put together? Maybe when the person wasn't looking, he slipped a $100 dollar bill in her wallet without her knowing? Who knows? This whole thing was framed to assume it was something bad right off the bat with the words "My inclination is to reject this," which colors it with negative bias right from the get-go. You could do the "if you post this, this could happen" game with anything, ever. There is always a potential for a precedent being set with any action that's ever taken. Could it be perceived as suspect? Yes. But the words that are there are vague and could refer to a lot of things. The people HERE are the ones reading what they want to into them.

Ben said that what he's seen implies date rape drug into a drink.



And even if we are going by your logic, it's probably for the best that Ben doesn't start a precedence that it's okay for posters to assume the person they are writing about even knows of the page's existence, never mind being a regular checker of it!

[Johnny Lunchbucket]

I'm thinking its Boston now since that city has recognizable suburbs like Cambridge, Newton and Brookline. I wonder if there's a Friday's in Cambridge.

[kcmets]

Todd Pratt grabbed my crotch in the Diamond Club.



There, I said it. He had a good grip. Phew...

[stevejrogers]

=whippoorwill post_id=169887 time=1726229713 user_id=79]
And if it was a good memory they'd have no need to be vague.



‘I met Tim Tueffel at a Fridays and I was so drunk he hired me a cab' would be something the world should know

[Lefty Specialist]

No upside, all downside. REJECT

[Centerfield]

I don't have an opinion on whether you should post it or not. But as to the message itself, though it certainly suggests negative, it could be positive as well.



Like the woman had a flashback and realized that the thing she was mad about was necessary. You punched my date because he was abusive to me. You rejected me because I was clearly in no condition to consent.



Maybe 70% you roofied me, 30% you're a standup dude.

[Benjamin Grimm]

I suppose so, but if it was a positive memory, it probably (although not definitely) would have included something like "I'm sorry I misunderstood" or "belated thank you".

[Edgy MD]

Lefty Specialist wrote: No upside, all downside. REJECT

Well, the possibility that posting it potentially offers a victim the first chance he or she has found to call out his or her victimizer is a potential upside. Giving a voice to folks who've been treated badly and can't find a platform to respond is one of the democratizing benefits of the Internet.

[stevejrogers]

Benjamin Grimm wrote: I suppose so, but if it was a positive memory, it probably (although not definitely) would have included something like "I'm sorry I misunderstood" or "belated thank you".

I agree, especially in the vein of what Cooby said in that there would be a little more to the story beyond “you know what you did”



Which as I said, implies that they want the player to read it, and engage in some pointless argument that gets lost in the weeds of a social media platform comment section.

[Cowtipper]

If you post it and the feds find it, you could be a hero. You could be the key to unlocking a serial rapist and putting a terrible human being away for life.



There's that possibility, since we've spent a lot of time talking about hypothetical possibilities.

[stevejrogers]

Edgy MD wrote: Lefty Specialist wrote: No upside, all downside. REJECT Well, the possibility that posting it potentially offers a victim the first chance he or she has found to call out his or her victimizer is a potential upside. Giving a voice to folks who've been treated badly and can't find a platform to respond is one of the democratizing benefits of the Internet.

Fair enough, but the fact that it is being written on a Fan

Memories commenting forum about a specific noted person on an, no offense, obscure website dedicated to a sports ball team, as opposed to communities on platforms such as Reddit, Facebook, Discord, etc does suggest something else besides “I need to get this story out there.”