Where Does All this Stuff Come From

[Long Time Pony]

I just joined but I have been watching and reading and chuckling and enjoying this board for some time. It is, as a sports board, enjoyable; it is fun.
Now this.

But ...seems to me.... There has been "insider information" posted here that can come from only from "the inside." There can be no other source about these cases ... people "pump their chest" in supposedly knowing the "inside scoop." Like SATs, ACTs, grades, how many times a student took a test and which test. People have posted about individual cases. Because of the "conservative" amendment introduced by Senator James Buckley (brother of William F. Buckley), the "average fan" does not have access to this information. It is a matter of the conservative Senator's concept of privacy and it is federal law.

In short, it is a violation of federal law to release such information. Yet, it is here. Someone released it. It was leaked .

I don't agree with everything that has gone on. The recruits were treated like sXXX.

BUT ... someone is feeding this board "inside info" and it is unethical, to say the least. That, for SMU, is most unfortunate.

[Junior]

same could be said for any unnamed source source in any situation.

[rlm1951]

What do you mean by 'inside?'

[mrydel]

The only inside information I have read is from a person who claims to be a friend of Mr. Hall and he is staitng what Mr. Hall told him. For all we know it could be Mr. Hall himself. I see no legal issue in that unless Mr. Hall does not want he or she to be his friend anymore.

[Dutch]

I just joined but I have been watching and reading and chuckling and enjoying this board for some time. It is, as a sports board, enjoyable; it is fun.
Now this.

But ...seems to me.... There has been "insider information" posted here that can come from only from "the inside." There can be no other source about these cases ... people "pump their chest" in supposedly knowing the "inside scoop." Like SATs, ACTs, grades, how many times a student took a test and which test. People have posted about individual cases. Because of the "conservative" amendment introduced by Senator James Buckley (brother of William F. Buckley), the "average fan" does not have access to this information. It is a matter of the conservative Senator's concept of privacy and it is federal law.

In short, it is a violation of federal law to release such information. Yet, it is here. Someone released it. It was leaked .

I don't agree with everything that has gone on. The recruits were treated like sXXX.

BUT ... someone is feeding this board "inside info" and it is unethical, to say the least. That, for SMU, is most unfortunate.

how do you know that a poster is not a family member or friend of the student in question or even the individual himself? you don't. just like we don't know who you are because you chose an anonymous name for your profile. would it be unethical for that person to release this information? i doubt it.

[PonyDoh]

I defy anyone to have a worse first post

[Mestengo]

I defy anyone to have a worse first post

[ponyscott]

I defy anyone to have a worse first post

Totally correct.

A++++

[Samurai Stang]

I defy anyone to have a worse first post

It is intended to redirect our outrage. The kind of post I would expect from someone in the admissions office. Observe the use of a semicolon in his post, something I have never seen on this message board, as they have fallen from favor and are now a hallmark of academics. Additionally, he appears to be an expert on the release of admissions information, or at least would like us to believe that he is. In fact, in his only post he presents himself as an expert on a matter regarding admissions.

An admissions expert appears on ponyfans, making his first post. In it, he seeks to redirect all conversation to not attack the admissions department and Turner, but to instead attack those that have provided information. His arrogance suggests that he believes the foolish athletic fans will follow his rallying cry. A poor plan, yes, but is exactly the attempt someone would make connected to the admissions department.

Thus, Long Time Pony is most likely employed by the admissions department, or doing the work of someone that is.

[Webmaster]

In short, it is a violation of federal law to release such information. Yet, it is here. Someone released it. It was leaked .

I don't agree with everything that has gone on. The recruits were treated like sXXX.

BUT ... someone is feeding this board "inside info" and it is unethical, to say the least. That, for SMU, is most unfortunate.

Just to clarify...

It is a possible violation of law and is certainly a violation of school policy to release such information. As a member of the media, the only obligation we have is to report the truth. So as long as we thoroughly check our facts, and are satisfied of their veracity, we can report whatever we chose to report. If the information is untrue, we might potentially be sued for slander or libel, but even then, unless we did it maliciously, we could probably get away with printing a retraction.

Now your second point about it being unethical is something else entirely.

We've know about these, and other similar situations in the past –– often long before they showed up in print. If the university asks us not to print something, we don't. We do this not only as a courtesy to maintain our good relationship with the university, but in the rare cases when they make the request, it's almost always the correct thing to do from an ethical standpoint. When it's a personal matter about a student-athlete, we NEVER print it without their permission and without getting their side of the story.

What bothers me a bit, is the tendency for the other sites to gloss over these requests in an effort to get "scoop". It bothers me both from the ethical standpoint and from the standpoint that the university lumps all us media nerds in the same bucket. So when they cross a line, it's a bad reflection on us -- deserved or no.

Anyway, let me get off the soapbox now. But back to your original point... If you look back over our history, I think you'll see that once "the scoop" has been broken, PonyPride usually comes in and sets the record straight in his usual professional manner –- having checked his facts and being as fair to both the university and the student-athlete as possible.

Sorry for the rant.

[SMU89]

I defy anyone to have a worse first post

It is intended to redirect our outrage. The kind of post I would expect from someone in the admissions office. Observe the use of a semicolon in his post, something I have never seen on this message board, as they have fallen from favor and are now a hallmark of academics. Additionally, he appears to be an expert on the release of admissions information, or at least would like us to believe that he is. In fact, in his only post he presents himself as an expert a matter regarding admissions.

Thus, Long Time Pony is most likely employed by the admissions department, or doing the work of someone that is.

I noticed the semicolon; too.

[Stallion]

Plus there are certain facts that have determined based on direct quotes from the athletes themselves on recruiting services and from information gathered by the DMN which the reporter said was verified with the athlete. SMU told one recruit his SAT was too low under SMU's standards. And other facts that can be determined by application of NCAA Rules. For example, we know that by NCAA Rule he had to take the SAT prior to January 29, we know he qualified under the NCAA sliding scale and we can take a look at the sliding scale to come to some barometers within which the facts fit.

[Junior]

I defy anyone to have a worse first post

Ha!

[Dutch]

I defy anyone to have a worse first post

It is intended to redirect our outrage. The kind of post I would expect from someone in the admissions office. Observe the use of a semicolon in his post, something I have never seen on this message board, as they have fallen from favor and are now a hallmark of academics. Additionally, he appears to be an expert on the release of admissions information, or at least would like us to believe that he is. In fact, in his only post he presents himself as an expert on a matter regarding admissions.

An admissions expert appears on ponyfans, making his first post. In it, he seeks to redirect all conversation to not attack the admissions department and Turner, but to instead attack those that have provided information. His arrogance suggests that he believes the foolish athletic fans will follow his rallying cry. A poor plan, yes, but is exactly the attempt someone would make connected to the admissions department.

Thus, Long Time Pony is most likely employed by the admissions department, or doing the work of someone that is.

i was thinking the EXACT same thing when i read that.

[Webmaster]

I'd like to offer one additional, minor observation; I've been known, upon occasion, to use a semicolon.

However, as a recipient (and frequent user) of David McHam's A Compendium on Style and Spelling, I would never use arbitrary quotation marks. Thus we can rule out Long Time Pony as a Meadows' Journalism or Communication graduate.