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Someone needs to be monitoring MLB.com

By GREG AUMAN

© St. Petersburg Times,
published June 1, 2001

The "Fan Forum" at Major League Baseball's Web site wasn't a pretty sight this week.

Fans aren't raving about rookie phenom Albert Pujols, or the insane prospect of a Mariners-Phillies World Series, or whether San Diego's Ben Davis should have bunted to break up Curt Schilling's perfect game.

The biggest topic is the Web site, and the scathing comments posted there are the kind that get managers ejected and players fined.

"If Bud Selig knew anything about technology, he wouldn't be in the baseball business," reads one comparably tame message.

Another suggests a disclaimer that baseball should post, conceding problems with the site: "HI, THIS IS MLB.COM. WE DON'T HAVE ANY CLUE AS TO WHAT WE ARE DOING. PLEASE HELP US TIE OUR SHOES. THEN WE CAN GET TO THAT COMPUTER THINGY. THANKS, UNCLE BUD AND HIS COMPUTER ILLITERATE SUBORDINATES."

Fans have been railing against MLB.com since opening day, complaining about the site's new look, about the league charging a paltry $10 for a season of online radio broadcasts, about dead links and poor customer service.

Others are upset about what an official apology on the site calls "intermittent technical difficulties" with the message boards. By no coincidence, the site showed fewer than 200 messages posted Wednesday, a ridiculously small figure for the national pastime's site, fresh off Memorial Day weekend.

"I really like their toll-free support -- "We'll call you back,' " another post read. "Yeah, and I'll manage the Devil Rays into first place this season!"

The posts are negative, and that's not a surprise. What is most disconcerting is it seems like baseball doesn't care about what's being posted.

Few signs exist of supervision in the forum -- one thread muses as to which player is the one referenced as a homosexual in a controversial letter from the editor of Out magazine.

The issue could be debated intelligently, but it isn't, and when posts are asking why a thread hasn't been killed off a message board, you have to wonder who, if anyone, is minding the store.

Inappropriate messages linger for days. It isn't a matter of censorship, but rather a case for filtering, for making a site appropriate for fans of all ages who easily could stumble onto these topics for discussion.

Think of it as an online equivalent to spray-painting graffiti on the Green Monster or streaking into centerfield at Yankee Stadium and not having an usher escort you out.

"It is a disgrace that MLB is too cheap to hire one person to monitor and administer these forums," reads another post. "MLB, you should be ashamed of yourself."

True to form, phone messages left Wednesday with the site's customer service line seeking comment were not returned.

If baseball is thinking about contraction, a good place to start might be those message boards.

TID-BYTES: Saluting the new (NFC) South: A poll at NFL.com asked which team benefited the most from realignment and more than half of 11,000-plus votes chose the Buccaneers. ... Prime tickets for next year's Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City were posted by organizers on eBay.com this week, with proceeds going to the 2002 Paralympic Winter Games. A nice pair of figure skating tickets drew $11,100, and there's another batch of auctions ending Monday. ... MSNBC.com wisely has chosen to rename its sports page as nbcsports.com, which makes it easier to get to this weekend's French Open coverage.

- If you have a question or comment about the Internet or a site to suggest, e-mail staff writer Greg Auman at aumanac1@aol.com.

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