The Stars of Darts Mission Statement

[Admin]

The Stars of Darts

After a fairly frenetic couple of days we thought it would be appropriate to provide an overview on why we set the forum up, some guidelines, our aspirations, other forums and the team we have assembled.

Why a new forum

It would be fair to say that the recent (and sad) demise of the Superstars of Darts (SoD) forum has hastened the process.

SoD was hugely successful and attracted a lot of very good posters and people heavily involved in the sport, including many players, however as soon as it became apparent that SoD was closing we agreed very quickly that there was still a place for a very similar forum. We felt that we could build a site capable of attracting many of the previous SoD members and new posters from other forums.

Clearly some ‘tweaks’ were required, particularly around the old chestnut of moderating (more later) and whilst this isn’t a criticism of SoD, we had to acknowledge that this was an area that had caused friction with many posters and unfortunately other forums.

We feel that a well run forum, with some guidelines, where fans can interact with the players and others involved in the sport still offers an interesting option to the large internet community of darts fans.

Guidelines

Ahh the thorny subject of ‘moderating’!

We all agree that an element of ‘moderation’ is inevitable but we also feel that if posters act like adults and respect our guidelines we hope not to have to step in too often.

Some of you may have already noticed that we are not going to allow any swearing, not because we are shrinking violets, but we felt that if we did open the flood gates, ‘moderating’ the forum would be difficult unless we took the ‘anything goes’ attitude which would possibly have the unintended consequence of putting off many of the previous SoD posters that we wanted to attract. We can all ‘eff and jeff’ with the best of them but agreed this unanimously and quickly.

There will be many disagreements, that’s the point of forums, but as long as we feel that no one is trying to incite trouble or make disagreements personal we intend to let threads and debates run their course.

We hope to attract many players to the forum and whilst we don’t intend to wrap them in cotton wool , common sense would tell you that we’re not going to allow posters to come on and tell a player he is crap just for the sake of it. We’re sure the players will expect a bit of good natured banter and they’re more than capable of looking after themselves, but as with any other thread, if we feel it’s getting personal we’ll delete posts and if need be warn the member. This applies to the players as well of course!

If we as ‘mods’ do delete or edit posts, we will be perfectly willing to talk about why, just send a pm.

One final point, the whole team are pretty experienced posters on various different types of forums, so we’re not naïve enough to think that we won’t attract the odd trouble maker or make decisions that are universally popular, but you can rest assured that any decisions we make will be considered and hopefully consistent.

From our experience it is very difficult to ‘black box’ moderation as there will often be an element of subjectivity to some decisions so all we can say as a team is that we will seek to act in the best interest of the forums and it’s membership.

The Future

Two key things we want to try and continue to build;

- The marking initiative

- Player sponsorship

We know there is work to do in both these areas but they are such huge positives for this forum that we are still very committed to them.

Other Forums

‘The Stars of Darts’ is not the only darts forum and may not be to everyone’s taste – we have no issue with that – although obviously we want it to be the best!!

We would recommend you have a peak at places like DoubleFinish, Double 16 and the BDO Forums - they offer different environments with some fairly lively and interesting characters and at times heated debate, some of you will like them others won’t. It’s a free country and we should all remember, that in the general scheme of things internet forums are hardly a matter of life and death!

The Team

A motley crew if ever you’ve seen one, but these guys know and love their darts.

Spaceman70

Or Dave ‘6 nil’ Ahmet as he is sometimes known. The maniacal genius behind the player sponsorship and marking initiatives, known to many posters and players and sadly liked and respected by all. Rubbish dancer apparently.

Nikkiboy

A Welsh, overweight, ‘vertically challenged’, old fella who doesn’t like hot pizza’s. Apart from that he’s OK.

xtreme Rebel

The Irish connection and stats man. Just don’t ask him about the conduct of his countrymen at the World Grand Prix last year.

Mod500

A Scot living in Wales, bald and not aesthetically pleasing to the eye. He’s had it tough be gentle with him.

Chissy

A member of the ‘West Country Mafia’ and our resident import/export man. Oh and yes he does talk in that funny accent.

Lee Taylor

Aka. LT or ‘Grandad’, the other member of the ‘West Country Mafia’ who talks a bit odd. Don’t ask ‘Grandad’ about those ghastly and noisy PL crowds, he gets upset.

Adrian1969

Last for a reason, old, grey and the numbers 1969 obviously do not denote the year of his birth, maybe his 18th or 21st?