Dear Readers,

The recent discussion and anger expressed via rec.sport.disc, and our own email/phone interactions, regarding the article “Old School Vs. New School,” brings me here to explain some of our policies.

VY has requested that we edit the article such that the names of specific teams are removed, as the statement attributed to a captain of Brute Squad cannot be verified, and is inflammatory to a degree out of proportion with the statement’s necessity. It is our authors’ right to change their article in any way they see fit, and we are honoring the request.

If VY had not made this request, we would have defended the original state of the article. We are unwilling to censor anyone. Frequently, authors write strategic insight that we wholeheartedly disagree with. We will only change articles when necessary, or when we think an article can be edited for clarity and purpose. Censoring articles to our own (or anyone else’s) taste would, we believe, corrupt the intent and usefulness of this project.

In the future, authors on this site will inevitably and repeatedly be wrong in their opinions. They are players and coaches, not philosophers, paid writers, or journalists. Their close connection with the sport (rather than with professional writing) is a strength of this project, and we will attempt to edit so as not to lose this strength. While we encourage our authors not to engage in attacks on individuals or teams, at some point some specific statement will be posted that the mentioned team does not appreciate. We will do our best to limit these statements to those necessary to support the authors’ purpose.

This issue has brought about a specific change in our policies. As our readership increases, we do see an important opportunity for limited, intelligent responses. Where we think it appropriate, we will allow teams or individuals the opportunity to respond with a written addendum attached to the article in question. If necessary, we will seek out those comments, though we will continue to accept feedback via email. The current captains of Brute Squad have been invited to give moderated comments, and this may happen for this particular article. VY will be given an opportunity to respond to those comments in turn. We hope that this policy will maintain a high level of integrity without damaging the flow of useful information in any way.

From personal experience, VY Chow is a very talented player with high regard for Spirit of the Game, and has worked for many years to spread the game of Ultimate in general, and in Boston in particular. Her article was not intended as a personal attack, and specific conversational examples were provided purely to illustrate her main points (and have been removed at her request). She has tackled a difficult subject in this article, and her ability and willingness to write thoughtfully and analytically about the current problems with the sport are exactly why we recruited her, and why we hope she continues to contribute to The Huddle.

To sum up: We have been at this for a month, and strive continually to improve in any way possible. We support our authors and their opportunity to provide useful, uncensored opinion to an intelligent public that can draws its own conclusions. We will post limited commentary where appropriate and useful to the flow of information. We appreciate the feedback and intelligent personal discussions we have had with VY, Brute Squad, and concerned members of the community on this issue.

Thanks for reading, and thanks to our 2,000+ regular readers for their continued support and interest. And you can always feel free to contact us with any comments or concerns at info@the-huddle.org