Hi all -- and thanks for the kind words. I am the man behind OnePocket.org, and the One Pocket HOF dinner. It's a 100% non profit site that I created to help promote the game of One Pocket and engage people interested in One Pocket online, no matter where they live in the world. I am the one that conducted all the interviews with player legends, and wrote all the content (except for a few excellent historical pieces on One Pocket that have been generously shared by Mike Shamos and others -- thank you).
Honestly, I don't know how I did it in the first place, let alone have kept it going, given that my wife and I are both self employed with two small businesses that at the peak have provided about 10 people employment -- dropped to about six the last few years due to the ongoing recession. We are in the kitchen and remodeling business (in the "housing sector" that you often read about in the depressing economic pages, lol). So I don't do OnePocket.org full time in the slightest. If I am not too busy with work, these days I can sometimes check in during the day via Tapatalk on my phone, but that doesn't handle administration and moderation duties, so I am sometimes slow to catch over-the-top things that people have posted, or I might even miss them entirely if I get behind -- unless someone points something out to me.
Regarding moderation (or censorship, as it is often referred to by the 'victims') -- it is a tough thing to do, and a thankless task. I probably tend a little more toward letting stuff go than I do towards being overly heavy handed, probably because I live in the Live Free or Die state of NH, and have a bit of a Libertarian bend. If OnePocket.org was a commercial site I guess I would have to be a lot more attentive and tough with the moderation. Instead, one of the things I instituted is a Member's Cafe section of the forum, and indeed I do let a lot more go there. My most common moderation act is to move something heated from the main forum to the Member's area.
Another consideration that is a reality that I deal with is that often it is well-established and very committed (and generally positive) members that end up going toe-to-toe. And sometimes they are in fact true legends of the game (people are people, famous or not, lol), so that makes it even tougher to manage.
Regarding the opening poster's comments, it sounds like at least from his perspective, I am not heavy handed enough with the moderation. He might be right if things are so bad that it turns people away from the site and potentially the game. I promise to take a fresh look tonight.
As far as knocking AZ -- there are a ton of cross posters between AZ and 1P.org, and tons of respect, too. I am certain there are often many positive AZ comments and links that are also posted, besides anything like the opening poster mentioned. AZ is the best online source for pool news in general by far. I know both Jerry and Mike H myself and have utmost respect, as I believe they do for me. It is not a competitive relationship at all -- posters sometimes start on OnePocket.org and end up on AZ and certainly vice versa. I think we help each other -- at least that is my philosophy.
Anyway, I wish I had more time, money and computer skills to make the site better. I do what I can. My advice to anyone visiting the site would be to skip or ignore anything that bothers you, and if you don't find enough great information -- either about the game or about its players and history to warrant dodging the cross-fire, then maybe the site is not for you. And by all means, if you feel like you could add something, step in and contribute, in whatever manner you feel like.
PS This coming January at the Derby City Classic we will be having our 10th annual One Pocket Hall of Fame dinner. Ten years!! To me that is unbelievable, considering when I first had the idea, I did not even expect a dinner at all -- I thought it would be simply a virtual Hall of Fame.
Thanks for taking the time to read.
Steve Booth
Administrator, OnePocket.org
