Is social media Twitter becoming a little controversial or is it just a sign of the times in AFL?

[shifty]

First of all. we have had the death threats to 2 Essendon players. + a couple of AFL officials. after the Bombers defeated Carlton just over a week ago. police investigation is still underway. now we have the Garry Ablett tweet. about Ryan Crowley's close tag on Chris Judd on Friday night. which seems to have stired up a hornets nest.

So what to make of all this. your thoughts?

[whay????]

The death threats completely inexcusable, thats all i have to say about those.

But ablett's tweet about Crowley more of an observation than anything, if he was trying to unsettle the dockers before this week then he did it.

[Masterfrog399]

It's a sign of the ruling elite.

It helps to line the pockets of AFL executives and Foxtel phucktards with OUR hard earned money (or in the case of Collingwood/Port supporters, their hard earned dole cheque).

If people didn't pay attention to this kind of insipid off field soap opera, thereby giving it the credence that it never deserved, then there would be no issue would there?

[Billy]

i think players need to watch what they say on there (cliche i know) but they need to be able to voice there opinions to a degree, just how far can they go is the question

[Droppy]

In my view players who post on Twitter, about other players, are either big-heads or air-heads.

I hate Ryan Crowley, with a passion, but Ablett's Twitter comments about him reflected more on Ablett, than it did on Crowley.

[Lexicographer]

I think that it is just, as you say, a sign of the times, and not restricted to Twitter and / or AFL. In permitting people to have a voice and retain their anonymity, we have inadvertently left the way open for those poor misguided souls with either a hidden agenda or an ego problem to hide behind that anonymity while either pushing the common rules of society to the brink, or just blatantly breaking them.

Even this social media forum isn't immune to those who wish to indulge in childish name calling, posting in capitals ( the equivalent according to Yahoo of shouting ) & circumventing Yahoo rules on filthy language by creating a pseudo-vocabulary etc.

Senior contributors, with the wisdom of years, and younger contributors whose parents managed to instill the values of society in them, maintain the respect that fellow contributors deserve, and post on social media accordingly.

But unfortunately we are all prone to the occasional lapse as Garry Ablett and other players have been guilty of recently. It is just unfortunate for them that they have such a high profile that no matter what they post it will get attention and be blown up out of proportion. On the death threats, there will always be the fringe element who consider themselves to be "10ft tall and bullet-proof" as the saying goes, because of the anonymity factor. I hope they catch the perpetrators and make an example of them with the fullest weight of the law.

[Enforcer]

Sign of the times and it's refreshing to see players speaking their minds.

[Quandary]

Why does ANYONE do that shite?

I have never heard of someone getting a promotion or extra money from tweeting some asinine comment, all I've ever heard is people ending up in big doodoo. And so they should!

Ablett, Hardwick and a lot of others should take the lead of successful guys like Bomber Thompson and just STFU. There's too much whining and finger pointing going on for my liking. I can think Crowley's a filthy little maggot too but I'm Neville Nobody so I have no obligations. Ablett has a responsibility to his club and the AFL. Hardwick's whining about Cotchin picking up a tagger was equally pathetic - I sent him some crackers and cheese to go with his whine.

The death threats are a different issue. Not a laughing or even a scoffing matter. Whoever that is should be taken out to Federation Square and drawn and quartered (for those not familiar with that punishment it involves chopping the perpetrators into four pieces and dragging the pieces of bodies through the four quarters of the city behind a horse) ... in this case to serve as a reminder not to screw with our game!