It has recently been brought to my attention that some long-time readers of this blog have been put off by how the comments section of my reviews has been taking a bit of a toxic turn lately, mainly in the bullying of commenter Jody and the complaints about commenter SNLLover’s negative SNL-related opinions. It’s time for me to step in.
I’m only going to say all of this one time.
Be more respectful and civil in the comments you leave, everyone. I know that Jody’s comments can be a struggle to get through, but Jody means well and, at the end of the day, their comments aren’t hurting anyone. From what I’ve seen of some SNL boards Jody has posted in, they can’t help posting in that distinctive style. If you have problems with Jody’s comments, either keep it to yourself or just don’t read their comments. Another issue with the bullying towards Jody in the comments section is the fact that a certain commenter (I won’t reveal your identity) has been leaving a few messages lately under the username “Jodie”, imitating Jody’s usual commenting style in a mocking manner. I’ve just now deleted all of those “Jodie” comments.
Regarding the increasingly negative tone in SNLLover’s comments lately, in addition to how I want the complaints about and mocking of SNLLover to stop, I also want SNLLover to ease up on the negativity and try more often to tell us what you actually LIKED (if anything) about whatever episode you’re commenting on. (To your credit, SNLLover, you have done that in comments you’ve made these past few weeks in older episodes that I’ve reviewed months or years back. The negativity of yours that I’m addressing is in regards to the newer episodes I’ve reviewed.) You’re certainly entitled to your opinion, SNLLover, but commenting only to point out what you hated in each episode gets unpleasant to read after a while. I’m also aware there are some readers who have a hunch that some of SNLLover’s comments as of late have been posted by an impostor trying to mock SNLLover’s negativity, similar to the Jody/”Jodie” thing mentioned earlier. I admit, I myself initially wondered the same thing when I read SNLLover’s comment about Darrell’s House from the Zach Galifianakis episode I recently reviewed, as something about the writing of that comment seemed fishy. However, I’ve checked IP addresses and such, and that comment is from the real SNLLover. Oh, and let it be known: from here on out, any commenter who leaves a message that’s posing as another regular commenter in order to mock them will be banned.
I just want the comments section of this site to be civil, fun, and welcoming, which it certainly used to be, and certainly still is to an extent. Good-natured debating between commenters on SNL-related opinions is absolutely fine, but any outright hostility from one commenter towards another will no longer be tolerated. And if a new commenter shows up intentionally trolling the site, do NOT respond to that commenter. *I* will handle them.
Again, I will not be saying any of the above a second time. If any of the problems I addressed continue, I will be deleting the offending comments.
Got it!
The long and short of it is: we all love SNL. Let’s just be respectful to one another. We’re all entitled to our opinion and we can all disagree on certain factors. But let’s just be nice about it. Especially during these next few seasons, as there will be plenty of arguments over cameos, the writing, etc. Thanks Stooge for addressing this. Can’t wait for season 39
I wasn’t being negative. There have been stuff I liked on the show in the past, but in the last 12 years, to me, it has gotten bad. I have a right to an opinion, but since you are telling me what to say, I will not visit this site anymore.
I won’t be commenting anymore since my opinions can’t be respected. I will also no longer visit this site anymore either. You just lost a fan for good.
Lol. Take it easy SNLLOVER. This is not that important in life. No need to get all dramatic.
Buddy…chill. No one requires you to leave. You do you. Just…take it easy. Turn the temperature down, dude.
No one’s telling you you can’t have any negative opinions, man, but isn’t it a little telling that some people thought your recent posts were so negative they must have been a parody?
Anyway, thanks for this, Stooge.
To add to that, remember part of the issue of this post was people being too negative to you (I’ll admit I made a post on the Galifianakis episode that fits the description. I apologize.) We don’t want you to go, its just a bit draining to only ever see negative comments from you.
Actually, checking the comments it was a different episode, but I know I lashed out recently.
Just now, I sent an email to SNLLover, clarifying what I meant and clearing things up. Hopefully, this will result in SNLLover’s return, but we’ll see.
I am back and I am sorry for how I have been writing my short thoughts on the recent seasons. I will do better with my comments and I didn’t mean to hurt others in the process. I will start being more positive and back up claims on why I wasn’t too crazy on certain sketches as opposed to “hating.” Thank you for reading this and I do enjoy everything that posted on this site.
Let me get one thing straight – if I come here and mock myself, will I get banned too?
Shut up, doofus. Go away and frot your MR. MIKE’S MONDO VIDEO poster like you do every night.
Hey, I own Mondo Video too! I haven’t watched it in years, but I remember it being…not great!
Not great, perhaps. But there’s nothing quite like it.
Hey, I thought I told you to shut up.
YOU shut up.
No, YOU.
Thanks, as always, Stooge. I too have seen Jody post on several boards and I just assume this is how they post, rather than trying to irritate people.
As for negativity…one of the reasons I have trimmed my posts per episode (along with getting behind) is because while there are a lot of positives about the show in the late ’00s and early ’10s, I realized that reading my comments would probably seem like a long, incoherent, repetitive rant, which no one wants to sit through, especially these days. So, while there are probably a lot of moments to come in these last 8 seasons that I may be unhappy about, I’m just going to try to keep in mind this place is mostly for your reviews, and to mostly keep my comments more on the better moments along with the not-so-good moments.
Hey John, always appreciate your comments. I feel you on the negativity front. In the last couple years on the old Voy forum, I felt like I had become the lone force of positivity. I basically lower my expectations of SNL. It’s the McDonald’s of SNL, why should I keep expecting filet mignon. That said, honest assessments are valuable positive or negative. The only issue is that certain negative recur so frequently that pointing them out feels redundant. The goal of watching SNL these days is finding the inspiration among the dross. Sometimes it feels impossible, but I think what Stooge has uncovered here is that space and time add perspective. Stooge’s reviews are honest, enthusiastic and unpretentiously perceptive. I think the additions that you and many others (and I would hope I would be one of those others) is to flesh out the conversation and take it into greater depth. I don’t as much as I want to (and I sometimes leave the episode-by-episode analysis to others), but I love to dissect the show, either good or bad. People shouldn’t hold back. You especially.
Hey everyone. I’m new to the site (I literally found it in the last couple of weeks) and genuinely assumed Jody was a troll. I honestly wasn’t trying to be hurtful, and I’m deeply sorry if I offended the actual Jody. As for my identity, I guess I can now reveal that I’m Dan Aykroyd.
Sorry guys. I’m the real Jodie. I apologize.
Hey, don’t steal my bit.
Stop it everyone. I am the real Jodie. Everyone is an imposter.
Thanks for addressing this. I was in a salty mood the other day and complained about this comment section in one of the Discord servers, and that led to a bizarre rabbit hole of Casey Killingsworth pulling up some of the old Voy board threads from 2008 in the Wayback Machine and…yeah. After revisiting it I’ll gladly take this comments section over that (I do realize there was a lot of good discussion on the Voy board but some of its more chaotic tendencies are not for me.) But again, thanks.
In regards to negativity, I’ve been holding back on that front because it can get pretty tiring. And I imagine it’ll come out in full force from multiple commenters once you reach season 44 or so. I’m already seeing people here getting antsy to talk about the current season of the show and what’s wrong with it.
(I should clarify by “tiring” I meant it can get old to read that I didn’t like a sketch without any further explanation or constructive criticism. It doesn’t matter if someone does or doesn’t like something on the show.)
Yeah, for as bad as this site could possibly get (and it’s never been very bad at all) it’ll never compare to the hellscape that was the Voy forum.
Yea this is still easily the most positive SNL forum I’ve been on.
What I love about the reviews here is that Stooge usually tries to find something good about even a middling, weak sketch, or notes some things that don’t work or are a little subpar in otherwise fine material. I like hearing and reading about all these perspectives, even if I don’t always agree.
It’s kind of amusing to me that these rather vanilla recent seasons prompt such opinions and incendiary reactions, while wretched seasons like 94-95 at least as I can recall led to a lot of well-measured, interesting critiques of what went right or what went wrong. I say this not because I don’t want to read comments that are highly critical of recent seasons or that I think these seasons are great, but just that our reactions are perhaps very much “in the moment.” In 2040, if the show is still on, will a future commentator be noting “While the cameo-laden openings of the Trump era were tiresome, at least they brought energy compared to our dreary openings this season”?
Preview of 2040 forum: “while it was funny the first time they had Ashley on to impersonate President Mary Kate, its beyond tired at this point”.
While we’re here can I ask for a rule that, when S40 comes, we’re only allowed to speak negatively on Pete & Leslie as it pertains to their performances on the show? I just know those two in particular draw A LOT of unnecessary ire online, and it can quickly devolve into a snark fest, which feels especially wrong when one of the people mentioned has publicly contemplated suicide.
@Anthony Peter Coleman The same should go for Bowen Yang when Stooge reaches season 45. The amount of times I’ve seen someone say what basically amounts to “I don’t like Bowen on SNL because he’s gay” is unmeasurable.
(We better not see any “I hate Colin Jost because he’s married to ScarJo” takes either.)
Thank you, Stooge!
“Their”? Is Jody one person or a group of people?