We see it utilized often by people who are well entrenched in the analytic aspect of fandom, and we all know what it's primary meaning is; "Small Sample Size", which essentially means, we require more data in order to make a mathematically based, "informed" opinion (not conclusion) on any given topic. What is less frequently mentioned however, is that if you are unwilling to basically accept this mode of thinking at all times, you will be routinely ostracized, perhaps unwittingly even, by those who are, at which point it takes on a double entendre, and proceeds to stand for Self-Agrandizing, Sanctimonious and Self-Rightous.

Changes need to be made. Stiffs USED to be welcoming, the way it routinely espouses to be, by the anointed few Stiff-Masons who adhere to the accepted hive-mind, but don't fool yourselves. Your views, while your own, even if you acquired them through others, are STILL subjective. Stop telling people what is fair game in discussion (aside from low blows, of which I've admittedly been guilty of when poked), or in terms of innocuous, divergent ways of viewing/reporting on the team that brought us here.

Whether the P.I.C. (to quote Wrist Cutters: A love story) want to admit it or not, "steering" the conversation, through influence of repetition into the unwritten guidelines of how conversations are supposed to go, is precisely why so many long time regulars, and even new readers, are regrettably turning their backs on Stiffs. Stop saying you are accepting of different philosophies, stop tacitly steering subjective ideology as fact, and start actually accepting, both in the broader, philosophical sense, but more importantly to the "health" of the comment section, in terms of different basketball related theories.