Posting Guidelines

With the start of the season right around the corner and considering we've picked up a number of new members around here, we thought it might be a good time to go over some of the ground rules. The great fun of the site is that with the comment areas, FanPosts, FanShots and Game Threads everyone gets to share their opinions. Our idea is to build a community.

How do you become part of our community? You get a membership here. Membership, of course, is free. All you need to do is pick a screen name, put in an email address so SB has somewhere to send the activation email and I think, for some reason they still ask for a zip code. Don't ask me why, I guess they haven't caught on that some of us Canadians join, as well as folks from the rest of the world. We have a one day wait period from when you apply for the membership until when it is activated. I know that's a pain but we get hit with spammers almost all the time lately.  The one day waiting period seems to cause them to lose interest.

With the community we have guidelines for commenting or posting, after the jump:

• Most of the guidelines fall under the umbrella of one idea: this blog is our living room. Make yourself comfortable, we like having you. Don't say anything you wouldn't say in our living room. Disagree? Sure, but keep things civil. Remember we are trying to build a community, try to get along. 
• Don't attack other posters. Disagree with their ideas, but try to stay away from calling them names. Basically the people here are our friends and I prefer not to see my friends insulted. We do have fun with each other, but calling someone stupid, crazy, etc. doesn't make for rational debate. This line gets smudged when we get fans from other teams in. 
• Some of us have been friends for awhile and some good natured ribbing takes place. Try to take it in stride. 
• Don't get upset if we or someone disagrees with you. Intelligent people can disagree. 
• Remember we are all fans here and all equal. You may think you are smarter than all of us. You might even be (isn't all that hard), but try not to be too condescending to others.
• Profanity is frowned on. We use the line about Hugo's mom reading this a lot, but try to keep George Carlin's 7 words to a minimum. In game threads, well it is sports, things happen. Don't direct profanity at the players. A play may have been %#$%# but calling the player #$#@$# is not allowed.
• Unless it is Roger Clemens.
• No derogatory references to race, nationality, sexual orientation or ethnicity at all, ever. Or sexism for that matter. We may be mostly guys but we do have female members. On top of that my wife or Hugo's mom will look in.
• In Fanposts, don't copy an article from another site in whole. If you see something you think our members should notice, it is better to post a link. That way you drive people to the other site, which gains them views and makes them happy. 
• Insulting Jay players is allowed, within limits, but remember this is our team. If you say something juvenile, you might get called out on it. 
• Don't try to annoy people or start fights. If you do things with the purpose to piss people off, odds are you'll be banned quick. If asked to stop doing something, stop. 
• We aren't grammar police, don't worry about getting things perfect. On the flip side, if you want things read, make them readable. All capitals makes it look like you are shouting, no one wants to read that. If you are posting something long, use periods and start sentences with capitals. It just makes your stuff easier to read and if it is easier to read, more people will read it. Having people read what you post should be your goal.
• Most of all, this is a Blue Jay fan site. We may rag on the team and the management, but we are fans. We aren't bandwagon jumpers. If you want to talk about other teams and how great they are, SB Nation has pages for all MLB teams, take it there. You want to say how great Red Sox Nation is, go to Over the Monster. Want to extoll the virtues of the Yankees, go to Pinstripe Alley, please.

So what happens if you cross the line? Well, if it is in one of the game threads, one of the moderators might ask you to stop. If you are asked to stop something, please do, don't argue. Pretend it is like arguing with the umpire, if you do you might get thrown out of the game. Because you might.

If a fanpost or a comment crosses the line, it might be deleted. Don't get too upset if we delete something posted. It doesn't happen often and it doesn't mean we don't love you.

We may give a formal warning. If that happens the next time you log into the site the warning will come up. Consider it the equivalent to a yellow card in soccer. But, don't argue it. We don't want to send a lot of time debating rules. We have very rarely sent warnings but it does happen.

And we can ban. Banning would be the red card. If you are banned you will no longer be allowed to post on here. You would be able to come back and read but wouldn't be able to comment. We haven't used the ban button very often, except for spammers. But if it gets to the point that someone is more trouble than they are worth, they are gone. Running the site is a hobby for us and we aren't willing to put up with too too much aggravation. There have been the odd person that figures their role in the world is just to aggravate others. That said, in the year and a half or so that I've been here, other than spammers, we've banned maybe 3 or 4 people. Our members are great. 

All that said, please if you have something you want to say, comment, write up a Fanpost or Fanshot. The fun of being here is reading people's opinions.