Posting and Commenting Guidelines

I usually put up the rules on opening day, but I wasn't up to fighting with the Wifi in my Montreal hotel this year so we are a few days late.

What we are trying to do is to set up a community where we can chat, argue, complain and praise what is happening with our Blue Jays.

What should you do if you feel someone has broken the rules? Under every comment there is a button that says 'actions', if you hit that, two other buttons come up. One is 'rec', which you can hit if you like that comment. The other is flag which marks it for us mods. If you hit flag a window pops up asking you to tell why you are flagging it and to classify the reason as 'spam', 'trolling' or 'inappropriate'. We can't see everything that happens on here, so if you flag it, we can take a look and take appropriate action or just monitor the offending poster to see if more happens.

Please don't take it upon yourself to tell people to stop doing X. We have mods for that. If you want to be a mod, send me an email, but the quickest way to get on my bad side is to tell people what they are allowed to say and what they aren't allowed to say on the site. I've been here for a while, I pretty much understand our rules.

Most of the guidelines fall under the umbrella of one idea: this blog is our living room. Make yourself comfortable, we like having you. Remember, the last beer is mine.

• No derogatory references to race, nationality, sexual orientation or ethnicity at all, ever. A word that pops up a bit is retard. This word, or any version of it, is totally unacceptable around here.
• In the same vein let's try not to be too sexist. I know sports blogs tend to be a men's club, but let's not act too stupid. We may be mostly guys but we do have female members. On top of that my wife my look in. You get on her bad side and I have to ban you.
• Please, please remember that no suggestion that violence or terrorism towards any group of people is a good idea. Even Yankee or Red Sox fans.
• Also, not so much a rule, as a request, we get new folks here all the time, it would be nice if we were a little friendlier to new folks. We want to site to continue to grow and to grow we need to be friendly to newcomers. Remember we were all new at one time.
• Discussion of illegal streams is not allowed at all. SB Nation expects others to honor their copyrights, we have to honor others'.
• Don't say anything you wouldn't say in our living room. Disagree? Sure, but keep things civil.
• Don't attack other posters. Disagree with their ideas, but try to stay away from calling them names. I consider that people here are my friends (I let them in my living room) 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.
• Some of us have been friends for awhile and some ribbing takes place. Try to take it in stride. Generally it means we like you. I get emails about this quite often, 'someone made a joke about something I said'. I'm sorry if you feel insulted, but I like joking around. Generally, if I joke with you, it's a good thing, you are part of the group.
• Don't get upset if we or someone disagrees with you. Intelligent people can disagree. On the flip side, I've mentioned this before, but not everything needs to be argued.
• Expect that people are going to challenge your opinions. Roll with it. Expect folks aren't going to just take your word. Be prepared to defend your position. Just because someone questions your opinion doesn't mean they are insulting you. Attacking opinions is allowed.
• 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 condescending to others.
• Profanity isn't allowed. Try to keep George Carlin's 7 words out of it. You may be warned, your post maybe deleted or we might just watch to see if it continues to happen. Part of being an adult is being able to express yourself real words. As well, I'd rather we stay away from using His name, in vain or otherwise. On top of that never ever direct profanity at the players. A play may have been %#$%# but calling the player #$#@$# is not allowed.
• Unless the player is Roger Clemens.
• I've noticed people using one of the 7 words but putting a * in one (or more) of the letters. This doesn't make it better, just don't use the words.
• 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 Jays players is allowed, within limits, but remember this is our team. If you say something juvenile, you might get called out on it. Telling us that our player X is about to strikeout doesn't go over big. We cheer for our team.
• 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. Basically try not to be intolerable.
• 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. If it is easier to read, more people will read it. Having people read what you post should be your goal.
• Don't argue with the moderators about rules. If you are asked to stop something, stop it. Moderating isn't all that much fun, don't try to make it worse. It doesn't add much to a thread to have it turn into a debate on the rules. I especially hate this in GameThreads. I love the threads, but I mostly love watching the game. If you want to try to distract me from the game with an argument about rules, don't be surprised if we don't end up becoming friends. Got a complaint, email me and then I can deal with it at a time of my choosing.
• 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.
• No religion or politics please. What I mean is let's not start arguing politics. The casual mentioning of a politician isn't a big deal. Starting a Liberals vs. Conservatives argument is a bigger deal. Religion....let's stay away from that all together.
• Don't use this place as just a way to promote your site. If you come here without contributing to our site, and promote your site, odd are the post will be removed. Best way to get some promotion is to email me or one of the people that do link posts here and say 'hey, I've got something that your readers might be interested in'. More flexibility will be shown to people that contribute to our site. SB Nation doesn't exist to give free promotion for other sites. That said....email me and if I'm putting together a link post, I might add it.

So what happens if you cross the line? Well, one of the moderators might ask you to stop. If you are asked to stop something, please do, don't argue. The least fun part of running the site is moderating.

If a FanPost or a comment crosses the line, it might be deleted. Don't get too upset if we delete something..

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 very rarely send warnings but it does happen. Again, if you get a warning, it doesn't mean we don't love you, it just means we want to mention something to you and have it not become a big thing in a thread. A warning isn't personal, so don't take it personally.

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 can come back and read but not comment. Sometimes it gets to the point that someone is more trouble than they are worth. Running the site is a hobby for us and we aren't willing to put up with too much aggravation. There has been the odd person that figures their role in the world is just to aggravate others. That said, other than spammers, we've only banned a handful of people. . Our members are great.

Generally, we don't ban someone until they become intolerable. I have to come to the site every day, if there is a poster that is making me not want to come, then, sorry, it is you or me and I've got the button. If you want to send a note telling me you didn't deserve to be banned, and we do all have bad days, maybe try being reasonable and we will consider it. Half the time I get an email telling me how terrible the site is, and then, an hour or two later, they sign up under a new screen name thinking I'm not going to notice.

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