The BCB Rules Post

Good morning everyone. With the final stretch of the season coming up, we know that there can be a little tension among people at times. Especially with the Brewers desperately clinging to a thin lead in the NL Central. With that said, we wanted to give a quick reminder on the rules of the site. We know! You already know all the rules! But, hey, maybe just take a quick refresh anyway.

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First of all, let's talk about what this covers. It basically covers anything you write on the site. This includes the following:

Comments on any post - This is pretty simple, it's the comment section you will find at the end of anything that is posted here on BCB, or any SB Nation site.

FanShots - If you are a newer visitor on the site, you may not be aware of these. FanShots are quick posts you can make to cover some news that comes up, or to share a link with everyone about the Brewers or other baseball news. They used to be more prominent on here, but the format change from a couple of years ago has buried them a bit on the page. They are in a section on the front page, and you can view them directly here.

FanPosts - While FanShots are for quick bits of information you want to post about, FanPosts are more like a regular article here on BCB. Everyone has access to FanPosts, and can write one on any topic they want. If you put some good thought and/or analysis into your post, we will promote it to one of the regular story spots here on BCB. These also have their own section on the main page, and can be viewed here as well.

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The general rules of posting all come down to one simple rule: "Don't be a dick." If you can follow that, then you're generally in good shape. However, there are a couple of particular aspects that we'd like to call out who aren't completely aware of what this means. So, here's the breakdown of what we're looking for:

ABOVE ALL ELSE TREAT OTHER PEOPLE WITH RESPECT. Everyone is here to talk about the Brewers and we want to welcome as many Brewers fans and baseball lovers as possible. Some of us love sabermetrics, some prefer the simpler aspects of the game. One isn't necessarily better than the other. We are all bonded by our love of the team, and we want to make this site a welcome discussion hub for everyone. Be friendly with unfamiliar names, welcome new users, and together we can make this the best dang site possible.

Don't go overboard with the swearing. By that, we mean it's not exactly necessary to cuss in every post, and know the distinction between swearing about something and swearing at someone (the latter is not allowed). There are better, more creative ways to express frustration or to emphasize a point. You won't get in trouble for swearing except under extreme circumstances but a deep breath can be a better tool, sometimes.

No personal attacks. This includes name-calling, insulting a person directly, and anything else that constitutes a direct verbal attack on a person.

Politics/religious/other non-baseball controversial topics are kept off the board. We understand everyone has an opinion on these, but this isn't the place for them.

Don't troll. If your only purpose here is to say negative things about the Brewers and try to make us angry, then please find another spot to do that. It's ok to have a discussion about something that's wrong with the team, it's not ok to just post again and again about how terrible you think the team is.

Don't drag down discourse. This goes along with the previous point. Don't come on here just to post negative things about the Brewers or argue a point that you've argued several times before. If we think a discussion has reached a point where it's dragging down everyone else, we will end it.

Don't be overly aggressive. Keep your emotions in check. Don't start posting in anger over something. It's ok to be passionate, and it's ok to discuss things. It's not ok to get into an argument over them, though.

Don't troll other SB Nation sites. We don't want to build up a bad reputation here. If you're banned for trolling on another site, we reserve the right to ban you here as well.

Don't spam. It's self-explanatory. You can promote yourself, but there's an appropriate way to do it.

Don't post under multiple accounts. You only need to post under one, and we can tell if people are posting using multiple names. If you end up getting banned under one name, don't create another account to get around it, because that one will get banned too (and if you just got a temp ban, it's going to be extended).

Don't talk about illegal activity. If we see any illegal activity discussed on here, we will delete the comment. This includes sharing feeds of "free" MLB video streams (yes, MLB blackout rules are dumb, but we still have to follow them), as well as selling tickets for over face value. (We would actually prefer no ticket reselling on here, but if it has to happen, it must be at face value or lower.) The league gets mad at stuff like this.

Use proper grammar/punctuation. This isn't something you will get in trouble for (in most cases), but it's a good rule to follow. If you don't have the time to do this, then we don't have the time to decipher what you wrote.

Don't talk about Stephen Chapman. I don't know why, Noah just told me to throw this one in.

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If you want to help us police the comments, here's a few ways to do it:

The Rec button. If you like what someone had to say, you can recommend their post. Three of these turns the comment green and makes it stand out to other people. Five of these on a FanPost or FanShot will feature it in the corresponding section for a few days.

The Flag button. If you think someone is in violation of the rules, click this button. You'll have to fill out a few things, and then the comment will be flagged. These comments show up in red for moderators so we can review and decide if action needs to be taken.

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If you do end up violating the rules, here's the general structure of how we handle that. Note: We reserve the right to skip steps on here at our discretion.

Verbal Warning - We'll ask you to stop in the comments.

Comment Deletion - If the comment is out of line, we'll delete it. We might issue a warning along with it as well.

Official Warning - Next time you log in, you will see an official warning message from a moderator, detailing what you did and asking you to not do it again.

Temporary Ban - We will ban you from posting for a short period. It could be a day, a few days, a week, or longer. Eventually, we will let you post again.

Permanent Ban - You're done posting here. We could revoke it in the future if you clean up your act, make good posts on other sites, and ask nicely, but it's better to not get to that point.

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That's all we have. If we all follow the rules, this place will remain a great place. Hopefully you never have to worry about any of this.

Let us know if you have any questions in the comments, and we'll try to answer them for you. Thanks for reading.