A brief note on blog content and quality

A maybe-unnecessary disclaimer: This is my -- Noah's -- thoughts/opinions. Not SB Nation's, Derek's, JP's, Jordan's, or whoever else's.

Last night slash today, you may have noticed a little additional attention around the web being paid to SB Nation because of something posted to the Angels' team site that has since been taken down. I'm not going to link to anything here, but it's easy enough to find and it would be unsurprising if you've already seen it.

I just want to take a really brief time to say a couple of things regarding Brew Crew Ball. This isn't anything to do with SB Nation's official response (this is from the SB Nation team). This is me talking real quick about BCB, as a quick one-off based off the recent events on the Angels' site.

First, this company offers us, as writers, a huge amount of liberty to write what we want, when we want, how we want. That's something that makes each site unique, and what makes US unique from, say, the local beat writers. We have the freedom to write more about what we feel rather than the 'just the facts, ma'am' type of journalism. It allows us to bring a different viewpoint on occasion.

I don't run away from calling this a blog or being called a blogger because I don't think it's a dirty word. I think journalism and blogging can be synonymous while at the same time being different.

That said, blogging doesn't mean there's no responsibility involved. When people read what you write, you become responsible for what you write. We can't spout off things for the sake of hott takez and page views.

Rev Halofan, who wrote the post that prompted this on HaloHeaven, was the managing editor of that site and now isn't anymore. It got posted because he was in charge of the editorial content there, the same position I hold here. We are responsible for the content on our sites and are free to post at our own discretion. That's the beauty of SB Nation and the whole original point of the network and something I never want the site to stray from. Unfortunately, in this case, that freedom led to an awful post at HH.

I try to hold the comments section to high standards, but I'd like to let you all know that I hold what we -- myself, Derek, JP, Jordan, and everyone else -- write to high standards as well. That doesn't mean there won't be opinions or that we're going to be afraid to say what we mean, but it means we try to say things in the best possible way. Sometimes we may not, but we certainly won't go to the lengths that HalosHeaven went. That they did makes the rest of the sites look bad, because it makes it look like we all are willing to say idiotic things.

There are people who write on SB Nation who have become well-known and respected across platforms. The rest of us can be made to look bad by the actions of a single person, because that one person can violate the trust needed in this system of posting. I don't want to look bad, nor do I want the rest of the guys who write on BCB or across the network to look bad.

I welcome criticism while at the same time defending what I write. If I think the criticism is more valid than my defense, I try to recognize that and correct it. I want to be the best danged Brewers blog on the internet, and that's what I'll keep shooting for with the rest of the gang who writes here.

So before I ramble too far, what I'll say is that everyone who comments here and reads here puts a lot of trust in us to be reasonable and well-written. We have been trying to do our best to live up to that trust and be the best we can be, and we're going to keep trying. You reading Brew Crew Ball helps give us credibility, and we want to live up to that inherent trust between writers and readers. So thank you again for reading and commenting and generally being an awesome community. You all rock my socks in only the best ways.