There seems to be lots of gnashing of teeth around here lately, both amongst the members of this great community and the staff here at Pinstripe Alley, about what type of community we want this to be.
There have been some arguments about what should and should not go on here, about the tone of comments and about the way people treat each other.
Let me lay this out VERY CLEARLY. There is way too much juvenile name-calling going on, too many personal attacks, too many snarky comments just meant to tick off other members and start fights. In short, too much stuff that does not belong in a community of friends and that takes away from the enjoyment of the site and our ability to make this place grow.
With that in mind, I took a good, hard look at our Community Guidelines. As of today, they have been re-written. Spend some time reading them today before you dive in and start commenting again.
They really do not include more rules than we had here before, the expectations carried with the rules are simply explained with a little more depth. Those of you who also frequent Big Blue View will recognize the re-written guidelines, since they are really a slightly modified version of the ones in use there.
Basically, it comes down to this. We understand that sports fans are emotional, that many times you will get upset during the course of a game. That's to be expected. A profanity or vulgarity-filled tirade is not, however, the way express your frustration.
We also understand that you will disagree with the opinions of others on this site. That, however, does not mean you can personally attack that person, call him stupid or worse, and provoke a fight. We want MATURE and INTELLIGENT conversation. Everyone has a right to their opinion. State yours the best you can using facts to back it up, and respect the fact that other people are allowed to have a different opinion. Not every discussion has to have a winner. State your case and keep the insults out of it. Attack the post, not the poster.
Also, 'So and So Sucks' adds nothing to the conversation. If that's the best you've got, keep it to yourself. Same with juvenile one-word insults used as replies to comments.
The staff here at Pinstripe Alley does not want to be spending all of its time deleting comments. We would rather spend our time having discussions, sharing opinions and creating great content for you to enjoy. This place is yours as much or more than it is ours. Be proud of it, be proud of the people who spend time here with you whether you agree with them all the time or not, and treat the site and the people here with some respect.
We really don't feel that is asking too much.