DRB Community Guidelines

It has been ages since we posted our Community Guidelines here at DRaysBay, and seeing as we're hitting the tail end of the season, we could all use a reminder. Whether you're an established poster here, a lurker, or a newbie, it's worth giving these guidelines a read. Although the majority of these guidelines are still the same, our community moderation has changed slightly over time. With help and input from current site mods, I've reworked the guidelines to match.

These first four rules are the Big Four, the most important points to remember when cruising around DRB. I'll also include the remainder of the guidelines below the jump:

1. We like logic. We're not a "numbers-first" site -- we're a facts and logic site. You don't have to understand advanced stats to understand logic and to make a rational argument. We encourage debate and discussion, since there is rarely only one "correct" side to a debate, but you'd better be ready to argue with facts and not your gut.

2. Keep an open mind. If you disagree with an argument, make sure you understand before disagreeing with the results. Ask questions. Be willing to learn. Everyone is going to be wrong sometimes, so instead of defending your point of view incessantly, just move on and maybe even admit you're wrong. That's a great way to earn the respect of other users.

3. You can disagree with everything and everyone, as long as you don't make it personal. While we don't expect everyone to get along here, personal attacks on other user will not be tolerated. You can disagree with someone's point and argument, but once you cross that line to calling others names, then debates stop being fun and informative.

4. No slurs of any kind. And no sexist/racist/intolerant statements. This should be common sense. Curse words are acceptable as long as you're not going over the top (or attacking another user with them), but any sort of offensive slur is just not cool.

5. Use proper spelling, grammar, and capitalization. Using them will give your comments more credibility and make your comments easier to read. Paragraphs are your friend.

6. Stay on topic. Conversations on all front-page articles should stay baseball-related. Perty simple, yah?

7. Keep the pictures small, and always use headers. To make a picture smaller, simply add this to the HTML: width="however wide you want your picture in pixels". Preview your comments, and always use a post title/header so that people can hide them if they choose.

8. Use the reply button. Nested comments are awesome and keep the discussion organized.

9. No nudity. No exceptions. Pictures are welcome in appropriate threads -- GDTs in particular -- but there are enough places on the internet to find nudes. As a rule of thumb, if you have to debate if a picture is appropriate or not to post, it probably isn't.

10. The Game Day Thread Exception. These threads are moderated less intently, so enter at your own risk. Emotional reactions are awesome and encouraged in GTDs, although the main rules listed above all still apply in these threads. Things just get a little bit crazier at times.

Bonus: We love user-generated content. We welcome links to any and all articles you think are worth discussing --including your own -- via FanShots. Use FanPosts for any in-depth content that doesn't make sense as a comment in someone else's article. We'll highlight good FanPosts on the front page, so put some time and effort into them to make them more than a 75-word question.

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These ground rules are meant as guidelines only. We tend to be fairly hands-off as moderators, but decisions about conduct and banning are entirely at our discretion. We may suspend a user's account any time we find that, in our judgment, it will make the site more enjoyable, more successful, and more fan-friendly overall. Usually, we will explain to a user why their contributions aren't meshing with the site's philosophy before taking any official measures.

If you have any questions about the items on this list, please email one of the site managers.