Community Guidelines

updated on Jun 19, 2010 12:02 PM PDT

Liberty Ballers is a place for Sixers fans to talk about basketball, become part of an online community, and have fun doing so. Whether you're a die-hard or a casual fan, you should feel comfortable posting your comments and engaging in educated conversation about basketball and the Sixers. Obviously not everyone will get along, nor will everyone agree, but demeaning comments, belittling posters, and name-calling will not be tolerated. Below is a list of rules. Follow them or face the consequences. One strike will earn you a warning. Two strikes will earn you a second warning and an e-mail. Three strikes will result in a temporary banning until an agreement can be reached.

Note: If you have a question about the rules, a complaint about another member -- or even a moderator -- please e-mail me at samsj@unlv.nevada.edu.

Personal Message from TAFKAMB: Don't take everything as a personal attack on yourself. Most of the time people are joking. Take a second to think about if it's sarcasm or not before submitting an angry response. It's all in good fun.

Commenting Policy

No profanity
No religion or politics
No personal attacks -- If you disagree with a comment, explain why you disagree without name-calling.
No plagiarism -- If you use a quote from another story or an actual story from another site, make sure to include a link.
No spamming or trolling -- Don't attempt to sell any of you're new inventions.
Don't be "That Guy", as described on Blazers Edge:

He posts something and then responds to every...single...comment with an overly-defensive comment of his own, not letting people have real conversation about his points. It's fine for people to disagree. In fact debate makes the best conversations. If you don't want anybody to disagree with what you've written, go to Hallmark, buy a journal, and write your thoughts there. If you write them here, give people some space to reply with good, solid points of their own.

He talks about the person posting instead of the post and its points/ideas. This is completely unnecessary. Hint: Limit the use of the word "you" in your posts. "You're an idiot if you think LeBron will be traded. Cleveland values him too much..." should be just "Cleveland values LeBron too much to trade him."

He begins posts with phrases like, "If you had actually watched the game..." or "If you knew anything about basketball..." These are inflammatory and again unnecessary. It's possible that people actually did watch the game and simply saw something different than you did.

He makes comparisons between basketball matters and things FAR beyond their scope, things in such poor taste that the mere mention of them obliterates any valid basketball-related conversation. ("The refs were the Nazis and we were the Jews tonight!")

FanPost and FanShot Policy

FanPosts give every reader the opportunity to be a writer. If you have an awesome thought or a collection of awesome thoughts that you feel are too lengthy to post in the comments section, write a FanPost. There are rules however:

Don't post comments as FanPosts -- If you plan on writing a couple of sentences as a FanPost, post it in the comments section instead.
Include commentary -- Don't post a FanPost with a link and the entire article block-quoted. That's what the FanShots are for (which we'll get to in a minute). If you want to use a link in your FanPost, along with a couple quotes -- fine -- but don't use an entire article. Write your own stuff.
Don't duplicate -- If there's already a FanPost titled '5 Reasons why Andre Iguodala isn't overpaid', don't create a FanPost titled 'Andre Iguodala is not overpaid!", and bring up the same points.
The exception -- Other sites have FanPosts dedicated to non-basketball related topics. If the comment section is becoming flooded with readers' thoughts on Kim Kardashian's rear-end or the ending of LOST, posting a FanShot for all non-basketball related comments is acceptable.
Breaking News -- If you happen to break news in the FanShot section, you will get credit on the front page via Hat Tip.

As for FanShots:

FanShots are meant for sharing a link, video, picture, etc. without having to post more than a sentence or two of commentary. Consider FanShots the footnotes of the blog.

Tips

If you don't have time to read all the comments don't be afraid to post your opinion in the comments, even if it's been posted before.
Use the Rec/Flag system
Use the shortcuts in the comments section: Press C to tab to new comments, Shift-C to tab backwards, X to mark as read, and Shift-A to mark all read. Z will simultaneously mark and tab forward, and R will reply to the comment that has focus.
Use an avatar and a signature.