SmallBall Sports Forums Archives

Greek Wizard · Veteran Joined: 22 Oct 2002 Location: Canada Forum ID: 3

OK, Summertime seems to be early this year... and I am cranky from reading all the PMs I am getting which I and the Mods should NOT be.....

The Mods and I (and some other long time members) are preparing for the onslaught.. so I thought I would jot down some very important topics for the new members to read, so that they can become valued users instead of simply upsetting others...

Lets start:

1) Forum Staff You DO NOT message a Mod or Admin asking to be added to the Moderator or Admin ranks. people do not ask, they are invited. If you are new, you have 3,000-4,000 people ahead of you. Don't waste your time by wasting our time by asking. You will be ignored. Simply put, if it's not an emergency regarding something to do with the forum, or something of value to a Mod or Admin, DO NOT PM them!!! If you repeatedly bother us with useless PM's that is a for of spamming (unwanted PM's) you WILL lose your ability to send them.. NEVER PM me about SmallBall issues.. I am NOT The Commish, I can't help you...nor will I try, you will be ignored. This does not mean you can't PM us, please make it worth our while...

2) Ranks, etc You want to be a Trade Agent, Chat Room Hammer, or some other rank? sure, you problem!!! Just wait until you are here at least 6 months to a year, do a search, then follow the proper procedures. If you PM a Mod or Admin in your first 6 months, you will probably be ignored.

3) Read the forum descriptions before you post Learn to post in the right forum... if you are new, then you probably belong in the beginners forum.. that is what it is for.. once you have read the rules, read some stickys and have a team that can compete with at least 50% of SmallBall, you have arrived and then can start asking other more "Advanced" questions. That said, nothing prevents you from reading ALL the posts on the forum... just please have something to contribute if you do reply. Also, website posts, go in websites forum, not off topic, not baseball, etc... these posts will be moved, inless you continue to post incorrectly, at which point they will just be deleted instead. Warnings can and will be issued if I am in a bad mood. Do not test this mood.

4) Post count Do NOT spam the forum trying to raise your post counts.. do not worry about the number of posts you have... IF you ever say "this is my xth, 100th, or 1000th post, etc you WILL have your post count reset to zero... (now an official "unoffical" rule).. One or two word replies are considered spam, they will be deleted and the user will receive a PM regarding this.

5) Be Careful what you post, you are responsible Should you post pornographic or obscene material, you will be banned on the spot (happened Friday night). If you have a brother, sister, buddy, dog, cat, hamster, goldfish, etc post explicit or offensive material from your computer with a different user name, or your own, you will be banned as well. I can tell which computers are used, please do not try to fool me by saying "ohh my younger brother did it!!", frankly I don't care. Also, If you are caught using multiple IDs (user names) without first letting a Mod or Admin know, you will be banned on the spot. People using the same computer must NEVER post in the same thread.. EVER.

6) User Leagues You will NOT PM a Mod or Admin telling him or asking him to give you, or clean up the inactive user leagues... There is a User league forum.. use it... if you continue to PM us about user leagues, you will lose your ability to PM. The Mods/Admin DO NOT run the user leagues, The Commish and some others do.. PM them, or join an existing one.

7) Search Like OMG, Like.. this is the single most important point here.... Learn to use the search button.... I have spent hours making sure the search works properly for a forum of this size... the best thing a "newbie" or veteran can do is learn to use it.... it's not that hard and it will make you look less stupid and less work for the Mods or Admins... also it's great for reading up when you are bored on something you may have missed.

There are other stuff that can be added.. but lets start with those for now...

Also do not forget the actual rules of the forum...

http://www.forums.smallball.org/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=3

I know these seem harsh and unpleasent to a new person just coming to the forums, but the PMs coming to us (me) and the issues we have to deal with in the summer (and all year round at times) is getting out of hand...

Enjoy your stay on the forums, but please follow the rules, learn to search and do not spam, and you will be welcome here and fit in well.

That is all for now, have a nice day Smile