The Royals Review Guide: Commenting

You may think GR!T and pWAZ are important stats. The Game Winning RBI is revolutionary. And if a pitcher doesn't win more than 10 games, he's a failure. Or you may think the differences between fWAR and bWAR expose the soft underbelly of the sabermetric community. You choose to use linear weights and regression models to form an opinion.

Either way, we have one thing in common: We are fans of the Kansas City Royals.

As such, I view our site as a big tent. And as a community we have much to offer. Hopefully, everyone who visits will feel welcome and comfortable enough to participate in our conversations.

With that in mind, here are a few simple suggestions to keep in mind when leaving a comment:

- Refrain from personal attacks. Name calling or personal shots are not conducive to healthy debate.

- Keep the threads on track. If something deserves a FanShot or FanPost, use these tools. Maybe we post a new FanShot about, say the Jays trading for RA Dickey, and then post the link in the current most active threads. That way we can stay on topic while directing those who wish to discuss something else to the appropriate threads.

- If you feel the need to discuss something completely unrelated to baseball, please create an OT FanShot or FanPost. It's frustrating when a comment thread gets derailed by a discussion that has nothing to do with the original post and ultimately hurts the quality of the site. Just posting an "OT" ahead of a comment about an episode of Dance Moms you just watched doesn't help. It can be bothersome to scroll through unrelated comments.

- Game day threads hold a special place in our lore. As such, they are freewheeling social experiments where off topic thoughts and overflow thread girls converge into a melting pot of the depths of the internet. Not recommended if you have a pre-existing heart condition, have back issues, have motion sickness, are pregnant, nursing or sensitive to the rantings of a fanbase that has gone over 25 years without a trip to the post season. You've been warned. Nobody said you had to click there.

- Profanity is understood. Racial slurs or derogatory comments about sexuality are unacceptable. I hate to be Zero Tolerance Guy, but there won't be warnings.

- If you are going to post a FanPost or a FanShot, please don't use profanity in the title. The front page is representative of our site. It's where new visitors will likely get a first impression of what we are about. Plus, some of us work for corporations with IT departments that monitor internet usage. Click on a FanPost with a profanity in the permalink, red flags go off and the next thing we know, the site is blocked. No one wants that to happen.

- Do not refer to your comment as a "take." Seriously. Don't.

- No shirt, no shoes, no service. This is a reputable website. Put some clothes on for chrissakes.