A Few Words for (and about) New Members

i hate the 24 hour probation. thats for loser ass teagle fans. i’m a member of and comment, albeit infrequently, and several other SBNation sites because they let me do it instantly. stupid ass losers at some sites make me wait. i just never go back to those sites.

but i agree that the tone from some of the regulars, and editors, has been unfriendly at times over the last few months. although, that thread with you (Todd) and Slow Hand Row (can we offer him an olive branch? he was good purely for entertainment if not insight) was hilarious, and should be sticky’d next to this post as the comprehensive “n00bs guide to RBR”…

and IHC800, yes he did, for the SEC FRESHMANS Academic Honor Roll.

I hate to see this happen simply because it probably does hurt with people who want to sign up and comment on the game threads that same day.

On the other hand, though, the trolls have just gotten out of hand. RBR has grown very big, and while that’s a good thing for obvious reasons, the down side is that it does become damn near impossible to police. We’re getting 15,000+ readers and 500+ comments a day now, plus lots of new users registering, so on our end it’s really a pain to effectively police the trolls. At some point you just have to try and cut them off at the source.

point number one but I applaud point number two.

and we WANT them to contribute. on the flipside, we’ve gotten enough traffic in the past few months that we are seeing a lot more of the type of posters we don’t want on the site. to an extent, this was the motivation behind the recent fanpost about how to handle trollish commentors.

but while banning is certainly an option for the most egregious offenders, it’s usefulness is not as much as you might think. a determined troll will just sign up for another account and if they derail the first conversation before the ban hits, they’ve accomplished their mission.

it has been my experience that the most effective deterrent to negative behavior is the response of the community itself. if someone posts something you believe crosses the line, let them know it with a sincere response. if it’s majorly crosses the line, flag it. and if it’s putting us in legal danger, send an email to any of us in the RBR junta.

but, unless a new poster is obviously a troll, don’t jump on them for a misstep in protocol. fill them in and explain how we do things here. they most likely are crimson tide fans so they certainly have earned the benefit of the doubt on that score. and if they are not alabama fans (and not trolls) they certainly deserve a degree of respect for posting here knowing our allegiance.

I’ve been lurking too much reading RBR on GoogleReader in the offseason to miss such jollies.

I think the best part of the site is that people use the Englishes more or less correctly, unless they’re obviously trying not to, or like kleph just roll Whitman-style.

his New Member Say Hello Thread… was a great idea and the participation it fostered in the comments is a great example of what we are trying to do here.

So it won’t matter to me either way.

You guys have built a machine but in the end, its all Todd’s fault…

BTW, I have one favor to ask…Could everyone please, pretty please stop rec’ing posts that aren’t worthy of rec’ing?! We have to look at those post for two weeks after just 2 rec’s…If it’s something special like the “The Mikhail Torrance Fund” its totally worth it…All im asking is a little discourse when choosing whats a rec’able post. thanks…

however some of the regulars have hurt my feelings. How you may ask, well, it’s trivial really, but, they made fun of my man boobs, and they’ve never even seen them. It’s pure speculation on their part that these aren’t the damndest, sexiest man boobs in all of Alabama. If anyone feels a need to reply, I’ll be sitting here reading up on our beloved Tide trying to lick my tatas.

But the way I figure it, if we are civil this will all work out. Like yesterday on the Trent Richardson stepping up post. How many comments were about TR and not the difference between SJS and SJSU. It was amusing at first but after about 20 comments it got tedious. One of the reasons, I love RBR is because it is full of Alabama insight and opinions by people who have a reasonable amount of football knowledge and a love for our beloved Tide. If we find a person is not following some of the unwritten rules of courtesy, we politely or humorously remind them of the rules. If not, ignore or flag the poster for removal. In addition, sometimes I do not use the best grammar or spell correctly when I post. That could be for a myriad of different reasons. I’m tired, lazy, or I am posting from my phone. If it happens just lay off unless it is extremely funny. I am famous for using git for get.

On an unrelated note how do you add the quotes at the bottom of your posts? (I.e. the ones in grey script) I forget the posters name but the quote with Joe Namath and vapor lock is hilarious. I also like the fumbles one too.

I just want to thank everyone at RBR as I came to this site last year and have commented and voiced my opinions on many articles, and I can only think of one instance when I may have been out of line and had it pointed out to me. And in all honesty, I believe that the fault was mine in that I was not exactly crystal clear on the point I was attempting to make. But other than that, I have felt accepted and respected and I am appreciative of that. This site is the first one I check on for all and any news on the Tide. All others are secondary. RBR is the best by far….IMHO. Thanks to all involved.

…prophylaxis for the newcomers.

To any newbies reading this: The game day threads are really, really fun. Sign up before Saturday.

I haven’t been on long, but I enjoy the candor and intelligence displayed by most all here. The moderation here is fair and consistent. These guys do an outstanding job researching and posting about relevant issues to Tide athletics. I am happy to have found a place where our shared passion for all things Bama is incomparable to anything else. Todd, Kleph, OTS, Pete and Nico deserve major thanks and kudos…if and when I meet these guys, drinks are on me, gents!

Ok whoever took the 5 recs for a fanpost to be stamped at the top advice is awesome.

to live under the velveted mail glove of our shadow oligarchy.

seal over victory over SJS? Or is he doing the dancing thing?