RBR "How to" Guide

This will now be the 100th post over the last few days concerning new members. But dont worry, this isn't a lecture on how  to act, cause I'm pretty sure grand master Todd just took care of that quick, fast and in a hurry.

What I'm attempting to do is explain the best way to enjoy RBR (SBNation) and do so without getting yelled at by the "Correct way to use a fanpost" "Why did you rec this?" "Don't use ROLL TIDE ROLL to fill the 75 word requirement" police. Basically, this is an attempt to help full-fil this request by Todd:

2. Y'all's mean.

Folks, the n00b hazing is getting a little out of hand.  Let's tone it down a notch.  If someone still feels the need to ignore the above guidelines on new member postings, then flag it, point them to this post or to the new member thread, and leave it be.

First, if you are new, go over and check out the New Member Say Hello thread and...well say hello. We really want to get to know you and for you to get to know us and frankly, its a great place to start. Second, if you haven't read Todd's memo about the new 24 hour rule. I'd suggest reading that as well.

OK, so whats the point of this thread? I mean, SBNation can't be that hard to figure out, right? Well you would think so but there are a few features that are quite different from other sites and if used correctly, can really make your experience here more enjoyable. Plus a new guy Bam-I-am asked for it...

Also for us n00bs.There are probably a lot of us that don’t understand the ramifications of a rec. The explanation on flagging a post the other day was exceptional. (as well as humorous… reminded me of Sir Harry Flashman). Perhaps someone can explain it as well as anything else we need to know.

So, lets start with the difference between FanPOSTS and FanSHOTS. This is probably the biggest pet peeve for most regulars and really is the easiest to understand but the most widely misused. It boils down to this.

1. A fanPOSTis a well thought out, informative post that is typically more than just a thought, question or paragraph. These are always found at the top right of the main page. They must have at least 75 words and the editors would prefer it have links to sources, pictures and basically be ready to put on the front page. If you are wanting to find out if say a certain player (who's name I won't mention) qualified academically and is cleared to play, you can 1) scroll through the front page and see if your question has already been addressed 2) look through the other fanpost for the same reason 3) post a question in a....
2. FanSHOT. This is where you can post a quick link, quote, picture, video or even post a simple question under "Chat". No limit on words and is probably the best way to get any question you might have answered. A lot of SBNation sites don't use this feature nearly enough and I for one don't understand it.

Now, If you are thinking, "Hey! I have some breaking news that I want to post at RBR and maybe they'll put it up on the front page!" GREAT! AWESOME! TERRIFIC! Just follow OTS's simple rules on how to do that and you never know what might happen. Let me go ahead and quote what I feel is OTS's main point which is to use the QUOTE fanshot. Emphasis mine:

For news stories, browse the article that you want to post and find the one quote that gets to the point of what you want to post. Don't post the whole thing or make it excessively long, just find the money quote and post it as a quote in the fanshot. After that, in the quote source field, add the author / publication and the title of the article, and add the link there. Also, add whatever comments you have. In any event, just make sure you DON'T use the link fanshot... that thing shows up ugly as hell.

For photos, post the link to the image in a fanshot, and then in the description field make sure you give proper credit to the source (if you cannot find one, don't overly worry yourself over it). Simple as that.

.And like OTS said, it's as simple as that.

Now, on to the Rec and Flag features which has been a hot topic of late. Kleph, our South American corespondent has already penned two great posts on this matter and I see no reason to go any further with it. So...

How to use the SB Nation Recommendation System

How to properly Flag a Troll 

The one thing I will add to the Rec feature is that it now takes 10 Rec's to get a fanpost to be "Stickied" (thank god!). And please only Rec a fanpost if you honestly feel its worthy of being looked at/ read for two weeks.

One final note. Thomas Walker Esq made a great point in the comments on how to easily find answers to simple questions.

I’d add that there is a search bar in the upper-right hand corner where questions can be easily answered and topics readily referenced

To be honest, this should be your first place to go. Before you post a new thread, please use this feature and see if your topic of choice has already been covered. This will greatly help reduce the amount of double posts and keep the fanpost/ fanshot area clean.

I really hope this helps ladies and gents. And of course, if anyone has any other suggestions or questions please leave them below for all to see.

RTR!!!