We have to have a Community Guidelines reminder...again.

About once every 18 months or so, I get a really unpleasant call or email from Corporate at Vox/SBN. The subject line of the correspondence goes something like this: “Increasing racism on Roll Bama Roll” or “Do you even have terms of use” or “Do something about all these gifs!”

And, every 18 months, I come back here after getting a royal chewing to remind you all that those terms of use, in fact, exist. Moreover, those little tete-a-tetes I have with Corporate infuriate me to no end for a few other reasons. We try and give you folks a long leash — there’s probably not another site on the SBN network as dedicated to the anarchy of the old Web quite like we try to be. We lay out very few ground rules...that apparently are just tooooo difficult for some to heed. The second reason is that people come here to check in on Alabama, hang out and chat with internet acquaintances, and the like. What they don’t come here for is to be insulted for their race, sex, or who they sleep with.

Those are going to stop. Period. Both the behaviors and the license that we provide. There are a million people a month that read this site: very few want to be subjected to the nonsense. And, frankly, we’re tired of dealing with the fallout, the rightly hurt feelings, the anger of other readers, and the babysitting.

This isn’t some overdose of wokeness. This is basic courtesy and commonsense.

The fully user guidelines are here. And, in pertinent part, they read:

This is an Alabama blog for Alabama fans, but we talk about all kinds of stuff from football, basketball, baseball in general to the music and movies we like, the SEC, and NCAA in general, so you’re welcome to do the same.

Rival fans are welcome, but in everything you comment on or post, remember, the anonymity of the internet does not give you license to be a horrible human. There are a lot of different people that root for the Tide, and therefor a lot of different people are reading this blog. Any sort of racist/ sexist/ homophobic/ just plain hateful comments will be deleted immediately, and you are likely to be banned.

NOTE: If you act a fool on other sites which results in a ban, you may be banned at RBR. Play nice.

Consider this as notice to everyone. We are going to give everyone one shot. Call it the “first bite”-rule. Everyone screws up. So, you get one screw up, your comments will be deleted, and then you will receive a stink-o-gram from one of the editors. If it happens again, you will banned.

Look, we don’t like doing this — and I particularly don’t like having to deal with this while I’m on vacation with my kid. We genuinely like the vast majority of you, and enjoy the commentary, insights, opinions, banter, and even the terrible puns: No need to ruin any of those. So, let’s all heed the very loose guidelines, be decent to one another, and try to make through this offseason. We’re just 2 ¹⁄₂ months away, now!

Thanks,

Erik, Josh, CB, Brent