Cubs Forum General Rules *Please read before posting*

[Rice Cube]

Cubs Forum Ground Rules (and I don't mean the ball getting stuck in the ivy)

Rush's rules apply here so check those out. Here are some additional points to note as we try to keep this forum relatively clean and fun for everyone:

1. Please be courteous to each other when posting. We don't care if you drop F-bombs or whatever, but when discussions/debates degrade into flame wars, it's no fun for anyone. Remember that there are multiple checkpoints before your post is submitted, so take a bit of time to think about what you're posting before you do it; there's a fine line between being funny and being an asshat. Very specifically:

No racist, homophobic or otherwise inflammatory remarks are allowed in this forum.

There will be no derogatory terms towards the Cubs.. that stuff stops now

We are going to implement a 3 strike policy. 1st time you get a warning. 2nd time you get infraction. 3rd time you get a ban.

If you come back after your short ban and do more junk. You will get a long term or permaban.

2. We would appreciate if you post rumors/stories that you also post a link to the source or at least point people in the right direction. Only takes a few seconds to do a CTRL-C/CTRL-V to paste the link into your post. (This is so we know that a source is legit instead of having to waste five minutes Googling it) THAT MEANS YOU WALDO

3. We would appreciate that all trade and transaction rumors be posted to the rumors sub-forum to help with organization. There is a designated thread for non-Cubs rumors.

4. We expect that people on this forum realize that this is the internet and this is for fun. We realize that there are certain members who might post things that would be considered stupid or controversial, but calling them a fucking idiot is not always the best way to go. We therefore reserve the right to delete posts that are inflammatory, irrelevant, or otherwise inappropriate. If the discussion cannot be salvaged, we'll simply delete the entire thread. So play nice.

That's all. Thanks for hanging out at CCS' Cubs forum!

Updated 1/12/2012 by RC

[Uman85]

[DewsSox79]

whoa, some serious cracking down I see.

[Rice Cube]

Originally Posted by DewsSox79

whoa, some serious cracking down I see.

Not really. It's just gotten annoying to have to sift through 70 posts of flame war just to get to a good post, so by posting this at least people know why a thread suddenly disappeared

[cubsneedmiracle]

Needed to focus this more.

[Crystallas]

Everyone is free to do things their own way and take the risks they see fit, but I have to address something about game threads, so let me air out a few points.

Subject
When you make the subject of a game thread, you need the following information.

-Away Team vs Home Team
In this order, the away team is always first, the home team is always second. If you do it any other way, it's Visiting Team @ Home Team. The beauty of this being a Chicago forum, is that we can forgo the City, and just name the home Team. ie: New York Knicks vs Bulls. NY Knicks vs Bulls. New York @ Bulls, ect.
I would also try to discourage you from using the ampersat(@) in subject lines because it is a URL switch(like %, &, #), which cause a problem for generated URL addresses.

-Date and time
The date of game needs to be present, along with the time. Some games are bigger than others, and activity is higher on the site at certain times, so at a bare minimum, we want people to see the date and time as the topic line. Now we have ie: New York Knicks vs Bulls 4/10 at 8:30.
We can assume central time, because that is the Chicago time zone. We also can assume PM for the obvious times. However, if you want to add AM/PM or CST, that's up to you.

-Define the title as a game thread.
IGT,GT, Game Thread, Game Topic: Mark the subject line of the thread as a prefix for the entire thread. Because we aren't an official licensed affiliate of any Chicago Pro teams, calling it an "official game thread" is just poor understanding and usage of the word "official". I'm not pointing fingers here, I used to make this mistake too, but it's good to understand the difference between something that is official and something that is not, especially in the context of trademarked names.
ie: IGT: New York Knicks vs Chicago Bulls 4/10 at 8:30
The mods here are friendly, and if you whip out a game thread, they'll sticky it if they see it, just try not to make game threads too far in advance and use common sense.

-Broadcast rights?
Who is broadcasting the game? Is it ESPN, WGN, ABC, ESPN, CSN, CSN+?
Most people still watch games on a TV. Just add it to the Subject line, and you have a complete Subject. Many games are dual-broadcasted, so when the game is national, use the national affiliate. When the game is only local, use the Chicago affiliate.
ie: IGT: New York Knicks vs Chicago Bulls 4/10 at 8:30 on CSN
It's quick, simple, easy to read on a phone, and if the site bogs down to activity, people aren't leaving the site quickly to find the information they need because the page loads are slow.

-Extras
Team records, Series round and/or game, Radio affiliate, venue.


Body
The body of the post should have the basic information for a game.

Echo the main information. If you have the radio broadcast, shout the station out. Venues look good too.

-Starters: Likely starters are helpful. Pictures are over-the top are helpful as well. You don't need to have the line-ups or even the starters to have a good game thread, but it helps.

-The rest.
You can make it as colorful as you want. Add whatever stats and trivia that you like. Try not to over-run the first post with animated GIFs and Youtube clips.


Conclusion
I hope this helps. Anyone can make a game thread, just make sure the minimum standards are met to make things easier and avoid confusion.

[Rice Cube]

Crystallas made a really solid game thread guide, so whoever wants to start them once the regular season starts, please try to follow this so everyone can get the info Thanks!

[Rice Cube]

Updated today (1/12/2012)

[Rush]

Essentially you can say "zOMG IT'S CHANGING" but really the change isn't drastic by any means. Just don't be a complete dickhead and you're fine. You can argue without being a POS.

If you have any issues with any rules going on in the Cubs forum, PM me and we'll do our best to look at all perspectives of it and find a solution.

[DewsSox79]

you should make this in the announcement form