There are very few "rules" on AN. AN is intended to feel primarily democratic, and most of the "unwritten rules" come by way of self-government by the community through Recommended Diaries, positive and negative feedback, peer influence, etc. The few official Community Guidelines exist for a singular purpose: they exist to help make AN a place that is safe and enjoyable for the entire community.

Free Speech on AN

AN believes strongly in free speech and in celebrating a diversity of people, and of ideas, on the site. Users are, in general, free to express their opinions without fear of retribution. The diversity of personalities, beliefs, and styles is appreciated as being part of what makes AN strong. Blez, Nico, and AN's sub-committee all operate within this belief system.

However, AN is a community, and free speech does not mean "the right to say what you want, when you want, how you want," without being sensitive to, and respectful towards, the community as a whole. In a community, speech is not "free"--it comes with responsibility.

The following are simply not acceptable on AN (excepting, in some cases, for obvious humor between people with an existing rapport); they violate AN's Community Guidelines, and are subject to sanction as outlined below:

1. Personal attacks on community members, directly or through sarcasm/belittling, e.g., "You're an idiot," "You don't know what you're talking about, dumbass," "Apparently, you've never seen a baseball game, or you'd know...", "My Chihuahua knows more about baseball than you do," etc.
2. Comments that are intolerant or prejudiced (sexist, racist, homophobic, etc.) in nature, e.g., "Why don't you go play with your dolls?", "The A's shouldn't sign black players," "Doesn't Damon look like a fag?", etc.
3. Harassing/Baiting of users, e.g., "How about that Chavez; isn't he great?" posted five consecutive times that Chavez makes an out, "The A's will never win this game" posted 10 times in 30 minutes, etc.
4. Relentless negativity will not be tolerated. What constitutes "relentless negativity"? It's simple: simply posting the A's suck 100 percent of the time without reasoning or proposing solutions. There is nothing helpful about someone who constantly says that their team "sucks" and complains. We're all fans and we all get frustrated when the team doesn't perform or has bad luck, but regurgitating the same venom over and over again doesn't help anything or anyone. AN is aiming to be better than that. If you continue to do nothing but post negativity, you will lose posting privileges without warning. There's a difference between someone who aims to point out flaws and be constructive and someone who is destructive. 10 diaries, or 10 comments, in a row about how the A's stink with no reasoning or proposals is basically trolling and that's how it will be treated. The goal is to make this community fun for everyone.
5. Comments that bring politics into AN (which is a non-political blog), e.g., "Bush/Clinton ruined this country by...", "Check out this link about the war in Iraq," etc. And just so that all ANers are clear, AN does accept political advertising as long as it is not offensive in any way, shape or form, but we subscribe to the belief that advertising and editorial are separate. So there will occasionally be political ads that run. Just like any other media outlet, just because a political ad runs, it doesn't mean we endorse or support whatever cause it happens to be.

Consequences for Violating AN's Community Guidelines

Consistent with its baseball roots, when it comes to violations of the Community Guidelines, AN works on a version of "3 strikes and you're out." Complaints about possible violations of the Community Guidelines should be directed to AN's sub-committee for review and consideration.

The sub-committee aims to balance a high tolerance for the importance of free speech and low tolerance for minor or petty complaints, with enforcement of the stated guidelines on behalf of the entire AN community.

Strike 1: If the sub-committee agrees that a violation has occurred, the offending user will be contacted privately and issued a formal "strike 1". No other action is taken.

Strike 2: A second violation through this process triggers a "strike 2 warning" from the sub-committee, with a "cc" to Blez.

Strike 3: A third violation through this process is forwarded directly by the sub-committee to Blez for administrative action at Blez' discretion.

ROLL-OFF SYSTEM FOR STRIKES

* If a user has one strike, 4 consecutive "strike-free" months will cause that strike to roll off.

* If a user has two strikes, 6 consecutive "strike-free" months will cause that strike to roll off.

* A "strike three" never rolls off: it is incumbent upon any banned user to appy for reinstatement (whenever they feel it is appropriate) by contacting Blez, Nico, or the Sub-committee with whatever correspondence they wish to make.

If a user makes repeated complaints that fail to meet the sub-committee?s standard for a violation, the user may be contacted by Blez and asked to "chill out".

When evaluating a complaint, each of the four Sub-committee members makes a "Yes" or "No" vote, and it takes three "Yes" votes for action to be taken on a complaint. However, in voting "Yes" a Sub-committee member can vote "Yes--but just a warning" or "Yes--full strike". As for which prevails, among those voting "yes," if as many as two Sub-committee members vote "full strike" it defaults to a full strike. Also, a user cannot get two "warning strikes" in a row, so if his/her last strike was only a warning, then a "yes" verdict from the Sub-committee is automatically a full strike.

Note that as the site's chief administrator Blez may, at any time, choose to bypass the 3-strikes process and ban a user if he judges that a user has the primary motive of disrupting and/or upsetting the community or if an offense is judged by Blez to be exceptionally grievous in nature.

Procedure For Lodging An Official Complaint

If you believe a user has violated the Community Guidelines and you wish to bring it to AN's sub-committee for review, send an email to the address AN has set up to evaluate complaints: CGV@athleticsnation.com. In order to be evaluated, your email must include the following information:

• Your AN user name
• The AN user name of the user about whom you are complaining
• The URL(s) of the post(s) in question

Complaints are evaluated, and any appropriate follow-up action taken, internally. The user who made the complaint should not expect any further reply, other than an initial acknowledgement that the complaint has been received.

Diaries

The only Community Guidelines for posting a diary are:

• A diary must be a minimum of 300 characters or it is considered to be unsubstantial and is deleted as a violation of the Community Guidelines.
• A diary must in some way belong on AN--in other words, it must relate to the A's, or to baseball, or to AN, or to an existing thread or diary, etc.
• A user may not post more than 2 diaries in a given day.

Tips on writing good diaries:

Some of the qualities that the most popular diaries often have in common are:

• They expand upon the main idea with supporting examples, or statistical data, or a link to a relevant article, or a "thinking question" for others to consider, etc.--something beyond just the main idea itself.
• They explore a topic, idea, or question that has not been explored recently, or at all, on AN.

Keep in mind that if your diary contains only one point or idea that is not developed, expanded on, or supported with arguments or data, it is really not a diary--it is a comment that should be posted in an existing thread or diary.

General Disclaimer: What is written above are guidelines that help to explain the policies, procedures, and processes AN generally uses. It is entirely at Blez' discretion how to interpret and implement these guidelines, which are subject to change at any time.