Moderator Repost: If you joined AP after April, please read

This was originally titled: "Moderator Note 2: Just a Gentle Reminder" and I posted it on 22 April 2009.  Original post here.

I would like to emphasize something Chris and Primetime have noted before, but absent in the Welcome New Readers! post...and add just a dash of PARADE.

Two notes from the SB Nation main page:

1) "SB Nation - of, by, and for the fans."

2) "By empowering fans, SB Nation has become the largest and fastest growing grassroots sports network."

These are probably two of the most important tenants, not only of AP, but the parent company SB Nation.  They properly imply that, we, the members, make the site.  The quality of our members' effort equates to the quality of our site.

We are all fans. From the birth of AP, Chris and Primetime have been very patient by allowing members to post their thoughts and participate in the living document of AP with minimal oversight or censorship.

That approach has made AP into the community it is today, and we all have evolved along with it.

Ask yourself how many times you have seen Chris, Primetime, UC, or myself censor or delete any posts/comments. Not many. The only instances are when someone has grossly breached the Terms of Service or has flirted with copyright infringement.

They have always treated us as equal contributors to AP, encouraged or constructively critiqued us, and have bent over backwards to properly credit members who have tipped off AP to a story or event.

As the managing editor of the Bills SB Nation Blog, Brian Galliford, wrote of Chris and Primetime, "The folks at AP are Mozart."

Through their effort and measured hand, they have taken the tenants of SB Nation and empowered all of us to share in the ownership of the best blog on SB Nation. They also go beyond the call to regularly promote FanPosts and FanShots to the main page that have followed the guidelines outlined in Chris' rules.

They go beyond even that to give hat tips to us in their own articles, even though sometimes their articles were posted before other members' FanPosts and FanShots.

However, there is an agreement, both written and implied, that we give the effort to be worthy contributors. Much like PARADE's guidance on commenting, it is equally applicable to FanPosts:  "When respect is given it must be returned."

Give effort in your FanPosts, follow the guidelines, and let your voice be heard.

To all of the veteran members, the same SB Nation tenants apply to us, as well. When a new member is first posting, there is a semi-grace period where mistakes should be pointed out, but the community shouldn't drop the hammer on them immediately (unless the post is just hella douchery).

We all were new to this site and this community at one point. We all made mistakes, and we all learned.

In that context, here is my point:

• I refuse to allow AP to devolve into a bastard version of 99% of forums online where assholes berate n00bs for the sole sake of being new and their moderators act like iron fisted, e-peni*, imposing their personal preferences on the content of the website by deleting or locking members' voices. H/T to the worthless bastard known as Texas Chief :)
  
• This is a community first and foremost. The spine of our interaction is the Chiefs, but it is not the totality of the relationship. Through our discussions, jokes, and disagreements, we foster relationships that keep us returning to AP whether or not anything of relevance is occurring with the Chiefs.

AP truly is Chris' analogy of being an online Chiefs' Sports Bar.

• AP is also, as PARADE decreed, "Blogfrica."  And for those of you who may not know, AP is part of PARADE's intellectual property too, I believe.  That is, in and of itself, another testament to the culture of AP.  No one is running around with badges of authority in their signatures.  Everyone is a member of the community...unless you're a total dick. :)

• [U] FanPosts do not make the contributor...Probably the most important contribution any of us have as members is to be a good commenter. It does not go unnoticed. H/T to ChiefsWolf24 in the comments

If you step off the cliff, be prepared to fall. You will be criticized. Not everyone is going to agree with you, and you aren't always going to be perfect (I f^ck up all the time, as you probably know:) ).

Again, back to the "AP Sports Bar": Relax, get saucy, joke around, get sidetracked, but you must have some thick skin. Just because it is online, doesn't strip it of being subject to the normal rule of social groups.

• When a member gets out of hand, we will step in. Some of you rightfully have concerns about certain issues, and we want you to know most of our moderation of members is not viewable to the community, and is done in a private manner. I have already warned and banned 3 members.
  
• The same goes for some of the FanPosts. As waves of new members come in, we tend to get waves of FanPosts that are not in consonance with the official guidelines. The same tolerance as mentioned earlier applies, but at some point we will let it be known to follow the rules or leave.  -That doesn't mean you shouldn't comment or recommend they change, just don't be a total dick about it.

• Also, the occasional off-topic FanPost is fine.  As, Chris answered that situation once, "Let the community decide."