This was posted by Chris back in 2009 but I think it's a good reminder on how to produce quality FanPosts that people will read. -Joel
So you want to get your FanPost to the top of the Rec list? Or the highest honor - promoted to the front page? Or maybe even both?
Take a minute here and read my suggestions and in no time, with a little effort, your post about how much you hate Todd Haley could be sitting at the top of the Rec list. Well, maybe not a post about hating Todd Haley. You'll see why in a minute.
To start, here is a list of the most rec'd FanPosts of all time on Arrowhead Pride. Get familiar with them if you want to write great content.
Right now, I'm going to throw out a few things that make good FanPosts and promotable content and then check out a few of those posts.
You don't need every one of these attributes in your post to hit the big time but at the very least some combination of these will be needed:
- Content that hasn't been seen anywhere else (e.g. interesting stat, breakdown of a certain play, or pictures and video). This is the big one people....I really can't stress this enough.
- Typo-free, with only one line between paragraphs and paragraphs that aren't too long. Basically, don't make us edit your post to make it look presentable.
- Images are appropriately sized (Just check the image sizes we post on the front page and use them as a guide)
- No cursing. There's no rule against cursing at AP but we're probably not going to promote a FanPost that will be picked up by Google News, Yahoo Sports, Sports Illustrated, etc. that has fuck or shit in it. (Side note: I searched AP for "fuck" and it shows up
2,483over 5,000 times in the comments. Wow...) - Humor is tricky but if you hit it right, your post can be golden
- Adjectives - use lots of them. Cliches - avoid them at all cost.
- Personal experiences about the Chiefs or the organization
- Honest-to-goodness Chiefs fandom
- Timing. Don't post about a topic or current event that happened a week ago. See: Guppy.
I'm sure there are others that will come to me.
Now, I want take a look at a few of the most popular FanPosts and point out why they got so many Recs.
Damn Haley by Patrick Allen
The most popular FanPost of all time, Patrick's Damn Haley post hit the AP fanbase at the right time with a mixture of great writing, cleverness, humor and a positive outlook on the Chiefs. We probably would have bumped it if it didn't have Damn in it. Which I'm not opposed to. It just doesn't look good on Google News.
I also liked the edginess of this post, which added a lot to the comments and the humor.
The comments are a gold mine by the way. May be the funniest comment thread of all time too.
The Character of a Win by RDOGuy
I won't say much about this post except it captured a lot of fan's sentiments at the time and is just straight up well written. It flows well and makes great points while including a perfect mixture of stats and analysis. I really liked the "character" angle of it too.
This could be the ideal model FanPost for getting Recs and a promotion.
A Letter from Todd Haley by oldchiefsfan
Back in October, oldchiefsfan sent Todd Haley an Arrowhead Pride WolfPack t-shirt. A short while later, he got a letter back from the man himself saying thanks for the support and the t-shirt.
This is probably one of the coolest posts on AP and definitely falls into that Personal Experience category I mentioned above.
The Kool Aid Drinker's Manifesto by KCPorkchop
Porkchop's post is a great example of rising up with a positive, intelligent post in a sea of negativity. Frankly, the straight up irrational homers annoy me, which is why Porkchop's "homerish" post hit home for me. The post was right before the Chiefs' loss to the Jaguars and still managed to get major recs.
It was very well written and very logical and reasonable in its analysis. Again, just great writing. Stuff you want to keep reading.
***
One thing I want to stress above all of these recommendations is that it takes a lot of time to write a good FanPost, even if you're a good writer. Don't stress if you don't hit a homerun on your first try.
So keep working on those FanPosts and Thank You for contributing to AP.