DBN Community Announcement

While Dawgs By Nature is no where near as bad as the Cleveland.com forums, nor will it ever be, I have certainly taken notice of the few jabs that have been thrown around to hint the displeasure at how members have been interacting with each other lately. I try to be a very patient guy and give members, both new and old, the benefit of the doubt that things won't escalate or become a pattern, but that hasn't been the case.

This is the number one thing I want everyone to keep in mind: this is a Cleveland Browns blog to discuss the Browns and other things going around in the NFL. This community has some very intelligent discussions, but some things need to change. Namely...

• Sarcasm: I always love some nice, witty comments that are sarcastic. Some have been going over board. Calling someone an "asshole," saying "that's dumb," and then seeing 50 comment spawn off of it trying to explain that you were just kidding is not fun for anyone to read.
• The "Seriously!?!" Comments: Everyone has their own opinions, but we need to stop the habit of basically calling someone an idiot and then having a 50 comment spawn off explaining how you never technically called them idiot, and so and so is just overreacting. If someone states their opinion, please don't reply with the likes of..."Seriously? Wow, I don't think you know what's been going on. [Insert player name here] hasn't shown a damn thing, and suddenly you want him to be on the roster?"
• Non-Football Talk: Occasionally, I hold an "Around the Pound" thread where some light-hearted discussion about entertainment news, someone's personal achievement, etc. can be discussed. Other than that, football threads have been littered with too many non-football topics. No more 100-post discussions about grammar. No more strawman arguments that last 100 comments, which usually lead to comments like "you don't do enough research", "yes I do", "no you don't", "shut up", etc. No more discussions about political stuff, racism debates, law enforcement, etc. We're here to talk about the Cleveland Browns.
• Grammar: When you post here, you are expected to make an effort to have good punctuation, spelling, and capitalization. However, correcting members publicly often leads to unnecessary debates rather than football talk. If you do not like a post because of the grammar/format, flag it. I will then take a look at it and talk to the member privately if I find the need to do so.
• Posts You Don't Like: Don't like a post? Then don't reply, plain and simple. If you have nothing to add to the football aspect of the discussion without insulting the original poster, then don't say anything at all. Likewise, understand that more times than not, if people have two very different opinions, you're usually not going to change the other person's mind by re-stating the same point over and over and over again. An example? Over at Windy City Gridiron the other day, the Bears fans argued their belief that Hester > Cribbs, and then I stated my position on Cribbs. I didn't try to change their mind, but I let my voice be known and then left it at that.
  

Once again, the purpose of all of these reminders above are not to discourage posting, but to stop the crap that has been going on lately from getting started in the first place.

I've expanded moderating duties to include Bernie19Kosar. I might be looking for more moderators in the near future who I feel would use good judgment. You have the right to your own football opinion, but if you say something that doesn't fit in with the standards of the DBN community, don't be surprised to see your comments removed and a warning showing up the next time you log in.

Thanks for reading, and if you have any questions or comments, please leave them here.