This was something I probably should have written a week ago when SB Nation first hooked up with Yahoo! but free agency had to take precedence and this introduction got put on the back burner.
If you found us through Yahoo! and have just joined us in the last week or so...welcome! You've made it. Everything is going to be alright now. Now I know what you're thinking. You're thinking, "But Dave (that's my name), I've been a Saints fan my entire life and I've been wasting time because I've only now just discovered you." And you'd be right; you have been wasting your time. But it's never too late to save your soul. Your pennance shall be 10 FanShots and 5 FanPosts. We'll get to that later.
If you don't know by now, I'm the guy that runs things around here. I brought CSC back to life about a year ago after it had been defunct and over that time I have covered the team every single day since. That is not an exaggeration. Every...single...day there is a new post on the main page and I try and make sure the breaking news always gets to the front page with quickness. I have been a fan only since around 2002 but I haven't missed a game since. I am a season ticket holder and attend every home game. That includes London in '08. I am originally from NY but I have lived and worked in uptown New Orleans since 1999. Only occassionally do I stand on my soap box and preach my opinion as if it's fact. I am not a journalist. I didn't major in English. I have no idea what my writing style is. If you do, please tell me. And if you think my writing ever starts to suck you just go ahead and let me know and I'll go ahead and tell you to shove it. Kidding. I have no inside sources with the team but I am accepting applications (Rita, call me!?). I am just a loyally devoted fan who tries to act like he knows what he's doing. It's been working so far. For the most part I just try and keep you all informed, make light of the daily Saints happenings and stir up debate among all of us. But trust me on the sunscreen.
But don't go thinking this is just some blog written by an incredibly handome narcissist because it's not. It is not! Canal Street Chronicles is the most unique Saints website on the internet that you will ever find. Promise. SB Nation has something really special going on here. The simple fact that the genius' over at Yahoo! thought us worthy enough to be a part of their family should say enough. From the bottom of my heart I think we are on the cutting edge. What is so great about us? This website is for everyone. It is interactive. We've got a message board called FanPosts and a constant stream of updated Saints news from around the web, called FanShots. All of which you guys control! This is an entire community here. A lot of us have come to know each other very well, all through our discourse about the Saints. In the last year I have made friends with tons of Saints fans all around the world and I really think some of these guys would put me up at their house if I was ever in town. You will find that CSC members are all well educated when it comes to the team. They come here to vent their frustrations, share their happiness and offer feedback to questions and comment, always while keeping it respectful. No flame wars. No personal attacks. Just friendly, intelligent debate.
To keep things kosher around here we've got some rules and guidelines to follow. We'll get to that after the jump (thats blog lingo). So here is your first lesson; click on the "Continue reading this post" link just below to...continue reading this post.
Rules and Community Guidelines
- Be nice or leave. That should cover everything. Act as if you were in your mothers house. If you still live with your mother, just continue doing what you're doing. This is sports and more specifically this is the Saints, so we're not all going to agree. That's the fun in this whole thing. You don't have to agree with everything that everyone says but you have to disagree with them in a respectful way. Never attack another member personally. That doesn't have to do with anything.
- Dirty mouth? Watch the language. I think a good general rule is that if you can't say it on primetime television than you can't say it here. Feel free to go nuts with the &$^#%$ keys or make up your own curses, like "Monkeyvijambajuicscicles!" The rules of tastefulness also apply to your avatars.
- We don't need "interracial love" spam. Spamming and trolling is strictly forbidden. Nobody here is interested in what you're selling. Don't create multiple accounts for the purpose of avoidance. If you've got your own Saints website and you want feedback or to share, that is totally cool. Share it with us in a FanShot or FanPost. That is why they are there.
- There's a new sherrif in town. I spend a lot of time on here and I will take whatever disciplinary action is required. If I'm not here, our moderator Stujo4 is and he has also been given the same power to warn you, delete your comments or worse, ban you. Be affraid. Be very affraid.
- Posting Rules. When quoting a source in a FanPost or FanShot, do not copy and paste the entire article. Just pick one or two parts you find signficant and quote those. Than link to the article. Whenever referencing a source, always provide the link. When posting a FanShot, do a quick check first to make sure that same link hasn't already been posted. In the case of duplicates, the earliest time stamped FanShot will be kept. The rest will be deleted.
- Knowing is half the battle. You are expected to know all of these rules. You will be warned for first offenses and could be banned for repeated offenses.
The Technical Stuff
Here is a little tech post I wrote not too long ago that explain some of the nitty gritty stuff like how to make FanPosts and FanShots look friggin' sweet. Because I know you're too lazy to click that link I just gave you, I am reposting it in its entirety right now. In addition to my tutorial, anything I might have left out is covered in detail over at Mile High Report. I definitely recommend heading over there after reading this.
FanPosts
This is the off-season and I'm sure you guys have a lot more stuff you want to talk about other than what I write for the day. The FanPost section is exactly where you can do that. Or maybe there is some breaking news and nobody has mentioned it yet. Throw up a link and quote a quick blurb so CSC is always up to date though Bayou Rebel will probably have already beaten you to the punch. Bring up any Saints or football or even New Orleans related topic right here. It can be long or it can be short. It can be well written, well researched and well thought out, or it can be quickly typed up and riddled with spelling errors. It doesn't matter. There is a 75 word minimum but thats really not too hard to reach. If I really like what you've written here, I have the option to put it up on the front page for all to see. In reality, the FanPost section is just a fancy looking message board. Check out what it looks like when you click "All FanPosts." Click on the picture to enlarge.
Cool huh? So if you're really more into the whole message board thing, this is for you. And the best part about it is the fact that each of these threads is auto-refreshing. That means, just like our open game threads, comments update in real time as they're written with no need to hit the refresh button. It also means that as traffic and participation increases, each thread will become more like live chat rooms!! This is where most of the action should be taking place and lots of participation will always keep CSC fresh and make everyone want to keep coming back.
FanShots
Also a big part of the community atmosphere here at CSC is FanPost's evil twin, FanShot. The FanShot section is where anyone can quickly put up Saints related info from around the internet. Find a video from YouTube you want to share? Paste it as a FanShot. Found an article about the Saints? Share it with all of us. There is power in numbers and if everyone shares what they find then CSC would be a one-stop shop for Saints links. Check this area frequently. That means multiple times a day...at least. I personally use it all day to post stuff I find. Every single FanShot I post is a different link to an article, video or other website. I may present it as a quote or as a link but either way, this is where all of your Saints news comes from. Members MtnExile, HansDat, Satchmo26, Hollywoo! and Stujo4 are all shining role models for how this is supposed to work.
To help get you all better acquainted with this feature I've created a miniature tutorial that everyone should find useful. Below is a screenshot of what you see when you go to put up a FanPost.
Areas 1, 2 and 3 are where you add all of your tags. Please do this whenever you make a FanShot or FanPost. Whoever or whatever the FanShot/FanPost is about should be added as a tag. So if I am posting a YouTube video of Drew Brees lighting up the Packers on MNF, I am going to add tags for "New Orleans Saints" "Green Bay Packers" "Drew Brees" and I am going to type in Monday Night Football in the "TAGS" section. I am also going to click "Attach Event" (area 4) and choose the actual game from the list provided. This helps link all stories, FanPosts and FanShots and allows SB Nation to provide suggestions of related items not just from Canal Street Chronicles but all other SB Nation blogs that you will probably be interested in. Tag it! Some of you may be confused on how I make my FanShot quotes look like I do. Let me help. First, I put the name of the person in area 5. Then in area 6 (between the two quotation marks) is where I put the URL or website address. Then in area 7 (between the ><) is where I put the actual name of the source. Here is what one of my completed FanShots looks like (not a real quote!).
If you want to post a video directly onto CSC, all you have to do is copy the Embed code from YouTube...
...and paste it right here in the FanShot section.
The rest of the FanShot options I think are self-explanatory. You can always email me or comment in this thread and ask me any questions you may have.
Rec's
To help maintain a heirarchy of quality, we've got a recommending system here on Da Chronic. Anytime you see a story, FanPost or FanShot that speaks to you, Rec it. If it receives four Rec's, it will get moved to the top for a while so others may see it and keep up with it easier. Let me know how you feel about my posts by rec'ing them. This way I know what to give you more of and what to stop writing all together. Even comments within threads can be rec'd. Two rec's will highlight the comment forever. All of this also makes sure the good stuff gets read. It will also help weed out the bad stuff. We should all really start doing this more.
Yahoo! Buzz, Facebook and Digg
Often times the stories I write will have little icons at the bottom, the most important of which is the Yahoo! buzz button. Click this!! It takes two seconds out of your day and it helps CSC's Yahoo! rankings, allowing for more visitors and more Saints fans to be able to find us.
If you want to share them on Facebook or Digg you can also do that here.
CSC on the go!
You will be glad to know that when you access CSC from your iPhone, Blackberry or other PDA you will automatically be redirected to the easy-to-view, PDA friendly mobile version of our site. If you'd rather view the full version you can do that too. Unfortunately, commenting from your mobile device isn't available yet but it's on the way.
Other notes:
- If you don't have an avatar, I highly recommend installing one. It's a cool way to represent yourself.
- Remember this is an entire network of blogs. We have a great site for every one of the NFL teams. If you are looking for information on another team, why not look for it right here on SB Nation first. Take adavantage of what is right at your fingertips.
- We have a Facebook profile and group. We are on Twitter.
- If you have a Facebook profile, MySpace page or other website please add our Canal Street Chronicles widget.
- Always help us grow and spread the word about our community.
- You can sign up for any of our feeds over on the left sidebar.
- I write all my posts in wide format. I recommend reading CSC in wide format.
- Take advantage of the RotoWorld, ESPN and CastTV widgets on the right sidebar. They are all updated regularly and all interactive.
- This post and others like it can be found whenever in the "Tour of CSC" section on the left sidebar.
- If you have any technical problems, email bugreport@sbnation.com and report it. Put the name of the blog and the problem you are experiencing in the subject line.
- Always feel free to email me with any comments, questions, problems or suggestions. This also includes advertising inquiries. We are always looking for people who are interested in advertising. If anyone out there knows someone who might be interested, please contact me.
You're still reading this? What are you waiting for? Sign up for an account already! If you're from Yahoo! than you can just use that ID. It takes two seconds and you get to make up a cool or funny Saints related name. Then introduce yourself. We want to know you're out there. If you've already got an account I want to hear from you too. Tell me what you had for breakfast this morning. How 'bout that T.O. trade huh?