Batter's Box Frequently Asked Questions
(Version 0.4 - April 2006)

Craig's always maintained that Batter's Box is a Peña. But there's more to it than that.

Jordan has some insights in the About Batter's Box page, and it may help you to go there first if you're wondering what this place is all about.

How Do I Register and Post?

Joe Drew has answered a lot of these questions in his Introduction to Batter's Box Version 3. This will tell you about passwords, accounts, comments, and other stuff.

Batters Box receives over 200 registration requests from spammers for each legitimate request.  If you have email from Rogers, Sympatico, Bell or Shaw you should be approved.  If you have a gmail or hotmail account then your user name and email address should be "normal" to get approved.  Spammers often use a jumble of letters in their email address, if your email address is a jumble of letters that only makes sense to you then your registration request could get rejected.  If so try again with an account name that says you are a baseball fan.  

How Do I Get Banned?

By not following the ground rules, or by annoying the regulars on the site. There are many ways to annoy the regulars and they run the gamut from being stupid to being antagonistic. Most of the time we give you a warning. Most of the time.

What are the ground rules?

Here is the Batter's Box Code Of Conduct and Posting Rules:

1. Batter's Box is a site for intelligent baseball discussion and your posts should show evidence of intelligence. Try to advance the discussion with relevant observations or opinions. Before posting ask yourself: 'Is this post contributing to the thread?' If the answer is 'No' or 'I'm not sure', do not post your comment to the thread. At Batter's Box we value quality over quantity.

2. Proper usage of English is important. When posting use complete sentences, use appropriate capitalization, and do not use internet style abbreviations. Proofread your comments prior to posting them to the thread. You can and will be corrected if your use of the English language is poor. The more of us who make intelligent points, using proper English, the better Batter's Box will be.

3. Respect others. You might disagree with someone's opinion, but don't make it personal. Do not issue personal insults to other posters. Other posters are not jerks or morons; their opinion might be out to lunch but they are not. Similarly, players and front office personnel deserve our respect.

4. Do not insult a player or front office employee. Take a deep breath after a tough game. Remember that no player is as bad as he looks in his worst game nor as good as he looks in his best. Posting that "Wells sucks", or "I hate Patterson", or "Rios is a joke", makes YOU look bad. Remember that Batter’s Box is a site for intelligent baseball discussion: Knee jerk reactions don't meet that expectation.

5. Do not use profanity. Do not use inappropriate expressions such as "The Jays were raped", or "McCoy made an abortion of that play". Variations or abbreviations of profanity are not allowed - for example, STFU and F#$k are not allowed.

6. Don't make absolute statements unless you know them to be true. For example, if you say "the Jays suck with runners in scoring position", you should know that it is true. Otherwise check before posting.

7. Do not make the same post in two threads. Assume readers read all new posts and it will be seen.

8. Don't copy material from another site and paste it into Batter's Box without permission. Copyright laws disallow this practice, and on the other side we would not want our articles to be reproduced elsewhere without permission. You can summarize in no more than a few sentences. Always post a link to the source.

9. Do not pretend to be a major league player or a member of the front office. You have wide latitude to select your user name but impersonation is verboten. You can use "Lawrie fan", or "not the real Brett Lawrie", but not "Brett Lawrie". Keep in mind that you will have the same username as long as you’re a registered user of Batter’s Box – a handle that seems timely and hilarious right now might become very old very fast.

10. Don't be a one note Charlie. If you feel strongly about a point make it, even make it again. But don't return to the same point time after time. Most Batter’s Box readers are regulars; assume they know you and your perspective.

11. Be a considerate poster. An example of an inconsiderate post is rushing to post something you just read/heard as in "not sure of this has been posted yet but...". You’ll find in many cases it was already posted and had you read the thread you would have seen that.

12. Keep threads on topic. Don't hijack threads because you're in a rush to post something. There are appropriate threads to put everything in, and even if the appropriate thread is an older one your post will be visible because the thread will be bumped to the top of the Hot Topics list. If in doubt, contact a Roster member and a new thread can be established if required.

Remember, Batter's Box is NOT a democracy. Batter's Box is a private web site to which you are granted posting privileges. We have developed these simple posting guidelines and if you cannot follow them your posting privileges can be withdrawn at any time.

Finally have fun. These posting guidelines are designed to enhance everyone's enjoyment of Batter's Box.

Do you have a privacy policy?

It's part of our Legal Page.

Is Batter's Box affiliated with the Blue Jays?

No. Many of us are Jays fans, but we are not affiliated with the team in any way. We have lots of other contributors and readers who are not Jays fans, but baseball fans in general.

Is non-Jays material and discussion welcome?

It's not only welcome, it's encouraged. Some of us think there is too much Jays material here to begin with... or at least, not enough non-Jays material. Non-MLB baseball material and discussion is also encouraged.

I wrote this great article that I think would be perfect for Batter's Box to publish. Who should I send it to?

First of all, thanks! We love receiving material from readers. Our own Matthew E handles the editing of "Pinch Hits" as we usually call them. Send them to him at melmslie@gmail.com and he should reply within a day or two, less if it's time sensitive (if it is, let him know!) If you don't hear back from him, send him a follow-up e-mail.

Sometimes we just can't post a Pinch Hit, but in most cases we'll work with you until we can.

What's with the baseballs next to some comments?

Comments displayed with baseballs beside them are Featured Comments. They're the comments that are displayed by default, and for people who aren't logged in to the site they're the only comments visible.

What are Featured Comments?

Featured Comments are those comments that, together, provide a high-level overview of a discussion. They're the most insightful, thoughtful, informative or otherwise useful comments in a particular discussion.   99% of our comments are featured comments.

Whose posts get featured?

Everybody's!  Posts that are inappropriate are either deleted or unfeatured.

Is That It?

For now. Thanks for dropping in.

The Batter's Box FAQ endeavours to be 100% accurate but due to Heisenberg's Uncertainty Principle, the precise location and velocity of any particle cannot be known with complete accuracy.

Last Updated Thursday, February 09 2012 @ 03:24 PM EST