Considering it's a down time in the offseason, there's a pretty solid opportunity to give a lil background info on the inner workings of your SBN account. Personally I've wanted to type up something like this for a while but I either 1) was preoccupied by actual news or 2) couldn't find the motivation. Yesterday Hooks kinda suggested we get a little how-to post up here, so why the hell not?
Here we are. Typing it up. Gettin it done. Filling you in on all the fun little features on SBN. From now on I won't have to worry about typing it again. I'll just put a little linkage back to this post and viola.
So, let's get started...
Fanposts
Have an idea you wanna share? Got a story you can break and sources to reference? This is where you do it. Consider it a blog within the blog. A Fanpost gives you, the reader, a chance to touch up on something we haven't done yet - or perhaps something we never would've considered doing had it not been for you. Fanposts that inspire hearty conversation, report a breaking story or generally stand out as something we feel everyone can really benefit from will get promoted to the front page. You can view recent fanposts on the right sidebar or a longer list of stories with this link. You can clink "Creat fanpost" to start today. Keep in mind that we not only reserve the right to publish your stuff to the front page, but if if outright violates the Pensburgh code of ethics we also reserve the right to take it down. So play nice.
Fanshots
Fanshots are basically links to links. Maybe you saw a story but didn't feel like typing up a fanpost about it. Perhaps you have a lil piece on former Penguins players or maybe just a general NHL topic you feel can generate a good discussion. This is where you do it. You can also add pictures, lists or create a general chat about whatever you feel hasn't brought in enough comments through the stories. Fanshots are located below fanposts. You can create one here or view the full list of recent ones here.
User features
By now, I hope, you know that you can comment. But did you also know that you can recommend your favorite comments? In a sea of comments, recs give the funnier/snarkier/intelligent comments a chance to stand out. Click "Actions" under the comment name and rec. Zat ees all. You can also rec fanposts, fanshots and stories. If something gets enough recs it stands out on the front page of the site. So if you like something or you see someone put a lot of work into a post, give them credit and give it a rec. I'd post a picture, but I'm not in the mood.
If you have a twitter account you can retweet any story you see on Pensburgh and share it with your friends. There's a big ol green button in the upper right corner of every front page post, along with a button right next to the comments total. Love it. Live it. Use it. Your friends will thank you for it.
Speaking of friends, and to make a crappy transition, you can also use Facebook to post some Pensburgh linkage. If you're not into the whole Twitter thing (it took me a while, honestly) then Facebook is your healthy alternative. Every time you tweet or facebook a Pensburgh post, there's a good chance we attract more Penguins fans. Now I know that responsibility should be solely that of Me, Hooks, Dunman and Lavender, but come on - we're all friends here. If we do a bad job tell us, but if we do a good job we'd rather you just share the love with your friends and such. We don't need to know. We might get really confident and lazy.
Questions? Thoughts? Concerns? Let me know. I think I hit everything, but in the event I may have missed by all means speak up.