There have been some discussions recently about uses of FanPosts, the prominence of FanShots, and some other issues on the site. Here are my suggestions to deal with those issues.
1. I moved the FanShots to the left column, so they're just about even with the FanPosts in terms of height. Anything that you can't legitimately get to 75 words, with the exception of game thread overflows, should go in the FanShots.
Let me know what you think of the placement of the FanShots.
2. I posted a thread on trade scenarios and speculation, and I'll probably post a new one every few days until the deadline. This is a thread for un-sourced speculation. If someone credible is reporting that the Pirates are in talks with a particular team to acquire a particular player, you're welcome to create a new FanPost or FanShot for that. But if it's just something like, 'I think it would be great if the Pirates acquired ARam,' please put it in the trade scenarios thread.
There is some room for leeway here. If you write an amazing, well-considered, 800-word post on why the Pirates should acquire some player or another, then you can consider FanPosting it. But if you write a 75-word FanPosts about a trade scenario that's highly unlikely to ever come to fruition, that's the kind of thing that clutters the column of FanPosts, so I'm going to start taking those down.
3. Seriously, 75 words or more for the FanPosts. Anything shorter than that should be a FanShot. And if you're just having a random thought that day, rather than sharing a link or a YouTube video or whatever, you probably shouldn't be posting that in either one.
4. If you do a FanPost on a topic that already has a thread associated with it, I'm probably going to take it down unless it's great. (Often news breaks and two or three people get to working on something immediately. That's not what I'm talking about. I'm talking about when there are 100 comments in a thread and someone decides their 75-word opinion on the same topic is important enough to justify a FanPost.)
5. Headlines for FanPosts must tell us what is in the FanPost. Don't do a headline that says, for example, "Well, THAT Was Interesting." Include keywords that tell potential readers what they're considering clicking on.
6. Don't make misleading FanPost titles. For example, suggesting a player has been traded when he has not is poor form.
Thanks, Charlie