Welcoming new readers to Buffalo Rumblings

Over the past week, we here at Buffalo Rumblings have been both surprised and pleased to see an incredible increase in daily traffic, a whole bunch of new registered users, and an overall spike of activity at our little old Bills blog.  For those of you that have joined us in recent weeks, welcome to Buffalo Rumblings!

In an effort to get everyone situated with the SB Nation blogging platform and the essence of our little community, I've constructed this post as a sort of Welcome Guide for new readers.  So if you're new to the blog and are looking for a little more information as to what we're all about here, click on through to the good stuff.  We're very pleased to have you here, and we hope that this information will make you comfortable enough to get you settled and start blogging.

And for you Rumblings veterans, you might want to check out the end of this post.  We've shaken up the editorial and management staff here at Rumblings.  We introduce our new team members below as well.  Trust me - they all rule.

Community Guidelines
If you're already a member here, and in particular if you're a new member here, be sure to brush up on our Buffalo Rumblings Community Guidelines.  The abbreviated version: keep it civil, don't troll, don't swear, and understand that we all have a common goal: to see the Bills become winners again.  They're simple rules, and if they're followed, it'll maintain the intelligent, thoughtful discourse that makes Rumblings the (hopefully) great place that it is.

Creating an SB Nation user account
You'll want to head on over to this link if you're interested in creating an account and participating on the blog.  If you were referred here from Yahoo, there is an option to create an SBN account through your Yahoo ID; there are also OpenID options as well.  Even if you're not interested in participating, an account may be a good idea simply because of what it allows you to do in scrolling through user comments.

Commenting
If you are logged in with your SBN account, using the tools available to read comments is, in my humble opinion, the single best technical feature of this blog.  When you click on a post that has comments you haven't read, press "Z" to highlight the first comment.  Press "Z" again, and it'll mark the comment as read and move you down to the next comment.  "X" unmarks a comment without taking you to the next one, and "C" scrolls through comments without unmarking them.  If there's ever a comment you'd like to respond to, tap "R" when it's highlighted and it will open a dialogue box that will thread your comment into the conversation.  SBN's commenting tools are top of the line, and it makes keeping up with our often rapid-fire conversations infinitely easier.  (More tricks appear in the fine print at the top of the comment section on every post.)

FanPosts versus FanShots
Don't make the mistake of believing that since I'm this blog's manager that it's "my" blog.  It's not.  This is a community blog - and that's why FanPosts and FanShots are built into the platform.  I'm not here to sell myself as an authority on the Bills - so if you disagree with something I or anyone else has to say, do it in a FanPost (and here are some guidelines to writing FanPosts).  If you're looking to share a link with us for a breaking news story or if you find an interesting online chat, video, or anything else that doesn't require much in the way of writing on your part, pop it into a FanShot.  Any FanPosts or FanShots submitted by you can be recommended by the community for increased exposure, and if it's especially excellent, one of the site's editors can toss it onto the front page as well.  This is very much a platform to get your opinions on the Bills heard louder than ever.  Use it well.

Pet Peeves
We've been blogging here for nearly two years now (Rumblings launched on April 7, 2007), and through those 23 months, we've had some excellent detailed discussions on practically every topic you can imagine regarding the Bills.  However, there are some things you can do that will help you get in on the discussions without upsetting the general flow of the blog.

- This is a place for opinions.  If you don't like someone's opinion, disagree with the opinion.  There really isn't any need to call them a moron, or an idiot, or question their fanhood.  Not only is it off-putting to the veterans who have helped form this community, it also doesn't reflect well on your own opinions, which we most certainly value.  Be respectful, and the respect will be returned.

- A large portion (roughly 75-80%) of our traffic comes from folks at work (you slackers).  For that reason, we outlaw most forms of profanity here at Rumblings.  We understand the passion (or, more accurately for us, angst) that comes with being a Bills fan, and therefore we understand the urges you might feel to let it all out.  In 99% of situations, however, intelligent conversations can be held without using profanity to emphasize your point.  Profane comments will be deleted by one of the ten team members here at Rumblings.

- Most of you don't know what I'm about (yet), so I'll get the big one out of the way - I'm one of the most incredibly anal people you'll ever meet when it comes to spelling.  Particularly when it comes to spelling an athlete's name.  Please don't be offended when I use my editing privileges to tidy up some spelling if you write a FanPost.  I just can't help myself.

The Rumblings team
I'll take the liberty of introducing the ten team members here at Rumblings.  They are, of course, free to correct any errors I make.  (And before you ask, yeah, most of this is heavily laced with sarcasm and inside jokes.  That's intended so you understand 95% of the jokes we tell.  The other 5% relate to one of our veteran users - Joe P - being a pervert.)

Manager: Brian Galliford

I am the founder and lead editor (or, apparently, "Manager") here at Rumblings.  I like being a Bills fan, and I like liking the fact that I'm a Bills fan.  Therefore, I might write articles that make the optimist feel all warm and fuzzy inside and the pessimist want to punch me in the face.  I make a lot of pop culture references, mostly dealing with Star Wars, Judd Apatow films, or any of the five TV shows I watch religiously (Lost, The Office, Heroes, Chuck and House).  I'm not sure there's anything else substantially interesting about me, so I'll leave it at that.

Editors: Kurupt, sireric, MattRichWarren
If you know Chris Kelsay, tell him to find Kurupt in the city and give our longest-tenured editor a big hug.  Kelsay is Kurupt's favorite player.  Other favorites of Kurupt's include Dick Jauron, drafting defensive backs in the first round and watching our defensive ends overrun yet another misdirection play.

A dirty, stinking Mets fan and a dirty, stinking (New York) Rangers fan, we're not sure how sireric found his way to Bills fandom, either.  But he's a smart cat, and his weekly brain-frying Bills trivia will leave you drooling on your keyboards at work.  He has to watch more Jets games than Bills games, so cut him some slack.

MattRichWarren is our baby editor.  He enjoys sunshine and daisies.  He also likes writing articles with a heavy statistical influence.  He also comments on this blog more than the rest of us combined, probably because he is a very swift typist.  If you mix up a player's name or make any sort of error in that regard, you've just pulled an 'MRW'.  Sometimes he types too fast.

Authors: jri111, Ron From NM
Like Kurupt, jri111 has been here since the blogging stone age.  He writes articles about linebackers because he's an alum of Penn State, which is akin to a Holiday Inn Express for knowing things about linebackers.  He also knows stuff about the law, so he's kind of our go-to-guy when we talk about Marshawn Lynch.

Ron From NM is a genius.  He created his own method of grading offensive line play, and when he shares the results of his research with us, it leads to some of the more illuminating discussions we have here at Rumblings.  He's also very into polls.  But he's kind of evil, in a Darth Ronious (see? Star Wars reference) sort of way.

Moderators: WABillsfan, poz, MARVelous, krytime
WABillsfan lives in Washington and has one of the more creative screen names here at Rumblings.  He's up really late at night sometimes as a result.  We love him, but probably only because he lives in Washington.  He writes really long FanPosts.

Any time I want someone to disagree with me, poz usually steps up to the plate.  He has a man crush on Alex Mack.  He laughs at everyone's jokes, which I know from personal experience makes me feel awesome, but sometimes I don't laugh at jokes that he laughs at, which makes me feel stupid.

MARVelous has been here forever.  His name is not Marv, but really, his name is Marv.  He likes good offensive players, so naturally, he doesn't like most of our offense.  He's also marvelous.

If you're a current Bills player with a year or two of experience under your belt, give krytime a shout, because he likely wants the Bills to give you a contract extension.  He also asks a lot of questions, which lead to some of our most thought-provoking FanPosts.  He also places a lot of wagers.

We have a million other frequent posters that all have their little quirks as well.  Stick around long enough and not only will you get to know each and every member of our incredible community, we'll also find out stuff about you and mock you mercilessly for it.  For serious, though, we really look forward to hearing from more of you.  Viva la Buffalo Rumblings!