Mission Statement:

Buffalo Rumblings is a blog dedicated to coverage of the Buffalo Bills.  As is the aim of our parent network, SB Nation, Buffalo Rumblings is a website "of, by and for the fans".  We are a tight-knit community comprised entirely of Buffalo Bills fans; we may not always get along, but what family does?  We are also a community that covers the Bills entirely by ourselves – this is, at its very core, a platform for any Bills fan to get their voice heard louder than ever.  We are fans, creating our own media coverage of the team that we know and love best.  Our goal is to cultivate a sense of community among our members that cannot be replicated anywhere else on the Internet.  This, fellow Bills fan, is your blog.  Please use it, as we represent a new era in Buffalo Bills-related content.  Welcome to the family.  (This blog is not affiliated with the Buffalo Bills or the NFL.)

Community Guidelines:

Since the ultimate goal of Buffalo Rumblings is community, we ask that you keep the following guidelines in mind when posting so that we may preserve an accurate, precise and peaceful experience every day.

PERSONAL ATTACKS
Personal attacks against another Rumblings community member will not be tolerated.  A good rule of thumb is to attack another user’s ideas, rather than their person.  There is no distinct rule that constitutes a personal attack outside of mocking, name-calling, and ad hominem attacks.  The staff of Buffalo Rumblings holds full authority over what defines a personal attack, and will permanently delete any comments that are judged to break this rule.  Offending comments will be deleted, and a warning may be sent to the offending user.  Repeat offenses may eventually lead to a banning of the account.

One other note: topics such as religion and politics have their place on the Internet.  They do not belong here.

TROLLING
"Trolling" is a term that is used too loosely on the Internet.  For the purposes of this community, we will define "trolling" as any of the following behaviors:
* Stirring up controversy with inappropriate comments if you are a fan of another team
* Spamming comments with advertising
* Posting your work from another website in its entirety for the sole purpose of increasing traffic #
* Repeated attacks on people associated with the team we cover without factually backing up your claims or supplementing your stance with other, varied viewpoints (i.e. "Dick Jauron sucks!")
* Creating multiple user names in order to spam comments.  If you have an issue with your current user name, PLEASE email us as opposed to creating a new handle.

# Please note that we do NOT discourage linking to your work, especially if you run a Buffalo Bills blog.  Just post a snippet and link to the rest of the story, and you’ll get traffic.  Also note that you can just as easily have your own "blog" right here at Buffalo Rumblings by frequently posting FanPosts.

Behavior determined to fall under the "trolling" category will be warned or banned immediately (on a case by case basis), and offending comments/FanPosts deleted.  If behavior persists, account will be banned.

PROFANITY
Some forms of profanity are tolerated, but like the drunken uncle at the family reunion, it doesn’t shed a positive light on your participation.  More colorful language is deleted immediately, regardless of the quality of the opinion it is attached to.  Repetitive violations will be punishable as decided by blog administrators.  Bottom line: points can be made, and made well, without swearing.

"BREAKING" NEWS
Repeat FanPosts/FanShots on the same subject (i.e. "Jason Peters traded!") will be deleted.  We only need one thread in which to talk about a news event.

SBN 2.0
If you’ve been with us as a community member since the beginning, you may have been shocked to see the new look of the site (especially if you haven’t visited us in a while).  Buffalo Rumblings is now operating under the software title of "SBN 2.0", a brand new blogging platform exclusive to SB Nation.  The changes are jarring, but the additional features we’ve gained from this switch are going to make many of you very happy over the long haul.  If you have any questions about the functionality of the platform, feel free to e-mail those to me; for starters, check out the platform’s Welcome Guide.

A NOTE ABOUT AVATARS
Just as your comments and FanPosts/FanShots do, your Avatar is a reflection on your personality.  Therefore, just like your written contributions to this blog, your avatar is equally punishable at this site.  If your avatar is deemed to violate any of the guidelines laid out above, you will be receiving e-mail from me politely asking you to change it.  Failure to comply with community guidelines as they pertain to avatars will be punishable on a case-by-case basis.