Friends, Coloradans, Nuggets fans, lend me your ears.
For nearly a decade, this great website of ours has been an outlet to millions of people to read, learn, and talk about the Denver Nuggets. Over the course of our existence, Nuggets fans have seen the highest of highs and the lowest of lows. When the website started, the Nuggets were making a run at the western conference finals. As fans we went through the devastation of two failed inbound plays that cost a shot at the finals, the departure of the team’s cornerstone player, Carmelo Anthony, the improbable run toward a franchise high 57 wins, and the heartbreak that came when the team lost the executive of the year and coach of the year in the same offseason.
Through everything, Stiffs has been a place for people to bond. Sometimes that bonding has come in times of great joy. Other times, we suffer together through the agony of defeat. As much as we are a blog, we are also a community. People from all over the world have flocked to this site in amazing numbers over the shared love and passion for the Denver Nuggets.
There is an elephant in the room that must be addressed regarding our beloved site and that is the recent trolling and arguing that has taken over the comment section, most notably around the topic of Jusuf Nurkic. That arguing has brought down the level of enjoyment for many of our most ardent readers and supporters and I have received more emails and complaints over the last two months than I had in my previous 2 years at the helm of this great site.
As the season winds down, let’s all take an opportunity to reset and reorganize. As manager of this site, I will be enforcing (and even over-enforcing) our rules on the message board. For a time being, we’ll just have to tighten up in order to encourage people to stop attacking each other with insults. Let’s remember why we’re all here: we love the Nuggets and we love meeting and talking with other Nuggets fans.
So let’s all reset. Let’s all make an effort to do a better job of keeping things cordial. Let’s all work to make the comment section what it was intended to be all along: a fun hangout for Nuggets fans.
Here are our new, official rules for commenting. As I mentioned, I will be over-enforcing these rules for awhile (possibly all summer) in an effort to squash the bickering that has become too common.
The Rules!
1. No personal threats or insults at any person on the message board. “You’re a moron if you think Roy Hibbert should be starting over Nikola Jokic” is an example of a personal insult. Phrase it differently so as not to attack or insult an individual.
2. No swearing. Yes, even when the game sucks or the refs mess up or Malone uses all of his timeouts in the first 4 minutes of the 4th quarter.
3. Be excellent to each other! For visitors from our SBN companions, please have a mutual respect and remember this is a Nuggets community.
4. No trolling. This includes bringing up unrelated topics in an effort to “stir the pot.”
5. No gifs, videos, photos, or comments that could reasonably be considered offensive or racy.
6. Offensive material will be deleted. If the comment is bad enough or if a commenter repeatedly breaks the rules, that commenter will be issued a warning. If that warning is not heeded, the commenter will be banned from the site, either permanently or for a period of time of my choosing.
7. Help our staff police the message board. If someone makes an offensive comment, flag the comment for inspection. It helps myself and the rest of our staff identify questionable comments.
Let’s all relax and get back to sharing in both the agony and the joy of being a Denver Nuggets fan!
