The Official SnakePit Rulebook

Introduction.

About every five years or so, we here at the SnakePit believe that it is important to refresh, revamp, and republish the SnakePit Rules so everyone is on the same page as the mods, who enforce these rules and possibly get them tattooed on their back as part of an initiation ritual. We can neither confirm nor deny.

The rules below are, with a couple exceptions, ones that came up organically over the early years of the site in response to our Ancestral Mods seeing they were necessary following situations that arose on the site. In the years that followed, those of us who have taken up the mantle from the Ancestral Mods haven’t felt the need to change the substance of the specific rules, with the only real changes being how they are prioritized amongst themselves, though we do reserve the right to alter or add to them as needed. As such, what follows below is a modern-day translation of the rules that were set forward by soco back in June 2010.

To those who run afoul of these rules, they may seem heavy handed, mean spirted, or bordering on a nanny-state, to which we suggest a quiet, introspective session to learn why you believe that.

Every member is expected to read and understand the rules of the site. Failure to follow the rules, both in letter and in spirit, will subject you to the varying degrees of moderation, depending on the severity of the situation. Minor violations may simply be handled with a warning in the replies. If those warnings are disregarded, it can escalate to comments being hidden or deleted, which will be accompanied by a message through the Chorus publication service explaining the action taken. Major or continued violations may result in a temporary ban, usually in the neighborhood of 24-48 hours. If the temporary ban does not result in compliance, violators are in danger of a permanent ban from the site. The severity of the infractions can move forward the punishment scale at the discretion of the mod who has to clean up after you

General Rules

• Be nice. Do that, and all other rules are largely irrelevant.
• To expand, think of this as a sports bar, where you can hang out, watch games, and argue with friends. However, don’t use any language you wouldn’t use in front of your (or a friend’s) mother. Demeaning language and terms are absolutely not allowed. If you need to ask if a term is allowed, it probably isn’t.
• On the other hand, we believe in a tough love of razzing and sarcasm, so please don’t take this as you being picked on. If you have thin skin, then we’re sorry, but this might be a tough place for you. If you do feel it is unwarranted or unfair, do not retaliate. Instead, contact a mod. The contact info for all mods are listed in the masthead of the site, and the DM’s of the @azsnakepit twitter account are open.
• The longer you’ve been here, the more leeway you will generally have. Yes, this is fundamentally unfair. But we’re always going to be more lenient with long-term members who have demonstrated their value over multiple seasons, than some n00b.
• The Snakepit is a baseball site first and foremost. Off-topic conversation is often tolerated and encouraged, but it should be balanced with discussion of baseball. As a result, all threads except those designated Open, Game Day, or SnakeBytes, are considered on-topic. Discussions considered non-relevant may be hidden or deleted.
• In particular, contentious non-baseball topics such as (but not limited to) politics, and religion, are not allowed. Nothing good comes of these. “My position on this controversial subject has been fundamentally altered by your SnakePit comment” - said nobody, ever. Stick to what unites us, not what divides us, please.
• However, in these godforsaken times we live in, sometimes we find politics and sports mixing in ways that maybe we would rather they didn’t in a perfect world. In those situations, all other rules still apply, including but not limited to the first rule of being nice, as well as our rule against personal attacks. In these situations, the conversation must be kept focused on the baseball related aspects of the issue. For example, discussing baseball vaccine mandates are fine, but discussing vaccine mandates at your work should be discussed elsewhere. Keep all conversations to the facts of the situation and leave all opinions regarding the other people, their beliefs, or any other personal attributes out of it.

Specific prohibitions

• Don’t unnecessarily flame, insult, or start trouble with other members. Do not mistake sarcasm as flaming, but if you are uncertain then flag something and let the mods decide.
• No trolling. Trolling, by common Internet law, is being as annoying as possible without actually breaking any rules.
• No false posts about activity on the field during a game. It might shock you, but some people actually use the Game Day Threads as a way to follow and get an accurate, timely depiction of the game.
• Don’t discuss illegal game feeds, MLB merchandise, or anything else that might negatively affect our relationship to SBNation, or SBNation’s to MLB.
• Do not cut/paste entire articles, especially ones behind pay-walls. As they say, ‘content is king,’ and SBNation could be liable for copyright violation. This, like the above game feed rule, is particularly non-negotiable
• No impersonation of mods or trying to assume their responsibilities. You are not the Punisher or Judge Dredd, there is no need for vigilante justice. Examples include, but are not limited to, publicly calling out or chastising other members for not following the rules, calling margin, and violating the rules yourself while making a point about someone else. If you have an issue with any other user of the site, please make use of the flag button which will bring the offending comment or commenter to our attention..
• As a general rule, 1 picture per poster per thread. While likely less necessary than it used to be, this still helps keep threads - particularly Gameday Threads - mobile friendly. Also: if you’re going to post a dumpster fire, “This is fine” meme or reply to a macro with a reaction GIF, think again. We have evolved past the need to converse in drawings. Two exceptions include Meme Mondays and Pit Your Wits, though with both examples it is good to stick to the theme of the specific article
• No nudity, shock images, Not Safe For Work (NSFW) images of any kind. If you really feel it adds to the discussion, then link to it, with the tag (NSFW).
• Respect the right margin. By which we mean, if the comment thread has drifted so far across the page, it now just goes straight down, it’s likely time to move on. This can also be invoked by any mod calling ‘Margin’, if they feel a discussion has got out of control, with the expectation being the conversation will end there.
• Fans of opposing teams are not only tolerated but welcomed. This comes with a caveat, however: this is Jim’s, and by extension the Diamondbacks’ fanbase’s, house. It’s perfectly fine to talk about your favorite team on occasion, but this is a Diamondbacks blog first. If you find yourself here talking more about your team than the Diamondbacks, then you are doing it wrong. Coming to bait or flame us, especially after a loss, is asking for trouble. If your first post here is baiting or flaming the Diamondbacks or our fanbase, then you are asking for trouble. Don’t come whining to us, or to your home team blog if you are not tolerated or treated well any longer. We will not feel any pity for your stupidity.
• Likewise, “raids” of other blogs or sites will not be tolerated. Yes, some other sites have annoying people, and yes, it is fun to make jokes about them in the comfort of our own home, but you are on your own if you go to their home. Do not do anything that will reflect poorly on AZ SnakePit or Jim.
• No sock puppet, alts, or alternate accounts. If you have a perfectly good working account, use that. If you’ve been banned, well, maybe you should ask yourself why you were banned.
• Signatures must be less than 4 lines, no exceptions.
• Any issue should be brought up to a mod or Jim, who can then decide what, if anything, should be done. Our contact info is in the masthead, our DM’s on Twitter are open, and any issue will be considered confidential amongst the relevant parties and the moderation staff.
• Lastly - in the words of soco: “Jim is King, we are merely his servants. If he tells you to stop doing something, then stop. Don’t like it? Tough tacos said the gato.” Any or all of the above is subject to change, expansion or deletion, as needed, without written notification. Any major edits will most likely be run past the other editors for discussion, but Jim won’t hesitate to act in what he perceives as the “best interests” of the SnakePit.

Conclusion

Please help us, the moderators and writers of this site, with your adherence to these rules. AZ SnakePit is the best Diamondbacks website on the internet, and some of us may go so far as to say the best sports site period. These rules, when followed, make our community warm and welcoming for everyone and will keep the Pit at the top for all Diamondbacks content and community now and moving forward. We appreciate your cooperation with this. Go Dbacks!