BON is getting bigger and bigger by the day, with the quantity of Fan Posts being published increasing exponentially over the last few weeks, and so I thought it would be a good time to remind everyone of the purpose of Fan Posts.  They are not for you to just post funny pictures, or videos, or links to articles elsewhere, just to say, "hey, check this out!". Not that we don't want that sort of thing on BON.  Far from it.  But if you want to post something like that, please use the Fan Shot function, which is located a little bit lower on this right hand column.  

Fan Posts are for when you have something thoughtful to say.  Note the word "thoughtful" in that sentence.  Put some thought into what you're writing and it will invariably be better written, both stylistically and substantively.  Moreover, there's a reason that Fan Posts have a minimum word limit.  If you're struggling to come up with enough words to meet the minimum, consider whether your post would work better as a Fan Shot or as a comment to someone else's post.

Questions for other community members are sometimes appropriate, but there should be some sort of broad applicability to the question (i.e. the answer to your question should be something that a lot of BONers would want to know).  Otherwise, throw the question into a comment on a related thread or e-mail one of the authors. Also, this is not craig's list.  Do not try to sell anything.  Your post will be deleted.

Finally, and I can't stress this enough, please scan other recent Fan Posts to see if you're about to post something that someone has already posted.  If that's the case, but you have a completely different, thoughtful and somewhat lengthy take on the issue, then it might be worth a new Fan Post, but if not, then you should just comment on the previous post instead.  That "BCS Declares Winner of WWII" e-mail forward was sort of funny the first time, and aggravating beyond belief the 7th time it got posted.  Just think before you post.  That's all.

I don't mean to discourage anyone from posting their own thoughts.  This is a community after all, and everyone who is civil in their discourse deserves to be heard.  Let's just all try to follow these guidelines a little bit more closely and I think we'll have an active, vibrant community with plenty of meaningful conversations.