New Guidelines for a Better Peachtree Hoops Community

When our team at Peachtree Hoops looked to update our community guidelines this summer, we had no idea that the events of this week would take place. Our goal was to provide clarity in expanding our longstanding guideline "Dissent is welcome. Civility is required." This guideline has served us well. However, as our community expands both in number and diversity, more communication is required to meet and exceed that standard.

Our new guidelines have been created independent of the Hawks-related events of the week, yet this week makes them more relevant. Thankfully, the nature of our commentary both as writers and fans in these days is something worthy of a measure of pride for the most part. We hope these new guidelines will only further our growth both in quantity and quality as the best place for discussion of the Atlanta Hawks.

To assist these new guidelines toward being a better community, we offer up some suggestions for making effective posts. These are not only suggestions for making comment, but also reminders to our team at Peachtree Hoops for how we can be better in providing space for conversation. Thanks for being a part of our community at Peachtree Hoops and thanks in advance for helping us care for one another as we implement these guidelines.

Guidelines for a Better Peachtree Hoops Community

1. Be a fan, not a fanatic. We are a community dedicated to talking about the Hawks. If you have loved the Hawks since their beginning or jumped on board yesterday, your opinion is welcome.
2. Dissent is welcome, civility is required. We are a diverse community and at our best we celebrate different opinions. Make good arguments without insulting people or devaluing ideas. If you feel it getting personal, take a step back and watch highlights of Nique dunking until you feel better.
3. When the garbage is full, take it out. Bad days demand deep breaths. It is easy when life goes sideways to take out frustrations in the comments. Slow down, take some deep breaths, and read your posts before hitting send. Moderate yourself as a fan, so that our moderators can be fans.
4. Four-letter words lack creativity. We do not have a strict policy against profanity, but we ask you to be smart about it and courteous to others. Often we have young people viewing the site and we reserve the right to take down something if we think it crosses the line.

Tips for Effective Posting

• Rec it, don't wreck it. Give good posts a recommendation. Acknowledge when someone makes a good post even if you disagree. Don't be the person that destroys a good conversation.
• Ignore the trolls. Don't feed people who are only after negative attention and don't call anyone a troll. If someone is trolling, flag the comment and let us take care of it.
• Sarcasm does not work in print. Try to avoid using it in comments. It inevitably leads to confusion-even in "sarcasm" font.
• Long and well-thought posts are encouraged, but they also may make a great Fanpost. If you find yourself getting repetitive or long-winded, consider taking a new conversation to the Fanpost. If it gets enough recs, we might feature it.
• Asking genuine questions promotes healthy conversation. It makes other commenters feel heard and usually makes you look smart and considerate.
• Welcome new commenters. Most of us lurked before something gave us a reason to post. Don't be disagreeable just because someone is new. Our community is only as strong as our ability to make people feel welcome.