I know I had one of these welcome posts before, but in the past two weeks we'd literally had hundreds of new people join the site. And judging from diaries like this, we are getting new people commenting and sharing their thoughts on the team. This makes me very excited!
For you new folks, I just thought I'd share with you who we (the writers and community at Stampede Blue) are and what we do here. Well, about three years ago, I started this blog. That's right! Back on February 22nd, Stampede Blue celebrated its 3 year anniversary. We are the longest running Colts blog on the net. We are also the biggest. Three years ago, my first post had this opening paragraph:
This site is for fans of the Indianapolis Colts. We offer opinions and insight on not just the Colts, but the NFL in general. I'd like to give a shout out to all Colts fans, and any fans of other teams that take the time to read and post here. Yes, that includes you New England fans out there.
This means that while we are dedicated to the Colts, ANYTHING football-related is open here. The only thing we ask is for folks to treat each other kindly. This isn't a message board. I dislike message boards and the mentality they breed. I've been commenting recently on message boards, and while I enjoy reading the sites that host the boards, "getting into it" with people on a board is both spiritually and mentally draining. In the end, when people cannot agree, it just boils down into a verbal exchange of attacks, usually resulting in one person insulting another person's mother.
Not here.
The advantage of a blog over a message board is we have writers who direct the conversations. I stress direct, and want people to realize that is not the same thing as control. If a discussion on the Cover-2 defense evolves into a discussion on who is the best defensive mind in football, that is fine. Heck, it's great! But if a discussion on Cover-2 morphs into a shouting match over who won the 2008 Presidential Election, that is when the discussion will get re-directed. I hope you can see the difference.
Over the next week, I will be posting community guidelines, writing guidelines, and adding pages that will help all of you use the many features we have here at Stampede Blue. From embedding video into comments to adding pictures to FanPosts, I'll have guides up for all of you.
If you want to know who I am, click my name above and it will take you to my profile page.
Also, every Friday (starting today) I will posts a "week the was" recap, with links to several FanPosts, FanShots, and writer articles that sum up the week that was.
We hope you enjoy your experience here. And for you longtime Stampede Blue readers, this just adds more bodies to our party. As always, Go Colts!