Shakin The Southland is intended to feel like a discussion forum for fans who like to discuss Clemson sports without fear of being critical of coaches, players, or other fans. We want to analyze and look at Clemson sports realistically, not be blinded by our love of our teams and unwilling to critique for fear of upsetting recruits or folks who think we should do nothing but help the program by always being positive. We don't pump sunshine here; we call it like we see it.

First we want to say that this place is going to be run a little tighter than the other Clemson sites. We believe in free speech or we wouldnt have started this blog in the first place, but many others form a mentality that we are trying to discourage here. However, you are perfectly free to post whatever you want to post in a thread, without retribution, so long as its about Clemson and follows the rules below. The variety of viewpoints are needed to make this a strong community.

All of you are going to be members of some other Clemson message board site or blog. If you're like us, then you see some people posting on there everyday, always unwilling to acknowledge problems or even discuss them, or those that do nothing but argue, and it infuriates you. Our intention here is to allow people to post their opinion, but arguments are going to be held to a minimum, because we hope to not have the "cult" mentality here that you see on some other boards. We aren't trying to replace those sites, and we ourselves are members of all of them too, but we wanted a place to post our thoughts without being harassed for not toeing the line.

You are allowed to disagree with us, so long as its respectful. You're not going to get banned just from disagreeing and saying so, just say why you disagree. We only want to promote some discussion and civil debate.

With that said, we wanted to lay out specific rules.

1. Ad hominem attacks are not allowed. If you find someone posting something REALLY offensive then call it to our attention by hitting "actions-flag", but dont take it on yourself to call him an idiot/jackass/prick/homo/coot, etc. Never say something like "You've never watched a football game before have you"....or "you dont know what youre talking about" unless you can actually prove it to a 3rd party.

"Flagging" a post is akin to a "thumbs-down" on TigerNet, but we ask that it be kept to only rules violations.

2. A sense of humor is required. Bear in mind that the written word does not reflect sarcasm or that you are just poking fun at someone, and try to realize that they might be poking fun at you, before you get angry and react. Friendly smack talk from opposing fans is fine, until they cross the line for trolling.

3. Have a working brain. If you consistently post nonsense without backing it up further, you'll eventually be removed. If you hate a coach, thats fine, just say why and try to make a point.

4. Cursing is allowed to an extent, however it is not allowed in the title of a FanPost or FanShot unless its a direct quote of someone. We do curse in our posts when we get ticked off or want to emphasize something of course, but dropping F-bombs left and right is just going to end up with your post removed and your membership banned.

5. Don't question whether someone is a true Clemson fan just because they disagree with you, ever. Nothing pisses me off like seeing someone called a "coot" because they say something you don't like.

6. Politics and religious posts are not allowed.

7. Don't be a grammar Nazi. - Its just rude. I do not get time to edit every post that is put up, and I rarely edit FanPosts of the users. Sometimes we do make typos or forget a comma here and there. If we were paid writers for a news outlet then I'd expect good grammar, but we're not. This is a blog.

Consequences

The board is self-moderated. If you see a post that breaks rules, then you can "flag" it. We will see it and after enough people flag a post, it will be automatically removed. This is done by hitting "actions" just below someone's post, then hitting "flag".

If we feel a post is in violation of the rules, we Moderators have the right to remove it and discuss it with the User via his/her email address or through warning messages to them. If the violation is serious enough, the User will be banned. This is especially true of Trolls who come to stir things up, they will be banned without warning.

Ad hominem attacks on the Moderators are cause for immediate banishment. There will not be a warning beforehand.

Guidelines for Fanshots

Fanshots are places to posts links, quotes, pictures, or videos for discussion, when you don't have anything to add to it. We don't get to read every news source, and sometimes we're saving them for a blog post, but if you see something new that other Clemson fans would enjoy reading, you may post it in a Fanshot. If we feel the discussion or topic is good, and don't have a new blogpost up, we can move it to the front page.

Guidelines for FanPosts

FanPosts are basically blog entries of your own. You can use links, vids or quotes, as in Fanshots, but there is a minimum length for FanPosts. Anyone is able to write them at any time, but they are subject to the site rules. If we think the post is well-written and sparks discussion, the Mods can move it to the front page. You may use the site HTML or Visual editor, or post it from Word.

If there is a current discussion in a post on a topic, your thoughts would be better utilized as a response to that post. If you have a long point to make, that would take several paragraphs or would need linkage to outside sources or videos, then its better to use a FanPost.

Obviously there are games which we as authors can't view or attend. This is particularly true of early-season basketball games or baseball games, so if you attended and wish to write a report or analysis, please feel free to do so.

Recommending

- intended as a way to highlight FanPosts/Shots to keep them on top of the FanPost/Shot lists longer. A post that is rec'd will likely be moved to the front page at some point.

- also is akin to a "Thumbs-UP" on TigerNet, just to show you really like the response of someone or the blog post itself.

- Done by hitting "actions - rec" on a response inside a post, or at the bottom of each blog post.

Users who make good frequent FanPosts and contributions may eventually be asked to become authors of the site.