Enhancing Everyone's Enjoyment of the Bleacher Report Community

Inspired by my fellow scribe Daniel Barber, with this article.

Bleacher Report is the most incredible Web site I have ever frequented.

I have tried message boards, newspapers, online dating sites (met my wife on one, in fact), and chat rooms of every possible variety. I have lurked, I have participated, I have advocated. I have been involved in just about any type of interactive Web-based endeavor known to mankind.

Bleacher Report tops them all.

Why?

Because B/R is whatever the individual wants it to be.

Do you just want to read breaking news about the NCAA Tournament? You can find it here in abundance.

Do you just want to read breaking news about the NCAA Tournament, with a Big East slant? Check, we’ve got that covered, too.

Would you like to try your hand at reporting or commenting on sports news? Hey, this is the perfect place to indulge your hobby.

Or perhaps you harbor a desire to break into professional journalism and you need to hone your skills? You can do that here, as well.

How about this angle: You are a good writer, but that’s not your true gift. Reading and refining other people’s work is your forte, you would love to be an editor someday, but you haven’t the first clue how to pull it off.

Welcome home, editor-in-waiting, Bleacher Report has you covered.

Might I make some requests?

First of all, let me say this: I was a member for over two months before I published my first piece. However, even though I would read articles from time to time, I restricted myself from leaving comments.

I used B/R as if it were ESPN or the like: for informational purposes only.

However, far too many hecklers—also known as “Internet trolls”—take perverse delight in stopping by an article that they know little or nothing about (even though they are experts in their own tiny, warped minds) and hurl insults at the author simply because he or she happens to have opinions that the troll dislikes.

I have one simple question: Why?

If an author has spent time conceptualizing, researching, and writing a column on Bleacher Report, no matter how arrogant, ill-conceived, or poorly written you might find it, what gives you the right to insult the author?

Remember, some of us here harbor professional aspirations. This is how we are polishing our craft, in the hopes of someday feeding ourselves and our families. So, why do you think it would be a good idea to call us names, denigrate our intellect, and call into question our parentage?

It is disrespectful; it is rude; it is wrong.

If you disagree, please, whip out your keyboard and head for the “Comments” section. Voice your opinion, recite some facts. Stay on topic and argue your case.

Then, after an exchange or two, just move along and read something else. Don’t consume the writer’s time by constantly barraging him or her with disparaging comments.

Did you realize that every single time we receive a comment, an e-mail lands in our personal “Inbox?”

Do you have any idea how irritating it is to get notification of a new reply, rush excitedly over to B/R to anxiously read our comments, and find ourselves called “idiot,” “homer,” “moron,” or worse, for the entire world to see?

If this happens to you, there is always the option of reporting the insulting person by clicking on the word "Offensive" underneath the person's profile picture (which will probably be blank). They do not have to be using foul language; as long as they are flaming and/or off-topic, the comments will be dealt with.

I would love it if the Bleacher Report engineering team found a way to restrict new users from making comments until they write at least one article of their own. Once you walk in my shoes, you can throw rocks at me; until then, it's look but don’t touch, buddy.

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