CougCenter 101: Everything You Need To Know About Commenting

by Brian Floyd on Feb 21, 2011 4:27 PM PST in Miscellaneous Blog Stuff

Back in the summer, I wrote a series of posts about CougCenter, the SB Nation platform and how to comment. It's not necessarily meant to explain guidelines or how to be an amazingly fantastic poster, but instead is meant as a tutorial. From posting a comment to contributing your own thoughts and more, these posts should give you a headstart on commenting, if you haven't already done so, or give you a refresher and, perhaps, teach you something new.

Commenting: We begin with the most basic feature of the SB Nation platform. Commenting may seem simple, but it can also be intimidating for a first-time poster. To help everyone ease in, I wrote up a quick "how-to," explaining how to post a comment, reply, rec and more.

A Style Guide: Need to know how to post a picture or link? Trying to figure out why your image is so big, forcing us to delete it? This handy style guide will help you out.

FanPosts And FanShots: You know how to comment and post pictures, so now you're ready to contribute your own masterpiece. We explain the difference between FanPosts and FanShots, while walking you through the basics of creating your own work of art.

Social Media And More: We use Twitter and Facebook here in almost everything we do. All the authors have their own Twitter accounts, and CougCenter has its own. You can find us at: @CougCenter, @NussCoug, @thecraigpowers, @GradyClapp, @FloydCoug and @KyleRancourt. We also have a Facebook page that you can "like" here. The rest of the post explains how social media is integrated into SB Nation and explains what SB Nation Seattle, my other project, is and how it plays together with CougCenter.

That's it. Read those four posts and you'll have a basic idea of what this whole commenting thing is about. I'll be adding to this as I think of more, but feel free to ask questions and I'll either answer in the comments, or use the questions to form another post at some point.

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Comments

Great post.

Another thing to keep in mind when using the subject line — even though Brian touched on it — is you don’t necessarily need to think of it as a typical subject line. When I first started commenting on SB Nation, I thought you had to clarify your subject like in a message board or in an e-mail. Not true. 99% of the time you just use the subject line as the first sentence of what you’re attempting to say. Or, you don’t even need to type in the “message” box. Just use the subject line for short comments.

When we get new posters who are unfamiliar with it, many times a post will look like:

Subject Line: Klay Thompson
Message: Klay Thompson shouldn’t have misplaced his iPod etc etc etc.

This isn’t necessary, and after just observing for a while, you’ll see how everything begins to flow together.

twitter | CougCenter

by Kyle Rancourt on Feb 21, 2011 5:07 PM PST reply actions

For example:

Subject: Kyle Rancoor
Message: is the most awesome sports writer on all of the interwebs.

Attractive, Intelligent Reader

by Coug999 on Feb 21, 2011 11:09 PM PST up reply actions

You sir

know what you’re talking about. Obviously.

twitter | CougCenter

by Kyle Rancourt on Feb 22, 2011 3:30 AM PST up reply actions

I don't like that

It bugs me for some reason. The “subject” should be the subject of a comment, not the first line. It feels to me like I’m constantly looking at typos when I see something like this:
Ken Bone should
hire a free throw coach

Now usually it will look a little more reasonable, like:
Ken Bone
should hire a free throw coach

But either way it’s two incomplete sentences back to back. Of course you don’t HAVE to “clarify your subject” but it reads easier if you do. Anyone else with me, or should I just shut up?

"I mean I was like, okay, there you go, you wanna hit me? There you go, one pitch for you. You don't get it? You have no chance." ~ Felix Hernandez

by johnnycougar on Feb 22, 2011 10:37 AM PST up reply actions

I usually try to form a complete sentence in the subject line.

Sort of like an introduction. Then I continue on with the rest of my comment in the body. Like this. If it’s a one sentence comment, well then it just stays in the subject line.

CougCenter, SBNation Seattle, @FloydCoug
Night Editor - SBNation.com

by Brian Floyd on Feb 22, 2011 10:54 AM PST up reply actions

Rec'd for the lessons in this thread-

Thanks Brian

If you can't Go Cougs... don't go.

by hollyweirdcoug on Feb 22, 2011 12:58 PM PST reply actions

You're welcome, and thanks for the kind words.

Honestly, most of you guys already know this stuff, but if you learn something new from this, I’m glad. There’s a ton of powerful tools at our disposal and we might as well use them.

CougCenter, SBNation Seattle, @FloydCoug
Night Editor - SBNation.com

by Brian Floyd on Feb 22, 2011 1:28 PM PST up reply actions