Welcome

Hi! We'd like to welcome you to Amazin' Avenue.

No matter how or when you found us, we want to help you get involved in the site as fast as we can, so we wrote this guide of the who's and what's of AA. Put short, a lot of people find that this site is a good way to follow and think about baseball, a respite from normal work productivity, an escape from the brand name snack filled drudgery of mom's basement, and even at times meet in real life. Many members live far from the New York area and for them this provides a forum to remain connected to the team. We currently count among our regular contributing members representatives of all continents except Antarctica and we're waiting with baited breath for that one penguin scientist to fill an urgent Mets related need with a login. So wherever you're from—local or far afield—we're glad you're here.

The people

Managing Editor: Eric Simon

Deputy Editor: Chris McShane

Moderators: MetsFan4Decades, MookieTheCat, Chris Strohmaier

You can get to know the entire staff by visiting our masthead.

The rules

You can find a copy of the rules here. In short, we want intelligent conversation. And don't worry, that doesn't mean you have to be a math whiz or a sabermetric user. It just means you have to have a good reason for believing what you do and a willingness to learn or accept new perspectives. Best practice is to be able to argue your position coherently: no points are given for being obstinate or dismissive, or for bullying. It's also fine to have different subjective opinions about subjective subjects or just to disagree. We want people who can disagree with each other in one thread and have fun together in another.

We hope AA will be a fun place for Mets fans to interact. People should feel safe to do so. We've worked hard to establish the culture here, and our members value that. It might not be the same culture as some other sites, but it's ours, and it's a big reason AA is successful. To this end, remember to be charitable with other members, to not make things personal, to let problems go, and to just have fun. We're all better off and happier when we all remember that we are all fans of the same team regardless of opinion. It's baseball; it should be fun. Keep in mind that nearly everyone associated with this site volunteers their time and energy to keep it running. So keep criticisms constructive and civil. Or ask for a full refund of the purchase price.

Finally, remember when you visit other SB Nation sites that you represent AA. Heck, even if you don't visit them you still represent AA by what you say in the comments. Represent us well.

The best way to get started

Pay attention. Get a feel for the culture. But just jump right in! There's never a bad time to get involved, just do it. Introduce yourself and learn about others. There are memes and themes (here is a list of popular AA memes) that you might not understand in the beginning but don't feel bad: just ask! Share your thoughts. Talk about whatever in a game thread. Above all, just be kind and have fun.

The suggestion box

There is a Contact Us link at the bottom of every page. Please let us know your thoughts!

Amazin' Avenue Audio

Amazin' Avenue Audio is the official podcast of Amazin' Avenue, where Jeffrey Paternostro and guests talk Mets baseball.

The AA Podcast can be streamed on-demand over your iPhone, iPad, Android phone, Android tablet, BlackBerry, or via the web on Stitcher Radio.

The AA podcast is also available on iTunes.

The toys for you to play with: FanPosts and FanShots

FanPosts and FanShots allow you to write your own stuff. FanPosts are for blog posts. (Here's how to do that.) Generally, these posts should be areas not already covered by Amazin' Avenue. Simply repeating areas of coverage we already do really doesn't benefit anyone and occasionally results in the FanPost being deleted. While there is no word count or topic requirement for a FanPost, a good rule of thumb is that it should have an original perspective, thought process, or analytical process that invites interaction and conversation. In other words, it should be more than a single paragraph stating that the Mets are awesome or that they are terrible. If you have a link, a photo, or a video, share that with a FanShot instead.  If you want to see how FanPosts and FanShots tend to look, check out the top recommended FanPosts and FanShots (on the right side of the Amazin' Avenue homepage) for examples. We often promote the best ones.

Writing for Amazin' Avenue

Do you think you might want to join the Amazin' Avenue writing staff? Click here to learn about the process.

Recs and flags

You know the saying praise publicly and criticize privately? Well, this is on the right track, but it's a little more complicated. Recs are for comments that you like for whatever reason, but are best used for certain reasons. Think a post is an example of good thinking? A rec is the right way to show this. Same with a post that you think is interesting or funny or creative or otherwise contributes. A post that thoughtlessly piles on against an opinion or person you don't like? That's not what a rec is for.

Flags are a way of indicating for the moderators that a post violates site policy. That's it.  Real live human beings who volunteer their time to make this site work have to check and discuss each flag. If you disagree with an opinion, or have a problem with someone, let it go or work it out like an adult. That said, if you're unsure if a post violates site policy but think there's a good argument that it does, flag it and note that in the flag description. No one will hold that against you. If your comment gets removed and you're unsure why, just ask. The moderators are happy to explain the reasoning behind the decision.

Comments

Before you get started, learn how to comment here. There is no hard rule for what a comment should look like, but a general guideline is that comments should add something to the conversation. Commenting on gamethreads is generally more emotional and relaxed than on regular news threads. Before commenting it's also a good idea to look at AA's site rules. If you have a question about commenting that's not covered by this introduction, or the site rules, just ask.