We at LL don’t know about you, but here, this off-season felt like it flew by. Many times we scrape for content to fill the lean days between late October and that beautiful phrase, “pitchers and catchers report.” Not so this year! Between a flurry of trades, the AFL, the Dr. Martin situation, a re-named ballpark, Edgar’s HOF induction, the emergence of exciting new prospects, an early start to spring training, the Japan series, and the exhibition games, we’ve barely had a chance to catch our breath. Now the page is turning on a new season, and we’re glad to have you along for the ride.
If you’re new here, welcome! We’re excited to have you join our band of weirdos. LLurking is a time-honored tradition, but we’d love to have your voice join the conversation. Before you jump into the comments, take a second to familiarize yourself with our community guidelines. These basically boil down to this:
- Be mindful of the fact that our readership spans all ages, genders, religions, sexualities, ethnicities, political views, etc. We encourage everyone to be creative but inclusive and respectful of the diversity that makes our community strong.
- No politics, no religion, no trolling. If you repeatedly make comments that are designed to provoke or antagonize, you will find yourself warned, then banned, usually via staff writer Tim’s “Michael from the Good Place kicks a puppy into the sun” .gif or Chief Moderator Sweezo’s Barney Fife “get out” .gif. If you hear whistling, watch out.
- Use the subject line (it makes it easier to track comments), don’t use internet abbreviations, make your best effort with spelling and grammar. Use images and .gifs sparingly and be mindful of others’ bandwidth (literally and figuratively; this also applies to writing book-length comments).
- LL is an evidence-based community. If you post something like “x player sucks,” be prepared to back it up.
If you do find you have a lot to say on a specific topic, we encourage you to write a FanPost. We provide prompts every Friday to get those creative juices flowing, but you can write one any time. Our Community Engagement leader Eric goes through the FanPosts and chooses ones to put on the front page of the site (if you want to call one to his attention, send him a note on the LL Facebook page or on Twitter, @sanford_and_son).
Since it’s the beginning of the season, it seems like a great time for all of us to (re-)introduce ourselves to each other. Comment with your username and tell us a little bit about who you are and why you choose to walk this exceedingly painful path of being a Mariners fan. As the LL Twitter bio states, Forsan miseros meliora sequentur: for those in misery, perhaps better things will follow. We’re all in this step-back season together.