Baseball/Slant FAQ

Why can't I private message or view other features on the site?
More than likely, you're a new member or a returning member who has yet to post much on S3F. This limits your abilities on the site until you reach a certain level in which all site features will be accessible to you. To attain the status of "Registered Plus User" you need to achieve the following criteria:

5 days or more of being registered on Strike 3 Forums
+
50 posts made on the forum (no more than 1/5 made on topics in the Random Posting Games Forum)
OR
150 reputation points

So you have to meet the time requirement in addition to just one of those last two and then the site will be of normal access to you. But we do have to warn you that if you plan to spam the forum with cheap one line posts or posts on the different posting games we have, we will hold you back in the limited usergroup until you can prove you can make quality posts on this site. And it also works the opposite way, if a mod or an admin notices a new user who has been making quality posts with effort put into them, they could be nominated to bypass the limits (but do not request this, even if you feel like you deserve it.) Other than having a few features disabled, the site is accessible and you can post on nearly every forum still, and members in this new catergory will be treated the same as other registered users, it's just a difference in what they can and can't access.
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Thanks for taking the time to read this FAQ, we hope you found it useful.
The Strike3forums.com team.

DIGG, de.licio.us, YardBarker.... WHAAAAA?

You might be asking yourself just what the heck these little new icons on every post are. And trust me, new things scare me into a terror shock too, so I can understand the confusion. To put it simply, we have selected a few social bookmarking icons that have been fluidly implemented into the site so you can easily spread what you find to be thought provoking, controversial, hilarious and just in general the articles (or well written discussion) that you would be proud of saying that you are associated with as a member of this site. Why would you do this? It helps to spread the word of great S3F content through out the various internets, exposing it new eyes and fresh... um, usernames out there who will possibly join us and discuss what you submitted. It helps the site and gives those who go above and beyond with their effort some exposure that they rightfully deserve for their high quality content.

That's All Well and Good... But How?

Assuming you are using a normal postbit (not a horizontal postbit), you can find it easily, right below the post date and time. The social content submission systems we are using, going from left to right, are DIGG, de.licio.us and YardBarker. Simply clicking on one for a high quality article will get you started on the quick and painless submission process. I decided to use McKain due to his in general awesome nature.



Or for the articles forum (which has a different layout obviously), you will see it to the left of the header image and article info, like here:



So once you click to submit an article or discussion, you will be brought to a login page. We will be using DIGG in this tutorial, but you will find all three we use to be pretty similar in nature, so if you learn the process for one, it won't be hard for the others. If you have an account for the service you are submitting to, you can login from this page, but if not, you will first have to register which is non-intrusive and quick. First click to join:



As you can see, the questions DIGG asks on it's registration page are nothing unexpected and something that any frequent internet user should be able to fly right through.



Great! Now you're registered and you can submit whatever it is that you wanted to originally. Using one of the submit buttons here, you will see that the info of the thread title is already entered and all you have to do is to think of an accurate and interesting way to describe the article or discussion and click "Baseball" for the category to submit the article under.



Congratulations, you just submitted an article. And since you now have your account registered, it literally takes about as long as it does to think of a good description for the next submission of yours.

Miscellaneous Information About Submitting

First off, it has to be stressed that this is a feature that should not be abused. Keep in mind that we are not trying to mis-use these services or bombard their regular users with something they might not care about, but rather we are trying to show off what makes Strike 3 great. So please only submit what you happen to think is something that others will care to read about and will be glad that you shared it. If you go on a date, I doubt you're going to list off all the mundane qualities or activities you have, it works the same way here.

And if you happen to find an article great and you go to submit it, only to see that it is already, what does this mean for you? That you were just saved the minute or two of writing a description. Now all you have to do is submit a rating for it, so hopefully the article does not get buried under newer or more popular articles. In your post on the article or discussion, make sure to point out that others should submit/vote on the article so more people have the opportunity to discover the content and us. The more ratings, the better chance the article or discussion has of reaching more baseball fans.

If you think that Strike 3 is one of the best unknown sites, but you want to remove the unknown part, helping to submit and vote on the articles you enjoy you can accomplish that.

And as always, an article is only as good as the discussion that follows, so if you think it's great, don't just say that but let us know what you find to be great about it and spark more discussion. Ask questions, play devil's advocate, make it interesting in other words. If you are on this site, you have an opinion to put it simply... so share it on the site, share the article with the internet and maybe others will follow suit on both fronts. This is one of the best ways you can help out S3F.

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Thanks for taking the time to read this FAQ, we hope you found it useful.
.: The Strike3forums.com Team :.

I'll Plus Your One (What?) or Thread Ratings Explained

Over the last few days you might have been wondering what is the deal with all the plus and minus signs, random numbers, etc. You might be wondering why we are trying to strain your minds so much, but I can assure you that this is not a grade school math test. And while S3F is still planning our yearly forum member aptitude test, of which calculus will be a significant portion of, this is actually our new thread rating system (we'll talk about the test at another time.) So what is different and why is this better? Simply put, this is simple. Either you like a thread like catching a homerun ball at the World Series or you hate it like the smell of the ballpark men's room with a World Series crowd. So the 5 star system is gone obviously. One of the other big perks is that this experience is user defined and what I mean by that is that we have a top rated threads page in which you, the forum members, will be able to determine the great threads to in a way archive for easy future viewing. But that is a feature that only works with mass voting. Also, you can see who votes up on your threads so you can possibly send them a little thank you note via PM and alternatively you can see who votes down on your threads so you can place a terrible curse upon them and their children's internet life (c'mon, you don't want to take it much farther than that or Johnny Law will start to come knocking on your door.) There are other features with this system that will be mentioned below and yet still more we could implement in the future.

Alright, to get this started go to your favorite forum (no, not the one you have bookmarked under "Sexy Time", the baseball one) on S3F and find a topic that you think might interest you. Who doesn't like the Youk (other than Yankees fans)? So let's check out that thread. (As you can see from the example graphic, the voting system is also on the forum display.)


Alright, this is a pretty great thread here. It seems like Captain Sparrow agrees with me, which I suppose is pretty good as I've lost complete touch with reality and he is my most trusted adviser.


So now is the time to vote, you can find the voting icons to the right hand corner of the thread title up top. A plus vote is for when you dig it and a minus vote is for when you don't. We're voting this up, even if it isn't quite as sweet as a Koufax curve.
(A little sidenote, you can't vote on your own threads.)


You can always reverse your vote at a later time, or if you accidentally voted the wrong way, you can change it. You can't remove your vote completely though once it's in, it has to either be a +1 or a -1, you can't go back to having no vote.


Assuming there was more than just myself who enjoyed that thread, I would maybe want to see who else voted to see if I am sitting at the cool kid's table or not. To do that, click on the number counter and voila, there you go. As you can see, I am alone in my adoration of the Greek God of Walks.


So what if you want to go back to see popular old threads? You can of course or I would of never posed that question to begin with. Follow this link or click the image below. The threads are not categorized in when they received the votes but when they were last posted on, so some threads that received their votes long ago can work their ways back up. I will try to figure out how to improve this.

Top Rated Threads on S3F



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Thanks for taking the time to read this FAQ, we hope you found it useful. The Strike3forums.com team.

Signature Picture Info
At Strike 3 Forums we do allow users to include an image in their signature if they choose to but there are a few rules to keep in mind before you add or create a sig pic for yourself. In addition to the file and dimension limits covered later on in the FAQ we simply ask that you respect the rules in place at Strike 3 Forums when adding a sig pic. Essentially all the rules that we have in place for posting apply to the images you add. We ask that you please abide by these to keep our lives a bit simpler and as a result, you won’t waste time on a sig pic that you cannot use at Strike 3 Forums.

Limits
Similar to the avatar limits, we do have specific reasons to keep the sig pics to specific limits. A dimension limit is in place to conserve on the space it takes up on page so that users will not have scroll a significant amount just to get from the top of a long thread to the bottom. And the file size limit is in place to make the forums as friendly as possible to both guests and members on a dial-up connection. But despite having limits, they are reasonable and it’s quite easy to make a sig pic that will fit in the limits and still show off your design abilities. The limits are as follow:

*File size limit: Sig pics can be no bigger than 50.0 KB.
*Dimension limit: Sig pics can be no bigger than 400x100 pixels.

How To Request A Sig Pic
If you would like a sig pic designed for your use at Strike 3 Forums, please make a detailed request in our Homeplate Artwork forum. Homeplate Artwork Forum

There are also sig pic sets for all team forums and a general Strike 3 Forums set. To add one from the sets we currently have, simply go to the team forum of your choice (or a main forum up top) and find the announcement from there. (Here's an example of the general Strike 3 Forums' set:S3F Set

How To Add A Sig Pic
To add a sig pic, follow the steps below:
*Upload your sig pic to either your own webspace or a free image host (ImageShack is a good one to use.)
*On the Strike 3 navigation bar (under the forum banner), find the link to your User CP.
*From there, under the section labeled Settings and Options, click Edit Signature.
*Then either click the image code button () or use the code provided below (both methods will work):
[img]url[/img]
Place your image link in the code (with the second method, just replace “url” with your link.)
*Once you have made your selection, click Save Changes.

Final Notes
Since we might not always notice violations to the sig pic limits and rules, we ask that if you notice something that we have yet to catch that you notified a member of the Strike 3 Forums team. You can also directly notify the admins by posting in the Admin Notification forum. Admin Notification Forum

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Thanks for taking the time to read this FAQ, we hope you found it useful.
The Strike3forums.com team.

Avatar Info
If you are new to forums, you may be wondering what an avatar is in the first place. Avatars are custom images that can be a personal expression display to the left of your username when a post is made and also display in your member profile. Your avatar can be a personal image (a custom avatar) or you can select an avatar from one of our sets.

Limits
In order to ensure that the forums are not slowed down by the images that need to be displayed (such as avatars) there are limits in place to restrict both the file size. The dimensions of avatars are limited to keep the layout as smooth looking as possible and to hopefully allow members to see more of the forums’ content versus the images on the forum. Here are the current limits to keep in mind when wanting to add a custom avatar:

*File size limit: Avatars can be no bigger than 40.0 KB.
*Dimension limit: Avatars can be no bigger than 120x120 pixels.

How To Request A Custom Avatar If you would like an avatar designed for your use at Strike 3, please make a detailed request in our Homeplate Artwork forum. Homeplate Artwork Forum

Or if you just need a picture resized to meet the limits in place on avatars, the Request section of Homeplate Artwork would the appropriate place to ask.

How To Add An Avatar Like mentioned, there are Strike 3 Forums avatar sets available for all members to use if they choose. Currently there are four different styles which all represent a logo of the Major League Baseball team they are representing and the team’s colors. More avatar sets are planned to be added in the future and an announcement can be found in the Members Association when they are added. To view Strike 3’s current avatar sets, please view this link: Avatar List

To either add one of those avatars or a custom avatar, follow the steps below:
*On the Strike 3 navigation bar (under the forum banner), find the link to your User CP.
*From there, under the section labeled Settings and Options, click Edit Avatar.
*You can then either select an avatar from one of the avatar sets, enter a URL linking to your custom avatar, or upload an avatar from your computer.
*Once you have made your selection, click Save Changes. And as long as your new avatar meets the limits in place, your new avatar will be added.

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Thanks for taking the time to read this FAQ, we hope you found it useful
. The Strike3forums.com team.

If you have recently signed up and can’t post…
Once you register at Strike 3 Forums, a confirmation email is sent out to the email that your provided during the signup process. This confirmation email is necessary to get your account activated and able to post on the forums. Usually the confirmation email will arrive in your inbox within minutes after signup. If you do not see it after awhile, make sure to check to see if a spam filter moved it to a junk box. And if it’s not there either, you have a couple of quick and easy options to get your account ready to go.

*Request the confirmation email once again which will send the activation link. You can do that by following this link: Request Email
*Or you can contact one of the Strike 3 Forums admins by emailing them directly. Email either one of these addresses with the email provided when you signed up and your account will be manually activated.
Missionhockey21@strike3forums.com

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Thanks for taking the time to read this FAQ, we hope you found it useful.
The Strike3forums.com team.

Help for Members With A Dial-up Connection
While the graphics featured on Strike 3 Forums are something that a majority of members enjoy we do realize that some may have a problem with the load times that accompany them due to a slower connection. This FAQ is in place if you want to eliminate a large portion of the graphics that you will encounter while reading and posting on the forums. You can choose to follow all the steps listed below or just a few if there are certain elements you would like to retain.

Simple tweaks to speed up your Strike 3 Forums experience
*On the Strike 3 Forums navigation bar (under the forum banner), find the link to your User CP.
*From there, under the section labeled Settings and Options, click Edit Options.
*Under the section labeled Thread Display Options, find the sub-section labeled Visible Post Elements. You will see three boxes which you can deselect to disable the element that they list to the right. The elements listed will be Show Signatures, Show Avatars, Show Images. You can decide to turn off how many elements you need to.
*Once you have made your selection, click Save Changes.

In addition to this, you can also set it so you only view one style while browsing all forums. This will make it so you do not need to load up individual graphics and banners for each team forum you visit. You can change this by following these simple instructions:
*On the Strike 3 Forums navigation bar (under the forum banner), find the link to your User CP.
*From there, under the section labeled Settings and Options, click Edit Options.
*From there, under the section labeled Miscellaneous Options, find the sub-section labeled Forum Skin. Then simply select your favorite team or skin.
*Once you have made your selection, click Save Changes.

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Thanks for taking the time to read this FAQ, we hope you found it useful.
The Strike3forums.com team.

Reputation System
The forums currently has a system enabled in which members can reward another poster for making a quality post or punish them for an inappropriate post. This is the reputation system in it’s most simple essence. Users have different reputation power depending on various elements which will be covered in the Reputation Settings section. Reputation power is essentially how many points you can either add or subtract from another poster if you give them positive/negative reputation. But it must be stressed that giving out positive reputation is why the system is enabled. When someone takes the time and effort to make a well thought out, quality post, they should be rewarded. You shouldn’t give out negative reputation for simply disagreeing with another poster but rather only reserve giving out negative reputation for users making offensive posts that violate forum rules.

Reputation Settings
These will help you to understand how our reputation is set up and how it works.
*All new users begin with a positive reputation of 10 points.
*A user must have 20 posts and a reputation of 10 before their reputation “hits” counts against another user.
*For every 183 days a user is registered at Strike 3 Forums, they gain 1 reputation power point. For every 500 posts a user makes, they gain 1 reputation power point. And for every 75 points of reputation that a user has, they gain one reputation power point.
*Users may give out 10 reputations during a 24 hour period.
*The reputations left for another user (both positive and negative) can be viewed by the user in their User CP.

Reputation Levels
You move up or down levels depending on the reputation left for you. In addition to this, for every 50 positive reputation points you receive you get 1 additional rep box () to be displayed with your posts. The same also holds true for every negative 50 reputation points your receive.

User is blackballed from all teams -150
User has been designated for assignment -50
User has been fined for violating the rules -10
User was selected in the Amateur Draft 0
User has just got a Rookie League start 10
User is tearing through the minor league system 50
User was named the top prospect in baseball 150
User has received a September call-up 250
User has made the 25 man roster out of spring training 350
User is becoming a solid major league player 450
User has just made it to the All-Star Game 550
User has signed a long term contract to be the franchise player 650
User has carried the team through the world series 750
User has just received the most valuable player award 850
User currently owns a section of Cooperstown 1000

The reputation system is there for enjoyment, remember that.

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Thanks for taking the time to read this FAQ, we hope you found it useful.
The Strike3forums.com team.

Moderator Applications
If you feel like you meet the requirements as listed in the following application, then please fill out this form to the best of your ability. Note, just because you take the time to fill this out doesn’t guarantee a position in the future. We are simply trying to find the members serious about helping out the forums. We will respond to your application thread after you filled out your form and created your thread (as listed in the application) on the Admin Notification Forum, and we may even ask further questions, so make sure to check your application from time to time. Even if the forum(s) you are interested in are currently filled, we will have your application of file so if an opening does occur, you could get a future PM in regards to it.

Moderator Application Form
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Thanks for taking the time to read this FAQ, we hope you found it useful.
The Strike3forums.com team.