Windy City Gridiron has been up and operating since late 2005.   In that time no guidelines were ever set.  We were a small community who all knew each other by ID and knew what to expect from each other.  About a year ago the site saw an upswing in reader membership and the site saw another upswing around Game 5 of the current season.  Members have come to us from many different mediums.  They have found us by word of mouth, through internet searches and some from other blogs publishing posts from this site.  We have people of all ages, races, locations and genders.

In this regard we really must start keeping these in mind when we post.  I for one held out as long as I could when we were asked to start being more strict with our communities and their postings and comments.  I have defended more than one user against multilple blog owners including our company's owners, when it came to their ability to posting and commenting here and on other blogs.

Early this season I instituted a set of guidelines for the site.  I tried to make them as non-restrictive as possible.  Every new user who has signed up since they were put in place have had to agree to the terms.  I told all users already existing that if they post or comment any further they are subject to those guidelines.

In the past week I have had to delete comments, delete posts and close the comments on 4 seperate Fan Posts due to violations of these guidelines.   The first two rules detailing inappropriate posting are as follows:

1. Personal attacks on community members, directly or through sarcasm/belittling

2. Comments that are intolerant or prejudiced (sexist, racist, homophobic, etc.) in nature

In the past few weeks we have had threads that have been sexist, boardering on racist and homophobic.  This cannot continue.  If it does we are no better than the average message board (not that there are not good ones).  For this site to maintain it's current readership and continue to grow every reader must remain civil and respectful towards all others.

I remain dedicated to keeping WCG and open forum where free speech reigns.  I assure you that on many other sites on this network many users would have been long ago banned and on other blogs any real discussions and debate would have been buried under constant swearing, name calling and general offensive behavior.

If members of the site want to enter into a heated debate over a topic that is fine and I encourage it, but at no time can that debate turn into a series of comments calling someone lame or a jackass for their opinion.

On the flip side you must know that this site is full of knowledgable and opinionated readers.  If you post a controversial thought or idea that is in the minority with very little to back it up, someone will likely call you out for debate.  You cannot take offense when somebody doesn't agree with you.

Up to this point I have never had to ban a reader for non-spam reasons, again I promise you I am in the minority on that one on this network and I do not wish to ever have to make that call, but I came close this week.  The guidleines are there for a reminder, but nothing is in them that you have not heard before.  You all have probably signed similar things at your place of business or had to watch videos on those very topics.  Moreover they are common sense.

I hope that this post is enough to correct matters.  If you would like a copy of the guidelines, email me and I would be happy to send them to you.

We have a long off season ahead of us.  ChiFan and I have a lot of stuff planned for this off season that we hope you will enjoy to read and debate.  I will be bringing you every rumor, Bears related and should be Bears related item I can find on Free Agency and the Draft.   ChiFan will be bringing you more draft analysis on possible Bears picks than this site has ever had before starting almost immediately after all underclassman have declared.  We will once again have a WCG Mock Draft and if we have enough interested readers I am sure I can put together some sort of price pack for a draft contest.

Thank you for your time.

WCG