The WAGNH Community Guidelines

We Ain't Got No History has been around for a few years now, and the community has grown considerably since the early days of its existence. When the site was first launched, we had very little need for a set of community guidelines just due to the relative size of the community. We've grown to the point where the community has a hard time effectively policing itself though, and because of that we've decided to establish some guidelines for the way we expect you all to act.

We've put together ten key things that we expect from the community, all of which are designed to make this a more enjoyable experience for everyone. Anyone commenting here will be expected to abide by these, and those who fail to do so too often won't be allowed to participate any more. With that in mind, here are the WAGNH community guidelines:

1) Insults and personal attacks are not welcome here

With the size of this community, we’re bound to have different players we all rate highly, tactics and teams we prefer to watch, and roster moves that we’d prefer to see made. Discussing those topics is one of the primary reasons we all visit the comment sections at WAGNH, and it’s why this particular item is so important.

If you’re going to comment at WAGNH, it’s expected that you can contribute without making things personal. All of us will eventually run into a user who seems to feel differently about everything Chelsea-related, but that’s never a reason to say anything about the user themselves. Keep things to football and be respectful of everyone, the community will be a better place for it.

2) Relentless negativity isn’t welcome at WAGNH

For whatever reason, we’ve been seeing this sort of behavior quite a bit of late. I’m going to borrow a definition from another SB Nation community, Pension Plan Puppets, on this:

"What constitutes ‘relentless negativity’? Constantly complaining without reasoning or proposing solutions. We're all fans and we all get frustrated when the team doesn't perform or has bad luck, but regurgitating the same venom over and over again doesn't help anything or anyone - it just fouls the air, and we're all better than that. If you continue to do nothing but post negativity, you may lose posting privileges without warning. There's a difference between someone who aims to point out flaws and be constructive and someone who is destructive. That said, we understand the reality of emotional responses in real-time during a game, for example, and are likely to be a bit more lenient in such cases. Bottom line: the goal is to make this community fun for everyone."

Following any team is going to have ups and downs, regardless of what team you choose to follow. Chelsea aren’t going to win every game they play or every competition they take part in, and they aren’t always going to look particularly impressive when the take the pitch. The relentlessly negative fan seems to find things to complain about in every single match and with every roster move made, and frankly, it makes the comments sections very difficult for others to read.

If you find yourself being relentlessly critical in a majority of the posts you comment on, you probably won’t find yourself being a longterm part of this community. You’re entitled to your opinion, but please be mindful of the fact that nobody wants it shoved in their face every single time the log in.

3) The "plastic" fan

This one is a big one, and it’s one of my biggest pet peeves. This community consists of members from all around the globe who follow the club in a variety of different ways. None of us are "better" fans than any others, regardless of how much time or money we spend following the club.

At WAGNH, season ticket holders who attend every single match won’t be treated any differently than the guy that watches 1-2 games a year on TV from their couch in Siberia. Disagree with another fan’s views all you want, but if you make a comment giving them an insulting label such as being a "plastic fan" (or anything else suggesting that they are inferior in any way), I wouldn’t be expecting to be commenting here any longer.

4) No linking or directing to illegal streams

We preview every match here at WAGNH, and in that preview we include a link that provides streaming and television information. If you aren’t entirely certain if something is legal, it’s probably not a good idea to post a link in our comment section. Please note, this includes directing to apps which alter your IP address.

5) Trolling is not acceptable behaviour

First and foremost, this is a community for Chelsea fans to discuss all things Chelsea. Does that mean you won’t be free to join the discussion even if you aren’t a fan of the Blues? Of course it doesn’t, but it does mean you’ll be expected to be civil and be aware that you’re commenting at a blog with a heavy pro-Chelsea bias.

There’s a flipside to this as well, as SB Nation has blogs dedicated to many of our rivals. WAGNH community members are encouraged to check those sites out, but "trolling" in any of those communities will not be looked at any more favorably than a rival fan doing so here.

6) Certain topics are best left away from a football blog

Politics and religion are the first things that come to mind here, as our readers will likely have a wide variety of views on the matter that tend to elicit strong reactions. Occasionally, something will happen which makes one of those topics relevant to Chelsea, but the vast majority of the time we’d like to see those topics left out of the discussion. Even in the rare case that one of these topics directly relates to the matter at hand, tread lightly and keep things to the matter at hand. Doing so will make WAGNH a better place for all.

7) Keep things on topic

WAGNH has grown a lot over the past two years, and the number of comments have increased along with the amount of members. At some point, pages begin to load slowly for some users without the latest 43G phones or best internet connections. That is the main reason we added a second half game thread when we started getting four-digit comment totals, and it’s why we want to keep things on-topic as often as possible. If we write a match analysis of the game against Barcelona, it’s probably not the best place to discuss the latest transfer "news" from The Mirror. If it’s newsworthy, we’ll probably write about it on the front page. If you just can’t wait any longer for us to do so, you can always create a fanshot with a link to the article.

On the point of keeping things on topic, some readers will occasionally by a moderator in private. Hopefully the explanation clears up the reason behind the warning, but sometimes there may be further questions on the matter. Debating why you were warned is not an appropriate discussion for the comment section, as Chelsea fans visiting the site aren't looking to read that sort of thing. Simply drop one of us an email and we'll gladly go into further detail about the reason the warning appeared.

8) Try to avoid using profanity

We’re all going to use four letter words at times, especially during games. That said, this isn't a situation where you blurt something out without thinking, to post a comment here you need to type it out and hit 'post'.

There will be occasions where some profanity is acceptable, especially during games where emotions are running high. With that said, many of us read these threads at work or with family around, and don't want to see the comment sections become something you can't open in these situations. If you can make your point without using any profanity, please do it.

9) You aren’t texting, and this isn’t Twitter

Our comments are not limited to a set number of characters, so neither are you. With that in mind, let’s type out "you" instead of using "u", "be" as opposed to "b", and "are" as opposed to "r". Start sentences with a capital letter, finish them with punctuation. If you can’t be bothered to type out simple words to make reading comments a little easier, nobody here is going to bother reading them.

10) Have fun while you’re here

At the end of the day, this is why we’re all here, to have fun and support Chelsea.  The reason we’re asking you to follow these basic guidelines is to make it an enjoyable experience for everyone.

When you decide to comment, do so as if you actually want to be part of an online community. Make an effort to make good comments. Look to contribute and engage and discuss, not to consume and attack and dismiss, and remember that commenting is a privilege, not a right. Make it fun not just for yourself, but for everyone else as well.