Master Index of Archived Threads


CPF FAQ Thread

Willets Point Apr 20 2007 10:38 AM Edited 1 time(s), most recently on Apr 20 2007 11:09 AM

May as well start it. What is a question that you have always had regarding the Crane Pool? ON EDIT: We can also post the answers here.

Edgy DC Apr 20 2007 10:44 AM

What are the rules? Do you ban people? For what? On what terms?

Gwreck Apr 20 2007 11:08 AM

General Questions: Who are the administrators? Who are the moderators? Username Questions: Why does everyone have a Mets player listed below their name? Some people have other titles! What if I want to be Mr. Met? Why do some people have two avatars? At what point to I get to be Tom Seaver? When do I get to choose my own title? Thread questions: What's an "IGT?" What is the Rico Brogna thread? Why was he a "Good Fit?" What's the deal with all the all-purpose threads? POTG: Why are the Player of the Game threads named after Schaefer? What are the POTG voting rules? Archive Questions: My post disappeared! What happened? Why isn't there anything more recent than two months here? Misc. What is the song parody contest? How do I join?

Frayed Knot Apr 20 2007 11:12 AM

Q; Do you allow avatars and signature lines? A: Yes, but we prefer they remain limited as we're more interested in what you have to say than in what you can display. Keep avatars to 150x150 or smaller and signatures to a line or two of text.

Johnny Dickshot Apr 20 2007 11:39 AM

Q: What happened to all the people I used to see posting here? Why did they quit?

Kid Carsey Apr 20 2007 06:12 PM

Someone told me this place used to be called The Sergio Ferrer Forum, what's up with that?

Johnny Dickshot Apr 20 2007 07:51 PM

sup How ds ths bd dffr frm the 1s I usta pst at? LOL!!!1

iramets Apr 20 2007 08:08 PM

Edgy DC wrote: What are the rules? Do you ban people? For what? On what terms? Ooh!! Ooh,!! I know this one! Can I supply the answer?

MFS62 Apr 20 2007 08:54 PM

iramets wrote: Ooh!! Ooh,!! I know this one! And how long has Arnold Horshack been a member? Later

Frayed Knot Apr 21 2007 06:24 AM Edited 8 time(s), most recently on Apr 30 2007 07:27 AM

If we're going to actually publish this (I assume via some kind of link at the top somewhere) it should probably include some kind of intro/manifesto for those who stumble upon it in addition to a handful of FAQs that would be of interest to potential newbies. I don't make any claims that the following is complete - and if one of youse guys who write more goodly than me wants to do some editing knock yourselves out. But I think what we need is something along the lines of: So just what is this place anyway? Just your basic internet chat room really; one whose objective is the discussion of the New York Mets in particular and baseball in general ... with the occasional foray into other topics. Anything unique about it? Well, we like to think that it's got fewer screaming teenagers (of any age) and a bit more thoughtful discussion than most places. It was created as a refuge from the noise and bluster that permeates some other sites. Some think that makes us a bunch of elitist snobs - but your mileage may vary. Is the place moderated? Oh we got mods, mods in all shapes and sizes whose primary goal is to do as little moderating as possible. - EdgyDC pretty much concocted this place back in 2001 and we like to let him think he still runs it even though he now spends most of his time finding obscure references to retired ex-Mets in small-town newspapers across the country and searching the web for photos of player wives. - GetaLife and KC are two of about a half-dozen different handles (or is it 3 dozen?... we lose track) used by Edgy's main Lieutenant as he takes care of keeping the forum running and deleting spam and phony user names while otherwise coasting on his reputation as the guy who was chatting about the Mets on the internet since about 10 minutes after helping Al Gore invent this wonderful medium. - Yancy Street Gang handles much of the behind the scenes technical aspects of the forum in between attempts to consume most of the Pop-Tarts in the Eastern U.S. - And finally there's the mysterious Giant Squid-Like Creature who apparently saw the word 'Pool' in our name and thought it would be a good place to hide from those pesky New Zealand scientists who keep trying to snag him in their nets for further study of his sexual habits. Once he showed up here we immediately inked him to a contract (get it?... Inked!) and put him to work organizing & archiving our old threads. So seriously, what are the rules here? Seriously, as few as possible. The main one is that we're here to discuss baseball. So if you came to sell Viagra, hawk mortgages, or spam us with your own website we're not interested. If you want to sell your tickets for next Saturday's game that's fine - but contant solicitations won't be tolerated. The general rule is that this place is about the Mets, not you. Do I need to register? Just to read, no, although some of the coded charts & graphs will look like gibberish to those not logged in. But to be able to participate and view all the posts in their intended form you'll need to be registered. Registration is a quick and painless two-step process which can be done [HERE] Language & Vulgarity: We don't edit for content and this place generally isn't for children, but if you consistently make yourself sound like a foul-mouthed dope you might find yourself treated like one. Flaming: Spirited discussion is always welcome but constant personal attacks are a waste of time and space. If you have a problem with a particular member either take it to the The Red Light Forum where you two can insult each other all day long while the rest of us get back to talking baseball or risk getting your posts zapped and youself bounced. Other than that, a modicum use of common sense goes a long way. Things like checking to see whether there's already a front page thread on a topic before starting a new one, or being prepared to back up what you're saying so you don't wind up looking silly later on are always good ideas. Enforcement of these rules - though rarely used - is solely at the discretion of the moderators. Do you allow avatars and signature lines? Yes but with limits. Nothing wrong with personalizing your input as long as it doesn't overwhelm the post itself. In general, we're much more interested in what you've got to say than in what you can display. So keep the avatars to no more than 150x150 and limit the sigs to just a line or two of text while sparing us the multi-media pyrotechnics. Can I insert images into my posts? Yes, as long as they're appropriate to the subject at hand, appropriate for public viewing (people occasionally do sneak a peak at this forum while at work ... or so we've heard) and reasonably sized so as to not blow the thread right off the screen. Just like with the avatars, we're less interested in the color of your scenes than in the content of your characters. How do I personalize my screen name? Click on 'Profile' and you'll find space to add/update avatars, signatures, time zones, contact info, and other personal stuff. Does HTML work here? Yes. As does 'BBCode', a quickie way of incorporating things like Italics, Bold, Images & Underlining that are available when you make a post. Also, URL codes are automatically converted into links when you place them within your post. Can I send a private message (PM) to another member? Yes. By clicking on a name you can send a PM to that person as long as your target has that feature enabled. Can I edit my posts? Yes. Editing for grammar or content can be done at any time - although there is kind of a tradition here about NOT editing a typo once it's been caught and made fun of. No bigger sin 'round these parts than ruining a good joke. What's with all the different forums? The Baseball Forum is the main place to discuss the Mets and baseball. The Non-Baseball Forum is for general news and current events topics, plus we have another dedicated specifically to talk about movies. The rest are pretty much self-explanatory (especially with the self-explanations written right above each) and are either for archived material or for special projects that go on here from time to time. What's with the player names next to each post and why did it say: 'Jim the Monstrously Huge Batboy' next to my first post even though I didn't put it there? Ahhh, you've stumbled on our method for assigning player names according to how many posts you've amassed rather than simpler generic titles like "Rookie", "Starter", etc. More details available HERE [link to Ratings FAQ] What the heck are Schaefer points? Remember back when long-ago Met announcers Lindsey, Ralph & Bob would assign points for the NY Met 'Schaefer Player of the Game'? Well we do and we're carrying on the tradition. A poll is put up after each game and you can assign points based on who you think contributed most to the game. More details available HERE [link to more detailed instructions]. Is there some kind of code used here? I see stuff like IGT, KTE, & MFY all over the place. WTF are you guys talking about? Not code but, like a lot of internet chat, a unique style of shorthand tends to develop. IGT - In Game Threads are nothing more than a way to herd talk about the ongoing game from being scattered across 10 different threads. KTE - Know Thine Enemy is a preview of the upcoming series prepared by one of the members. MFY - Well, that simply is shorthand for the Mother Fuckin' Yankees (this is a Met board after all).

Edgy DC Apr 21 2007 07:38 AM

That's simply great work. For the record, only a limited amount of HTML is allowed.

Benjamin Grimm Apr 21 2007 07:55 AM

Yes, nicely done. (Pop Tarts? I'll have to try one some time.) Oh, and it's Lindsey with an E, not Lindsay with an A.

iramets Apr 21 2007 07:57 AM

gud jobe FK--butt sum a them sentinces mihgt driv awey the mouhtbreahtign elemint your lookign fore.

SteveJRogers Apr 21 2007 09:18 AM

Should add to the Schaefer bit a photo of a classic Schaefer ad, hopefully with the infamous slogan "Schaefer is the one beer to have when you want more than one" or at least one of the many Schaefer ads that graced yearbooks and programs through the 60's and 70's. BTW, didn't Reingold also do a Met of the whatever as well? I believe I've seen things harking back to Reingold here and the EZ board. If so, a mention of "the dry beer" should be mentioned, since it was the beer you must buy wherever you buy beer!

SteveJRogers Apr 21 2007 09:30 AM

Whats with post 41, 4141 and 666? And whats with the hail posts? Due to the greatness of the only Met to have his number retired for his playing days, as well as the first primarily Met inducted into Cooperstown, George Thomas Seaver has a special, sacred place around here, so don't be alarmed when you see Tom Seaver appear when someone makes their 41st and 4,141st post and you see a number of posts afterwards simply saying "HAIL" with images of actual hail underneath. The avatar that acompanies someone's 666th post is just someone having fun with Photoshop, replacing Jay Payton's name (orignial photo of Jay in the batters circle in a black uni can be found here (link to the orignial pic)) and #44 with SATAN 666. It's not a reflection on anyone's opinion of Jay Payton's performance as a Met, it was just a Photoshop goof.

SteveJRogers Apr 21 2007 09:35 AM

What the heck is a Gay Dame? Huh? Several posters here are quite the jokers when it comes to literary devices. Especially in situations such as "Gay Dame" which is simply (insert the actual device which I don't know what it's called, if anything) is switching the first letter so that the two words make two different words. Hence "Day Game" turns into "Gay Dame."

SteveJRogers Apr 21 2007 09:58 AM

Whats an MFY? Mother F*****g Yankee. Yankees are also represented as Yanqui, Spank-mees and various other terms. Has anyone famous been around here? Gotta define famous first, but if you are talking about people associated with the Mets? Sportschannel broadcaster Steve Zabriske came in for a brief chat, so did "The Original" Frank Thomas (as opposed to The Big Hurt of the 90's White Sox, currently with the Blue Jays) who was here as a tie-in with his book that came out in 2006. Adam Rubin of the Daily News lurks around here, and he mentions the fourm in his blog every now and then. Members of the Mets Blogsphere are also here, the writers of [url=http://www.metsguyinmichigan.blogspot.com/]Mets Guy In Michigan[/url] and [url=http://faithandfear.blogharbor.com/]Faith and Fear in Flushing[/url] are frequent posters here. Also the respective creators and editiors of two of the best Met sites are also frequent posters, [url=http://www.ultimatemets.com]Ultimate Mets Database[/url] and [url=http://metsbythenumbers.com]Mets By The Numbers[/url] A former writer for Mets Inside Pitch also posts here (note, since SK doesn't use her real name here, I assume it wouldn't be appropriate to reveal it)

Elster88 Apr 21 2007 10:29 AM

Why does Batty have a custom designation at 25 posts when most folks have to wait until 11,000?

Frayed Knot Apr 21 2007 01:41 PM

]For the record, only a limited amount of HTML is allowed. ]Oh, and it's Lindsey with an E, not Lindsay with an A. Y'see, this is why I need an editor(s). And, since you guys can edit posts, feel free to correct the HTML rules and fix or re-word anything else that needs doing.

Benjamin Grimm Apr 21 2007 02:37 PM

Check out the new banner on the archives page for one idea of how the top of the forum might look. (Don't expect all of the links to work, though.)

sharpie Apr 21 2007 02:48 PM

]The main one is for Mets and baseball. The General Discussion Forum is for general news topics and we have another dedicated specifically to talk about movies. The rest are pretty much self-explanatory (especially with the self-explanations written right above each) and are either for archived material or for special projects that go on here from time to time. Actually, it is the Non-Baseball Forum.

Johnny Dickshot Apr 21 2007 07:28 PM

Yancy Street Gang wrote: Check out the new banner on the archives page for one idea of how the top of the forum might look. (Don't expect all of the links to work, though.) A long time ago we had a "make a cpf logo" contest which IIRC, Methead won in a landslide. Perhaps we can launch another or find his missing one. It had something to do with Jello.

metsmarathon Apr 21 2007 08:56 PM

i don't think we need to explain the 41, 666, and 4141 posts. i mean, if you don't get it, you dont belong here, right? what's with the hailstones? there are a handful of milestone posts that you'll run across during your time here - and we could tell you what they are but that'd just ruin the fun. when you reach one, you'll get a commemorative avatar, and your achievement will be recognized as we, uh, hail your accomplishment. how do you feel about capitalization and punctuation? please, for the love of god, practice good capitalization and punctualization. to do otherwise is just plain rude, and makes it very difficult for others to take you seriously.

Methead Apr 21 2007 09:17 PM

This was fun, but I dunno if it's worthy of "corporate identity" status.

A Boy Named Seo Apr 22 2007 09:09 AM

]how do you feel about capitalization and punctuation? please, for the love of god, practice good capitalization and punctualization. to do otherwise is just plain rude, and makes it very difficult for others to take you seriously. Well played, sir.

Kid Carsey Apr 22 2007 01:37 PM

FK: >>>- GetaLife and KC are two of about a half-dozen different handles (or is it 3 dozen?... we lose track) used by Edgy's main Lieutenant as he takes care of keeping the forum running and deleting spam and phony user names while otherwise coasting on his reputation as the guy who was chatting about the Mets on the internet since about 10 minutes after Al Gore invented this wonderful medium.<<< Love it, can we change it to, "since helping Al Gore invent" just for the goof?

Frayed Knot Apr 22 2007 08:22 PM

Done! The section on the mods is my favorite part of that piece.

metsmarathon Apr 22 2007 10:20 PM

isn't it forums? i'm sorry, but please just leave. you'll never fit in here.

Kid Carsey Apr 23 2007 01:26 PM

E88: >>>Why does Batty have a custom designation at 25 posts when most folks have to wait until 11,000?<<< She threatened to turn me into a newt and I know better not to mess with magic.

Willets Point Apr 23 2007 01:36 PM

Why is the word "Yup" copyrighted? Will a team of lawyers have my ass if I used "Yup" without proper attribution? What is the fascination with haberdashery? People are always saying "I hat you".

metsmarathon Apr 23 2007 08:05 PM Edited 1 time(s), most recently on Apr 23 2007 08:06 PM

see below...

metsmarathon Apr 23 2007 08:05 PM

="Johnny Dickshot"] ="Yancy Street Gang"]Check out the new banner on the archives page for one idea of how the top of the forum might look. (Don't expect all of the links to work, though.) A long time ago we had a "make a cpf logo" contest which IIRC, Methead won in a landslide. Perhaps we can launch another or find his missing one. It had something to do with Jello. preemting the contest with an early entry...

DocTee Apr 23 2007 08:10 PM

Love the slogan,Marathon, but I'd prefer Zvon's artwork-- he had designed a logo a ways back and I suppose it's archived somewhere.

metsmarathon Apr 24 2007 02:02 AM

better?

Benjamin Grimm Apr 24 2007 04:03 AM

Nice, but I think you need to highlight the upper deck seats to make the C stand out more. I read it as "rane Pool Forum" Doc Tee, are you referring to the pinstriped crane? I was remembering that too.

sharpie Apr 24 2007 07:20 AM

I like it a lot. I've been grumbling about the loss of the cranes for a while now.

DocTee Apr 24 2007 08:04 AM

Yes, the poinstriped crane. IIRC, there were some who felt it mirrored too closely the Mets logo and bordered on copyright infringement..I really liked it though. I also like Marathon's latest, but agree that the "C" needs to stand out more.

metsmarathon Apr 24 2007 09:24 AM

i think i can manage that...

DocTee Apr 24 2007 01:48 PM

Rockin' Doc's current avatar (with member status of Ed Kranepool) features the image I was referring to-- check it out.

Willets Point Apr 24 2007 02:58 PM

="metsmarathon"]better? Doesn't that contradict our unofficial motto of "Read More, Post Less"?

metsmarathon Apr 24 2007 03:21 PM

Willets Point Apr 24 2007 03:34 PM

Cute!

sharpie Apr 24 2007 03:39 PM

I vote aye.

DocTee Apr 24 2007 03:55 PM

I prefer the original wording.

A Boy Named Seo Apr 24 2007 04:32 PM

That is pretty bitchin'.

Willets Point Apr 24 2007 04:44 PM

DocTee wrote: I prefer the original wording. I'm pretty sure the revision is a joke. I know I was joking.

metsmarathon Apr 24 2007 05:11 PM

yup. the key detail was the improved (i hope) "C" i'm willing to entertain further suggestions for improvement, also.

Edgy DC Apr 24 2007 05:15 PM

Shea actually should have a roof overhang that big.

Kid Carsey Apr 24 2007 05:15 PM

I appreciate the enthusiasm, but big banners like that just aren't going to work on the current board. The big black "Crane Pool Forum" kinda has to stay there otherwise the forum name doesn't show up some places. The upper area needs to be relatively small and provide some basic functions like links to sites and to the faq and community chest. I added the wording in hopes that we'll get googled again. I slapped up current header as an experiment, I have a few other ideas but it's going to be the basic template for the near future. If anyone wants to post images that are basically the same size as the Shea one, I'd be grateful and happy to cycle in a different image every couple of days. mm's latest is cool though, it would be a shame to not use it at all. Can you make one with "Frequently Asked Questions" on the bottom of for use on that upcoming page?

Willets Point Apr 24 2007 05:18 PM

Can't we just resize mm's banner to make it smaller?

Kid Carsey Apr 24 2007 05:41 PM

We can do whatever everyone wants, I guess. I just slapped up the current one to get a FaFiF link up, get the word Mets on the board, and tried to add something Metly in the old Shea photo - all were mentioned as things needed to perhaps be done in one of these "what to do" threads. I guess my feeling is that having a logo of any size with the forum name on it and a second slogan is kinda redundant. But that's just one feeling. The slogan has been on Ed's page for years and no one uttered one word that it was not Crane Pool worthy.

metsmarathon Apr 24 2007 11:45 PM

so sad. all that enthusasm, dashed upon the rocks... i'm kidding. i'm a fan of splashy graphics, and think they can help draw extra eyeballs at times. and the schaefer-love around here inspired me to spin it for the forum. is it redundant? prolly, and it might not fit so well into the sructure of the board, but it was fun to do, and i was bored. :) if there's room for it somewhere on the board, then i'd be honored if you used it. if not, i'm glad y'all enjoyed it. whichever. i can always make it into my avatar or something... or, if i can get the birds to blink and flap, it can be my new signature!!!! whee!

metsmarathon Apr 25 2007 12:35 AM

big and smaller

Edgy DC Apr 25 2007 04:46 AM

The upper deck looks like an upper deck, now, rather than a roof. Nice.

Kid Carsey Apr 25 2007 06:21 AM

Perfect, 'thon ... thanks.

metirish Apr 25 2007 07:01 AM

Nice work.

Frayed Knot Apr 25 2007 07:17 AM

Where a small version of that (or similar) logo could be used is if one of the "sister sites" (UMDB, MBtN, FaFiF) want to use it as a more prominent icon/link to this place. UMDB, for instance, uses a similar icon to steer folks towards MBtN which stands out more than just a line of text would. Now obviously it's up to the folks that run those places how (or even if) they want to handle a link to this joint but, if they do choose to use a more eye-catching image, it seems to me that something like this would work real well.

Johnny Dickshot Apr 25 2007 07:35 AM

MBtN is under heavy reconstruction behind the scenes and will link the crap out of anyone if & when ready to go live (a month still, prolly).

Benjamin Grimm Apr 25 2007 07:41 AM

I do plan to put a more prominent link to the CPF on the UMDB once the CPF's new look gets finalized. It would be great if Johnny and Greg decide to do the same. If we could all link in pretty much the same way it would improve the "branding" of the CPF.

G-Fafif Apr 25 2007 02:12 PM

I'll bring it up at the next board meeting. Sadly, the way we add links to FAFIF is one of us holds them and the other turns the ladder.

Willets Point May 02 2007 12:19 PM

Q: What do you guys think of that knucklehead rotogeek Billy Beane and that Moneyball book he wrote? Obviously he knows nothing since his team can never win in the postseason. A: Leave.

Vic Sage May 02 2007 03:18 PM

I LIKE IT!!

Iubitul May 02 2007 05:49 PM

Kid Carsey wrote: I appreciate the enthusiasm, but big banners like that just aren't going to work on the current board. The big black "Crane Pool Forum" kinda has to stay there otherwise the forum name doesn't show up some places. Actually, that's not necessarily the case - you can set the "Crane Pool Forum" in an <h1> tag, and then render it invisible with the stylesheet. You could then set up the larger banner as a background image (non-repeating), and the search engines will still find it.

Kid Carsey May 02 2007 06:09 PM

We (I) keep it there so it also shows up below the date instead of just saying "forum index". It's a board thing, not an html or whatever thing. I'm sure there are a lot of things we can do, I've seen some pretty fancy phpbb's. We have some other constraints with this host that I'm just not going to go into. It is what it is, maybe someday we'll host our own board but that's not in the near future for sure. I did the best I could and this is what we're going with (except for one or two small additions soon). I don't know invisible and stylesheets and h1's, I'm a hack.

Iubitul May 02 2007 06:35 PM

i'm sorry if I came on too strong. You're not a hack - this place looks great - I was just trying to point out an option if you wanted to try it....

Kid Carsey May 20 2007 03:05 PM

Phase one of the FAQ is up. Comments and suggestions welcomed. There are a few to add from this thread, I have to slowly go through it during the week and see which ones should be sprinkled in. Special shout-out to Frayed and marathon for their contributions!

Edgy DC May 20 2007 05:47 PM

Cooley High. Typo in the very last word.

Kid Carsey May 20 2007 06:47 PM

Thanks. Fixed.

Frayed Knot May 20 2007 08:21 PM

Cool! We're almost starting to look like a real live forum here. Be good (IMO) if there were links to the Rankings FAQ and the Schaefer rules threads from those sections. Also - as I mentioned before - someone who knows which forms of HTML are allowed 'round these parts may want to re-write that section if mine is too misleading.

Edgy DC May 20 2007 08:24 PM

Currently the HTML tags allowed are: b, i, u, pre, font, s, p, blockquote, tt, a, img, align, table, caption, tr, th, td, div, center, br, span, div, ul, li, ol, strike, hr, sub, sup, ←, ↑, →, ↓, valign, object, embed, param, and style. Obviously, we can expand these. I don't even know what those arrows are doing there.

Frayed Knot May 20 2007 08:36 PM

Well then if someone wants to try and postage stamp that info be my guest. Maybe say "a limited amount" of HTML is allowed, or "basic" HTML functions are kosher. Or just leave it as it is and let 'em figure it out for themselves

Rockin' Doc May 21 2007 07:04 AM

Nice job of the FAQs thus far.