Thanks for reading Mets360! This site exists for me to escape the non-stop complaining I experience in other areas of my life. Try to be civil and not so depressing while you’re here and we’ll get along just fine. Furthermore, this is not a democracy; at best it’s a benevolent dictatorship. Here are the rules that the dictator expects everyone to follow:

1. The expectation is that everyone knows the sites Baseball-Reference and FanGraphs. If you’re not familiar with those sites, it’s up to you to catch up – not anyone here to explain things that have been around for a decade or more. Don’t be lazy – if you don’t know the definition of something – go somewhere and find it out.

2. Words and letters and their definitions matter. Dictionary.com lists 33 synonyms for the word “good” and the word “mediocre” is not one of those 33. That’s not semantics – that’s the English language. As for letters and their importance – the primary example is you cannot just say WAR. Both B-R and FG have their own ways of calculating the stat and it’s inherent on you to make clear which one you’re using. Cite it as bWAR or rWAR for Baseball-Reference and fWAR for FanGraphs.

3. Everyone starts from the same point on the team’s owners.
A. They acquired the team through less than glorious ways.
B. They hold a crippling amount of debt on both the team and the stadium.
C. Even given number two, the payroll is less than it should be.

Since we all agree on these points, there’s no need to say them over and over and over and over and over again. There’s no need for anyone to play the role of Captain Obvious, as this really annoys the dictator. There will be articles devoted to payroll or the general lousiness of the owners. These articles will contain a double-asterisk (**) in the headline. That means you are free to bitch and moan about the payroll/owners in the comments on these stories. Any stories without the double asterisk where your comment complains about the owners/payroll– your comments run the risk of being edited or deleted based on the whims of the dictator on that particular day.

4. Part of being civil is not capitalizing words in your post. If your writing is so poor that you cannot get across your point of emphasis without capitalization – please go somewhere else. If you capitalize words your post will be either edited or deleted, based on the whims of the dictator on that particular day.

5. Another part of being civil is not calling people names. Disagree with ideas, not people. The dictator may edit or delete your post if it violates any rules of common decency. Also, don’t be surprised when you come here and act like a jerk if people immediately tell you that you’re not a nice person. There’s nothing wrong with disagreeing with ideas. You don’t have to be disagreeable while doing so.

6. I don’t care if you’ve been following the team since 1962. That by itself doesn’t make your opinion any better than someone who started following in 2015. Some of the best commenters at the site have been following the team since the 1960s and they bring with them their knowledge and experience. Some of the worst posters at the site have been following the team since the 1960s and think that makes them special. It doesn’t. Come here curious to learn new (or old) things and consider new (or old) ideas. If you think the only things that matter are Wins, RBIs and batting average – please go somewhere else. If you think everything is done better today than it was 40 years ago, you’re just as bad.

7. Of the 10 people who have commented most at the site, the dictator has had disagreements with … all 10 of them. Sometimes the dictator has been right in his opinions and sometimes he’s been wrong. But the dictator would be extremely happy to sit down and watch a game with all 10 of those people. And the goal is to have 1,000 more people like that. Be kind, be passionate, be intelligent and be willing to recognize when the other person has made a good point.