Well, as we enter the long off-season we thought we would update the CGB FAQ. That is a lot of acronyming there. We hadn't updated it in a couple years (it still has a reference to long lost CGB Superstar Danzig!) and there was some new information to include. You can find links to it on the left side of the page in the About Us section. You can also find a link to it in the upper right hand corner above the Fanposts and in the language you have to agree to when you sign up. The page is here.
Find the full text of the updated FAQ after the jump. If you are new, this will help you get better acclimated to CGB. If you have been here since November of 2006 when we first started this bad boy up, it will be a good refresher course. Of course, if you have any questions, please leave them in the comments. Thanks should go to the Hit Squad for their work on updating the lengthy FAQ here. GO BEARS!
Who are you people, and what are you all about?
The California Golden Blogs web log (or "blog") is a website featuring the running chronicles of seven recent Cal grad's unhealthy obsession with Cal Athletics and all things related. Coupled with this obsession, our jobs are so mind-numbingly boring that the seven of us waste most of our employers' valuable time talking about Cal sports. Lucky you! The Golden Bloggers (alternately "Marshawnthusiasts", "Jahvidticians", "Members of the Follettariat", and "The Hit Squad") are:
Ragnarok: The serious one. Occasionally funny, but mostly not. Still, he'll provide you with useful information and serious answers to your inquires most of the time.
HydroTech: The smart one. He knows more about football than you. Unless your name is Jeff Tedford (or "God"). In which case, stop reading Cal sports blogs and get to work on figuring out how to beat USC!
Yellow Fever: One of a select number of people who have:
1) Stalked Vince Carter in a Bloomingdale's
2) Gotten a Cal hat signed by Derrick Favors
3) Shaken Jeff Tedford's hand
4) Commiserated over Jahvid Best's draft stock with Sandy Barbour
5) Spent a night on the town with DeSean Jackson
Ok, maybe not the last one.
CBKWit: The absent one. I'd write a short bio, but I haven't yet gleaned enough info from his 3 total posts to get an accurate picture of who this guy is.
Avinash: The honest one. The one who cracks the whip. Imagine Patton directing those tanks through Normandy. He's Patton and everyone else is those poor tanks. Hopefully they're not going to run of gas.
If we had official titles, he'd be something like the editorial operations director (writes, edits, directs). But titles are for monarchies.
Berkelium97: The intrepid reporter and Mr. Reliable. You've heard of Old Faithful? Big Ben? Amateurs. If there's Cal news to be found, you can count on him to find it. When he's not digging up all news stories Cal-related, he's attending various Pac-10 media events. And when he's not at Pac-10 media events, he plays with mounds of data for his next stats-based post.
Norcalnick: A 4th generation Cal grad who grew up on Dameane Douglas, Randy Duck and Tony Gonzalez, and has attended every Big Game since his 10th birthday. He graduated from Cal in 2007 without watching Cal lose to Stanford during his time as a student, something the rest of his family is very jealous about.
He fell in love with Cal women's basketball while following the exploits of Ashley Walker, Alexis Gray-Lawson and Devanei Hampton and was brought on to write about the team for CGB starting in the 2009-10 season. He also writes about the exploits of Monty's charges, fills the role of CGB's Sacramento correspondent, and promises to try to write as much as he can about Cal baseball for as long as the program continues to exist.
solarise: Wears bumblebee gold to the gym everyday. TwistNHook & Avinash recruited him to dominate. He tends to take things too seriously. Unintentional comedy ensues.
Kodiak: Kodiak is the 4th generation of his family to graduate from Cal. He used to have a life, but got tricked into spawning two little girls. Their arrival also contributed to breaking a more than two decades-long streak of attendance at home football and basketball games. Now he pulls double-duty working with the Hit Squad and helping out with front-page content.
LeonPowe: CGB Hit Squad member LeonPowe is not the hard rebounding power forward who led the Cal Bears in the early 2000s, but rather a 1996 Cal grad who lives in China and believes that Monty Buckley is the best Bear ever. LP monitors the overnight shift for CaliforniaGoldenBlogs.
atomsareenough: Though he is primarily known for his fondness for proper grammar and punctuation, he's not just some grumpy language scold. Well, he's not grumpy anyway. Despite the screen name, he is not one of the many CGB chemists; rather, he belongs in the hallowed "Indian" circle of the famed CGB Venn Diagram. If you're wondering, "atoms are enough" comes from a Les Savy Fav song.
OhioBear: Ohio Bear, as his screen name implies, lives in Ohio. He graduated from Cal in the early 1990s and covered Cal sports for KALX while a student. Ohio Bear's fondest memories of his undergraduate years were the 1991 Cal football season and being a play-by-play voice for Cal baseball and women's basketball. Despite not currently being in the broadcasting business, Ohio Bear's dream job is to be Joe Starkey's successor as the play-by-play voice of Cal football.
CALumbusBear: CALumbus Bear was dragged kicking and screaming to CGB by Ohio Bear, but eventually became the Self-Appointed Chief Ultra Justice of the CGB Supreme Court. Because he liked being a powerless figurehead, he was recruited to the Hit Squad and now spends most of his time trying to avoid providing general site content. He graduated from Cal in 1996 and has been spreading Cal love in Ohio for over a decade.
TwistNHook - TwistNHook is like a fine wine. Overpriced, overhyped, he always leaves you unsatisfied in the end. People say he's funny. All we know is that here at the CGB, we deal with the two most important things in the world: college football and the internet.
And that's no laughing matter.
How do these FanPosts work? What about FanShots?
FanPosts are an opportunity for people to write their own article and put it up. It's chance for you to try your hand at sportswriting! While we mods are in charge of producing front-page content, we encourage community participation to provide balance and additional points of view. So, speak up and have your say! FanPosts are for write-ups, thoughts, or reactions that you have written yourself. They should be 75 words or more. Please, no all-caps and no advertisements. If we really like your post, we will probably put it on the front page so more people will see it.
Got an awesome link, quote, or video to share, but not enough content to fill up a full-fledged FanPost? Is there a Cal-related breaking news item that you think everyone should know about and you want to link to an article about it? That sounds like excellent FanShot material, then! FanShots are for links, photos, videos -- no analysis or extra thought necessary.
For more information, check out this discussion. Actually, on second thought, don't.
What does "DBD" stand for?
Daily Bear Dump. It's a daily collection of links and related discussion for easy consumption. It's a great place to go to catch up on the news of the day, and at least within the DBD, just about anything goes. It has evolved into a daily casual hangout spot, where people can chit-chat about Cal, about sports in general, or about anything random that strikes their fancy. It's like your favorite neighborhood bar or coffee house, but open 24/7 and with friendlier, more interesting people... or so we like to think, anyway.
These are CGB's collective conventions, and that's all they are - conventions. Use your judgment when posting, and everything should work out just fine.
Can anyone post a DBD?
Yes! If it is late at night or early in the morning and you don't see one posted already, have at it.
What topics are allowed?
Any and all topics that don't violate the community guidelines are okay. Sometimes people have a clever story to tell, want to share a fun video, or simply want to pose a question to stimulate and entertaining discussion. Take a look at some old DBD's to get an idea.
What links should I post?
We typically post links from any recent sports headlines on CalBears.com or any relevant news from dailycal.org. We also try to link to recent news for our local sports teams featured on bayarea.sbnation.com. Don't feel bad if you miss some links, or don't have the time to find them all. Everyone tries to pitch in when they can with posting the news of the day.
I found a great article about Cal on another website. Can I post it here so that everyone else can see?
Many websites (such as for news organizations, like the SF Chronicle) will allow their stories to be passed around the web without too much restriction. Find a gem of a quote? Feel free to copy and paste the relevant passage into a comment, a FanShot, or even your own FanPost, along with a link back to the original story. Due to fair-use restrictions, you can't copy the whole thing, but you can copy an excerpt, and by providing a link back to the original story, readers can go and get the whole story, straight from the source. We at the CGB would appreciate the same courtesy when linking to our posts.
However, some websites restrict some or all of their content to paying subscribers, or otherwise won't allow any of their content to be republished elsewhere. There are no fair-use allowances for such "premium" or "restricted" content as can be found at sites such as Rivals, Scout, or ESPN Insider. They work hard to produce such content, and don't want to see it just given away for free. For something behind a subscription wall, or where the publisher asks not to copy it, merely offer the link and perhaps a paraphrase. Do not copy and paste anything from behind a subscription wall, because it may be not only against copyright law but also in violation of your subscription agreement as well. We could get in trouble, you could be banned from that subscription site, there could be money damages -- bad times all around. Just don't do it. If you're not sure you have the right to copy or republish something, then don't do it.
What about this awesome photo I found? It's a little lewd, however...
Although we aren't really all that prudish, it is important to remember that this site is viewed by all manner of people, including those who may not appreciate such photos, as well as others who read this blog at work. While most employers might not mind you reading sports websites during quick, 10-minute breaks at work, they may frown further on viewing embarrassing photos of player's girlfriends and opposing cheerleaders. In no way does CGB ever want to be responsible for someone getting in trouble at work, so if you have a photo that you think could get people in trouble (large photo or photo of scantily clad women), please post only a link to the photo with a NSFW ("Not Safe For Work") warning. Readers can then choose, or not, to view the picture at a later, more appropriate time. Better safe than sorry!
What about this other photo I found? It isn't dirty. Did you say something about using a header?
Remember that all photos are copyrighted, so be sure you aren't infringing someone else's copyright by posting the photo. Again, if you're not sure you have the right to post it, don't do it.
We also ask that when you post any photo, or even a large block of text, you include a header in your post (the top part of the post that's automatically bold). That way, if a reader wants to hide the photo or large block of text, all they have to do is click the header and, like magic, the picture/text is hidden. Please, PLEASE do this with animated gifs, as pages with lots of gifs and big photos can get slow.
What's a torrent? Can I use them to re-watch Cal games after the fact?
BitTorrent is a peer-to-peer file-sharing protocol; it can be used to download just about anything. Recently, all Cal Football games have been uploaded as torrents, so yeah, it appears you can download them and then view them as many times as you like on your computer. But do this at your own risk -- we have no idea if the person who posted the game has the authority or right to do so. Even if we or another CGBer post the link, we are not saying that you should download it or it is safe/legal to download. Once again, there are copyright issues at stake, and we encourage you to keep those in mind and only do what is permissible under relevant law.
How do I download and view these torrents?
The Patron Saint of Awesomeness Danzig explains this better than we ever could.
HydroTech's screen capture posts are awesome! How does he do that?
In 10 easy steps:
1 - Download the torrent of the game (see above).
2 - Burn the torrent to DVD (requires torrent-burning software).
3 - Play the DVD on your computer.
4 - Press the "prnt scrn" button on computer at the appropriate time during the game
5 - Open up Photoshop (other photo-editing software will also work, but Hydro uses Photoshop).
6 - "Paste" the screen grab into Photoshop.
7 - Crop the photo as desired.
8 - Add dots, arrows, or whatever else helps explain the photo.
9 - Save the photo as a .jpg file.
10 - Upload the .jpg file to the SBN server.
I just started a great new blog. Wanna exchange links?
Perhaps. It really depends on what your blog is about, and how closely it jives with what we cover at CGB. We're trying to be a little selective here; after all, a million links is about as useful as no links at all.
Anyway, we'll readily link to a site about Cal Sports, and most any regularly-updating site about other Pac-10 school sports. Blogs following other college teams or college sports in general have to be pretty exceptional to gain our interest, and sites about non-collegiate athletics would have to be truly fantastic. Basically, the further your blog's subject matter is from Cal Sports, the more essential your blog will have to be to warrant our interest, and thus, a link exchange.
Reading/skipping past all of these inane comments broke the scroll wheel on my mouse. What can I do?
Hit the "z" key. I am going to say that again. In all caps. Watch this: HIT THE Z KEY! Not since the invention of the letter Z itself, has there been such a monumental discovery. It'll take you right to the new comments that you have yet to read. That way, even if the post has hundreds and hundreds of comments, you can find the new ones in a matter of second.
Actually, If you look at the top of the comments section on any post, you'll see posted a number of keyboard shortcuts which allow for quick navigation of the comments section. "C" tabs forward through new comments, while "Shift-C" will tab backwards. "X" will mark the current comment as read, while "Shift-A" will mark all comments as read. The magical "Z" key combines both "C" and "X" to mark a comment as read and move onto the next one, while "R" will allow you to reply to the current comment.