Please bear with us as we fight the spammers that have been attacking our community for a while now. We are manually deleting the posts as we see them and as you alert us. They are a clever group and we are looking to solutions to make it harder for them.

In the meantime, the best thing you can do is ignore them.

We've seen several mentions of the strict "censorship" that we enforce in the FS community. Censorship is not what is taking place however, there is an automated profanity filter that is causing this perception.

There is a feature available in everyone's settings tab that allows you to turn on or off the filter for profanity. If you turn it 'OFF', then you will see every profane thing written within the community.

You can access the settings tab by going to your blog, then clicking on the settings tab (second from the right) . The  profanity filter toggle is located at the bottom of that page. Simply click on the 'Off' radio button and click the 'save settings' button and you will stop seeing the ####ing hash marks!

So none of over at the FOX HQ were ecstatic about the last redesign, but there were some interesting elements that we wanted to keep.

So, launching very soon is a new version of the blog directory.

Here's a quick rundown on the page:

• Most Interesting Blogs. Every day or so, these three spots should turn over with the most interesting blogs of the past 24 hours. What determines Interestingness, you ask? Let's just call it special sauce... ;)
• Most Popular Discussions. We've added links to blogs with recent comments as well as blogs with the most comments. Comment-spammers take note: we've added more mechanisms to prevent gaming the system!
• Tagcloud. The tagcloud is dead! Long live the tagcloud! We've killed the page-as-tagcloud thing we had going on in part deux, and kept the best part: the hot topics. So the tagcloud on this page should give you a good snapshot of what's going on in the FOX Sports blogosphere at any given time.
• Recent Posts. We brought back recent posts by category, and added an Other category at the bottom of the page for links to Soccer, Tennis, WWE, Gatorball, etc.
• Soccer! There's now a Soccer index page for your MLS, EPL, World Cup, etc, enjoyment. I'll post the link to the page when it goes live.

We think it captures what we're trying to do here: provide a snapshot of what's popular, what's new, and what's hot in the FOXSports community.

Comments, constructive criticism, and suggestions are welcomed, as always.

Thanks!

- Kareem

We want to grow this community of bloggers to make it even more vibrant and diverse. So, we'd like to hear why YOU blog--your reason might appear on an ad campaign that will run on FOXSports.com.

We're looking for things like...

101. Because Yankees fans need to hear from Sox fans
100. Because Matt Lienart was a horrible draft pick
99. Because Kobe should be the MVP
98. Because USC is over-rated
97. Because professional wrestling is real
96. Because soccer is a sport
95. Because the Texans made a HUGE mistake
94. Because the Orioles need a bullpen
...

What about you? Why do you blog?

Folks... we've (and you've obviously) noticed people who assign their posts to the NFL, NHL, NBA, MLB, etc etc categories, so it would appear in multiple categories on the old recently updated blogs page.

It seems that the switch to the new page has removed the need to tag posts like that, but some folks out there still continue to do it.

So, the question I'm asking you is... does it create a bad experience for y'all to have people using irrelevant categories on their posts? And if so, what would be a good solution?

We've got a few ideas here at the Orbiting FOXSports HQ, but want to hear you thoughts and ideas first.

Thanks!

Kareem

Just a quick note to let you know that we changed two things with the site last week.

The first, as I'm sure you've seen, added a Hot Topics section to the blog home page. This will now show you the most popular topics in the last 24 hours.

The second feature we launched will remove comment contributions by the blog's author when calculating popular posts. So a blogger can't comment a whole bunch of times on his own post to get ranked in the popular posts list on the front page.

More coming soon!

Kareem

Tonight, thanks to your input, we're launching some new FOX Sports blogs features (and we've got more coming soon).

Specifically, here's what's new:

• New Blog Directory. We've changed the blog directory around a bit. We've added a Tag Cloud, so you can see which topics are so hot right now, and you can easily access posts about teams you want to read about. If you prefer the old blog directory, you'll still be able to access the old-school page by clicking the "Browse All Recent Posts" links under the...
• Search Box. You can now search posts by category using the new search box on the blog directory page. You can't (yet) do a full-text search, but that's in the works.
• Avatars. You can now upload a picture as a virtual representative of yourself. It will show up on your blog and whenever you comment on somebody else's blog. Please keep 'em clean!
• Official FOXBlog box. We're going to use the FOXBlog to provide you with updates, get more good feedback from you, and point out interesting posts in the FOX blogs world. So we thought it would make sense to devote a place for the FOX Blog on the blog directory page.
• Category pages. We listened to you, and got rid of the full posts on the category pages (to see an example of a category page, here's here's the MLB page). This means that it will be easier to find good posts quicker.

That's it! Here's an example of what the page will look like (click for full-size):



Please let us know what you think, and know that there's much more on the way!

Kareem

A tag cloud is a visual depiction of content categories used on FOX Sports blogs.

Categories that are more frequently used appear more orangey and in a larger font than ones that are used less frequently. The teams in each section on FOX Sports are displayed in alphabetical order, which means that you can find teams alphabetically and by popularity.

Here's what a FOX Sports tagcloud looks like:



In the above tag cloud, the Kings have been written about a ton, and the Suns, well, not so much.

We've had two FOXSports writers covering the Super Bowl--Adam Schein and Peter Schrager.

They've got some really good behind-the-scenes stories from their time in Detroit.

Here's a great story from a party that Schrager was at:

Highlight of the night came toward the end. Someone came up to me with what I thought was some major league dirt. “Yo, that’s Bryce Fisher of the Seahawks.” In my head, I'm thinking that I may have to break the "Eugene Robinson" story of Super Bowl XL. I was upset to hear the news. Holmgren's had these guys do disciplined all week, what a shame this would be. And from what I gathered, Fisher was one of the good guys of the league.

I checked it out. Over on the side was a guy 180 pounds tops, sipping on a bottle of water. Hmm ... Bryce Fisher, eh?

I found it odd for three reasons. A) It was the night before the Super Bowl and he had a game the next morning; B) the guy looked 40-years-old. Bryce Fisher is 29; C) Faux-Fisher was 200 pounds max. I’ve met Bryce Fisher. He’s a 272-pound defensive end.

The whole thing was weird.

Sure enough, the guy was shaking hands, being told “Good luck,” and using words like “focused” to describe his mindset.
Chris Hetherington

Then it all hit the fan. I’d been talking to San Francisco 49ers fullback Chris Hetherington for the greater part of the evening. Hetherington’s one of the cooler guys in the NFL. He went to Yale, has played on a myriad of teams, and has seen it all. He also looks like a cross between Hulk Hogan and Chris Jericho. The two of us were talking about Connecticut high school football for about five minutes, when a young man in a suit interrupted us.

Suit: “Chris, meet Bryce Fisher.”
Hetherington: “Huh?”
Fake Bryce Fisher: “What’s up man.”
Hetherington: “You want me to embarrass you, man?”
Fake Bryce Fisher: (Stepping back) “Okay ...”
Hetherington: “Get out of here.”

Hetherington turns to me, “Bryce Fisher and I were teammates in St. Louis. He lived on my couch for two weeks. That’s not Bryce Fisher.”

And here's Another great story from watching a Cold Pizza taping:

I entered the building during a “Cold Pizza” segment where producers encouraged fans to cheer loudly after host Dana Jacobsen and Matt Leinart did some sort of box step dance. I stuck around and watched the piece. At the very end of it, I witnessed this exchange:

Jacobsen (to Leinart): "If you’ve ever watched this show, you know I’m a terrible dancer."

Random Steelers Fan in a Tommy Maddox jersey, mullet, and mustache behind me at the top of his lungs: “Don’t worry honey -- no one’s ever (expletive) watched this (expletive) show!”

You can read all about their adventures on Schein's blog, and on Schrager's blog.

Do you guys have any good Super Bowl stories to share?

Hey gang... we're knee-deep in building out some cool new features for y'all that we think you'll really like.

We wanted to get your input, though, because we definitely don't have all the answers.

So, if you've ever thought "if only I could do [this]" on FOXSports blogs, now's your opportunity to let us know!

There are two ways to do this. You can leave your thoughts in the comments, or you can post it on your blog (asking YOUR readers for their thoughts, too) and categorize the post under "FeatureRequest" (with no spaces).

We can't guarantee that we'll implement everything that comes up, but you'll have an impact on where this product goes, and you'll be making the product better for YOU, the community.

Thanks, and we're all excited about hearing your ideas to make this a better product!

Kareem

I want to apologize to the first round of eliminated writers: arabchickencurry, Forgotten_fan, jdeppa, and mbrady.

The email that you all received informing you that you didn't make the second round of the NGS was much too glib, especially considering how much time and effort you put into your Next Great Sportswriter blogs. The email DOES NOT reflect our appreciation for your participation, your great blogs, or your suggestions for improving our blog product and the NGS.

It has been a learning process for us to engage in a conversation with you all, and we are doing our best. Sometimes, though, we make mistakes, and this was definitely one of them. I hope you accept my sincere apologies on behalf of the gang at FOXSports.com, and I hope you guys continue to blog and contribute to this passionate community that you've played a big part in growing!

Kareem

Some good links from around the FOX Sports blogosphere (can anybody come up with a better name than "blogosphere"???)

• The Next Great Sportswriter judges have launched a blog. Check it out for tips on what they're looking for in the NGS contest.
• Jay pontificates on why there are so few female sports journalists, along with his picks for most likely females to win the NGS
• Jon asks whether you'd take steroids for $3M (good question--I don't think I would, but then, they wouldn't help me do my job better either!)
• Finally, Con Chapman has a great take on bringing beach volleyball to Iraq

Enjoy! I'm off to the Christmas Chanukah etc etc Holiday party!

Kareem

So we've been heads down at the FOX yurt since we launched, working hard on a couple of new features.

Before today, you could see all the posts on somebody's blog in a given category. For example, to see all the NFL posts on Brandon Petersen's excellent blog, you would go to: http://blogs.foxsports.com/BrandonPetersen/NFL>.

The new feature is at the top of this page, in the box that says "Blog Buzz". The box has a link to More NFL posts. Clicking this link takes you to: http://blogs.foxsports.com/category/NFL.

This "More NFL Buzz" page shows you all the posts that have been categorized as "NFL" by every single FOX Sports blogger (currently 113 pages and counting--y'all are fanatics! Keep up the great work!)

The beauty of this is that you can find all the posts on any subject you want. Just replace "NFL" in this address...

http://blogs.foxsports.com/category/NFL

...with "NBA", or "Tony_Parker", or "Philadelphia_Eagles", and you'll see the FOX Sports bloggers' oeuvre for that category. It makes finding stuff you are interested in much easier. Cool.

The second feature we're launching (it's a sneak peak--we're actually launching it tomorrow night) is on the FOX Sports story pages (for example, this one). In the top right part of the page, in the story tools section, there will be a link that says "Blog This". Clicking it will take you to your blog, with the FOX story you were reading all linked up, ready for your brilliant analysis. It's an easy way to join the conversation about stories you read here on FOX Sports.

Enjoy these, and know there's a lot more to come!

Kareem

Good question!

A blog is a personal publishing platform.

With talk radio, you have to wait for the DJ to answer your call before you can share your well-reasoned opinions about what coaches have their heads way up their behinds.

With a blog, you can tell the world -- instantly.

On FOXSports.com, your blog is your space. You can voice your thoughts on anything and everything. And when you share your blog with your friends, they'll be able to read what you have to say, and even to comment back to you.

And, of course, once you start reading other blogs from other guys here at FOX Sports, you'll probably want to blog about their blogs, and share your thoughts on the teams and players that they're discussing.

If you're a registered member of Fox Sports Blogs, when you browse through other users' blogs, you'll come across an "Add to Favorites" button in the sidebar for each one.  In fact, even our blog has one, over there on the right.

When you click "Add to Favorites," you'll add the blog you're reading to the list of favorite blogs that's displayed on your own Fox Sports Blog.  That way, it's easy for you to find your favorite blogs again -- and you can show your readers which blogs you frequent.