Administrative Update

I've been in England since Wednesday of last week, but I wanted to pop in with a few things to say.  I'll be back and in full effect on Monday.

I love TwinkieTown, I really do.  We're now in our 19th month of existence, and things continue to get bigger and better.  I want to personally thank everyone who's been a part of this community, whether you've exercised the option to be a visible part of the picture or if you're just stopping by for your first time.  If you're a reader of TwinkieTown, I encourage you to sign up for an account (it's free!!) and become a more active member.  It's a great place to discuss anything Twins that you want to discuss, and you're guaranteed to have readership.

It doesn't matter if you're 10 or 100 years old, if you're a professional writer or have never done so much as written a diary nobody has ever read, or if you're a Twins fan or...well, sure, even a White Sox fan.  If you have something to say, I encourage you to say it.

Now for something completely different...

Thread Behavior

This hasn't been an issue in a long time, but it needs to be addressed.  I don't care who started it (I sound like my dad), but if you can't say something relevant then don't say anything at all.

You don't have to be Minnesota Friendly on this site, it's not a requirement.  What is required is the intelligence to state your case without resorting to personal attacks.  This isn't a chat-room where 14-year olds sneak off to at 4am to sound off at each other by hurling insults through cyberspace, safe in the knowledge that they're protected by an LCD screen of non-reality that can't post a physical threat.

TwinkieTown is here for anyone who's a Twins fan.  You can read all you like and it doesn't require you to comment or to post your thoughts, but you do have the option for all three.  By making the choice of posting your thoughts, you have agreed to act as a representative of a community whose rules and guidelines are (at this time) exercised at my discretion.

In the first couple months of TwinkieTown's inception, I said I didn't want to create a code of conduct, but would if I thought it was becoming necessary.  As I consider the option, these are some general rules to follow:

1.  Compliments can always be posted.  If all you want to say is "Well done", then say it.  You don't need to justify your agreement.
2.  Ask questions.  If you don't know, ask.  Someone here will probably have an answer.  If it's not an answer you're looking for, you'll probably get 20 different opinions.
3.  If you disagree with something someone has written, your rebuttal must be relevant.  Impotent displays of imature behavior (such as trolling, name calling, harassment in general) will result in a warning, and then the termination of a user if necessary.  In major cases (such as racism), termination is immediate.
4.  Baseball is a beautiful game, but remember that it is just a game.  If you find yourself getting steamed over something someone has said, take a step back and take a deep breath.  Have the maturity to be the bigger man/woman/user and just let something drop.
5.  If you have a problem on TwinkieTown, send me an email.  Be sure to title it something I'll catch, because most of you aren't on my "contact" list and I don't want to lose your email in my junk folder!

I'm going to leave it there for now.  Basically, I just want people to act like adults.  Some of us (myself included) can be obsessed with the Twins, but this doesn't give anyone permission to act like children.

TwinkieTown Traffic Report

Since November of 2005, we've had nearly 284,000 visitors.  By the end of this week, we'll have had over 900,000 page views.  From April of 2006 through September of 2006, our readership grew each month.  The same pattern has been established so far this year.

April 2007 bested the '06 version.  May has done the same, by getting more visits and views than May of '06.  In fact, April of '07 beat May of '06.  May of '07 nearly caught JULY of '06.  We're still not garnering the traffic that SBNation sites like South Side Sox or Let's Go Tribe, but we're improving!  Thanks everyone for your support!

On A Personal Note...

I had to duck out of the country on short notice, as The Vixen has to go in for a procedure...and she's still in England because visas aren't easy to come by.  It's nothing serious, but as a "husband in training" I wanted to be there for her.  Thanks to those who are minding the site in my stead, I owe you a great deal.

I'll be returning Sunday afternoon and will hopefully be posting regularly on Monday, providing jetlag doesn't knock me out by 3pm.

See you all soon!