[Wow ---- 5:30 a.m. CDT and we already have 15 comments. That's good ---- feedback is key. We are the 3rd site to migrate over, and there are still 27 MLB sites to go, and then ~150 sites in the other sports, so the development team needs to hear your opinions and experiences regarding the new site and the migration. So please read the intro post by Trei, cruise around the new site, and post your opinions in the comments thread. If you find bugs or other problems, report them! We'll have a regular post in the main column tomorrow; if you want to put up a diary (no, I mean "Fan Post"], go for it. You can also e-mail me offline ---- vivaelbirdos AT yahoo DOT com. ---- LB]

Hello VEBbers,

Today is the big day. We've switched your community over to the new SB Nation sports blog platform. My name is Trei and I'm one of the guys who helped build this new home for y'all. I'm here to help you get adjusted and give you a quick tour of what is new and what has changed. Also, if you have questions or trouble with the new system, I'll be around to answer them and point you in the right direction.

Before we get started, I want to let you know that you're one of the first blogs in the SB Nation family to make this transition. We still consider this a beta platform so don't be surprised if you find a few bugs or if everything isn't exactly right yet. In fact, we hope you'll take the time to report any problems you encounter. All you need to do is email bugreport@sbnation.com.

Lets get started...

What Has Changed

SB Nation network accounts (the big change)

Many people across all of our blogs told us they wanted one account that they could use on any SB Nation blog. We agreed and have created one SB Nation network account so that you only have to login once to gain access to many blogs. We want to make it as easy as possible for you to participate on all of your blogs. However, we didn't want to encourage everyone to start visiting rival team blogs and creating flame wars. To maintain the friendly confines of your communities we ask that you explicitly join each blog you want to actively participate on. It's an easy 2-click process, but it means accepting the different community guidelines that each blog manger sets out. Just as you join each blog individually, you can be banned on each blog individually.

To make this work, we're requiring that everyone create a new SB Nation network account. Don't worry - you won't lose all of your old comments and diaries. We have created a simple process for you to claim your old blog account. In most cases you should be able to keep your old username, but a few of you may have to choose something new. The reason is that every other community in SB Nation will be going through this same transition and some of them have the same username that you do. We tried to be as fair as possible about deciding who gets to keep which name using a formula that takes into account length of membership, amount of activity and how recently you've been active. The important thing is that whatever name you have will be retroactively put on all of your old comments and diaries. Some of you already have multiple accounts on different SB Nation blogs; we've got you covered too because you can claim more than one old blog account.

Alright, now that I've explained all that - let's get you started:

Click Here to claim your old blog accounts and create a new SB Nation network account.

FanPosts (the section formerly known as Diaries)

First we changed their name. Why? Because we took this major upgrade as an opportunity to leave behind some vocabulary we inherited that never made much sense for a sports blog. SB Nation is the network of, by and for *fans* and these are the blog *posts* we make. So we called them FanPosts. Next time you're at the bar and you're telling someone to go check out your opinion about the latest trade, you don't have to suggest they read your diaries.

But the changes go deeper than the new name. FanPosts are displayed differently on the homepage - they now include your avatar so you get more credit for the time you invest in writing great posts. We also built a new editor that has a WYSIWYG view for easy formatting and auto-saving of drafts so you don't have to worry about losing your work when you write on the web. And in addition to adding basic tags, you can now associate teams, players and games with our special auto-complete tools. These will put your FanPosts on our new team, player and game pages - across the entire network.

The new system does not work like the old diary editor. For example, if you're writing in HTML mode we do not auto-detect paragraphs from line breaks. Look for the blinking help button on the right side of the FanPost editor for quick tips or take a look at our full guide to writing FanPosts on the new platform.

IMPORTANT - if you write your posts in Microsoft Word or some other off-line editor, you will get the most reliable behavior if you cut & paste your post into the HTML view of the FanPost editor. And if you do that, remember that you have to put the <p></p> tags around each paragraph you want so your text doesn't run together.

What Is New

Schedule, Scores, Stats and Roster

Viva El Birdos now has all the basic information about the Cardinals and every other team in the MLB. During games you'll see a regularly updated line score, as the season progresses we'll track team stat totals and leaders. This is just our first step so look for us to publish more detailed and archival stats in the future. The best part about all this sports data is that we've integrated it directly into the blog so now we special pages that will aggregate all the blog posts written about games, players and teams.

Auto-refreshing Comments

You no longer need to refresh the page to see new comments. If you're logged in, new comments will automatically appear on the page every few seconds. When you post a comment, the page will not refresh either. If you want to quickly cycle through all the new comments, you can press the 'c' key on your keyboard. If you're cycling through the comments you can just press the 'r' key to reply. And there are other helpful keyboard shortcuts like that listed at the top of each comments section.

Recommending Comments

Now you can reward those folks who take the time to look up stats and make smart arguments in the comments. Next to each comment there is an 'actions' link that you can click to find the recommend and flag options.

Flagging Comments

To help the moderators on a site, we've built-in tools that let you flag comments that are spam, trolling or just plain inappropriate. No one else can see those flaggings, but the moderators can.

FanShots

Many members of the community just want to post that one link, video, photo or quote and you don't need to write a full FanPost. We've got you covered and we made these quick hits really easy. Now you have a tool that is designed for sharing YouTube videos, Flickr or PhotoBucket photos, quotes from articles, portions of chat transcripts, top 5 lists and simple links. If it's a video or image we'll put a thumbnail on the homepage when you post it.

For those of you who are experienced internet hunter and gatherers of Cardinals material, install the bookmarklet to share FanShots with the community from wherever on the web you find that killer quote or photo.

Archives

It's much easier to go find that post about a certain deadline trade or a playoff game. Browse by year and month.

Avatars

When you upload an image as your avatar we'll use it on your profile, your FanPosts and all your comments.

Network profiles

Now that we have unified SB Nation network accounts, your profile will be the central hub for all of your activity on any blogs you're a member of.

Network bar

The bar up at the top will stay with you on all SB Nation blogs. It's a quick way to login and logout. When you're logged in, you'll see your avatar and screen name. Click that and you'll find your profile. There is a button next to that for jumping to your dashboard with links for editing your settings, profile, account and any FanPosts or FanShots you've published. Once we add more blogs to the new SB Nation network, the My Blogs menu will be a handy way of navigating between the blogs you're a member of.

There are plenty more small changes and additions we've made so take a careful look around and explore this new system.

We appreciate your patience as we jump into this beta together and know you'll help us get this new platform ready for all the other SB Nation blogs.

And in case you missed it, you'll want to start with this:

Click Here to claim your old blog accounts and create a new SB Nation network account.