BTSC Website Odds and Ends — 1/27

We’re pleased to welcome the BTSC faithful to a new feature I plan on running on the website at least once per month to give everyone an inside look at what’s going on inside the BTSC mothership, as well as answer any questions you may have.

This is where I’ll give insight into new writers, new podcasts and things of that nature, as well as getting some ideas from you to make the website better. You know—just the odds and ends.

First, I want to thank anyone and everyone who submitted an email requesting to be a member of the writing team here at BTSC. If you haven’t heard back from me yet, it doesn’t mean you were rejected, it just means I received A LOT of emails and I’m still going through, replying, reading samples and setting up writers within our editorial system.

Be patient, but if your patience wears thin, simply send me an email reminding me to take a look at your sample and I’ll do the best I can to get to it.

The goal this off-season and next season, is to get as many quality voices as possible here on BTSC. Getting more opinions, more thoughts and different names under the byline has always been my goal. No one wants to just see Jeff.Hartman under every article.

In the near future, you’ll see some new names writing articles. All I ask is for you to be patient as they get comfortable. Starting to write on the biggest Steelers blog on the internet can be intimidating, especially when readers lambaste the author in the comments section. If you haven’t seen the name before, give them some time to get comfortable and find their niche.

On top of new writers, you will also start to see/hear some new podcasts. There’s already one new podcaster getting ready for his debut, and I feel you’ll enjoy listening to his product. The hope is to have some new audio for you Monday through Friday. It may be one of my 8-10 minute podcasts which is combined with an article, or a more in-depth podcast. Either way, I hope you enjoy it!

I’m also currently talking to a couple members about becoming Moderators. I realize the moderation of the overall community hasn’t been the best, and that ultimately falls on me. In an effort to change that, I’m not only hoping to bring on a few more individuals to help keep trolls and jerks at bay, keeping the conversation focused and respectful, but also making themselves known.

Several people have stated they don’t know who the moderators are, and I’ll ask all of my moderators to put ***MODERATOR*** in their signature so readers can know who’s watching, as well as who possibly disciplined them if they stepped out of line.

With all that out of the way, I want to make BTSC your go-to spot for Steelers news, and I’m always willing to answer questions you may have. For instance, I get a lot of emails about developing an app. It’s worth remembering how BTSC is under the umbrella of SB Nation, and SB Nation is under the umbrella of Vox Media. Therefore, drastic changes to the website design, the development of an app and major changes in how things are run are usually well out of my control. As you can see, although I run this website, I am very, very, very low on the overall totem pole.

I’ll field any and all questions in the comments section below, but hopefully you’re all as excited about BTSC moving forward as I am!