As the 2013 season begins, we're starting to see more and more new faces popping up in the comments sections. To those of you who fall into that category, I'd like to extend our welcome and a virtual, but hearty, handshake.

Purple Row was founded back in April of 2005, when Rox Girl basically spent most of the time talking to herself about the games that she was watching. Since those days, Purple Row has grown from a 1 person staff to the 14 people you can see here and from Rox Girl's self contained discussions to over 2,800 active members (and many more lurkers - hi lurkers!), all excited to see the news and share their opinions on the Colorado Rockies.

Along with growing in numbers of users and staff members, Purple Row has distinguished itself among the various alternatives as being the best resource for Colorado Rockies baseball, both in news and analysis. We are part of the SB Nation network, which showcases unique websites and communities covering all 30 MLB teams as well as every major sports team in the USA along with a large number of college teams and non-team oriented sports (MMA, for example). To visit our other communities, there's a pretty handy button at the top of your page called "SB Nation" that will allow you to see just how far the rabbit hole goes.

So the next question is: "Ok, I've registered, now what do I do?" Well, the best place to start is either in the Rockpile or in the Game Thread, as they tend to be the most offbeat places for discussion. A good rule of thumb is that if you want to talk general Rockies/baseball or just say hi and introduce yourself, those are nearly always the best places to do so. Feature articles typically take a lot of specifically dedicated time from the author, and we like to keep those on the specific topic of the article.

Before we go any farther, have you read the Rules and Regulations? Take a moment and review them again. Not being mean and nasty, but I fear that they're pretty regularly breezed over. Don't worry, I'll wait.

I'm going to highlight a few:

First/Golden Rule: Practice civil discourse.

Play nice.

We're a pretty tight-knit community, and we'd love to weave you in. 99% of the time, this isn't a problem. Of that remaining 1%, 0.5% of it causes mods to step in and lay the hurt down. The other 0.5% tends to go down easier with a sense of humor. Most everything is in good fun around here, and like I said, if not, there's a banhammer keeping the peace.

Third Rule: Fans of opposing teams are acceptable. Just remember to follow the rules. We will quickly ban you if you get out of line. No warning, just a ban.

Somewhat related, don't visit opposing team blogs to make snarky/trollish comments before, during, or after a game ends. If you do, whatever happens is in your hands.

Again, most of the time this isn't a problem, as most of our visitors are coming over in an information-swapping venture, or just to experience a different community. But come August, after many a hard-fought series, things can get a bit dicey. Purple Row has your back, but if you step into inter-divisional waters, you're out of our jurisdiction. If you adhere to the First Rule, there shouldn't be problems.

Just to make this clear, the level of discourse practiced on this site is a source of pride for us. There will be zero tolerance for asinine comments. We are not talking about writing, "Aaron Miles was the greatest Rockie ever!" As stupid as that may be to write, it's your opinion. There's a problem when you start making ad hominem attacks against a baseball player or a member of the community. Oh, and don't use an asterisk to hide your curse word. Just don't.

As part of being the premier Rockies website around (as Dick Monfort would say, "Head and Shoulders" above the rest), we also pride ourselves on having some of the best commenters around as well. Strive for excellence.

Lastly,

* A FanPost should not be your first foray into Purple Row.

Fanposts are meant for individual research and opinion. If you just joined Purple Row, go ahead and do what I suggested up at the top. Comment in the Rockpile or Game Thread, get a feel for the community, get acclimated, and hold off on making that FanPost. There's nothing wrong with having opinions you want to share, but remember: Everyone on this site is a big-time Rockies fan, and there's an awful lot of discussion, analysis, research, and coverage of everything the Rockies are doing.

We pride ourselves here on being educated on the current status of the team and its players. If you're coming from a more casual discussion environment, it might seem like something huge to reveal that Todd Helton's power days are over or that the Rockies need better starting pitching - Trust me, we already know. If the FanPost doesn't meet a certain standard, it's likely to get a friendly request for more effort/content and then taken down.

It seems a bit harsh, but we have some regularly awesome FanPosts from some of our members, and they get pushed off of the front page if too much clutter comes around. We can discuss proper FanPost usage in more depth later.

* * *

Finally, content. There's a lot of content that you get as a member of our site. When you visit Purple Row during the regular season, be expecting the following articles to be popping up at you:

1. Rockpiles. This is where the daily news or daily opinion, is written and presented for all to digest and comment on. Rockpiles are free for any baseball discussion and new items of interest pertaining to the Rockies and MLB in general.

Along with each weekday Rockpile we've included an Off-Topic thread (you'll find it linked within the article). Being a community of very diverse people with diverse interests, we tend to drift off of the topic of baseball into other sports, music, movies, television, food, unicorns, and other absurd topics. If you feel the itch to talk about something non-baseball related (but still within the community guidelines), you're more than welcome to swing over to the Off-Topic thread to discuss said topics.

2. Pebble Reports. Every day, we will rehash the previous day's game results from all of the Rockies' minor-league affiliates. Usually we'll include a very short recap and/or top performances. Purple Row prides itself on providing the very best Rockies minor league coverage anywhere, all in one spot.

3. Feature Articles. On a near-daily basis, our writers will put up a column specifically devoted to one particular topic. Some of the columns you'll see:

• NL West Report - a weekly breakdown of the other teams in the division. This feature will keep you posted on transactions, injuries, general performance, hot and cold performances, and basically everything you'll need to know to talk smack with fans of other NL West teams.
• Know Your Foe - A preview of upcoming series, the opponent's strengths, weaknesses, and basically the kind of stuff that you'll see in the NL West Report. Except about the team the Rockies are about to play.
• Purple Row Radio - Renamed from Rowbot Radio, Greg Stanwood, former managing editor Andrew Martin, and community member Paul Agnello (Resolution) give a rehash of the week, discuss the biggest topics of the week, answer reader questions, and bring in a variety of guests to bring some expert insight. Typically 30-45 minutes in length.
• Counting Rocks - A statistics-heavy column that focuses on the Rockies' play and oftentimes will delve into new statistical metrics entirely. Written on an ad hoc basis.
• Each of our new writers will also be writing a feature each week. While they have yet to name these features, rest assured that they will be great - check back daily for their insights!

4. Game Threads/Game Wraps. Every game the Rockies play in spring training, the regular season, and the postseason (yeah right) there'll be a Game Thread. The Game Threads are literally used just to talk about the game that you're watching. The thought is that if we can't all physically go to a sports bar together, we might as well simulate the experience by BSing about the game as it's happening. Pictures, cheers, mockery - all are accepted, expected, and usually encouraged. If you missed the game, there'll be a short recap in the Game Wrap with the top performers from the game and some general reactions from that day's Game Wrap author.

Here is the 2013 writing schedule in case you were interested:

* * *

Along with the plethora of front-page content, the Purple Row community has expanded past PurpleRow.com to include PurpleRowRadio.com, the additional housing for the podcast (mostly set up for the inclusion of RSS feeds, which should be available through iTunes soon), and RockiesRoster.com, the fruition of Greg Stanwood's Project Libra and the ultimate up-to-date resource for the current status of every player in the Rockies organization. Also, staff member Charlie Drysdale has set up Purple Row Cares, a CafePress site with Purple Row branded merchandise for sale, the proceeds of which will go to charity.

Whew, that's an awful lot to take in, isn't it? Keep this page in mind if you have any questions during your visits with us, and if you have any questions that AREN'T covered in here, feel free to ask in a Rockpile or email one of the staff directly. If you're internet friendly, Like us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter!

Again, Welcome to Purple Row, and GO ROCKIES!