We have become aware that those who come upon us here at Vanquish The Foe (VTF), or even maybe some loyal readers, may not be aware of all that VTF and SB Nation (SBN) has to offer you as a fan. While we will continue to crank out as high of quality material we can muster each week for you to read, there are opportunities for readers to participate as well to make it into a true BYU sports community. Hopefully this article helps to assist in your efforts and become a part of our community.
Nothing below is an attempt to insult your intelligence. This technical writer has been trained to spell out even the most simple of things, just in case it could be of help. Blame my professors. We just want to make absolutely sure you know what is available to you here on our site.
CREATE AN ACCOUNT
Your first step is to create an SB Nation account. If you are on our site already, you should see "Sign Up" in the upper-right corner on the end of the SBN bar at the top of the screen. Or just click here. SBN accounts are free, and I can't remember the last time SBN sent any sort of email to me at the address I used to create my account. No cost, no spam.
JOIN VTF
After you create your account, you then want to join VTF as a "member." This too is free, and merely indicates your desire to participate in the VTF community with other BYU and college sports fans. (You can also become a member of any other of the various SBN sites according to your other fan loyalties. Joining as a member of those sites just means you wish to participate in that respective community as well.)
The easiest way to join VTF as a member is to -- after you are logged in -- find an article, scroll to the comments section, and it will display a gray box that says "You must be a member of Vanquish The Foe to participate. Would you like to join?"
In that box are displayed the community rules by which we wish you to abide, as well as a link to SBN's overall Terms of Service. Please read our community rules. If you can agree to be a civil person and desire to contribute quality to the community, click the "I agree to these terms" checkbox, then click "Join Vanquish The Foe" to become a member.
An alternative method of becoming a member of the site is to find the gray box at the top of the right sidebar and click on New FanPost or New FanShot (terms explained in a minute). It should display a pop-up box showing the same community guidelines and same buttons by which to join.
Also, be aware that you might not be able to participate until the day after you join as a member. We will generally avoid a probationary period, but we may have a one-day probationary period if it becomes necessary. This really, really sucks, we know. The only reason for this is to mitigate spam and hinder spambots that sign up an account, join every one of SBN's 320 sites, and start slinging spam without prudence the day they sign up, like Jonathan Tavernari behind the three-point line. Even if we have a one-day probationary period in place, I will try to make sure it is removed on game nights so members can participate immediately in our live game threads..
PARTICIPATE!
There are several ways to participate at Vanquish The Foe, and you can choose to do so at whatever degree you feel comfortable. Here are the ways you can participate:
COMMENT
The easiest way to participate is to comment on the content that appears on the site. Did we miss an important facet of a story? Get something factually wrong (hopefully not)? Help start a discussion, expand, extrapolate ... put down a comment!
Once a member, a comment form should appear below every article for your thoughts on the article in general. You can also click "Reply" to comment directly to another commenter and SBN's platform will create an easy-to-follow hierarchy of comments. Also notice the "Actions" option for each comment. That option allows you to "Rec" a comment you think is well-said, ultra relevant, or funny; or, to "Flag" a comment for inappropriate content so moderators are made aware.
GAME THREADS
For every football and basketball game, we will post a "Game Thread." This is a special post meant solely for your comments as you watch each game. Join with other fans to cheer, vent, make observations, share a stat insight you've noticed -- anything you find interesting as a game progresses. It's a great way to interact with other BYU fans during the games. Game threads usually go up about an hour before a game begins.
FANSHOTS
Find a funny picture, an awesome video, an interesting quote, or want to pass along a link to a pertinent article? Share it with BYU fans by doing a FanShot. FanShots are listed under the "FanShots" tab at the top and also in a widget on the right sidebar. Each FanShot has a unique URL you can tweet out or link to on your own blog.
FANPOSTS
If you are more daring, take a shot at a FanPost. This is essentially a place for any member to be a guest contributor to the site. You can craft your own article that will post under the "FanPosts" tab and in the FanPosts widget in the right sidebar. Like the FanShot, FanPosts have a unique URL you can share with others.
Any FanShot or FanPost that we find well-done, important, funny, or otherwise awesome can be promoted to the front page by one of our editors. So if you do a great job, you could earn a small portion of fame! (Maybe we'll mail you an Honor-Code-Office-approved prize.)
Keep in mind that FanShots and FanPosts are subject to community guidelines -- things posted in poor taste tarnish the images of both our site and of BYU. Ultimately this is our ship and we will keep it clean -- but, we trust you, our fellow Cougars, are smart enough to figure out what works. We will generally take a laissez-faire approach to your FanPosts and let your voice be heard. However, if we like your ideas but the grammar/spelling needs help (especially if we are going to promote it to the front page), don't get offended if we do some simple copy editing.
READ VTF
The VTF staff does produce articles, post polls, link to pertinent stories, etc. These are found on the home page, which displays when you visit vanquishthefoe.com, available under the "Home" tab at the top. The home page lists our most recent articles, and you can also click on the "Archives" tab to see a simplified, chronological listing of our offerings.
There are also "Sections" listed near the top of the left sidebar. If you want to see past articles on BYU Basketball only, stories specifically related to Football Recruiting, or listen to the latest Rise & Shout Podcast, click on that Section and it will display those related articles to you.
We do our best to produce high-quality content, be at the front of breaking news, and make a strong BYU community. We hope you enjoy the work we do. If you do, tell others! Tweet links to our articles, tell your friends, show your family.
WAYS TO FOLLOW VTF
The ways to follow Vanquish The Foe are bountiful. They are:
Twitter: @VanquishTheFoe
Facebook: Vanquish The Foe
Android app
Subscribe to the RSS feeds (located in the left sidebar)
If you use Sprint but don't have iPhone/Android, visit the free Sprint Football Live app
Set VTF as your home page! (Okay, a bit much ... but you can still do that.)
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Thanks for joining us at Vanquish The Foe! Go Cougars!