I don't mind.

As long as you seriously don't mind that we hijack the OBD, well, you've got a deal.

I too enjoy it more when there are really good diaries about a baseball subject that garner 100+ intelligent comments.  We're still capable of this: see the last two Zambrano diaries.

But - as usual - you are right.  Your guidelines here should help us all, especially those who are more guilty of thread hijacking (not naming names, gravedigger).

...speaking of when you started the OBD....why no more Seinfeld trivia, etc?  I miss that.

there'll be no more CompleltyUselessBaseballDiaries.  I swear.  

UZI

I'm not the worst but I participated as well. It's funny because it was starting to get on my nerves too. No more shenanigans.

Unless it's really funny. ;)

Two of the reasons i started posting my thoughts at other sites last season was "diary hijacking" and the degree to which my diaries (which often took hours to write) would get wiped off the front page by multiple 2-line diaries on the same news topic. Having an off-topic diary and a recommended-diary section help solve both these problems.

were looking to read the Lou diary.

You didn't miss much, in fact, when we took it, there was nothing left. It was completely stagnant.

the diary we hijacked (Lou's First Day) was nothing more than a glorified post in itself.

As for the fantasy one, yes, that's different.

How about more official diaries like the official Kerry Wood Hot Tub Diary?

Any major news story.  Official "Soandso is Hurt" Diary.  

And can you sticky diaries about continuing discussions like on the lineup?  When I posted mine there hadn't been one in a while and there had been a few things happened since then like the Floyd signing.

And how about this for a general idea.  If you don't think it's important or don't like the topic stay out of the discussion!  If you don't have anything to say on the subject don't say anything!

And any thoughts to someone volunteering to be a sort of diary judge.  Not judge exactly but when in doubt PM someone with your idea and they'll give you feedback?

Had this post come from Al it would be appropriate, but coming from cubbiejulie this is, frankly, humorous. The quality of this blog has diminished significantly due to all the non-Cub and non-baseball related diaries - many of which are posted by cubbiejulie.

Lets talk about what's diary worthy. How many diaries does one person need to post per day? I'm tired of logging on every day and seeing four or five diaries posted by the same person, the titles of which are rarely baseball related.  There are plenty of blogs out there - please leave this one for Cub fans. The off-season or not, the amount of useless banter being posted on this site is very dissappointing considering how much I used to enjoy AL'S BLOG.  I can't begin to understand the amount of time and energy it takes to maintain this blog, so I can undestand the need for additional editors, but I would prefer a single diary per week from Al to the many useless diaries currently being posted.

Just one's opinion, but judging from the lack of postings by some respected bloggers, I think it's an opinion shared by others.

for the apparant atrocities I've committed. I'm out.

...hijacked, I can say this with 100% conviction:

I don't care.

I think everybody needs to chill. Including me, when I'm not chill. Just say "chill progs" and I should and will most times, listen and lower my temperature.

I understand I get a lion's share of the blame for much of the silliness here as I am many times the instigator of it. And I have no plans on changing that. To those of you who don't like that, this is me, sticking my tongue out at you.

I've spent large amounts of time putting diaries with some thought into them before (hard to believe, but it's true, I realize that doesn't make them necessarily thoughtful) that have been overrun with comments about absolutely nothing, and I can honestly say it doesn't bother me.

I figure if a diary of mine racks up a number of posts that are OT of the diary itself, then I figure that my diary wasn't as great of an idea as I thought, or perhaps nobody was very interested in the particular topic that day. And you know what?

Big effing deal.

It doesn't hurt my feelings. Not everything I say or post about has to be brilliant or even mildly relevant. In fact, one of the reasons I love coming here is that I have a choice: I can be silly with bloggy friends or I can be serious and talk baseball with bloggy friends.

And, for that matter, in the "serious" and "insightful" diaries of mine there are usually enough posts on topic that I can SCROLL THROUGH and find pockets of where people are responding to what I originally posted and I can IGNORE the parts where people are talking about bubble wrap if I so choose (which I rarely do, the OT stuff is many times far more fun than what I originally diaried about). It's really not that hard.

I don't know, perhaps some people feel better about themselves when they first see their diary in the morning and it has 200 comments. Maybe that makes them feel like a smart baseball fan and that their lives finally have meaning (to me, 200 comments tells me right away that my diary was hijacked and I'm frantic to see what delightful nonsense burst forth that I missed). And then they enter the diary and see that the comments inside aren't a paean to their baseball acumen and their ability to come up with insightful diary topics, but instead is about boobies. And so they freak out and get mad and slink away and pout. Why? I have no idea. Why do people beat each other to shit over a parking space? No clue.

That being said, I do understand a need to control this to where we don't have diary overkill (way too many new people seem to be making diaries of everything and anything that pops into their head), and we don't have every single diary spinning off into chaos. It has gotten worse of late. It has been looking a tad bit Cubs.com around here, though thankfully without the White Sox or Cardinal trolls.

So I will abide as best I can to the rule of keeping OT stuff in the OBD diary (amusing note: I rarely ever post in the OBD diary). Or on some open thread. But everybody needs to realize that in almost every instance, hijacking has been something that has developed based on something on topic in the diary. It has been mostly spontaneous, which is part of the fun. I believe there have been very few instances of premeditated hijacking. Hijacking has also been known to occur right around where there has been two posters who have gotten upset with one another, and I think that makes the hijacking useful as it tends to bring those that were angry at each other, back to their senses.

Anyway.

This is a blog about a hapless, horrible baseball team that we all for some nutty reason, love like crazy. The silliness that sometimes runs rampant here is NECESSARY. And will be even more so when the season starts, believe me.  

But, as said before, I will abide by what Her Worship and Al have said and will try and keep the goofiness in the designated goofy zones. I would also like to say for those that like silliness and hijacking and bubble wrap, you have free hand to hijack any diary of mine, be it serious or no, at anytime. My diaries will be a haven to you, when and where they occur. In fact, if they aren't hijacked, I will be very upset with some of you.

For all of you fuddyduddies who have been whining to Al and not posting because of the silliness here, I can honestly say that we don't miss you and your "I don't think the Cubs are very good and here's why AND DON'T NOBODY MAKE ANY JOKES NEITHER" diaries or your random reveries back to when God was a small child AND DON'T NOBODY MADE ANY JOKES NEITHER.

Get over yourselves and lighten up and join us in the silliness. You'll have a better time for it, I promise.

Sometimes it detracts from good conversation.  I usually just come on here to get the latest on Cubs news and rarely ever post.  The only problem I see with all these aimless threads is the fact that it becomes tough to find the good arguments.  It is becoming harder and harder to find information from people that have insight on the topic, or who have more knowledge about the situation than the papers/websites do.  I understand people may have a bad day at work and they come home and just unload by getting into random conversations about something that may be funny, but I guess there is a time and place for everything.  Serious issues should remain serious issues, and if you want to post something witty or funny, just think twice whether this is seriously worth other people's time to read it.  This is Al's blog and it is up to none of us what content should and shouldn't be on it.  I just think people have crossed the line a bit and turned this thing into their social hour for their lives rather than a place where we can all talk about our favorite team.  Again, nothing I say should have any bearing as its just my opinion but it just seems as of late that this thing has become more of a place to putz around than it is to have adult discussions about the Cubs and Baseball.

i stopped posting here as frequently as i had because there seemed to be little baseball discussion anymore, or if it was there, it was buried in a bunch of tangential comments. It's fine if all that is there, it just makes me less likely to read/post. Sometimes i log on to the site and see 20 new diaries and 200 posts each, and i just leave. 80% of the comments seem to come from the same 5 people, and as interesting as those 5 are, it detracts from how interesting the blog is to read, imo.

its not my blog, so i have no say in how its run, but figured i'd say my piece.

Some of you complain that there aren't enough Cubs discussions when you get here yada yada yada...

Here's an idea:

Start one.

Don't be so lazy and look for others to bring up what you want to talk about, CONTRIBUTE A FREAKING DIARY.

PUT SOME DAMN FOOD ON THE TABLE.

Would discussing what Maddux might be eating for
breakfast be considered off topic ? I hope that discussing Orange Guy's current haircut would be considered Cub related.

Seriously just kidding. My only problem with the "hijacked"
diaries is that I basically have limited reading time for BCB
during the day and it is hard to get through 500 posts on a topic
that shall we say went off target. That said I am in awe of you
quick witted , funny off topic posters.

And for my "off topic" bit of the day. This helped ruin my
day http://tinyurl.com/39gwgs

...take some time to go back in time to diaries before you were members.  This is not that out of line.  This can be an enjoyable site for everyone.  I know that it was very enjoyable before and it will be again.

I can see that I'm persona non-grata here these days.

I wish you guys would actually have read what I wrote, which wasn't that we have to stop hijacking threads, but just to do it in an approrpriate place, like the OBD or another OT diary.

Progs, are you seriously suggesting that I've never participated in the fun on here?

Gravedigger & Faith, I love what you add to this site, I don't want you to stop having fun. And, despite what all of you seem to think, this diary wasn't directed at anyone in particular. If I was going to email everyone that has ever participated in a diary hijacking, I would have had to email about 75 people, myself included.

Ozgreeder: I wouldn't want you to stop the completelyuselessbaseballdiaries. They're fun. All I was saying was that the 57th two line diary saying "What do you guys think our lineup is going to be?" is stupid. And no, I don't support the diary police. All I was asking was that people put some thought into whether their diary is actually a diary or more of a comment.

At any rate, from looking at the subject matter in the diaries this morning, I'm not feeling all that welcome here right now. I'm going to take an extended break.