Frequently Asked Questions

1. Why are you getting rid of reputation?

We want all of our users to be able to fully participate and interact with the site and not feel hindered or restricted by an outdated system.

2. How does removing the reputation impact moderation/warnings?

If you are warned more than 3 times in a two-week span, your account will be banned.

3. Will my posts still be associated with a score? If not, how will the message board lists get sorted?

No, there will no longer be scores associated with posts. The boards will be sorted chronologically, with the newest posts appearing first. Threads will be sorted chronologically as well.

4. What do the "Top 1x" icons mean?

The top members in the community will be recognized by displaying their Screen Name with an icon denoting their standing. Members that receive this icon are in the "Top 10", "Top 100" or "Top 1K" of all our community members.

5. What does the CBS eye icon mean?

CBSSports.com staff will be denoted by an additional icon, the CBS Eye® logo. Therefore, their Screen Name will be presented with an authentic CBS Eye® logo, in addition to their top member standing, if they are indeed among the top members in the community.

6. What does the "W" icon mean?

That icon means 'writer'. Writer badges are awarded to members who consistently post quality content (i.e. blogs, group and message board postings) and whose writing is featured throughout the site.

7. Are we finally going to be able to add more favorites?

We've heard you. We know you're unhappy with the current limit on favorites and will unveil a change in that regard down the line.

8. Are you restricting any part of the site to new user?

No. A new user to CBSSports.com will have the same privileges as a veteran user, and will be able to fully participate across the site

9. What are you doing about people with multiple IDs?

While having multiple IDs isn't a reportable offense, we're aware that several users have created multiple accounts to cheat the reputation system. With the removal of the reputation system, there is no advantage to having multiple IDs. As always, when it becomes obvious or blatant that a user is creating multiple IDs with intent to create problems in the community, we'll take action.

10. Is this the only change to the current community?

No. We'll announce other changes in the weeks/months to come. Stay tuned!

11. Why do you keep changing things? We like it the way it was.

We are always looking to improve things. Sometimes the improvements work, other times they don't. We would love to know exactly how things will turn out before we implement them, but that's usually not possible.

12. Why can't we challenge warnings from admins?

The admins are the ones that rule on the challenges. We can't invest in having a second group looking over the admins' shoulders on everything they do. The admins are, of course, supervised, and we have our internal controls for that - but not to the point of having this level of micromanagement.

13. Why don't you listen to the community? You always make changes that we don't want, and you don't do what we do want.

That's not true. We do more than listen. We also monitor usage and track behavior. We use all these factors before making decisions. It doesn't mean that every time someone asks for something they will get it. But we look seriously at many of the suggestions that are presented to us, and many of the improvements we've made over the years has been because of this feedback.

14. Why do I get warnings for using profane language while others don't?

On a typical day, there are around 40,000 posts on the site. Our admins cannot read each one to check for bad language. So we rely on users to warn others for these violations. Our rules are very clear, you can't use any kind of profanity on the site. So if someone uses inappropriate language and they are warned, that warning will be upheld. Just like the police can't catch everyone that speeds on the highway, we can't catch everyone that uses that language. However, that doesn't excuse one from doing it.

15. A user is posting content directly from another website. Does that violate the CBSSports.com Terms of Service?

As long as attribution is provided and the post is made by users it does not violate our Terms of Use and is considered non-infringing fair use.