If you're here because you first were a member of one of the baseball team blogs at SB Nation, you're certainly familiar with the concept of the FanShot. FanShots are quick posts, links, images or videos from around the internet. They're the kinds of things that we here at Baseball Nation might link, or quickly talk about, on the right sidebar of this site at Hot Corner.
The purpose of this post is to let you know that we have our very own FanShot section here at Baseball Nation, only it's not called "FanShots". Instead, it's called "What We Missed", and perhaps you've missed it -- because there isn't anything there right now. We'd like you to help fill it up with, as the sub-head says, "videos, photos, top 5 lists, quotes, and links you find around the web."
It's very easy to do, and if you are familiar with the FanShot procedure at your favorite team's blog, it works exactly the same way -- except you click the "+ Add Your Own" button that's located right below "What We Missed". After you do that, it works exactly the same as the team sites' FanShots.
If this is all new to you and you have no idea what I'm talking about, the step-by-step procedure is below.
There are six types of things you can post in the "What We Missed" section of Baseball Nation. Here's what the posting box will look like for each one and what you should put in the blanks.
Images
When you click "+ Add Your Own", the posting box will default to the "Image" tab. It looks like this:
Copy/paste the URL of the image into the "IMAGE URL" box. The description box below is optional. You can also add tags and attach SB Nation player and team names and event pages using the boxes at the right. Below this (not shown) is a big green button labeled "PUBLISH". When you're done with the URL, tags, etc. just click this and it will appear on Baseball Nation.
Although the posting window defaults to "Image", there are five other types of things you can post in this section. Click the tab at the top and you'll see the others, beginning with:
Links
The link posting interface looks like this:
"Link title" doesn't necessarily mean the headline of the link you are posting, although you could do that. Give your post a title that describes what's inside. A better title -- maybe with a question posed, or a team or player name with a description -- will get more people to read what you've posted. Then, copy/paste the link URL into the box that says "URL". You can add a short description; that's optional. Again, click "PUBLISH" and you're done.
Videos
To post a video, click the "Videos" tab in the posting window; you'll see this:
This is most commonly used for YouTube videos, but other embed codes will also work in the "HTML EMBED" box. For YouTube especially -- please use the "old embed code" found on YouTube page. The newer iframe codes don't work in this posting window, at least not at the present time. The description is optional, but helpful, since otherwise we don't know why you think this video is cool enough to share.
Lists
Got a Top Five list you want to share with us?
Self-explanatory. Post your headline, your five items, and hit "PUBLISH".
Quotes
Also self-explanatory -- post the quote in the box marked "Quote"; it's helpful if you put the link where you found the quote in the other box. Some of the formatting is already there for you; just paste the URL in between the two quote marks.
Chats
Similar in format to "Quotes", "Chats" are designed for you to put forth a topic for discussion. Post a short description of your topic in the "Chat" box and give it a descriptive title. The "Description" box is optional, and if you're not using it, make sure to delete the formatting codes that are in there.
We hope you'll use this section often -- it's all yours, to share baseball-related things with us. You can also, if you have a Twitter account, check the "Tweet" box below the posting box and send it to your Twitter followers. Go for it.