Yardbarker - Yardbarker Blogs

Introducing Barklogs: your very own sports blogs

Thu, 22 Oct 2009 17:07:12 -0500

Yardbarker makes sports blogging easy with Barklogs! Use the same tools our pro athletes and featured bloggers use to start your very own blog (or transfer an existing blog from Blogger or Wordpress). Get promotion by Yardbaker to a built-in sports audience and even earn money if you join the Yardbarker Network!

How do I get started?
Sign in to your Yardbarker account or create an account if you don’t have one. Then click here to create your blog. You’ll be able to name your blog, customize its design, and start posting right away.

What kind of design customization is available?
To get started quickly, you can choose from one of our pre-designed themes. Or if you want to get creative, you can upload your own background and header images and choose colors, fonts, and more. You can also add your own “widgets” to your sidebar such as an “About Me” section, a list of links, YouTube videos, Twitter widgets, and more. For help on customization, please download our instruction booklet.  

How can I move my old blog over to Yardbarker?
You can import all your old blog posts and comments from an existing blog. Right now we support importing from Blogger (Blogspot) and Wordpress, but we may add support for other platforms. If you have a blog on another platform you think we should support, please let us know.

When you create your blog, select the checkbox at the bottom for importing. Or if you’ve already created your blog, you can import at any time by visiting the Blog Settings tab from your Blog Dashboard and clicking the Setup link at the top.

How will my posts be promoted?
As soon as you start posting, your posts will appear on our Barklogs pages and if you tag your posts with relevant sports and teams, your posts will also appear on those relevant Yard pages. When you publish a post, you will be prompted to add relevant tags.

If you have a post you think will be of interest to our general Yardbarker audience or to our partners like FoxSports.com, please email a link to pitch@yardbarker.com for our editors to review. Please note that due to the volume of emails we receive, we don’t usually respond to pitch emails.

How can I make money from my blog?
After blogging for a few months, if you have high quality content and strong traffic, you can apply to be in our affiliate program, the Yardbarker Network (YBN). You’ll be able to earn money by placing our ads on your blog. You can inquire about joining the YBN here. In the meantime, make sure you are tracking your traffic. You can easily add Google Analytics to your blog by signing up for an Analytics account and then adding your Analytics ID to the Blog Settings tab on your Blog Dashboard.

Your chance to win a $100 gift card

Tue, 08 Sep 2009 13:01:58 -0500

Hey Yardbarkers! Do you want a chance to win a $100 RazorGator gift card that you can use to buy tickets to sports events and concerts? Just take our short survey -- it's six multiple-choice questions about your online habits related to Yardbarker. All answers will be kept anonymous, and you can take the survey without entering an email address if you'd like. If you want to be entered into the random drawing for the $100 gift card, just give us your email address at the end of the survey. The winner will be picked next week.

We're using this survey to collect some simple information about your habits on Yardbarker. If you have ideas, suggestions, or complaints about other things in the Yard, you can always email us at feedback@yardbarker.com.

CLICK HERE FOR THE SURVEY.

Thanks and good luck!
-Yardbarker staff

We continue to work on the site... let us know your feedback!

Fri, 26 Jun 2009 16:55:54 -0500

We're not perfect, but we're working on it!

Hey Yardbarkers!

Thank you for all of your continued feedback. You've been spotting a lot of bugs and also giving us a lot of valuable feedback about what you like and don't like. Please continue to write to us at feedback@yardbarker.com.

We've been working continually on the site and hopefully you've noticed that a lot of things are improved. Here are a few of the major fixes and improvements from the last two weeks or so, plus some known issues that we are working on:

Fixed bugs:

Thumbs up/down on comments was fixed.
Scores for comments now show (note: you should not see thumbs on your own comments, just a +/- score or a double-dash if your score is zero).
The Favorite Yardbarkers mix-up was resolved (the "Edit Favorite YBs" page now shows users who you are a fan of).
Attaching photos in comments was fixed.
The last remaining weird symbols like "'" and """ should now be gone from your news feed.

Added features:

You can now search for a user name in the Search box. You will be taken to their user page.
You can now search for the name of a Yardbarker Network site in the Search box.
Every Yardbarker Network site now has a site page that shows all recent articles from that site.
You can now remove the "Bark About" comment wall from your user page if you don't want it there (click the "manage" link).

Known issues that need to be fixed:

Commenting bug: this is a new problem. Sometimes if you press Submit on a comment, it seems like nothing happened, although your comment is in fact posted. If you refresh the page, you should see your comment. We hope to have this fixed later today.
Athlete blog post email alerts: some people are getting double email alerts or no email alerts at all.
News feed: we are doing an overhaul of this, so stay tuned for the improved version.

Thanks for your patience while we continue to improve the site!

-Yardbarker Team

FANARCHY Premiere Featured Brendan Haywood in 'The Yard'

Sun, 07 Jun 2009 23:16:36 -0500

If you didn't catch tonight's premiere episode of FANARCHY on national network VERSUS, don't worry... you can catch it again on Tuesday at 10:30pm, which will be its regular time slot.

But if you did catch it, then you know that Yardbarker's own Brendan Haywood made a special appearance during "The Yard," our weekly segment on the show. Brendan sounded off about Michael Vick. He wants the dude to play!

The rest of the show was filled with rants from seven crazy sports fans filming from their webcams at home. Two of the Fanarchists got booted from the show, which means there's room for two new contestants next week. Yardbarkers, you need to submit your audition videos to the FANARCHY website and get on the show. Why? Because you guys are already repping hard in the Yard, and now we need you repping on TV!

If you submit an audition, let us know in the comments so we can all go view it and support you. And let us know what you thought of the show too!

-AlanaG

Yardbarkers: Tune in to FANARCHY tonight!

Sun, 07 Jun 2009 09:07:44 -0500

Yardbarkers, in case you haven't heard, there's a new show on VERSUS called FANARCHY and the premiere is tonight at 11 ET. Why should you care? Because there will be a segment on every show called 'The Yard' powered by Yardbarker! For the premiere episode we have a very special guest lined up -- he's one of your favorite Yardbarkers and he's got a real hot topic on his mind. The rest of the show will be very entertaining as well -- it features seven passionate fans arguing with each other about sports topics like the ones you find here on the Yard.

After you see the show, make sure you hop over to the FANARCHY site to check out how you can audition to be on the show yourself. We need some Yardbarkers on TV!

If you miss the show, it will be re-airing on Tuesday at 10:30pm ET, which will be the regular timeslot going forward. If you catch the show, make sure you let us know what you think in the comments.

New Ways to Post on Yardbarker

Thu, 04 Jun 2009 23:37:38 -0500

Yardbarkers, thanks for all the feedback so far! Please keep it coming. We know change can be difficult, but hopefully you like a lot of what you see in the new Yardbarker. And if there are things you still don't like, please let us know! We are still making changes to the site and are listening to what you're saying.

One thing you may be wondering about is how to post. For Yardbarkers who were using the old site, you’ll notice that there are new ways to post. To get started, sign in to your account and click the “Post Now” button at the top of the page. This will show you the two ways to post on Yardbarker.

1) Post in the new Forums section
We’ve added a Forums section where any Yardbarker user can post a new thread or respond to an existing one. The hottest forum discussions appear on their respective sport and team Yard pages as well as the homepage, and you can always catch all of the discussions on the main Forums page. The Forums don’t have to be just for simple posts – you can add photos, videos, links, and more to a Forum post. Many of you will use the Forums much the way you used to post articles on the old Yardbarker.

2) Post in your own blog (coming soon!)
For those of you who want to express yourself even more, we will be offering customizable blogs. Any Yardbarker user will have the option to create their own blog where they can write articles with photos, videos, and links, just like articles on the old Yardbarker. You will also be able to customize the look of your blog by uploading custom headers, choosing your formatting and color schemes, and more. We are building this brand new blog platform for you, and it is coming very soon, so stay tuned!

If you’re looking for articles that you had posted previously on the old Yardbarker, those all appear on your user page in the My Forum Posts section. Once we launch the new blog platform, if you choose to create your own custom blog, your old Yardbarker articles will be moved into your custom blog.

We hope you’re excited about these new options for posting on Yardbarker. Although you will no longer be able to post an article the way you currently do, we hope you’ll enjoy posting in the Forums and on your new customizable blog. We apologize that the new blog platform was not ready in time for the launch of the new site, but it will be coming very soon. In the meantime, everyone will be able to post in the Forums.

Click here for more information about the new Yardbarker. And let us know what you think in the comments below or by emailing us at feedback@yardbarker.com!

-Yardbarker Team

Welcome to the new Yardbarker!

Thu, 04 Jun 2009 21:01:12 -0500

Welcome to the new and improved Yardbarker BETA, where everyone’s an insider! We’ve been working for months on the new site, which we’ve dubbed “YB3” here at the Yardbarker offices. There are a lot of improvements and new features, all made with the Yardbarker community in mind. Continue reading below for a few highlights of what’s new. There are also links to more detailed information about all of Yardbarker’s features.

Please let us know what you think of the site by emailing us at feedback@yardbarker.com. We are in the BETA stage right now, which means we know we still have work to do. If you were a user of the old site, it may take a little while to get used to some of the new features, but check our FAQ page if you get stuck -- and if you still have a concern, drop us a note. We will be continuing to make improvements and smooth out any lingering wrinkles and we appreciate your help in that process.

Now here’s a look at a few things that are new!

FORUM DISCUSSIONS

Yardbarker now has message boards for every major team on the site. Any Yardbarker user can start a new discussion thread or chime in on an existing discussion. The hottest forum discussions will appear on their respective sport and team Yard pages, and you can always find any forum from the main forum page. We know Yardbarkers love to discuss and debate, so we created the forums as a place where conversations can thrive and get noticed. If you’ve got something to say, bark about it in the forums!

CREATE YOUR OWN BLOG (coming soon!)

Every Yardbarker user will be able to create their own blog right here on Yardbarker! You can post articles with photos, videos, links and more, just like you did on the old site. But now you will also be able to customize the design of your blog with your own headers, colors, formats, and more. Yardbarker users who had posted articles on the old site will have their old content imported into their blog automatically to give them a head start. This feature is coming very soon, so stay tuned.

I want to post an article, photo, video, list, or quiz, what do I do?
Where are all my old posts?

IMPROVED HOMEPAGE

As always, our editors will handpick the best stories from around the web and feature them on the homepage of Yardbarker. We hope you like the new eye-catching design, which has room for bigger photos and even more stories than before.

How can I suggest an article for the homepage?

READ AND DISCUSS AN ARTICLE DIRECTLY AT THE SOURCE

Reading and commenting on stories has now become easier too! Clicking on a headline will pop up a Preview box so you can see the source of the article, the first few sentences, and sometimes an additional Yardbarker editor’s note. You can then choose whether you want to comment on Yardbarker about the story or read the rest of the story at the original source. If you go to the original source, an i-frame will follow you there so that you can easily see the Yardbarker comments, add your own comment, or get back to Yardbarker.

DYNAMIC USER PAGES

We’ve updated your Yardbarker user pages to make it easier for everyone to see your latest activity on the site, your photos, and more. You can also find your full news feed here, making it easy to stay on top of your favorite sports, teams, and the activity of your favorite Yardbarkers. Other users can also bark about you on your page – it’s kind of like stopping by to leave you a note.

EVEN MORE NEWS & RUMOR ARTICLES

Yardbarker was already aggregating news and rumors from our 600+ blogs and sports sites in the Yardbarker Network. Now we have added several thousand more sources. We are pulling in feeds from all the best sports blogs, local and national news sites, team and league sites, Twitter feeds, and more. Check out the Yard of your favorite sport or team by choosing it from the navigation bar and see the breadth of content we now offer.

How can I suggest a source to include?

PHOTO GALLERIES

Yardbarker has partnered with PicApp to offer a constantly updating collection of sports photos for you to browse. Check out the photo collections on your favorite sport, team, or player page. Clicking on a photo from the Preview of a homepage story will also take you to a photo gallery page.

RE-DESIGNED ATHLETE BLOGS

Yardbarker’s roster of professional athletes all got a blog makeover! Click on the Athlete Blog page to visit your favorite athletes’ blogs and check out their new looks. Every Yardbarker athlete also has a user page like everyone else where you can see their latest activity, view their photos, bark about them, and more.

We hope you enjoy exploring the new site. Please do give us your feedback by emailing us at feedback@yardbarker.com. And stay tuned because we have much more in store for this ever-improving site. Now get barking!

-Yardbarker Team

Yardbarker Will Be Down for Maintenance... Stay Tuned for the Exciting Re-Launch!

Thu, 04 Jun 2009 14:42:14 -0500

Attention Yardbarkers! We have some good news and bad news for all you Yardaholics. The bad news is that the site will be down for maintenance starting around 1:30pm Pacific (that’s 4:30pm Eastern). We will try to keep the downtime to a minimum, but it may last as long as several hours. We apologize that Yardbarker will be unavailable during that time. If you try to access the site, you will see a maintenance message.

The GOOD news is that when we come back later in the evening, the site will be brand new! We are re-launching Yardbarker with a new look and tons of new features. We’re very excited about the new site and we hope you will be too. We will explain everything that’s new once we launch. And as always, we’ll want to hear your feedback about what you like and don’t like because we’ll be continuing to work on the site long after Thursday’s launch. Stay tuned!

-Yardbarker Team

Attention SF Bay Area Yardbarkers...

Thu, 09 Apr 2009 14:15:10 -0500

YB is partnering with the 2nd annual Styling the Modern Man event, taking place at the W Hotel, and we want you there! The opening gala will be tonight, Thursday, April 9th, from 7pm to 11pm. One of the hosts of this party will be our very own athlete blogger, 49ers TE Vernon Davis. (Look out for footage of this on Vernon's blog later on.) Tickets are $75 and available here: http://stylingthemodernman.eventbrite.com/.

Friday's events will be FREE and open to the public. Sneak away from work and come on down to the W on 3rd and Howard to get pampered. Yes, we know you're all macho sports fans, but I'm sure every one of you could use a free massage, haircut, and *gasp* eyebrow clean-up (trust me, it'll be a big hit with the ladies). You'll also be able to check out the latest styles from Artificial Flavor, On the Fly, and Wrath Arcane, as well as celebrity hair guru Kevin Josephson ($15 fee) and hot furniture designer David Mast, all of which will hold presentations throughout the day. The schedule of events is below, but you should check out the event website (www.stylingthemodernman.com) for more details.

Hope to see you there!

FRIDAY, APRIL 10, 2009
Location: W San Francisco
3rd Floor 'Great Room'

11:00 AM
Celebrity Hair Guru Kevin Josephson who has been featured in the pages of Vogue, Genlux, 944, on E! Entertainment, Art Rocks Radio & Bravo TV will teach tips and tricks about grooming, hairstyling and other secrets of the Hollywood elite. (Cost $15.00) Guests will receive a VIP goody bag with tons of great products!

12:30 AM
Co-sponsored by California Modern Home + Design Magazine, leading interior designer David Mast will give a talk on modern design and how it influences the modern man's life.

2:30 PM
Fashion Presentation by ON THE FLY

4:00 PM
Fashion Presentation by ARTIFICIAL FLAVOR

5:00 PM
Fashion Presentation by WRATH ARCANE

Win a Dozen Custom March Madness Tees!

Wed, 25 Feb 2009 18:29:36 -0500

Hey Yardbarkers, it's that time again! We're teaming up with 1800clothes.com to give away 9 sets of 12 March Madness t-shirts. The tees will be custom printed with your design and delivered in time to wear for the tournament.

Just go to the link below, create your own March Madness t-shirt design, and save it as "Yardbarker MM" (without quotes). You can upload your own custom images or use the website's fonts and graphics to create your tee. Designs will be judged on humor, creativity and general awesomeness. The winners will be chosen on March 9th, so get your designs in by Sunday, March 8th!

A couple of notes:

Please do not use any team logos or other copyrighted images. Any entries containing such images will be disqualified.
Only use a plain tee (no long sleeves, etc.) and limit your design to the front of the shirt.

Yardbarker Will Be Down for Maintenance Thursday Night

Thu, 22 Jan 2009 19:48:55 -0500

Hey Yardbarkers, we will be doing some maintenance on the site tonight (Thursday, Jan 22) and it will be completely unavailable for a few hours. The maintenance will probably start around 11pm Eastern (8pm Pacific) and continue for a few hours. If you try to access the site while it's down, you'll see a maintenance message.

Sorry for the inconvenience, and thanks for continuing to visit the site!

-AlanaG

Custom Super Bowl Party T-Shirt Contest

Wed, 07 Jan 2009 18:49:37 -0500

Hey Yardbarkers, it's time to get creative! Thanks to 1800clothes.com, we're going to be giving away 3 sets of 36 t-shirts, custom printed with your design! Just go to the link below, create your own Super Bowl party t-shirt design, and save it as "Yardbarker tee". You can upload your own custom images, or use the website's fonts and graphics to create your tee. Designs will be judged on humor, creativity and general awesomeness, and the winners will be chosen by Wednesday, January 14th (deadline extended) - so get your designs in soon!

One note: Please do not use any team logos or other copyrighted images. Any entries containing such images will be disqualified.

Address-book integration now available on Yardbarker

Mon, 08 Dec 2008 15:01:33 -0500

Some of you good folks in the Yard have asked for email-address-book integration, which we now support. If you've got a great story in the Yard and want to send it to all your friends, you can now access your Gmail, Yahoo, Hotmail and also AOL to make the process easier. The integration works for articles and also quizzes. So take the "Most Obese Coach in the NFL" quiz and then send it to your friends. http://www.yardbarker.com/nfl/articles/Most_Obese_Coach_in_the_NFL/399769 If you have any questions or additional feedback, please email feedback@yardbarker.com -- thanks! Andrew

Brand-spanking-new Yardbarker widgets

Tue, 07 Oct 2008 19:02:16 -0500

Today we launched new widgets in the Yard. They feature the best content from the Yardbarker Network, which is our network of 600+ sports blogs. You can create your own custom widget by team or sport. You can also have a widget that features only content from the Backyard. These widgets can be used anywhere on the web that supports embed code. Test one out on your blog and let us know what you think. As always, we love hearing from everyone in the Yard. How can we make our widgets better? What kind of widgets would you like to see? Dewey PS: Visit the link to create your own widget.

New badges for veteran Yardbarkers

Fri, 19 Sep 2008 12:56:12 -0500

Starting today we're awarding badges to those folks in the Yard who have completely filled out their profiles (and also have at least 25 fans). This badge will show up next to every comment that you post on the site. Everyone is eligible except for verified athletes, who already have a badge of their own. With this badge, you get... nothing. Except admiration from your fellow barkers in the Yard. And isn't that enough? To get the badge, you must be a registered user. When you're logged on, check your main header to track your progress. To achieve 100 percent, you need to: 1) Create an account 2) Select at least one favorite team 3) Upload a profile photo 4) Get 5, 10 and then 25 fans 5) Take a quiz 6) Edit your profile details 7) Select your favorite sport 8) Post a comment 9) Post an article, photo, quiz or list