First of all, please don't take anything on this site seriously. Just assume that everyone is joking.

We're pretty laid back at Cartilage Free Captain, but we obviously have a few rules. To encourage a community that is open and comfortable for everyone, the obvious hate speech doesn't fly. Anything even remotely racist, sexist, homophobic or nationalistic in nature will be deleted. The user will be warned about making inappropriate comments in the future. If a user makes a second inappropriate comment of this nature, they will be banned. We reserve the right to ban someone on first offense. We also do not tolerate personal attacks or threats of any kind, and the same rules apply to those. Yes, calling someone an idiot constitutes a personal attack.

Everyone has seemed to understand what constitutes racism and homophobia without a problem, but sexism seems to be a bit tougher for everyone to draw the line on. This is a site for everyone and we want to create an environment where, unlike the majority of sports websites on the internet, community discussion is not geared exclusively towards straight males and their interests. This is a site about Tottenham Hotspur, and there's no reason for you to post pictures of half-naked women or have conversations in the comments about women you find attractive. It's irrelevant to the site. Please don't do this.

Previously, we have had a problem with people saying that Spurs fans who are from the United States cannot be true fans. Because of that, we have a new piece of required reading before joining:

http://www.cartilagefreecaptain.com/2011/7/14/2275808/on-being-rude-and-prejudiced-fans-of-all-nationalities-have-equal

Discrediting someone because of their nationality will not be tolerated. It is just as hateful and ignorant as sexism, racism and homophobia. I apologize that I have had to point this out so specifically and emphatically, but a few bad apples have made this a required action.

A few bad apples have also required an addendum about relentless negativity and inflammatory meta. Relentless negativity is a form of trolling, even if it's not intentional. Posting about how Spurs suck or how everything's going wrong 100 percent of the time, without proposing solutions, is just as bad as outright trolling. There's a difference between someone who aims to point out flaws and be constructive and someone who is destructive. This site is supposed to be fun. Being relentlessly negative makes you a fun sucker.

'Inflammatory meta' is talk about the site, what you don't like about it, etc. in the comments sections. This means no talking about how "x needs to change" or "this site was better when..." or "It was unfair that you banned [person]". If you have a problem with anything on the site, please email Kevin at allthingsfooty [at] gmail [dot] com. He is happy to listen to and respond to any criticism. There's no reason to pollute the comments section with this stuff.

This isn't all about being negative, though. Being a member at Cartilage Free Captain is about having fun and engaging with your fellow Spurs supporters. You are not only allowed, but encouraged to disagree with this site's writers in a respectful way. If you disagree and you make a good point while doing it, the writers and other members will engage in civil but passionate conversations with you. Really, that's what makes this site so great. We like to think we produce good content, but it's really all about the community.

Come on in, chat it up, and if you agree to the very simple rules above, stay a while!