Dawgs By Nature

Hello again!

The first thing I’d like to do is thank all of you. It’s always been my opinion that the best aspect of SB Nation blogs is that comment section, and the resulting communities. It essentially takes the blog platform from a 1-way line of communication (blogger to audience), and makes the entire thing interactive. Now, the blogger can directly engage with his audience as well as vice versa, especially with things like FanPosts and FanShots.

Regular readers stick around to comment, the community grows, and discussion flourishes. That’s how I was pulled in way back in the summer of 2009. I was commenting on how adding Brandon Marshall, who was on the trading block at the time, would be in vain as we didn’t have a good enough QB to throw to him. I went on to describe my firm stance on Brady Quinn without any actual legitimate evidence. Long story short, I lost the argument, actually to quote what I said at the time, "‘lost’ is putting it lightly, I got ripped to shreds." However, I came out of that Quinn debate a better Browns fan. Two and a half years later, I can honestly say that Dawgs By Nature, the whole community, has made me a much smarter Browns fan, and a smarter football fan. I think a lot of regulars, new and old, can relate to that, as we all know where strong opinions based on no evidence will get you. It’s sort of like a DBN christening, or being baptized by fire.

For that, I thank you guys (and gal). I really do appreciate all the support in the previous thread. I hope I’m not the only one that actually feels a bit better whenever one of their comments go green, even if it's just good ol' Jolly Romeo.

Another thing you might have noticed, my username has changed. I’ve decided to retire my old account. "What?!" Believe me, no on is more sad to see it go than I am. But don’t worry, it’s still me, the same old Simms. Whether you want to refer to be that or my real name, which is Jon, by the way, is entirely up to you. I don’t mind either one.

Lastly, I’m excited to get started. Like I mentioned before, the community makes this all awesome, and it’s definitely a huge reason that I’m in this position. With that said, I want to write things that you folks want to read and discuss. I did have some new ideas (and an old one) that I wanted to run by you guys, just to gauge interest.

- The first idea I had was a (semi) daily link aggregate post in the morning. I know a lot of other blogs have something similar. This is where I’d gather links to interesting stories pertaining to the Browns or NFL, and give a quick comment. I know I’ve enjoyed reading these back when I used to have really early classes in a computer lab.

- Another idea I thought about was bringing back DBN Shoops, the Photoshop contest. Before this would be done though, I’d have to make sure there are no copyright issues. Generally speaking, my uploads for those were so heavily edited and within fair use that there wasn’t a problem.

I’ve got plenty of other ideas in store as well, including but not limited to: my very own fantasy football secrets. Ok, "secrets" is drastically overstating it, but strategies and tips nonetheless.

Any and all feedback is always welcome.

Thanks again!

- Jon @ DBN