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.

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

Yardbarker is sponsoring the 2008 BlogWorld & New Media Expo, which takes place this weekend (September 20-21) at the Las Vegas Convention Center. Come stop by Yardbarker's booth and introduce yourself.

We'll be giving away some free video games and t-shirts. Yardbarker managing editor Dewey Hammond will be participating in a panel about blog promotion at 11:00 a.m. on Saturday, and CEO Pete Vlastelica will be participating in a panel about monetizing your sports blog (12:15 p.m. on Saturday).

YBN bloggers Will Brinson (Brahsome) and Enrico Campitelli (The 700 Level) will also be speaking.

- Ben

Good morning, Yard.

Our engineering team recently built new notification features. Customized comment-notification options are now available via the account settings tab on your profile page. You can select to be notified immediately, hourly, four-times daily, twice-daily or weekly.

When does this apply?

1) When someone comments on an article you've written

2) When there are additional comments to an article you've commented on, applicable regardless of whether or not you wrote the article

Below is an example of what the email looks like. (The email will include links to the articles in question.) Visit the link associated with this article so that you can customize your notification options and choose whatever is best for you. As always, thanks for your feedback, and thanks for being in the Yard.

- The Yardbarker Team

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Today, 11 comment(s) were left on articles you wrote or commented on. A summary of those comments are below.

Baltimore Ravens (The Ebony Bird) 2 New Comment(s)

Alicia Sacramone Punches Some Guy 4 New Comment(s)

Top 3 Eats around Yardbarker Headquarters 2 New Comment(s)

The Greatest Olympian Of All-Time 1 New Comment(s)

Top 20 NFL Career Rushing Leaders 1 New Comment(s)

Muffin Goes to VEGAS! 1 New Comment(s)

We have a couple of fresh new features for the Yard. First is athlete notification, which means that you're now able to receive email notifications whenever your favorite Yardbarker athletes make new posts on their blogs. If you've already selected an athlete as a favorite, you don't need to do anything. You'll automatically receive these emails, and you can also opt-out if you don't want to receive them. If you're starting from scratch, here's what you need to do:

1) Add any verified athlete to your favorites by clicking "Add to Favorites" on that athlete's profile page

That's it. Then you'll be able to know whenever Greg Oden or Marshawn Lynch or John Lackey (or whomever) update their blogs. If you want to edit your settings in the future, email-notification preferences can be edited on your account settings page.

YARDBARKER SEARCH: NEW AND IMPROVED!

Last week we updated our search function in the Yard. Previously it was all based on player tags. Now it is free-text search, which means you can search for anything you want. So for example, you can type in "Patriots 18-1," and read all about New England's flirtation with perfection. After you search for a term, you can sort it by most relevant, highest rated, and also most recent.

Both of these new features are a direct result of the feedback that you have shared with the Yardbarker team. Thanks for your feedback, and please always keep it coming. The Yard wouldn't be what it is without your help and points of view. Thanks again.

TWO MORE REMINDERS

Check out our new "create a list" function, and also our athlete directory, which lists athlete blogs from across the web... not just those on Yardbarker. Both "create a list" and the athlete directory can be found in the navigation bar at the top of any Yardbarker page.

Thanks to the Yard. Until next time...

- Dewey

A few weeks ago we launched a feature that allows Yardbarkers to create lists. Who doesn't love a good top 10 list? The thing is, if you had ranked our functionality of that feature from 1-10, it would have fallen in the bottom half of the list. But that was only version one. A temporary taste of things to come. This week we launched version two, which is a significant improvement. Thanks to all of the hard-working engineers who put it together. I love it, and I think you will also.

You can now create lists of any length and with any topic. Just to show you what's what, I put together a quick top 5 of Yardbarker on the red carpet at the ESPYs. There is better stuff that didn't make the list, but I'm going to save that for Sunday or Monday, when Ovie posts the videos of his coverage from the event. He spoke with Kellen Winslow, Bob Sanders, Vernon Davis, Marcellus Wiley, Matt Leinart, Braylon Edwards, Tim Tebow, George "Iceman" Gervin, Tyler Hansbrough, and four or five others. Anyway, I'm straying off topic. My bad.

Back to the topic at hand. Lists. Check it out. Make one. Make two. Make 10 lists and then rank them. Do whatever you want. The ball's in your court, Yardbarkers. As always, send feedback on stuff you'd like to see to feedback@yardbarker.com. This list functionality is a direct result of feedback that we get from our users. That's you.

- Dewey

Top 5 from the ESPYs:

http://www.yardbarker.com/backyard/articles/LIST_Yardbarkers_top_5_from_the_red_ carpet_at_the_ESPYs/292029

To make your own list, click the link below.

A few months ago, we promised features that would mitigate abuse in the Yard. We're pleased to let you know that these features are now live.

NEW FEATURES IN THE YARD

You can now block other Yardbarker users from contacting you, and you can also prevent them from interacting with your content via Yardbarker. By blocking a user, they cannot send you a message, add you as a Favorite, or rate or comment on anything you post. This setting can be controlled under the Privacy tab on your Yardbarker Home page. This is where you block or unblock users.

THREE STRIKES AND YOU'RE OUT

We also have an updated policy for those who abuse the system. It's quite simple: Three strikes and you're out. The policy will be enforced, and the guidelines are clear. If you violate the guidelines repeatedly, you'll be kicked out of the Yard. You can read the full policy here (http://www.yardbarker.com/account/community). We hope these features go a long way in minimizing the abuse of our system. Please take advantage of the capabilities we offer to flag inappropriate content, and don't hesitate to contact us at feedback@yardbarker.com should you have any questions, concerns or additional feedback. It was your feedback that prompted these changes. Thank you.

- Dewey

Most fans expected Derrick Rose would go #1 overall to the Chicago Bulls. But did you know that Joe Alexander would go eighth to the Milwaukee Bucks? Or that Beasley, Mayo, Westbrook, Love, Gallinari and Gordon would go numbers two through seven? gwasylik did, and with eight-straight predictions in Yardbarker's NBA Mock Draft contest, gwasylik wins an autographed Greg Oden jersey, courtesy of the Yard and the big man himself.

Thanks everyone for participating. Better luck next time. Until then, enjoy using our new lists features to submit and debate Top 10 lists in the Yard.

- Dewey

Yardbarker Nation, we need your help again! In a continuing effort to deliver the best sports content and services, we want to know a little bit more about you. Please take a few minutes to fill out our user survey. It will take less than 5 minutes to fill out the survey, and as an added bonus to you, you will be automatically entered in a drawing to win a $100 StubHub Gift Card from Yardbarker by completing all of the questions. We will also have a second drawing for 10 users to win Yardbarker prizes. You can take the survey by clicking the link at the bottom of this article. Thanks for your help!

The Yardbarker Team

Yardbarker recently launched a new feature that allows for you to create and submit Top 10 lists to the Yard. Currently we have nine lists from which to choose; however, hopefully soon you'll be able to create custom lists for the Yard. We're working on it. In the meantime, we have a contest taking place this week. Using our new list functionality, submit who you think will be the top 14 picks in Friday's NBA Draft. Whoever gets the most consecutive selections correct (starting with the first overall pick) will win an autographed Greg Oden jersey.

Also, we have a new athlete directory in the Yard. Find your favorite athletes' blogs. Even if they're not in the Yard. It's the most comprehensive list that we know of featuring athlete blogs. The list also features RSS feeds whenever available. I could go on and on and on and on, but why don't you just go there and check it out for yourself. You'll probably discover an athlete blog that you didn't know existed. If you know of any that we've missed, please let us know.

- Andrew

ENTER THE GREG ODEN CONTEST HERE:

http://www.yardbarker.com/nba/topics/Mock_Draft_2008/119

GOOD NBA DRAFT REFERENCE TO HELP YOU WITH YOUR LIST:

http://www.scoresreport.com/2008/06/22/2008-nba-draft-preview/

CREATE OTHER LISTS HERE:

http://www.yardbarker.com/author/new?tab=LIST

ATHLETE BLOG CENTRAL:

http://www.yardbarker.com/athletes/browse

Hello to the Yard.

Please accept our apologies. While rolling out some new features this week, a number of comments on the site mysteriously disappeared. This was a bug. We did not censor any comments that did not violate the Yard's terms of service, and we understand why you're upset that they disappeared. It was not censorship, and we definitely regret that this bug occurred. As they say... my bad.

We've fixed this bug, and I've gone through and republished all the comments that mysteriously disappeared; however, if you know of any that are still missing, please email feedback@yardbarker.com or reply on this post with a link to the article in question (and/or your user name). I will do my best to get your comment restored. Thank you.

Sumit

What's good, Yardbarkers!?

I'm excited to share this news with you. Yardbarker has entered into a content-syndication partnership with Fox Sports. The relationship impacts our network of 400 or so YBN websites, which will now have the option of making their content available for syndication on FoxSports.com (and potentially MSN.com). It's important to us that all of our users and publishers maintain flexibility and control over their own content, which is why we designed the partnership to be 100% optional. For what it's worth, Yardbarker is not being paid for this partnership. The benefit to the Yard and our publishers is the increased exposure that each will receive. We're looking forward to promoting the Yard and all of its unique sports content.

If you are a YBN publisher, chances are you've already heard from me. If not, make sure our emails aren't going to your spam folder. And keep an eye out in your inbox for more details later today/tonight.

If you're not a YBN publisher, will this impact your day-to-day experience in the Yard? Probably not. Except for the fact that it will bring more sports fans to the Yard, and also to our network of sites. More fans equals more conversation and content. That's good for everyone. Even Dallas and Philly fans can agree with that. Right? Maybe?

- Dewey

Hello, Yardbarkers.

As of last week, you may have noticed some changes in how you post things to the Yard. One of our goals was to make submitting articles, photos and videos easier. For example, you can now attach your photo on the same page where you include your URL and description. What is most important about this release, though, is what's underneath the hood. We've laid the groundwork for future features. Before too long, you'll be able to post even more types of content in the Yard (e.g. quizzes, polls). That's only the tip of the iceberg. Even more is on the way.

As always, we're open to your feedback (feedback@yardbarker.com). Please keep it coming. Your feedback influences everything we do.

Thanks for being in the Yard!

Keep barking,

Matt, Alex, Sumit and Mark

OnHollywood recently chose Yardbarker for inclusion in its Top 100 Private Companies of 2008, thanks primarily to all of the fine folks in the Yard. There is an awards ceremony on June 10-11 in West Hollywood; Yardbarker CEO Pete Vlastelica will speak on June 10. Hopefully there will be a TV nearby, because Game 3 of the NBA Finals is that night. Winning awards is cool and all, but it's tough to beat Lakers/Celtics.

Thanks again for making the Yard such a great place to be. If you're interested in learning more about the OnHollywood Top 100 list, click the link.

- Ben

New video in the Yard for you. We sat down with RB Darren McFadden to talk football, and he offered these words of wisdom: Play your game, don't be fancy, and put 11 in the box if you want to stop the run. That last gem only applies when Darren is in the backfield. Most running backs require eight in the box at most. If it was me back there, all you'd need to do to get me on the ground would be to let the grass grow long and maybe yell really loud. I'll trip up and fold like a baby, I promise you.

- Dewey