In a perfect world, publishing on Bleacher Report would be as simple as typing your article and clicking “Submit.”

In this one, things don’t always always go quite so smoothly.

The B/R Submission Module is generally pretty serviceable, and we’re always working to make it better—but snafus are bound to happen. When they do, three general tricks may just save you from throwing your laptop out the window in frustration…

1. Switch to Firefox

The B/R interface works best with Mozilla’s Firefox browser. If you’re running into functionality problems—e.g. you can’t add a picture or change tags—a browser switch might be the answer. Firefox is a free app and can be downloaded on the Mozilla website. (Open-sourcers of the world, unite!)

2. Do your formatting in the Submission Module, not your word processor.

Special formatting features—including ordered lists, block quotes, and tables—often translate improperly from word processor documents to the Submission Module. If you want to add bells and whistles, your best bet is to do so in the Submission Module itself, either manually or by using the buttons in the Editing Toolbar.

You may also find that line and paragraph breaks get mistranslated from the Submission Module to the live Article Page. In such cases, you can usually solve the problem by removing and then reinserting the line breaks in the Submission Module—i.e. delete the blank space until the first sentence of one paragraph is on the same line as the last sentence of the preceding paragraph, then press RETURN twice to reestablish the break.

3. Learn to love HTML code.

The vast majority of B/R formatting problems originate in an article’s HTML code, which can be accessed by clicking on the “HTML” button on the right side of the Editing Toolbar. If you have the time and inclination to teach yourself the basics, you’ll be able to hack your way through most issues—especially those related to line and paragraph breaks (and the corresponding <br /> and <p> HTML tags).

Anyone seeking to nurture his inner nerd would do well to start with this online tutorial…and to remember that pocket protectors are no more or less cool than the individuals who wear them.

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Of course, these are only general suggestions, and may or may not be applicable to your particular headache. If you have specific questions, please note them in the Comments section below. I won’t always be able to help, but at least you’ll know that someone else shares your technically challenged and hopelessly impotent cyber-angst.

And hey—that’s what the Internet’s all about, isn’t it?

We recently presented our NBA Community with a content initiative built around playoff coverage. The rules instructed Bleacher Report’s NBA contributors to choose a team and write an article about them before the start of the post-season.

If their team advances to the next round, so does the Bleacher Creature—who is then offered the opportunity to write another article in support of their chosen squad.

After the finals are over, the writer who’s contributions accumulated the most total hits throughout the playoffs will be awarded a $100 gift certificate at NBA.com.

Based on their initial submissions, here are the contestants and the teams they will be covering throughout the post-season:
Western Conference

Suns
Ian Zymarakis
Garrett Gonzales
Greg G
Jeremy Kaufman

Nuggets
Sean Stancill
Mike Bogacz
Adam Meiklejohn
Mick Smith

Rockets
Gerard Narendran
Rif Sunesara
Sonny Kung

Lakers
Jason
Andrew Kneeland
John Fatland
Jose Gonzalez
Michael Rippe
Chase Sagum
Lester Mora
Farid Foroughi
David Whitehead
Anthony Wilson
Jeff Little
Paul Peszko
Miguel Vazquez
Alex Tang

Spurs
Andrew Norman
Andrew Tonge
Dan Siegel

Mavericks
Andy Simpson
Taylor Gram

Hornets
Mark Hannie
Eastern Conference

Cavs
Chase Sagum
Michael Heller
Matt Bosley
Chris Varner
Garry Lloyd
Scott Miles
Tommy Balcetis

76ers
Jameson Fleming
Tom Dillard

Raptors
Mitch Thompson

Celtics
Stew Winkel
Michele Ann
Jim Sheldon
Sammy Benitez
Sean Crowe
Dennis White
Andrew Palumbo
Ron Johnson
Ken Foss

Magic
David Wunderlich
Steve Resnick

Pistons
Mick Miller

Keep an eye out for these talented writers as you consume what could be the most exciting playoffs in league history.

Marketing Manager Aron Glatzer interviews SeatQuest founder Nomik Eden about his new online ticket solution, available on Bleacher Report and a host of other sites.

Disobeying regular rules of sleep, you chose to wake up at 9:30 a.m. Sunday morning to nab a pair of NCAA Final Four tickets that go on sale at 10 a.m. despite staying out till 4 a.m. partying the night before.

Signing into your account on Ticketmaster at precisely 10 a.m., you click to the best seats available and wait while the page loads. Unfortunately the damn thing sells out before you get through and you are now hungover, sleep deprived, and without tickets.

In the past, this meant survival of the fittest; either frantically searching on Craigslist and contacting people, waiting through an auction on eBay, or searching other secondary ticket services. This takes up a lot of time and effort.

Now the consumer has an alley on the secondary ticket market front in SeatQuest. SeatQuest is the first visual search engine in which consumers can type in the venue or city of an event and see exactly where all the available tickets are located.

SeatQuest is the only company that shows seat level information, and is getting close to covering 85 percent of all existing ticketed events.

“The bottom line is simple: once you know the maximum amount of money you are willing to spend (on a sporting event, concert, or theater production), you can find within a few seconds the available tickets within your budget,” said founder Nomik Eden, who was quick to point out that SeatQuest is a technology company and not a ticket broker. “Our service to the consumer is free, it is the exact same price as if you had went to a secondary source.”

As a ticket aggregator, SeatQuest displays all the available tickets from sites like ticketnetwork.com and eBay, and will soon include StubHub and RazorGator.

Moving forward, SeatQuest will continue to assist the consumer in the future by adding historical information and anecdotes about venues and also letting fans know where to find parking, and how close it really is to the event itself.

Next time the ticket window shuts you out, know that your chance of getting back in is only a click away.

Remember back in 2003, when the Vikings got caught up in trade talks and missed their pick at No. 7? We watched in amazement as Jacksonville and Carolina made the quickest picks in NFL Draft history, and Minnesota ended up with the ninth overall selection.

There seems to be a bizarre, sometimes painful moment in every Draft…and we want to get the Bleacher Report Humor Mill churning in anticipation of this year’s folly.

Some possible topics?

• Describe the pick that would most infuriate your fanbase. (Like Donovan McNabb to the Eagles in 1999.)

• Outline your prediction for most awkward interview. (See: Keyshawn Johnson-Dwayne Jarrett, 2007)

• Who’s going to be the biggest bust in the draft (i.e. which wide receivers are the Vikings and Lions taking this year)?

• Who will be the last player left in the green room and why? (The Thurman Thomas / Aaron Rodgers / Brady Quinn Award)

Any humorous slant on the Draft is fair game. Just be sure to tag your article with “NFL Draft Challenge.”

The writer who submits the article with the most reads will win two tickets to the opening NFL game of his or her choice for the 2008 season. The prize for the runner-up is a framed Mel Kiper Jr. autograph.

Good luck from all of us at Bleacher Report, your home for NFL Draft analysis.

Rules

1) Articles must clearly deal with some aspect of the NFL Draft.

2) Articles must be tagged with “NFL Draft Challenge” and should be 250-500 words.

3) Users may submit multiple articles.

4) The author of the most-read article wins. NFL game tickets subject to availability.

5) Contest ends Wednesday April 30.

Over the last few months, we have received a lot of positive feedback on the quality of the community’s articles, but we have also heard a few consistent concerns. Specifically, we have been told the following:

1. Our readers and writers enjoy the excellent content that appears on our site, but they worry that as we continue to grow, the quality might not hold its own.

2. People feel that they are kept in the dark as to how articles move up the site, and they believe that the site’s most dedicated contributors should be part of this process.

Effective immediately, we are addressing both of these common concerns.

For a long time, we’ve wanted to bring Bleacher Report’s community further into the process of rating article quality and pushing the best content to the front of the site.

But we hadn’t put our finger on the best way in which to do this. We don’t want just anybody to come on the site for the first time and rate articles — but we also realize that some of the best contributors are new members, who have not had a chance to establish their credentials as Top Writers.

We want the most dedicated writers to be assessing article quality, be they new stars or established veterans.

And so we are going to open the process up to both.

Starting today, established top writers, as well as proven Community Leaders, will be able to rate an article’s quality.

In addition, we are opening up an application process for all Bleacher Report members who believe that they have demonstrated a commitment to quality writing in the days and weeks since they first joined our community.

These new talents can submit an application HERE.

We will do our best to invite those who make a compelling case, assuming that they have a handful of solid contributions under their belt so far.

But we won’t be able to invite everyone into the fold, because we must ensure all writers that their hard work is being assessed by a community of proven writers.

As always, we welcome all feedback on how this process can work best, and we are open minded to change based on the suggestions that hold water.

One of Bleacher Report’s primary offerings to the sporting masses is a unique fan perspective that cannot be found on major media networks. We provide fan experts with a free publishing platform and built in national readership—and in return they deliver to those readers original opinions about the teams and players that they are more qualified to put forth than anyone else.

I saw an article today courtesy of resident Creature Sean Crowe that really sends this point home—thus I figured I would share it with all of you. I’m glad to see it won Pick of the Day…looks like our readers have great taste =)

Take a look when you have a chance and I think you’ll see what I mean. Way to tell it like it is Sean!

Bobby Orr. Wayne Gretzky. Patrick Roy.

Names synonymous with postseason greatness. Recipients of an award given for Stanley Cup excellence.

Who will win the 2008 Conn Smythe Trophy? If you have the answer, there’s a first edition Bleacher Report t-shirt waiting for you.

Between now and Friday, April 11, simply make your Smythe Trophy prediction in an article tagged “Conn Smythe Contest.” If that player takes home the hardware, you win BR gear.

Official contest rules are listed below.

Good luck from Bleacher Report, your home for Stanley Cup coverage.

Rules:

1) Articles must clearly identify an individual player on a postseason NHL team.

2) Articles must be tagged with “Conn Smythe Contest.”

3) Articles should be 250-500 words, and must be submitted by Friday April 11.

4) Users may submit multiple articles, but their first submission will be considered their “entry.”

5) Writers who correctly identify the Conn Smythe Trophy recipient will be considered winners, and will receive the very first edition of “Bleacher Report: The T-Shirt.”

One of our oldest and most loyal contributors Adam Amick had some awesome news come his way recently.  To say that we’re excited for him is quite an understatement…

Ever dream of being the host of a nationally syndicated ESPN radio show on your favorite sport?  Let Adam tell you how his efforts on Bleacher Report are starting to pay off in a major way.

To continue our mission to make Bleacher Report the greatest sports network in the universe (this is our mission, by the way), we have to create revenue opportunities, which includes but is not exclusive to, selling advertising space.

In order to sell ads, it would help us a lot to have a little more info on you, Bleacher Report’s core membership.

Because we think it’s intrusive—not to mention irritating—to ask for info during the registration process, we’re instead hoping that everyone can take a minute and fill out this anonymous survey.

Collectively, this info will help us to determine “our demographic.”

The good news is that after you fill this out, we might actually have ads for stuff you actually want (or not). Either way, we’d really appreciate the help if you feel comfortable participating.

Thanks everybody,

Dave