Contents

General Information and System Requirements

What is Tapology?

Tapology is a free online MMA (Mixed Martial Arts) network. Fans of the UFC (Ultimate Fighting Championship) and other past and present MMA promotions, like Pride Fighting Championships and Strikeforce, gather here to enter pre-fight predictions, maintain custom fighter and bout rankings, and discuss all things MMA on our advanced fight forum.

Tapology is custom built by and for MMA fans. There is no other site like it. We honor MMA's entire history, from the glory days of Pride to the latest UFC, and remember the great fighters of years past alongside today's best.

For a little more intro information, check out our site tour. If you're not finding the help you need here, you can also contact us.

Is Tapology owned by or affiliated with the UFC or any other MMA fight promotion or sanctioning body?

No. Tapology is independently owned and maintained. Any views expressed on this site are the views of either Tapology or its various site members, and are not the views of any sanctioning body or fight promotion, or any other person or entity. The predictions, rankings, announcements and other features you see here are not influenced or altered by any sanctioning body or fight promotion.

What are the site's software requirements?

We are optimized for all major modern web browsers, including Explorer 7.0+, Firefox 2.0+, Safari 3.0+, Google Chrome and Opera. We strongly recommend using Firefox, Safari, or Chrome for an optimum browsing experience.

If you are running Explorer version 6 or older, the site will not be available. We recommend that you upgrade your version of Explorer or heel hook your company's IT guy (remind him it's not 2002). Tapology requires a Javascript-enabled browser. Your browser should also be set to receive third party cookies.

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MMA 101

I'm just getting into the sport and I'm kind of lost. Where do I begin learning about MMA?

Mixed Martial Arts has had a rich and fascinating history since the UFC aired its first tournament back in 1993 (not to mention the many centuries of martial artists paving the way for it). It can take a bit of time to get up to speed, but the best way is to dive right in. We suggest you start by checking out the fighter pages of some early MMA greats, like Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu pioneer Royce Gracie, the UFC 1, 2 and 4 winner; colorful 1990s pit brawler David "Tank" Abbott; or the legendary "Gracie Hunter," Japan's Kazushi Sakuraba. Then fast forward to some of modern day MMA's most awe-inspiring fighters, like the otherworldly Georges St. Pierre, Hilo, Hawaii's gifted BJ "The Prodigy" Penn, or "The Last Emperor" himself, Fedor Emelianenko. Jump onto the Tapology Forums to see what knowledgeable people are saying about these guys, and their latest scheduled bouts. Finally, enter your predictions for the next MMA event - you can pick as many or as few fights as you want, so you don't need to know who everybody is. Pretty soon you'll be staying up till 5:00 a.m. to catch the next card live from Japan, like a full-fledged MMA junkie.

Are there rules in MMA? Is it really a no-holds-barred fight?

Mixed Martial Arts has evolved tremendously from its early days as an underground "bloodsport." MMA today boasts some of the world's most elite athletes and a well-defined set of rules promulgated and enforced by state athletic commissions. You can read more about MMA's rules here:
wikipedia.org/wiki/Mixed-Martial-Arts-Rules

What are the weight classes?

While there is substantial variation across different regions and promotions, the standard major MMA men's weight classes are as follows:

• Flyweight: 125lbs (57kg, 8.9 stone)
• Bantamweight: 135lbs (61kg, 9.6 stone)
• Featherweight: 145lbs (66kg, 10.4 stone)
• Lightweight: 155lbs (70kg, 11.0 stone)
• Welterweight: 170lbs (77kg, 12.1 stone)
• Middleweight: 185lbs (84kg, 13.2 stone)
• Light Heavyweight: 205lbs (93kg, 14.6 stone)
• Heavyweight: 265lbs (120kg, 18.9 stone)

You can find more detail on MMA weight class variations here:
wikipedia.org/wiki/Mixed-Martial-Arts-Weight-Classes

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Member Signup and Profile Basics

Do I need to register to use Tapology?

While you can still browse most of the site without registering, if you aren't signed in you are missing out on almost all the stuff that makes visiting Tapology worthwhile. You won't be able to see how you did on fight predictions . . . or follow other members . . . or post to the forums . . . or a whole bunch of other stuff. Most importantly, all your activity as a signed in user increases your belt ranking, which gains you respect and followers and generally makes your views carry more weight with our audience.

Signup is free and instantaneous, and needless to say we highly recommend it.

Are you going to spam me if I sign up using my real e-mail?

No. Definitely not. We don't send spam, and we don't sell or license your e-mail address to anyone else. We will occasionally e-mail you updates, but you can easily turn them off via your preferences page. That sums it up but we urge you to read our entire Privacy Policy.

Is my e-mail address viewable or otherwise accessible by other Tapology visitors?

No, your account e-mail address is not public. You can optionally add a separate, public e-mail address to be displayed on your personal profile if that is of interest to you.

Can I control or turn off e-mail messages from Tapology?

Yes, just go to your preferences page to edit when and how Tapology gets in touch with you.

Are there any rules for the username, profile photo and user information I post on my personal profile?

Yes - they are subject to our Terms of Use, most of which can be adhered to by using some common sense, decency, and discretion. For starters, you may not post anything copyrighted without permission, or anything lewd or profane.

I lost my Tapology username and/or password, help!

If you've lost or forgotten your username or password you can login by requesting a recovery e-mail be sent to the account you used to register. It will allow you to login and reset your password. If you are not sure of the email you used to register with the site, please contact us.

How do I change my e-mail address, username and/or password?

You can edit your personal account information through your preferences page.

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Fighter, Bout and Event Information

What information does Tapology contain about MMA fighters, bout and events?

In addition to hosting a network for fight fans, Tapology also hosts a powerful database of MMA fighters, bouts and events. Tapology's MMA database is closely intertwined with all of the features of the site, so you can jump to fighter, bout and event pages quickly while you are doing other site activities. If you are looking for a specific piece of information, the database can be searched via the search bar in the upper left corner of every page, through tapology.com/search, or by entering our FightCenter.

I can't find the fighter, bout, or event I'm looking for. What's up with that?

Not every fighter, bout and event has made it into our database yet, but we're building towards it all the time. We've got just about every UFC, Pride, WEC, Strikeforce, Dream, Affliction, EliteXC, Sengoku, Bellator and plenty of other events catalogued, not to mention many thousands of fighters and their fights.

As we work to backfill more fighters, bouts and events, all the regional promotions, defunct promotions, obscure fighters and upcoming prospects you could ever ask for will eventually be represented. It's just a matter of time so please bear with us.

A fighter, bout or event page is missing some information.

If you are a registered site member and you know of information that belongs in an empty or missing field, send it to us using the 'Contact Us' forms residing on most pages. Because we strive to be authoritative we're sometimes cautious about posting information before we can verify its accuracy, so try to support information you send us with a link or a discussion thread.

Some of the fighter, bout or event information I see listed is wrong.

That's impossible.

Ok fine, we occasionally get things wrong and when we do, we need your help to fix them. Sometimes an error might be glaring - when it is, fill out the 'Contact Us' forms located on our fighter, bout and event pages and Tapology moderators will review the information.

Other times supposed "matters of fact" are not so obvious (for example, did Big Nog tap Coleman with a triangle or an armbar? Yeah, see.). When a question of interpretation comes up, we suggest you take it to the forums first and see if you can discuss your way to a consensus. Someone might disagree or have a better source of information for a piece of statistical data or biographical information. Send us a link to the forum discussion once you think you've settled on an answer and we'll take a look.

Our database is constantly being updated with the most accurate MMA facts, statistics and information, and we love and appreciate any help we get.

It says my favorite fighter is a heavyweight but I know he's a light heavyweight.

Tapology assigns each fighter a single weight class, generally based on that fighter's last known fighting weight. That way, fighters who have participated in more than one weight class can be incorporated throughout the site in more flexible ways. Fighter pages will generally display a fighter's last known fighting weight.

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Fight Predictions

How do Tapology's fight predictions work?

Entering predictions for upcoming fights is simple. Just navigate to one of the prediction builder pages for an upcoming event, and pick the winner, the method of victory (either KO/TKO, submission, or decision) and the finishing round for the fights you're interested in. Save your predictions and you will be alerted to how you've done once the event concludes. Other site visitors can view your predictions for past events and for upcoming events, or you can e-mail or embed them on other sites. You can pick as many or as few winners as you want - there are no requirements as to number of predictions. You can also add commentary and analysis to any or all of your fight predictions.

So is this, like, a fantasy sports application?

No, it isn't. Tapology is not built around competing to win a fantasy MMA league, earn play money, or get useless prizes. Our goal is to build richer online conversations about MMA by letting our users review and compare (and maybe talk a little trash about) each others' predictions. The key is that everybody's predictions are available to view and review - before, during and after every event. Having a leaderboard with a handful of winners isn't the idea.

Who can see my predictions? Who can see my prediction commentary?

Your predictions and commentary are public. Any site visitor (registered or unregistered) can view them at any time, before or after a fight.

There's a bout I know is rumored to occur, but I don't see available to make predictions on. Why are some rumored bouts in there and others aren't?

Deciding when a rumored bout is "rumored enough" to deserve inclusion on the website is more of an art than a science. We don't want to have you filling out picks for fights that are almost certain to get cancelled or, worse yet, are on-again-off-again. It wastes your time and ours. When we think the rumors are credible enough that a fight will take place as scheduled, we include it.

If I picked a fighter to win via 2nd round KO/TKO and he wins via 2nd round submission, do I get credit for picking the right round, even though I picked the wrong method of victory?

Yes. And the other way around, too. You don't need to get the round correct in order to be correct on the method of victory.

If I picked the wrong winner can I still get the method of victory or the round correct?

No. Plus you're lame for asking.

What is a "Perfect Bonus" or a "Decision Bonus"?

You receive a Perfect Bonus when you pick the winning fighter, finishing method, and finishing round all correctly. You receive a Decision Bonus when you correctly pick the winning fighter to win by decision. A Decision Bonus is impressive but not nearly as cool as correctly calling a stoppage, so they get listed separately when we display prediction performance.

Can I predict that someone will win via disqualification? Can I predict a draw or a No-Contest?

Sigh . . . now why would you want to do any of that unless Gilbert Yvel is fighting? The answer is no, the choices available for method of victory are KO/TKO, submission or decision. DQ's, draws and No-Contests are not sufficiently frequent or predictable outcomes. However, we accurately report the official outcome of every bout we track, so nonstandard outcomes like disqualifications and no contests are properly entered and displayed for event results.

I want to take it to the next level and predict a victory via Omoplata at 3:31 of round 2! Can I do that? Can I?

Naming the exact method of victory or the exact time of victory would be pretty cool if you ever got it right, but it's a little like hitting the lottery. For that reason, if you really want the world to know those details you can put them in the open-ended comments when making your predictions. The same goes for if you want to type in a specific kind of decision (split, majority, unanimous).

Wow, I got that fight totally wrong after obnoxiously spouting off my prediction to the whole planet for weeks. That's so humiliating. Can I erase or hide a past prediction?

Nope.

Some of my pre-fight predictions disappeared! Where'd they go?

There are two explanations for why a prediction you entered is not visible. The first is that the fight was canceled, postponed or modified. When that happens, the prediction is removed and you'll have to reenter it once the bout is rescheduled (sorry). If a fight is canceled and re-scheduled to take place at a different event, it's technically not the same fight and it's not fair for us to assume that our users' predictions will stay the same. The second explanation is you have navigated away from the prediction builder page without registering, signing in or saving your picks.

What are the "Compare" pages that my personal fight predictions link to?

If you enjoy seeing how your predictions stack up against other site members, you can jump to pages which compare your predictions for each event against the members you are following. If you want to see how more people did on their predictions, just follow more members. The points totals displayed for each member represent the sum of that member's correct fight predictions, plus bonus points awarded for correctly calling a winner via decision, or perfectly calling the method and round of victory. The available point awards are summarized later in this FAQ under the Belt Progress section.

What is the Oddsbot?

When you first registered as a member (you did Register, right?) you probably noticed you were automatically following a unique site member with a metal exoskeleton named the Oddsbot. Tapology's Oddsbot is a cybernetic organism that automatically predicts the professional oddsmakers' betting favorites to win every scheduled MMA fight via decision.

Oddsbot identifies the favorite in each given fight based on publicly available information. If the oddsmakers do not clearly identify a pre-fight favorite, the Oddsbot robo-chickens out and won't make a prediction in that fight. Oddsbot exists simply to provide a baseline - to give you a basis of comparison for viewing your prediction performance against the so-called professionals. You may find it interesting to see how often you out-pick Oddsbot. If you dislike following Oddsbot, simply unfollow it, but fyi, Oddsbot is 67 feet tall, has robotic pincers for hands, a magnetic tractor beam, a Rickson Gracie tattoo made of rivets on its bikini line, and no mercy.

I'm having trouble entering predictions on the builder pages.

The first thing to do is check that you meet our system requirements, which are listed above. If you are running Internet Explorer 6 or don't have a javascript-enabled browser, you won't be able to utilize these site features. We also suggest not leaving your browser idle for long periods of time between entering and saving your predictions. If a browser session times out while you are on a prediction builder, some of your information could be lost. Builder pages will lock your predictions (and lock you out of further changes) at a predetermined time in advance of each event. If you missed the cutoff, you cannot make any more predictions or edits, and any unsaved information on the page cannot be entered. Finally, if you are wearing a helmet with a blast-shield, raise it before attempting to enter predictions. With the blast-shield down you can't even see.

Where can I view the results of my predictions after I have made them?

You can view your own or anyone else's fight predictions by navigating to a user profile page and clicking on the red 'Picks' link in the upper right hand area of the profile. The live feeds are also a convenient way to see the latest picks. The site home page, user profile pages, and fighter, bout and event pages will show the relevant predictions by each user. You can also view your own predictions through the FightCenter and various other locations throughout the site.

Once an event has concluded, you can review the results of your predictions in the same locations as before the event concluded. The winners, methods and rounds will display as right or wrong depending on the outcomes of the fights.

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Site Activity Feeds and Followers

What are the "feeds" shown on the site?

Tapology updates visitors on the latest site activity through a system of live feeds. The newest site activity is streamed live onto our home page. These live feeds feature the latest predictions, rankings, forum posts, fighter tweets, site announcements and other breaking information.

Can I customize what I am shown on the feed?

Yes, if you are a registered member. Just go to your preferences page to edit the default feed display.

How do I follow someone on Tapology? What can my followers see about my site activity?

Following someone on Tapology is easy. As a registered member, just navigate to the profile of the user you'd like to follow and hit the 'follow' button next to his or her name.

Following another site member does not disclose additional activity about that member to you. Therefore, your followers see the same amount of information about you as any other site visitor. Instead, the purpose of following someone is to assemble all the information about the people you are interested in in one place, so that it is easy to locate and keep up on. You can review who you are following, and who is following you, at any time by navigating to your profile page and pressing the red 'followers' and 'following' links in the upper right section of your profile. You can also track the latest activity of those you are following by pressing the 'my feed' tab on the home page feed bar (registered members only).

If you would like to cease following someone, clicking 'unfollow' will remove him or her from your list of followers. His or her activity will then no longer appear on your 'my feed.' You cannot control who elects to follow you on Tapology.

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Belt Progress

What do the belt colors next to member profiles mean?

Tapology is an interactive community. The way to judge a fellow site member's seniority and standing in the community is through his or her belt level. The more you pick fights correctly, post to the forums, receive new followers, build rankings and the like, the higher your belt level goes. In fact, most of the regular activities you perform on Tapology count towards increasing your belt level.

Because most of Tapology's core site activities also increase your MMA knowledge, a person's belt level can sometimes be a pretty good approximation of how well he or she knows MMA. But we know there are plenty of exceptions to that, so it's often better to think of a member's belt level as a sign of his or her seriousness and devotion to the sport, and willingness to advance it through intelligent dialogue (or meaningless banter).

Tapology's belt levels proceed on more or less the same ranking system used by academies for martial arts such as Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu. Our belt levels, moving from lowest to highest, are: White, Orange, Blue, Purple, Brown and Black. Each of the belt levels also have four belt stripes (or "degrees"), which are intermediate steps on the way to your next belt. If you make it to fourth-degree black belt, you'll just have to wait and see what comes next.

You can see a member's belt level represented as a graphic beside his or her site activity feeds and forum posts, and on his or her profile page. The percentage bar on your belt (shown in the upper right portion of the page body on most site pages) reflects how far you have progressed towards the next belt level or stripe. If you are registered and signed in, you can also review the history of your belt progress by going to your profile page and clicking on your 'history' link.

So what actions increase my belt level?

Ok - the important part. The following activities are components of your belt progress.

• Correctly predicting the winner of a bout (50 points)
• Correctly predicting the winner of a bout by decision (a "Decision Bonus") (25 additional points)
• Perfectly predicting the winner, method and round of a bout (a "Perfect Bonus") (50 additional points)
• Unlock a new award (100 points)
• Adding a comment to a page (3 points)
• Making a post in the forums (3 points)
• Giving out a thumbs-up or thumbs-down in the forums (1/5th point)
• Receiving 3 thumbs-ups on a forum post you made (3 points)
• Receiving 10, 25, 50, or 100 thumbs-up on a forum post you made (an additional 10, 25, 50, and 100 points, respectively)
• Making a Current Ranking List (100 points for creating it, 30 points a week every week you update it)
• Making an All-Time Ranking List (200 points for creating it, 15 points a week every week you update it)
• Making a Yearly/Annual Ranking List (200 points for creating it, 15 points a week every week you update it)
• Designing a new ranking from scratch (10 points)
• Making a new Ranking List based on a member design (10 points)
• Another makes a new Ranking List based on your design (20 points)
• Following another member (1 point)
• Getting a new follower (10 points)
• Inviting a new member to Tapology (100 points)
• Adding an image to your profile (500 points)
• Adding a personal quote to your profile (250 points)
• Adding a location to your profile (250 points)
• Adding an 'about you' description to your profile (250 points)
• Remaining an active member (25 points each week you login)

What are the point levels for belt promotions?

The higher you proceed in belt level the more difficult it becomes for you to attain your next rank. The following chart represents the levels needed to attain belts and stripes.

• White Belt: 0
• White 1 Degree: 1,000
• White 2 Degree: 2,000
• White 3 Degree: 3,000
• White 4 Degree: 4,000

• Orange Belt: 5,000
• Orange 1 Degree: 7,000
• Orange 2 Degree: 9,000
• Orange 3 Degree: 11,000
• Orange 4 Degree: 13,000

• Blue Belt: 15,000
• Blue 1 Degree: 18,000
• Blue 2 Degree: 21,000
• Blue 3 Degree: 24,000
• Blue 4 Degree: 27,000

• Purple Belt: 30,000
• Purple 1 Degree: 34,000
• Purple 2 Degree: 38,000
• Purple 3 Degree: 42,000
• Purple 4 Degree: 46,000

• Brown Belt: 50,000
• Brown 1 Degree: 56,000
• Brown 2 Degree: 62,000
• Brown 3 Degree: 68,000
• Brown 4 Degree: 74,000

• Black Belt: 80,000
• Beyond: Known only to black belts.

Do I lose points toward my next belt level for things like poor fight predictions, or people removing me from being followed, or giving me negative ratings on my forum posts?

No. Your belt progress only moves in one direction - forward.

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Awards

What are Tapology's awards?

On Tapology you can unlock a variety of awards for your predictions, rankings, forum, and other site activity. Unlocking awards will showcase you as someone who is knowledgeable about MMA as well influential within the Tapology community. You can view your own awards and the awards of every other site member on the member profile pages.

What awards are available?

To see a complete list of all possible awards with descriptions of how to unlock them, you can visit the awards main page.

Can I hide or remove my awards?

No . . . why would you want to do that?

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Sharing

How do I use the sharing controls located under the 'share' buttons on the 'my fight predictions' and 'my rankings' pages?

Tapology includes easy-to-use tools for sharing and distributing your predictions and rankings elsewhere on the web. You can choose the approach that is most convenient for you.

By copying and pasting an 'image' string into your browser or other locations, a dynamic image of your prediction is rendered showing your (or someone else's) predictions for a particular fight. At the conclusion of the fight, the image will update to show the results of the prediction. By copying and pasting the 'embed' string, predictions and rankings can easily be embedded in your posts on other MMA forums and blogs. By copying and pasting the 'url' string at the bottom of the page, you can link directly to the page displaying a user's predictions and rankings. Finally, the 'Facebook' and 'Twitter' controls allow you to easily distribute your predictions and rankings via your accounts on Facebook and Twitter.

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Rankings

How does Tapology create its consensus site rankings?

It doesn't create them. You, the site members, do. As a registered member of the site, you are able to build your own custom rankings of fighters and bouts across a variety of major categories, such as your Top Pound-for-Pound fighters in the world, the Top Knockouts of All Time, and tons of others. These rankings become a permanent feature of your profile that you can maintain and edit over time, and discuss in the forums.

Tapology differs from other sources publishing MMA rankings because instead of reflecting the opinions of a single observer, the site automatically takes into account all of its members' rankings. This creates consensus MMA rankings that are, we think, more democratic and encompass a broader range of views. Additionally, if people in the Tapology community come to respect your opinions on MMA, they may begin to take their cues from you when putting together their own rankings. With Tapology rankings your voice can be heard and influence the MMA world at large.

As the rankings of site users change and respond to news and fight results, Tapology's consensus rankings will change in real-time as you and others see fit - no more waiting days or weeks to see what fighters and bouts are rising and falling.

How do I build my own ranking?

First, you will need to be a registered user and signed in. Then just go to any one of the site rankings that catches your eye and press 'Edit Your Ranking' to enter your builder page. Locate fighters or bouts from the right hand builder tool and double entries over to populate your list. Drag items up and down to reorder your list. Add your comments, and make sure to save your changes. You can go back in to make changes as many times as you want.

Who can see my rankings? Who can see my rankings commentary?

Your rankings and commentary are public. Any site visitor (registered or unregistered) coming to your profile page will be able to view your rankings, just as you can view the rankings of any other site member by visiting his or her profile page.

What are the standards for how to judge the greatest fighters and bouts?

We realize that many of the titles of our rankings, like "The Greatest Fights of All Time," are ambiguous and can be defined several ways. Does it refer to the biggest fights? The most exciting fights? The ones showcasing the highest skill levels? We don't know, and we purposely do not try to tell you. Your rankings are your own, for you to define and build as you see fit. The forums are there for you to discuss why you created your rankings the way you did. Each ranking also supports a title description field that you can use to explain your rationale.

Where can I discuss my rankings?

Every ranking on the site is tied to a dedicated forum where discussion of that ranking can take place. Any posts made in these forums will automatically import your ranking information.

What is the maximum number of entries I can make for one of my rankings?

There is no set maximum for any particular list or ranking. Rank away. We're curious what you think the 263rd best submission of all time was. We recommend saving your progress frequently on the ranking builder page when you are building long lists or writing extensive commentary -- don't let your hard work go to waste by forgetting to save it.

I can't find the fighter or bout I want to add to my list.

It is possible that the fighter or fight you are looking for is not a part of our database, particularly if the entry you are looking for is obscure. If the fighter or bout you were looking for was from a major organization like the UFC, WEC, Strikeforce, Bellator, Dream, Sengoku, EliteXC, Affliction, or Pride, you should be able to find what you are looking for. As for stuff that's truly not yet in our database, this should happen less frequently over time as we add more information.

It is also possible that the entry you are looking for does not match the parameters of the list you are building. Tapology assigns only a single weight class to each fighter at any given time. If you are building a ranking of your Top 10 Heavyweights, fighters who are not classified as heavyweights will not be available. Fighters will remain eligible for Tapology fighter rankings even if they are retired, inactive, on medical or disciplinary suspension, or unsigned with a promotion.

If you still can't find what you are looking for, you can make a suggestion to us using the contact form found on the right side of most pages, and we'll do our best to make it available.

I'm having trouble entering rankings on the builder pages.

The first thing to do is check that you meet our system requirements, which are listed above. If you don't have a javascript-enabled browser, you won't be able to utilize these site features. We recommend you save your work often, particularly if you are building a very large ranking or entering extensive commentary. We also suggest not leaving your browser idle for long periods of time between entering and saving your rankings. If a browser session times out while you are on a ranking builder, some of your information could be lost. If you are still having problems, use the contact form found on the right side of most pages to let us know about the problem.

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The Tapology Forums

What makes the Tapology Forums different from other forums?

The Tapology Forums are custom built to handle one thing and one thing only - MMA. The most important improvement we've made over traditional forums is to integrate ours with the rest of the site, so you'll see forum posts for a particular fighter, bout, event or ranking showing up on the fighter, bout and ranking pages. That makes it far easier to keep up with all the latest discussion, and find previous topics of interest to you. Not only do forum discussions show up throughout the site, the rest of the site shows up in the forum discussions. Your predictions and rankings autopopulate in threads, so if you're discussing the upcoming UFC title fight, everyone can know each other's predictions for the fight without having to retype them every time. That should help keep the trolls honest (at least a little bit).

We've spent a lot of time on other MMA forums. The discussions can be great, but there is also a lot of duplicate content, because topics are hard to locate and revisit. Sometimes the best stuff gets buried as a result. We hope we've improved things for the better, but you tell us.

Where can I find the rules for posting on the forums?

Right here.

How are the forums organized?

A forum is automatically generated for every fighter, bout, event and ranking on the site, so you can easily categorize your discussions around a given topic. If your conversation doesn't fall into one of these topics, you can also post to threads in the 'open' (uncategorized) forum, but these threads won't populate on fighter, bout, event and ranking pages, so fewer visitors will see them.

If I want to quickly see threads only about a certain topic, what's the best way to do that?

The 'search' link in the forums allows you to quickly search for the fighters, bouts, events and rankings forums of interest to you. You can also quickly navigate to a fighter, bout, event or ranking forum by entering the fighter, bout, event or ranking page and clicking on the corresponding forum link. Each forum then lists all the threads available in it, which you can sort to find discussions, or create your own.

Is there any way to get a list of my own forum activity?

Yes. If you are a registered user and logged in, just click on the red 'Forum Posts' link in the right column of almost any page on the website (if logged in). It will show you all your forum activity in a sortable format. You can also find a similar link on any other member's profile to see his or her forum activity. If you are already in the forums, you'll also notice shortcuts to 'My Posts' on the top of most pages.

There was an epic thread a few days ago, but now the newest ones are all on top. Is there an easy way to find it again?

It's easy to search for the most active discussions, and the most popular posts. Threads can be sorted either chronologically (the default view), or by the most active threads of the day, week, month or all time, as measured by the number of replies. The top posts can also be sorted by time period, as measured by the number of 'thumbs up' and 'thumbs down' they receive from other members. This type of sorting can be done for the entire forum, as well as for any individual forum topic.

Can I create new threads, and how do I do it?

New threads are easy to build, provided you are a registered member and logged in. Just enter the Tapology Forums and click on 'New Thread' from any forum page to create a thread. Clicking 'create new' will prompt you to select the forum to create your new thread in.

Unregistered site visitors cannot post to the forums, but they can navigate and view the discussions.

What is the point of the up and down buttons that are on the left of every post?

These buttons allow you to quickly rate the quality of the posts you are reading. The best and worst posts are then listed in the forums for you to check out later on. By awarding thumbs up ratings to good posts, you encourage good content from other site members, and you will also be helping them receive points towards their next belt level.

Using this feature is anonymous - no one can identify the specific posts you have rated 'up' or 'down' or which rating you have given a particular post. You can rate as many posts as you want. There are no number or frequency allotments, so don't be shy.

What is Post Score?

You can hover over the profile image of any forum post and "Post Score" will be listed on the panel of information that slides out. Post Score is a measure of the quality of that member's posts as determined by the number of up votes and down votes they have received across all of their forum activity. Post Score is calculated as follows:

Total number of thumbs up received minus the total number of thumbs down received, divided by total forum posts made. The resulting number is then multiplied by 100 to calculate a member's "Post Score." Confused yet? An example: Take a member who has made 10 forum posts, received 3 thumbs up and 1 thumbs down. This reuslts in net votes of +2 (calculated: 3 - 1 = 2). This results in a Post Score of 20 (calculated: 2 / 10 * 100 = 20).

How do I get an image to appear next to each of my posts?

You can add an image by going to your user preferences page and adding an image to your profile. It will then show up beside all your forum posts.

How do I get a quote or signature to appear on the bottom of each of my posts?

You can add a quote by going to your user preferences page. Put something cool in the "Quote" field and we'll take care of the rest.

I've got a serious beef going with another site member. This dude needs to get banned. Can you do it for me?

Tapology has rules for user conduct - you can read them here - violations of which may result in user bans or suspensions. The rules apply everywhere on the site, however, we know the most likely place for problems to arise is on the forums, since people have strong opinions about MMA and the internet is kind of a crazy place.

If you believe that violations of Tapology's rules for user conduct have occurred, there are two things to do. The first is to identify offending posts you find throughout the forums by pressing the 'Report' button located on every post. That will alert us to take a look at the post. The second thing is to contact us with any issues or complaints - this is for issues that may not be apparent in a single post, like a course of conduct across multiple posts or other user behaviors that warrant further explanation.

With all of this being said, banning or suspending site members is the last thing we want to do, and we try to encourage users with disagreements that have boiled over to settle down and resolve them amicably (or at least stop talking to one another). We know you don't want to be babysat. We are also not in the business of getting involved - in let alone settling - disputes of fact or opinion on any matter. Therefore, please be judicious in bringing arguments to the site's attention.

How quickly will I get suspended or banned if I break the user conduct rules?

We don't want to ban anyone from the site. If you have a history of predictions, rankings, and other stuff, we don't want you to lose that because of one mistake. Instead, a moderator is far more likely to suspend your forum-posting privileges. Your privileges could be suspended for an hour, a day, a week, or maybe even longer, while you still keep the ability to use other parts of the website. Banning is a last resort. For more information on permissible forum behavior, read the rules for user conduct here.

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Moderators

Does Tapology have forum moderators?

The majority of the time, Tapology's forums are completely self-policing and don't require moderation. Members act together to discourage unwanted behavior by setting an example and discussing issues as they come up. This has worked very well to date, and is typically all that's needed.

Tapology moderators exist as an added layer of protection. Moderators have the power to censor offending posts, and can alert Tapology if further action is required. Repeat offenders can be suspended in order to cool off for a period of hours or days. At this time, moderators cannot move threads to different forums, nor can they independently remove site accounts.

A handful of member-volunteers act as forum moderators, as does Tapology's founding team (as administrators, we can also suspend or remove accounts). You can recognize them by the gold lettering of their names in the forums; when you hover your mouse over them, it reads 'Moderator.' If necessary, you can leave a message on a moderator's profile page to get in touch with him or her.

How do you pick your moderators?

Our moderators volunteer for the job. It is unpaid. The site only requires a few at any given time and there are no set criteria for selecting them. We try to pick strong forum contributors who have a high belt level, show good judgment, and care about the site.

We have far more top-notch site members than we have slots for moderators. If you are interested in moderating and there are no more open positions available, be patient and space should eventually open up. We may periodically post a notice in the forums if we are looking for new mods or plan to rotate the current roster. Being selected as a moderator is not permanent. It is more like a tour of duty. It is also not a "ranking" -- that's what the belts and awards are for. It is simply an extra service some members provide, and it does not place them above other site members.

I'm a moderator. What should I be doing differently now?

Most of the time, nothing. Moderating the forums is only necessary in limited instances where repeated or serious problems are occurring. We at Tapology have found ourselves doing extremely little alteration of the ordinary flow of conversation in the forums.

As a moderator, remember: less is more. Members will resent a moderator on a "power trip," so don't be that guy. If there is an argument, ask the participants to calm down before taking action. Be ready and able to justify your actions publicly -- to Tapology, its members and yourself. It is only fair that if you censor a post or take action leading to a member being suspended, you be able to articulate why.

You should use discretion and let the little things slide. Look for big things, or for repeated patterns of behavior. Don't micro-manage. Don't play favorites. Don't get carried away. That's about all we can think of.

Moderators, please note: While they are written in the way of guidelines, the statements in this section are also the terms for you to act as a moderator on Tapology. By taking on the job, you agree to act consistent with the guidelines in this section during your time as a mod.

Ok, now I know what NOT to do as a moderator. What SHOULD I look out for?

You should familiarize yourself with the Prohibited Conduct section in our Terms of Use before moderating. The basic task is to enforce those rules. But you are also a regular contributor to the forums, so you know the issues that come up the most often are the ones to watch out for. Do not permit any posting of illegal MMA event streams, solicitations for them, or links to them. Do not permit serious but baseless accusations to be directed at a fighter -- for example, a claim that a fighter is "on steroids" -- without a well-reasoned defense supported by evidence. Do not permit pornographic posts or remarks that are racist, sexist, etc. (or direct links to such content).

An important and recurring issue is fighter-bashing. To be fair, fighter-bashing is a gray area in our Prohibited Conduct that is sometimes a violation of our Terms of Use and sometimes not, depending on the particulars. The bigger picture is that it is annoying and corrosive to the spirit of our forums, particularly when repeated unecessarily or when made excessively vulgar. Use your judgment when censoring excessive fighter-bashing; help keep the forums clean and positive but don't become the "thought police."

Lastly, thanks for being a moderator. You help not only the site but the sport.

Account Issues

I've been unfairly suspended or banned from Tapology - what can I do to get my account back?

We try to be fair about these circumstances and only use banning as a last resort. Unless you are causing a serious problem, you are far more likely to have certain site privileges suspended rather than be banned. In those situations you can use the contact form on the right side of most pages if you want to have your situation reviewed. Overly aggressive, unwarranted, or threatening complaints made to our moderators through this contact form or any other means may result in further suspension of privileges. A banned account is final, with no recourse to have it reinstated.

I want to remove my account from Tapology.

If you would like us to remove your account, use the contact form on the right side of most pages to let us know. You must be logged into your account when sending this request. You must explicitly state that you want your account permanently removed.

Upon receiving such a request, a confirmation email will be sent to the account holder. Once confirmation has been received back from the account holder's email address, the account will be removed.

Please note that while a removed account's profile page, rankings, predictions, and other related pages will be removed, forum posts are permanent record and will still be a part of their respective threads.

I am a copyright holder and I have a copyright issue based on content posted on Tapology.

Tapology prohibits intentional copyright infringement by its users. It is Tapology's policy to comply with applicable provisions of the Digital Millenium Copyright Act, including Section 512 of the Act.

If you are the exclusive holder of a copyright that you believe has been infringed by a user and wish to seek removal of any Site content, please alert Tapology. Tapology's designated agent for handling claims of infringement can be reached by using the 'Talk to Tapology' contact form located on the right side of most pages. If possible, fill out the form while you are on the page that you believe contains the allegedly offending material. Include in your message the following information: identification of the web page url, including where applicable the forum, thread and post location, timestamp and author; the content which you believe is subject to copyright or a related right; and substantiation for your claim that you are the copyright or related right holder of record for the content in question, including information reasonably sufficient to allow Tapology to contact you. You must also indicate your good faith belief that use of the material in question is not authorized by the copyright owner, its agent, or the law. You may also contact Tapology's designated agent for claims of infringement via e-mail at support@tapology.com or in writing at the address available through the United States Copyright Office's online directory of Digital Millenium Copyright Act designated agents, found at http://www.copyright.gov/onlinesp/.

Tapology will review any such messages and take appropriate action, including, where necessary, responding expeditiously to remove, or disable access to, the material that is claimed to be infringing or to be the subject of the infringing activity. Tapology reserves the right to terminate (with or without notice) any Member's access to the Site if that Member is determined by Tapology to be a "repeat infringer." A "repeat infringer" is a Member who has been notified by Tapology of infringing activity more than once or who has had User Generated Content removed from the Site more than once.

Note that certain embedded images and videos that you see displayed on the forums and elsewhere throughout Tapology may not be stored on Tapology's servers or delivered to an end-user's client machine from Tapology. The material in these cases resides on the external servers of the source from which it was embedded. To ensure the proper and full removal of any copyrighted content you will need to contact and work with this external provider, as Tapology cannot control the distribution of such content.

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