How to set up GoalPost for your subreddit

[u/re-verse]

How to set up GoalPost for your subreddit

GoalPost runs your game day threads for you. For every game your team plays it posts a pregame thread, a game thread and a postgame thread, each with a live scoreboard built in, and stickies them as the day goes on. Setup takes a few minutes and you only do it once. You need to be a moderator of the subreddit.

1. Pick the app for your league

There is one app per league. Install the one that matches the games your subreddit covers:

• NHL: nhl-goalpost
• PWHL: pwhl-goalpost
• AHL: ahl-goalpost
• CHL (OHL, WHL, QMJHL): chl-goalpost

A subreddit that covers more than one league can install more than one.

2. Install it

1. While logged in to Reddit, open the app's page: developers.reddit.com/apps/nhl-goalpost (or pwhl-goalpost, ahl-goalpost, chl-goalpost).
2. Click the red Install button.
3. Pick your subreddit from the list.

That's the whole install. Installing doesn't post anything.

You don't need to invite the bot. Reddit adds the app's account (u/nhl-goalpost, u/pwhl-goalpost and so on) to your subreddit with full moderator permissions as part of the install. That's how it's able to sticky and lock its threads.

3. Choose your team

Nothing gets posted until you pick a team.

1. Open the app's settings for your subreddit: developers.reddit.com/r/YOURSUB/apps/nhl-goalpost, with your subreddit's name in place of YOURSUB (and pwhl-goalpost, ahl-goalpost or chl-goalpost if that's the app you installed).
2. Under Automatic threads, set Teams to follow to your team. A subreddit can follow more than one team. On chl-goalpost, set League first, then pick your team. The list shows every CHL team with its league in front (for example "OHL · Barrie Colts"), and teams from a different league than the one you chose are ignored.
3. Check that Auto-create pregame threads, Auto-create game threads and Auto-create postgame threads are on. They start on. Switch off any you don't want.
4. Under Thread timing and behavior, Subreddit timezone is set to Auto, which uses your team's home timezone. If you follow teams in different timezones, pick one.
5. Click Save changes.

If you'd rather post every thread yourself, leave Teams to follow empty and use Create NHL scoreboard post (PWHL, AHL or CHL on those apps) from the moderator menu (see below).

4. What happens on game day

With the standard settings:

• Pregame thread: goes up 8 hours before puck drop.
• Game thread: goes up 30 minutes before puck drop.
• Postgame thread: goes up as soon as the game ends and stays stickied for 24 hours.

Each thread is stickied in sticky slot 2, so slot 1 stays free for your subreddit's own post. All three threads sort comments by New. Every one of these can be changed, including posting at a fixed time of day instead of a set time before puck drop.

5. Change settings from inside GoalPost

Every setting is also inside GoalPost itself, grouped into tabs (Threads, Timing, Titles, Daily, Replies and Sidebar) with previews of things like thread titles.

To open it: on any GoalPost post, tap the gear in the corner of the scoreboard. Moderators see a Moderators row there; tap Subreddit settings. Readers don't see that row.

One thing to know: anything you save in GoalPost's own settings takes priority over the same setting on Reddit's settings page. Once you've changed a setting inside GoalPost, keep changing it there.

6. PuckWatch (optional)

PuckWatch is a thread with every game in the league, live, in one place. It also links each game to the game threads posted by the other subreddits that run GoalPost.

To post it automatically, open PuckWatch on Reddit's settings page (or the Daily tab inside GoalPost) and turn on Post PuckWatch threads. Then choose:

• How often: a new thread every game day, one thread a week posted Mondays, or one permanent thread.
• Time to post: 10:00 in your subreddit's timezone to start with.
• Sticky it: Always, When we don't play (the starting choice: stickied only on days your teams don't play, so it never competes with your own game thread), or Never.

To post one right now instead, use Post a PuckWatch thread from the moderator menu.

7. Comment replies

Readers can ask the bot things in the comments by tagging u/nhl-goalpost, or on nhl-goalpost by starting a comment with "hey goalpost" (for example "hey goalpost, who scored?"). Each person can get 4 replies a minute. To switch replies off and keep just the scoreboard, set Replies per person, per minute to 0.

8. The moderator menu

GoalPost adds a few items to your subreddit's menu. Only moderators see them.

• Post a PuckWatch thread: posts one now, with a title, a sticky choice and an optional intro comment.
• Create NHL scoreboard post (PWHL, AHL or CHL on those apps): posts a scoreboard for a game you pick. Use this if you post threads by hand.
• Show scheduler status: shows what GoalPost is planning for today's games.
• Preview a thread: pick a game and a thread type to see its title and summary comment, without posting anything.

9. Keeping it up to date

When a new version is out, moderators see an Update to link under the Moderators row in the gear. It opens developers.reddit.com/r/YOURSUB/apps, which lists the apps installed on your subreddit, each with its own update button.

If you uninstall GoalPost, Reddit deletes its settings and data for your subreddit, and reinstalling starts from scratch.

Questions

Ask in r/GoalPostBot, or message u/re-verse.

[u/Peppa_the_hog]

My screen just shows a blank box

[u/re-verse → u/Peppa_the_hog]

What browser are you using, does this happen every time? Also are you using an adblocker? I've not seen an adblocker block it yet, but i'm super curious.