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Rantburg style guide reminders
A few simple reminders as we get into the new year:

  • Provide a source for your post. If you don't your post will be deleted. None of the moderators have enough time to look for the source of your post.

  • Shorter, not longer, titles. Remember, the URL does NOT go into the title box. Snarky and catchy titles are fine.

  • File it in the right place. If it's about the current intifada in Frankistan, don't file it under 'Great White North'.

  • We focus on the WoT and matters related to the WoT. That includes general thuggery around the world, such as Zim-bob-we, and the politics surrounding the WoT. The farther away it is from that, the less likely people here want to read it here on Rantburg. We assume y'all read other weblogs for the other news. Wierd animal stories, of course, are always welcome: they go into the SAST as a 'non-WoT' item. But domestic issues in Australia, surface crawlers on Mars, and the general state of Lindsey Lohan's rehab shouldn't be posted here. Unless Fred does it in which case it's okay.

  • Opinion pieces go into the 'Opinion' category. Tricky, eh? This includes blog pieces. Some exceptions exist: VDH, Lileks, and Marc Steyn can go into any appropriate category. All the rest go into Opinion. And that's not an invitation for other blog-owners to post stuff in Opinion just to advertise their own blog.

  • Please format the post. Help us make the post readable. Think of it as a chance to teach English composition to the MSM. Delete the fluff and the stuff we already know. If there are no line breaks, put some in. If there are too many line breaks, take some out. Some gentle editing to make a post readable helps all of us, especially the moderators who then don't have to go back and re-edit stuff.

  • No ellipses and no 'snips'. Readers assume you're editing the post to just the good stuff (see above). Therefore you don't need ellipses or [SNIP]'s to tell us that you edited the post. Since you gave us the source URL (right?) a reader can always go to the original.

  • Your comments are in hilite (yellow) text. Use the 'HILITE' button. Start your comments on a separate line.
    If you do it will look like this.
    Don't put a leading line space before or after, as illustrated. And don't bury it like this. Do not use italics instead of hilite. Do not insert FONT commands: Fred has already settled the proper font and size for your snark.

  • Strikout text can be placed in-line in the text. Some here complain when we use too much of it. Unless you've got a sure-fire 'mad-libs' winner, use strikeout text sparingly.

  • Don't embed pics from outside Rantburg. We have an ever-expanding library of pics (even after Fred cleans out the attic we have more than when we started). Embedding a pic with a URL takes bandwidth and it may upset the owner of the site from where you're getting the image. If it's an absolutely great pic e-mail us with it and we'll get it in.
    Outside posts also die, in many cases. A Rantburg image will be around as long as there's a Rantburg.
  • Check for duplicates before you post. I miss that one myself sometimes (thanks to Emily and Steve for the gentle 'gotchas').

    And as always, thanks for all your support. You make Rantburg a special place.
    Posted by: Steve White 2007-01-21
  • http://www.rantburg.com/poparticle.php?ID=178286