A few simple reminders, which we all need from time to time:
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, as we have 80 to 110 posts a day now.
Shorter, not longer, titles. Remember, URL source does NOT go into the title. 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'.
This has been a problem lately even for long-time posters. Please, please file your post in the right place the first time.
Don't post images using the img src tag and a URL as an external reference. That chews up bandwidth and might make the source unhappy. We have a wide array of pics. See something on the web that deserves to be in the Burg's archives? E-mail it to Fred or a mod.
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. Weird animal stories, of course, are always welcome: they go into the SAST as a 'non-WoT' item. Weird crime stories have a place here; let's not over-do it. But domestic issues in Australia, surface crawlers on Mars, and whether Britney visited the gift shop at the rehab hospital 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. When you post an opinion piece, put the author's name in italics on the first line, then leave a line-space before the rest of the article.
Please format the post. That means, 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 them in. If there are too many line breaks, take some out. Some sources (e.g., BBC) think that each and every sentence should be a new paragraph. Other sources (e.g., myway.ap.news) think that an entire story is a single paragraph, three pages long. Some gentle editing to make a post readable really helps all of us, especially the moderators who then don't have to go back and re-edit stuff. I can't re-emphasize this enough: cut the fluff!
Your comments are in highlight (yellow) text. Start your comments on a separate line. Don't put a leading line space before or after.
If you do it correctly it looks like this. Tricky, no? And more readable for the rest of us.
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. But within a paragraph enlightened comments like this snark should be done as strike-through and not hilite.
Check for duplicates before you post. I miss that one myself sometimes.
And as always, thanks for all your support. You make Rantburg a special place. |