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Simple reminders about posting on the Burg
2007-09-29
A few simple reminders on posts material to the Burg, which we review here from time to time:

  • Check for duplicates before you post. We've had a number of these lately, so please check on the Burg, particularly if it looks like 'breaking news'.

  • Provide a source URL 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. And do not, repeat, do not, bury the URL in the text of the post with an [h ref] tag.

  • Shorter, not longer, titles. Remember, the http:// source does NOT go into the title. Snarky and catchy titles are fine.
    But make them explain what the article's about, please!
  • File it in the right place. If it's about Burma, 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. Weird 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 skankery regarding Paris Hilton shouldn't be posted here. Fred gets all the Brittany posts.

  • 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.
    Opinion is also for your own original articles, for everyone, but especially for Rantburg regulars. If you have an opinion, post it there. And don't forget your byline.
  • 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.

  • Your comments are in highlight (yellow) text. Start your comments on a separate line. Don't put a leading line space before or after.

  • 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.

  • Images: 250 pixels width for portrait, 300 for landscape or square.

  • Please compress. I know it's not always possible, but images should be under 20k. It's not the single image we have to worry about, but 80 articles x 20k. Too many images will slow page load dramatically.

  • On a case-by-case basis, max 600 pixels (width of the yellow comments box) wide for charts, diagrams, and maps.

  • I'd love to allow users to upload images, but if I did we'd be dumping 100k erectile dysfunction ads and pictures of nekkid 40-year-old teen hotties all day and not have time for any posting of our own.

    • And as always, thanks for all your support. You make Rantburg a special place.
    • Posted by:Steve White

    #7  Did someone say crop circles ?
    Posted by: wxjames   2007-09-29 19:27  

    #6  When cutting and pasting entire articles or large excerpts, please proofread your text for (now irrelevant) photo captions, text insets, (now dead) link indicators and useless prompts like ADVERTISMENT.

    Indeed.
    When I say indeed of course, I mean, really. This is serious business and should be self-evident. If it's not self-evident then perhaps a quick revuew of this site history is in order. if you can't read what'er you doing hear? We are hard hittin opinion makers and requires the respect. Now, about the crop circles and teh stolen eleckshuns I don't know nothin. But, it coulda happened? Right? Right? SERIOUSLY DAMNIT, FLORIDA WAS STOLEN BY THE DAMN NEOCONS IN THEY STEALTH TRACTORS. YOU MAY BAN ME, BUT I STILL HAVE THE CAT THREADS.

    Posted by: HalfEmpty   2007-09-29 15:22  

    #5  Fairness has nothing to do with it. ;-)
    Posted by: lotp   2007-09-29 10:19  

    #4  Fred gets all the Brittany posts.

    Oh, no fair...
    Posted by: tu3031   2007-09-29 08:50  

    #3  Also, rather than just post an http address in a comment and force me to decide whether or not to expend the extra erg to cut-n-paste it to see what is there, why not make it a link?

    How do you do this?

    1) Write a few descriptive words of what your link is about (even in the middle of a sentence!)

    2) Highlight them

    3) Click the 'Link' button you'll find below the text box

    4) Plop the http address of the link into the popup box and hit 'OK'. You should overwrite the 'HTTP://' that you find there because it is just an example/reminder.

    5) Hit 'OK'. Finish perfecting your comment and hit 'Submit Query'. You'll see that those words magically take on the properties of a link.

    Pretty cool, eh? Much more professional and preserves the flow of your comment/rant/snark! :-)
    Posted by: gorb   2007-09-29 03:37  

    #2  Please repost the size limits (in pixels) for images.

    A personal request: When cutting and pasting entire articles or large excerpts, please proofread your text for (now irrelevant) photo captions, text insets, (now dead) link indicators and useless prompts like ADVERTISMENT.

    I'd also like to use this opportunity to give thanks and high praise for the overall quality found here. The level of scathing retort and badly needed deconstruction warranted by so much modern reportage does not make for an easy job of herding the Rantburg cats moderating this site. So, on that note, thank you very much, Rantburg Moderators, for your fine work. I'd especially like to direct specific honors to Badanov for his inestimable help in making this site far more resistant to spam-bots and DOS attacks. They seem to have dropped off rather dramatically since that last major overhaul. Finally, thank you, Fred. Rantburg is a shining beacon of free speech in an ever more politically correct world. It is nothing short of a profound personal relief to read plainspoken dissection of the misinformation, intentional obsfucation and outright lies being spewed forth by the media, socialists and NGOs.

    Even if all of the above didn't measure up, Rantburg's premium quality snark would be worth the price of admission alone. [looks over at Fred and tu3031]
    Posted by: Zenster   2007-09-29 02:49  

    #1  thanks for the reminder, last week I buried my URL, oops.
    Posted by: Jan    2007-09-29 01:05  

    00:00