Submission Guidelines/Clarification

With things picking up more and more around here a few common questions/problems keep showing themselves over and over again so I wanted to not only post a submission guideline refresher but also clarify the rules that have been adopted and generally accepted among Newsboiler contributors as "the way things get done".

Be professional and responsible when posting news stories. Members who misuse their posting powers or fail to post news according to the sites guidelines will risk having their accounts degraded and will no longer be able to post news.

This Blog will also serve as a quick reference that can be linked to in case of any dispute about a story on the site or in pending.

-Prefacing the Description-

When creating a news post linking to your site always refer to yourself or your site in third person. Do not write "we" or "I", instead use your website’s name when referring to your article. Also don’t be too personal in your writing style, just write a clear and sober intro or description of your article. The text must give a clear picture of the news story and should contain some useful info. Do not only post teasers like "Want to know a secret? Read on and you will find out."

If changing the "we or "I" isn't the most practical this can also be accomplished by Prefacing the description with the site name, then the description.

Example:
An article on Cnet.com reads "We take a closer look at the next big thing." When posting this article on TechSpy it should be edited to read "Cnet takes a closer look at the next big thing" or "Cnet writes: We take a closer look at the next big thing."

This will only take a few seconds and the news post will make much more sense to the readers.

-Falsely Inflating the Heat of a Story-

For the most part this often isn't a problem, However from time to time there will be a few stories or even a certain site constantly trying to find ways to falsely inflate the temperature of their story while it sits in pending.

While this might seem like a great way to beat the system and get your story noticed, in the end it will actually get your story or possibly even your site reduced from even appearing on the front page at all.

-Sourcing of Stories-

When posting a story, always link to the original source of the story. Many websites recycle news from other websites, so whenever possible try and track down the true source of the story and use that site’s story as the basis for your news post. You can still give credit to the website you first found the story on by putting their address in the "Credit URL" form.

Word to webmasters and staff members: You should always submit using the original source URL where you found the news. You can input your article you wrote on your website in the "Credit URL" box.

Also keep in mind that our editors remain the right to change the link of your news post if your article is not the original source of the story. If the main url is changed your site will still get credit through a "Via Link".

-Reviews, Previews and Impressions-

For reviews, previews, and impressions. To help differentiate all these similar titles on N4G, users should include the site name in the title when posting reviews and previews.

Example:
An article on Cnet.com reads "We take a closer look at the next big thing." When posting this article on TechSpy it should be edited to read "Cnet takes a closer look at the next big thing"

An article on Tom's Hardware reads "Nvidia GeForce GTX 560 Ti Review" When posting to TechSpy it should read "Tom's Hardware Review: Nvidia GeForce GTX 560 Ti" or Tom's Hardware Nvidia GeForce GTX 560 Ti Review"

-Dealing with Reports in Pending-

If your story has been reported while in Pending, analyze the report and fix any item that needs to be fixed to meet the guidelines.

If you feel the story has been reported erroneously, use the agree/disagree portion of the report to state your position on the matter. You may also contact Me(Syko) or Snoop_Dizzle via PM and we will assist you in the matter.

We are not robots and are not always on but I can assure you that the matter will be swiftly taken care of as soon as we are online.

Do not simply mark the report as fixed though without fixing or resolving the report. Simply clicking fixed and hoping your story will get approved is a good way to get the story Failed and possibly an account restriction.

As always thanks to all the loyal members of TechSpy and if you have any questions or comments feel free to leave them in the comment section.