Welcome to Gaia! :: Like to read? You'll LOVE this announcement!

Log In

Forgot your login?

Sign Up

Register
 
GST
 Post Reply
Gaia Forums » Artist's Corner » Writers
Announcement: Like to read? You'll LOVE this announcement!
Tags: writersforum  sticky  rules 
Export this topic to other sites using WildFire!
forum:15, topic:22761047
1
Post: 22761047_1 created on Thu Feb 01, 2007 5:53 amPosted: Thu Feb 01, 2007 5:53 am
The Writer's Forum Posting Guide

Hello and welcome to the Writer's Forum! If this is your first visit, please take a moment to read over the following guide explaining where to post and how things work around here. Even if you're a regular visitor, take a skim over the guide since we periodically update it to meet the needs of the forum.

To those who have been in the Writers Forum for awhile: There are numerous small changes. Please make sure you familiarize yourself with the new Find a Misplaced Post? section.


Table of Contents
Where To Post
What Doesn’t Belong
Find a Misplaced Post?
General Suggestions
Sticky Directory
Helpful Links
Plagiarism and You
Past Announcements


heart The WF Mod-Squad heart
All officials at Gaia will have a specific title under their username specifying their role on Gaia. Anyone without a title underneath their username is NOT an official of Gaia in any way!

Moderator Assistants (Formerly 'Helpers')
They act in specific areas of the site to keep it clean, but they cannot handle ToS violations.

Administrators.
Leaders of the Community and Moderator teams. They are responsible primarily for high-level administrative tasks, billing issues, and overseeing Gaia moderation staff.

Moderators
There are 3 types of moderators and a group of assistants to help you on Gaia; Omni Moderators, responsible primarily for account issues, hacking and scamming cases. Global Moderators, responsible for Abuse and Harassment cases, as well as help oversee Terms of Service violations across the entire site. And Site Moderators, responsible for specific forums on the site as well as handling Terms of Service Violations and thread move requests


See the list of Writer's Forum Moderators

Please PM one of us if you have any questions about posting,
or problems within the forum that we can take care of 3nodding
 
     

Galen Tyrol for president '08

Report this post
Post: 22761047_2 created on Thu Feb 01, 2007 5:54 amPosted: Thu Feb 01, 2007 5:54 am
 
WHERE TO POST

Please remember that this is a writing forum. Threads you post here should be topics of substance, debate or discussion, and be related to writing. Your posts should be relevant (on topic) to the thread they are posted in.

Here are some guidelines about where to put things in the Writers Forum. Please remember that failure to comply with these guidelines may result in your thread or post being moved or deleted. If what you want to post is not on this list, you can PM one of the mods if you're unsure where to post.


  • The Main Writers Forum
    • General writing discussion (including fanfiction and 'extended' discussions)
    • Questions about writing
    • Tips, hints, and other helpful suggestions
    • Discussion of published poems and shorter works of prose. Remember that all published work must be attributed to the original author, and must be accompanied by an indepth discussion. You musn't post a published poem or story without attribution and indepth conversation


  • Original Poetry/Lyricism (go)


  • Original Stories/Prose (go)
    • Prose works
      • fiction stories
      • non-fiction stories
      • essays
      • journals*
      • excerpts/incomplete work
        *Expect your journal to be treated like any other prose work. It is up for brutal critique on grammar etc, so only post a journal here if you are using it for writing practice.
    • Prose exercises
    • Posting Guide - please read


  • Fanfiction (go)
    • Works using an already created universe, c
    s established by another person(s)
  • Works based off of lyrics
  • RPF (real people fiction) stories
  • Posting Guide - please read
]

  • Collaborative Works (go)
    • Collaborative stories
    • World creation, language creation, etc
    • Planning and creation of large-scale poetry/prose collectives
    • Posting Guide - please read


  • Writing Contests (go)


  • Promotions (go)
    • Threads whose primary purpose is to draw attention to your work in a Journal, Subforum, or another site
    • Promotions Rules/FAQ - please read


  • Books (go)


    [/list]
    •      

    Galen Tyrol for president '08

    Report this post
    Post: 22761047_3 created on Thu Feb 01, 2007 5:54 amPosted: Thu Feb 01, 2007 5:54 am
    Threads That DON'T Belong in This Forum

    • Redundant Threads
      These are threads that we already have official discussion threads or subforums for:


    • Repeat Threads
      These are threads that would logically go here (maybe) except that there have already been far too many of them:

      • - Where can I post my writing? (The following sites are popular responses)
        ]
      • - Regulars are too mean/Newbs are too stupid
      • - Is grammar/spelling important? (if it's too general)
      • - Poe threads
      • - Mary Sue threads (except when very unique. The 'Mary Sue Litmus Test' is not unique)
      • - "This is my character!"/"Post your characters here!" threads
      • - General "I like writing!" threads and other topics of little discussion value
      • - Help me research/find something! (Try Google, Google Directory, Wikipedia or a library first)
      • - General writing polls. For example;
        • Favorite genre/what do you like to read/write
        • Favorite writing utensil/Pen versus PC
        • Favorite point of view/1st person versus 3rd person
        • Polls that don't generate discussion may be removed


      Repeat and/or redundant threads will only survive if they are extremely unique, we haven't seen that particular repeat in a long time, and/or they have a substantive discussion beyond the normal level for their type.

    • Homework Help threads
      The Writers Forum is not a homework resource. We can help you refine existing ideas or written work by offering critique, but we are not here to supply you with ideas, accumulate research, or write on your behalf. Threads asking for people to do your homework for you, or soliciting gold for someone to write on your behalf will be deleted.

      "Homework help" threads will only be allowed on the grounds that they generate interesting discussion. "Research" threads may only be allowed on the grounds they create discussion and are of benefit to other writers.

      If you are looking for feedback on an essay or creative writing piece, please post them in the Prose Subforum.

      Additionally, purchasing papers for gold, or selling papers for gold is a serious academic violation. Attempts to trade gold for papers or other homework will be deleted and may result in a temporary or permanent ban. (See Plagiarism for more)

    • Game threads
      Game threads are not allowed in the Writers Forum because they rarely generate discussion or help people developing their writing skills.

      "Games" are threads which are structured primarily around a "gimmick" or rules. This may include things such as "Answer a question and make a question for the next user", or threads which are based around a structured cycle of user input. Games can also include "What would your MC/Villian/Etc do/say/think/etc.?" style threads.

    • Round-robin story creation threads
      While we do have a subforum for multiple writers working together, Collaborative Works is for serious efforts between authors. Threads which ask other Gaians to add a few words, sentences or paragraphs on to a random story are better suited to the Chatterbox.

    • Book topics
      These should be posted in the Book Subforum in Entertainment. In addition, there are also specific subforums for Harry Potter and Lord of the Rings. New book posts will be moved to the appropriate subforums unless they also deal specifically with some aspect of writing.

    • "Post your poetry/prose here!" threads
      If you want to share your own work, or read the writing of others, please utilise the Prose, Poetry, and Fanfiction subforums. Topics asking for other people to share or post their work in your thread are considered redundant.

    • Quote compilation threads
      Threads asking for others to post quotes will be moved to either General Discussion or the Chatterbox (depending on the thread and moderator discretion) unless they deal specifically with some aspect of writing (i.e. quotes ABOUT writing or that are helpful to writers).

    • General spam
      As with all forums, we ask that you keep random spam in the Chatterbox. If you see any, please report it and don't contribute to the problem by replying. Try to keep the off-topic chatter to a minimum or within one of our official chat threads. One-liner threads that don't ask a question or have SOME kind of discussable value may be moved or recycled.

    • Comic and manga creation threads
      Post these in the Comic Creators subforum.
      [/list]
    		 
         

    Galen Tyrol for president '08

    Report this post
    Post: 22761047_4 created on Thu Feb 01, 2007 5:54 amPosted: Thu Feb 01, 2007 5:54 am
     
    What to Do if You Find a Misplaced Thread

    In the past, the Writers Forum allowed one person per misplaced thread to tell the poster that they had put their thread in the wrong place. However, Gaia now has a site-wide ban on "reported!" posts. Please report all threads that you find in the wrong place by using the 'REPORT' icons:


    Found in the lower left corner of the page, this is for reporting an entire thread. Use this if you see a misplaced thread, or a thread that has objectionable content not tolerated by the Gaian Terms of Service.


    Found at the top of posts near the 'quote' button, this is for reporting individual posts. Use this if someone is posting off-topic messages, harassing other Gaians, spamming, stretching the page, or posting other content not tolerated by the Terms of Service.


    If you have something meaningful to add to the conversation in the thread, you can post that. However, do not post to say that you have reported someone. This applies to all of Gaia.


    For more information about this decision, please read the site-wide announcement on this subject:

    "Cindy Donovinh"


    Reports are the backbone of our moderation system. Without reports, it would be chaos around here!

    Our moderators spend hours upon hours every day going through thousands of reports and warning or banning those hackers and trolls who would dare to break our sacred rules. Sometimes it takes us a while to catch up, since we get approximately one hundred bazillion reports every day, but we always do our best!

    However, not everyone uses the report system effectively. We'd be forever grateful if you'd read a few tips about how to make things easier for the mods:

    • When you're reporting a hacking or scamming issue, you only need to report it once. Even if it's been weeks or months and we still haven't solved your case and returned your stuff, reporting again won't speed the process up. It's like pressing an elevator button over and over: it may feel like you're making progress, but the first press was the only one that mattered. In fact, reporting the same thing more than once just jams up our report system and slows everything down.

    • When you report a member for breaking the rules in a forum, it's not necessary to post in the thread saying that you've reported them. In fact, it's considered spam. And then somebody might report you, creating an endless spiral of reports and reports of people reporting reports. It boggles the mind! gonk

    • After you submit a report on the forums, your duty is complete. Some people watch their sentboxes like hawks and PM the moderators to complain if a report was not handled how they thought it should be handled. Don’t be that guy! The mods know what they're doing, and they have a good reason whenever they ban (or choose not to ban) a member.


    heart But despite our whining, we love it when you send in reports! Our whole system relies upon you guys helping out with our moderation, and we sincerely thank all of you who have faithfully reported hackers and troublemakers! heart
         

    Galen Tyrol for president '08

    Report this post
    Post: 22761047_5 created on Thu Feb 01, 2007 5:55 amPosted: Thu Feb 01, 2007 5:55 am
    General Suggestions and Forum Customs

    Naturally, when one first enters a new forum it takes time to adjust to the established forum culture. A good way to get a feel for what and where to post is to lurk for a little while before jumping in. Read some threads, go back a few pages in the history and see what gets repeated often, and just educate yourself a bit before making that debut post.

    Here are a few tips to help you acclimate to the forum and not draw the ire of the regular posters:
    • Be coherent!
      Keep in mind that you're talking to writers in here, and we tend to take language pretty seriously smile . We don't demand a polished dissertation for each post, but try to keep the netspeak to a minimum. The same goes for deliberately poor grammar and spelling-- there isn't a fire, so slow down and take the extra couple of seconds needed to type a full word and use a little punctuation. Web browsers like Firefox even have built-in spell checkers these days~

      This may be "just an internet forum," but we're a forum dedicated to writing. Abusing the English language with netspeak is considered disrespectful of the purpose of the forum. It is also advised that you keep font size and colour legible. Pastel blue 9pt font on a white background is a little hard to read wink

    • Check to see if your topic is already in discussion.
      The Writer's forum sees a lot of topics come and go. It's a good idea to check through the first few pages of the forum before making a thread, because there's a good chance a similar topic (or two) is already floating around. If there are already several threads on a topic, yours may be recycled or just plain ignored by other forum goers.

    • Be aware you may receive criticism.
      One of the nice things about this forum is the presence of experienced writers who are willing to give criticism on stories and poems. However, many of them do not believe in sugar-coating their critiques, and may seem very blunt and harsh. If you don't want this style of criticism, please be sure to mention that when posting something for critique--if it's requested beforehand, most people will abide by the threadstarter's wishes.

      Nobody likes to be insulted or flamed either, so if you feel a critic is personally attacking you rather than the story, please use the 'report this post' feature so a moderator can handle it. Also remember that there is a difference between a harsh critique and a personal attack; use the report feature wisely.

    • Bumping is Naughty!
      The Writer's Forum a slow corner of Gaia; topics will often stay on the front page for many hours. There is no need to bump a topic if it's still on the first page. Note that a bump is any post, regardless of content, which serves the major purpose of bringing your thread up to the top of the forum. If people haven't replied, they either don't find your topic interesting or they haven't gotten around to it yet. Or maybe they've even reported it to be moved. Whatever the reason is, you can't make people become interested in what you have to say, and excessive bumping just turns people off.

      This also goes for necro-ing threads (Necromancy: posting in a topic that has been dead for a week or more). Most threads, that is. "Official" threads linked to from a sticky, and threads which have an enduring discussion or purpose can be necro-ed. If you are going to Necro a thread, try to bring something new to the discussion or else the topic may be locked.

    • To Present and Future Denizens of the 111
      The 111 is a special place for many writers forumites. It's a place to hang out, chill and relax with other people outside of normal thread discussion. If you're a newcomer to the thread, it's suggested that you lurk and read through a bit of post backlog before jumping in. Please keep the general forum customs in mind. In addition, it is important that everyone read the following guidelines. Everyone

      • The Gaian terms of service always applies. Cases of harassment, trolling, flaming, derogatory and hateful comments will be treated the same way they are on the rest of Gaia. The 111 is not an excuse to act like an a**.
      • Remember that as a chat thread, you are in close proximity and prolonged conversation with other Gaians. Think of it as a group of friends and strangers talking together. Like in real life, friendships and frictions will occur. You cannot make people like you, and you cannot force yourself on others. Does this mean other people can say extremely hurtful things to you? No. But you should be able to deal with the knowledge that someone may not personally like you. Similarly, if you don't particularly like someone or want to hear what they have to say, don't go out of your way to make your opinion known. Either sort it out in a mature fashion, or use the ignore feature to block posts and PM's.

    Beyond that, just remember that we're all here to have fun, so don't take things too seriously (that applies to everyone). Just treat people like you expect to be treated and read the stickies, and you should get along in this forum just fine.
    		 
         

    Galen Tyrol for president '08

    Report this post
    Post: 22761047_6 created on Thu Feb 01, 2007 5:55 amPosted: Thu Feb 01, 2007 5:55 am
     
    Sticky Directory
         

    Galen Tyrol for president '08

    Report this post
    Post: 22761047_7 created on Thu Feb 01, 2007 5:55 amPosted: Thu Feb 01, 2007 5:55 am
    Useful Links

    		  
         

    Galen Tyrol for president '08

    Report this post
    Post: 22761047_8 created on Thu Feb 01, 2007 5:55 amPosted: Thu Feb 01, 2007 5:55 am
     
    Things You Should Know About PLAGIARISM

    • What is plagiarism?
      Plagiarism, as defined by dictionary.com, is:
      Quote:
      taking someone's words or ideas as if they were your own

      So if you post something written by someone else (ANYONE--even your buddy at school or some random person on the internet) and claim it as your own, you are committing plagiarism. Basically it's a fancy word for theft, and we don't take kindly to theives in these parts, partner.

      We see two basic kinds of plagiarism in the WF; indirect or inadvertent, and flagrant plagiarism.

      • Indirect/inadvertent plagiarism is sometimes an accident. Maybe you see a cool poem online and want to share it with everyone here, so you post it. But! Rather than crediting the original author maybe you forgot, or didn't think about it. When people see a poem posted with no credit, the automatic reaction is to think the person who posted it, also wrote it. They start showering you with praise, because it's a damn good poem.

        This is where the plagiarism comes in. Instead of saying, "Oh, sorry! I forgot to mention I didn't write this, it's by So And So," you just keep quiet. It's nice to get all that praise and attention, and they'll never know it's not your poem, right? WRONG.

        Sometimes people honestly don't understand that they have to give credit when posting works by other people. We do have a wide age-range on Gaia as well as lots of people who don't speak English as their first language. This is why inadvertent plagiarism isn't treated quite as harshly as a more flagrant case of plagiarism. It's still wrong though, and can get a new poster off to a really bad start.

      • Flagrant plagiarism is deliberate theft. This is when, for instance, someone goes out and finds a song lyric and posts it as their original poetry, or takes a story written by someone else and posts it as their own work. They are actively claiming the material for their own, and may even fight with anyone who points out the theft.

        It is often very obvious when a piece is stolen, because there's a certain level of skill one can expect on an internet message board and most published poems/songs/stories are a bit above this level. Our regulars are well-read and familiar with lots of published material as well, so it might be recognized right away. It is also very easy to plug a line into Google and search. If you found it, so can we.


    • Plagiarism is against the TOS.
      "The TOS"
      While using the GAIA Online Experience, the User may not:
      Upload, post, email, transmit or otherwise make available any Content that you do not have the rights to.

      That means if you plagiarize, you may get a warning or even be banned. So don't do it!

      • But what if I give credit?
        When you post something written by someone else, you're posting work you don't hold the copyright to. Since in this forum we occasionally discuss published works, you are allowed to post things you didn't write provided you cite the source (think of it like quoting a work in a paper--you always note who wrote it and where it came from). This also doesn't give you free rein to post an entire novel written by someone else--rather, quote a small section (maybe what you want to focus on), then if possible link to the full text rather than posting the whole piece.


    • What can I do to help?
      Plagiarism doesn't happen that often, but it does happen. This doesn't mean be paranoid about anyone posting really good work, but it never hurts to double-check. Always back up any accussation with proof before calling someone a thief. Verify the original author and link to where you found the information if it's online. If it truly is a case of plagiarism, report it in this sticky or PM a mod rather than starting a fight with the person.

    • More information about plagiarism
         

    Galen Tyrol for president '08

    Report this post
    Post: 22761047_9 created on Thu Feb 01, 2007 5:56 amPosted: Thu Feb 01, 2007 5:56 am
    Past Announcements

    ANNOUNCEMENT: Books Subforum has been shadowed under the WF! Now it's easier than ever to talk about your favorite books and writers--check it out!

    ANNOUNCEMENT: The Sticky Directory has been updated! Check out the new stickies in our subforums, as well as a few old ones that have been updated or redone. Remember, if information is available in a sticky and you post a thread asking for it, your thread may be recycled for being a repeat!

    ANNOUNCEMENT: Reporting threads or posts in this forum generate reports that go directly to the mods of this forum. This thread is still being used to report misplaced threads, but if you are more comfortable using the report buttons, go ahead. Simply give/have a good reason for reporting the post or thread. Abuse of the report system is taken seriously, just like spamming this sticky would be.

    ANNOUNCEMENT: With the creation of the Idea Box/Think Tank sticky, threads asking for story ideas or help with plot summaries are now redundant. Please use this sticky for all your idea-generation and plot-help needs.

    ANNOUNCEMENT: Writing Games now belong in the Word Games subforum.

    ANNOUNCEMENT: The Name Bank has been replaced by a spiffy Naming Guidebook. Please use this for any and all name/title advice you may need. All name/title help threads will be recycled as repeats.
    		 
         

    Galen Tyrol for president '08

    Report this post
    Post: 22761047_10 created on Thu Feb 01, 2007 5:56 amPosted: Thu Feb 01, 2007 5:56 am
     
    Thread Updated:
    05/24/06 - link maintenence, repeat thread list condensed a bit, combined two posts into one
    ~clarion

    03/23/07 - thread reboot, link maintenance, rule updates, etc.
    ~eve and dev
         

    Galen Tyrol for president '08

    Report this post
    Post: 22761047_11 created on Sun Mar 25, 2007 6:26 amPosted: Sun Mar 25, 2007 6:26 am
    [test]
    		 
         

    Galen Tyrol for president '08

    1
     Post Reply
    Gaia Forums » Artist's Corner » Writers
     Subscribe to Topic  Report this Topic