User Submission Guidelines

Purpose

This document codifies the type of content we want in this site, and a set of rules for the formatting of such content. This applies to regular authenticated users, and are a guideline to content editors and site admins.

The Quick, "what type of content are you looking for?" answer

Any type of content, so long as it's "interesting" and "relevant". If that doesn't help, try browsing around the site before you post to know what type of content we promote to the front page to see what we mean.

Isn't this a blog entry?

Yes it is, and that does mean you can post anything you like in there. However we do ask that your posts be relevant to the content of this site. See the above question. Since it's our site, if we find anything seriously objectionable, we'll scrap it. As a rule, we don't do that without discussion and pointed remarks in the comments of your post, so don't worry.

If you're going to post comments about how the site looks, we'd rather you contacted us by email rather than posting it as a blog entry. You can blog about policy decisions of the site and anything "major" but please do not waste a blog entry on anything trivial.

What kind of blogs make it to the front page?

Stay on topic (see above). However, merely quoting a technology item (unless it's really interesting) won't get you on the home page. You've got to add in your interpretation, your own viewpoint to the story. That will help most often.

How do I format my posts?

See the "Input Format" field below your post body and read about the posting tags allowed. We use a subset of HTML for posts. When you post code, use the <code> tag to encapsulate it, and you don't have to worry about proper spacing or entity escaping, that'll be taken care of by the site.

Here's a link to a good HTML tutorial so you can learn how to compose in markup.

Keep your titles short! Do not over-extend your title so that it covers half a page. Keep it concise and pointed so that visitors will be able to tell at a glance what your topic is about.

My posts got moderated! Can I complain?

Yes, you'll be given ample oppurtunity to explain yourself before your posts are deleted or any other moderation action is taken.

I've been regularly posting to Sig9! Do I get any rewards?

Well, administrators routinely make people content editors for contributing to this site. A content editor means a good amount of responsibility, but you get more privileges. You'll be asked before you're made a content editor, so if you're not willing, just say so :-)

Sig9 also may conduct promos and giveaways in the future where regular posters will be given a preference.