Guidelines & Rules
for posting articles and comments
(adapted by permission from Lucianne.com)
These rules keep CharlestonTeaParty.org a respectable & civilized forum. Charleston Tea Party site members are our reporters. By extension they are our editors too. Please understand the rules before you post anything on the website open for public display, including articles and comments.
INTRODUCTION
“CharlestonTeaParty.org is a News Salon – - NOT a Saloon“ Please, post only news articles, columns and commentary from legitimate, on-line newspapers, magazines and/or news websites. We prefer articles no older than 48 hours – - – unless an older article would serve as vital background for a current posted article.
Personal essays (“Vanity Posts”), chain letters, parodies, songs, poems and un-attributed screeds are not permitted and will be removed.
Articles from hate groups’ sites are not allowed. For example, sites operated by such groups as KKK, Aryan Nation, American Nazi Party, Black Panthers, JDL, Hamas, AntiWar.com and Spotlight among any others that are anti-ethnic, anti-race, anti-religion, anti-nationality, etc. are not allowed. Sites that are not allowed are automatically blocked to the best of our ability.
Anyone who has properly filled out the registration form may reply to any and all postings. However, we are not responsible for the content in any reply. Unless the language used is objectionable or incites an extreme response, you are free to speak your mind.
Replies must refer to the specific article within its thread. Replies on a thread that do not refer its posted article will be removed. [For example, if the there is an article that addresses a particular issue then all replies must on that article thread must address that particular issue.] *Please see the section below “Posting Replies on Threads.”
Users must obey U.S. Copyright laws. Short quotes from copyrighted articles and web sites may be used in replies, but nothing more. It is always best to state your opinion in your own words. You are encouraged to read the article, and then relay the information to us in your own words, using a hyperlink to the original article as you source(s).
POSTING ARTICLES P. I
General
Posting articles: All copyrighted material posted MUST link to the original online source. Posted articles should be no more than 48 hours old – - – unless an older article would serve as vital background for a current posted article
We do not have room or time for duplicate posts: Duplicate posts will be removed. It is best to use the Search Page first to make sure that an article has not been already posted on the site.
To avoid making a duplicate post: First, check the front page to see if the article has been posted. If you do not find the article on the front page then use the ‘Search’ function: Once you have determined that an article has not already been posted you may post that article. This is necessary to insure we are all “on the same page.” After all, we do not want there to be two threads of comments about the same article in more than one location.
Make sure that you have the correct URL address: Posters are responsible for making sure that the original URL for the article is correct. If it should happen that you post an article with an incorrect URL and then later discover the correct URL then, PLEASE, send it to Chris@charlestonteaparty.org along with a note AND post a reply on the thread to notify staff and readers of the correct link.
POSTING ARTICLES P. II
Specific Rules or Guidelines for Posting
After filling out the above form, you will be shown a preview of how your post will appear. On this “Preview Page” you will have the option to either edit your post for errors or to confirm your post for publication on the site. If you see an error in your post, click the “Edit” button and you will be taken back to the above form so you can make any necessary corrections. If you are satisfied with your post, click the “Submit Article” button. You will be taken back to the Preview Page where you can click the “Confirm” button and publish your post.
Article Title (Headline): Article headline only. Post only the primary headline. Headline should not include writer’s name or the name of the column. Do not post in all caps so be particularly careful with tabloid outlets like the New York Post or Daily News, Boston Herald where headlines often appear in all caps. They must be retyped in upper and lower case.
Author (Byline): This is for the name(s) of the writer(s) of the article. Your bio will be displayed at the end of each of your post and you can edit this information in your profile. If you have a gravatar that image will be displayed as well. If you do not have a self image, you can create one at http://gravatar.com
Publication (Source of the Article): The source of the Article is very often NOT the website on which it is posted. For example: you go to “FoxNews.com” and see an article that is originally from the Associated Press, the Source/Paper should by listed as “Associated Press,” not “FoxNews.com.” [See "WIRE SERVICES" below]
Post the Name of the Publication in Upper and Lower case: (New York Times, Los Angeles Times, Wall Street Journal, etc.).
Print Newspapers and Publications: If the location of the publication is not obvious from its name (i.e.. the Tribune can be in San Diego or Chicago, among others) then post it after the publication’s name in brackets, “[San Diego],” “[Chicago],” etc. If the city is unclear, like Portland follow add the two letter abbreviation for the state, “[ME]” (Maine) or “[OR]” (Oregon), for example. DO NOT put “the” in front of the publication’s name.
Television & Radio Station: Use the stations call letters and then follow that with the location of the station in brackets. For example: For, say, Channel 7 in New York City the Source would be “WABC-TV [New York City]” and if it is Fox 5 New York the Source would be “WNYW-TV [New York City]. Same applies for radio stations. If the radio station is HOT 97, then the Source should be WXRK Radio (New York City).
Websites: There is no need to use the .com or .org. suffix unless it is an integral part of the site’s title. If the article is from BigJournalism.com, then the Source should be “Big Journalism.”
Foreign Papers: Most British papers are national, so just use [UK]. For other countries, try to include the city with the name of the Source/Paper as ‘[City, Country]‘
English language papers/translations: With publications from other countries, the same rules apply. If the name of the publication is not obvious, post the name of the city. If the nation of the city is not obvious, post the country name or abbreviation (i.e.. FR for France, SP for Spain, IT for Italy, GER for Germany, etc in Europe; countries without commonly known abbreviations should be spelled out.)
Wire Services & secondary SOURCES: When wire services, i.e.. Associated Press, Reuters, Agence France-Presse, etc., are mentioned at the head or foot of the article (other than as a contributor) then the wire service is the Publication, regardless of where the article is found. (i.e.. An Associated Press article posted at Fox News: the Source would be Associated Press, not Fox News, even if you use Foxnews.com as the URL of the article. If the New York Post publishes an article from The Times of London, then the Source is The Times of London, even though the article was published in the New York Post.)
Intro (Text from the Article): First sentence of the article, in full, with the dateline (i.e.. “WASHINGTON — Congress just passed a bill . . .”) must be posted at the beginning. Do not include the date or publication (ABC, CNN, etc.).
One-sentence Intro‘s are not permitted and are very frustrating. Post the article’s text up to the limit: 100 words – - – this helps the readers decide whether they would like to take the time to go to the original article and it help the search engine by giving it more keywords to search. To edit (omitting text; jumping ahead to interesting portions of the text) type “[Snip]” to indicate that text was omitted.. If last sentence is not complete no “[Snip]” is required.
URL of Source: This is the web address for the article. This is where you originally saw the article and is where the Original Article link connects to.
Comments: This space is for your comments and notations only. Do not use it to post additional text from the article, this is important due to copyright laws!
Important Style Notes
Style for the Intro : Do not get creative in your posts. Copyrighted material is not to be altered in any way. Italics, bolding and ungrammatical capitalization are not permitted in the Intro. In fact no added emphasis is allowed main posts. The post’s text must be displayed exactly as it appears in the referenced article – - – with the exception of the [snip] function.
Never compose your own headline or intro! While the above rules are important, these are not subject to leniency, also to comply with copyright law. This is particularly important to comply with copyright laws
When you are finished, proofread your entire post for accuracy!!!! This will save you time in the long run and keep you in the good graces of your fellow posters.
Posting Replies/Comments
Stay on Topic: Replies must refer to the subject of the thread’s article.
Watch Your Language: Foul language and ersatz foul language that people use to get around dirty word filters (i.e. @sshole, F*%#, etc.) is absolutely not tolerated. If you can’t say your piece without cursing then you have nothing worthwhile to say. People who violate this rule will find themselves banished from the site.
Don’t Get Personal or Pick a Fight: Keep the comments to the issue(s)/topic(s) at hand. Only comment on the merits of another user’s post. If you don’t agree with someone, it is what it is. Name-calling, derision, goading, baiting and being impolite are not tolerated. That is the way it should be. If you can’t be civil, go over to someplace else, there are plenty of other websites.
“Screaming for Attention“ Do not post in ALL-CAPS, bold entire blocks of text or use repeating characters (i.e. ” . . . about the question in the article, my answer would be ‘noooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo.’”)
HTML CODE: We do not allow “hot” URL links, but URLs are allowed to be posted as long as they are on topic. You can use bold and ital to emphasize a word or phrase or for quoted material. You may not use bold or ital for an entire comment/reply. That is also considered “screaming for attention” just like using all-caps.
Etiquette
“CharlestonTeaParty.org Is a News Salon – - NOT a Saloon”
If you can’t be civilized there are plenty of other places on the Internet for you to go!
CharlestonTeaParty.org is a real time site. This site is monitored at all times. Should we decide that an individual poster is in repeated violation of these rules, that poster will be removed from the registry and posting privileges will be rescinded!
Registered users are our reporters. By extension our users are the editors too. Remember these rules to keep this site a salon and not a saloon.
Don’t type anything you would not say in your mother’s living room.
This is your site and it is up to you to keep it a civilized place. Users who do not follow these rules will be warned. Users who continue to break the rules the user will be blocked.
Registration and Accounts
- REGISTRATION PROBLEMS Registration is open, on a space available basis. We do not accept registrations from anonymous email addresses. You will need to register from your real email address. To access registration click on “Register” in the sidebar.
- PASSWORD PROBLEMS: Just go to “Login” in the sidebar and this will bring you to the page where you can request your password to be e-mailed to the e-mail address that we have on our files. Thus, it is important that we have your current e-mail address. To update your user-account go to “Profile” once you have signed in.
- USER NAME CHANGE Our system does not allow you to change your user name, however if you have a reasonable need, send an email to: Chris@charlestonteaparty.org. Be sure to tell us your current user name and identify yourself with your password. Tell us what you would like your user name changed to and exactly why changing your username is necessary. If no one else is using that name, we will make the change for you.
If you have problems
- POST DISAPPEARED: If you post something and then notice a little later that the post is no longer there it is because you posted objectionable language, used epithets, made an egregious error or a combination of these. Replies will be deleted and replaced with an admonition from the Staff. If an article you posted disappears it is because you posted from a site that is not allowed or made serious posting errors. In this case there will be no message from the Staff
- WHEN ALL ELSE FAILS: Slowly scroll down the site and check the details of the way others have posted. If the post is still at the lower half of the page, they have done it right. And, so can you!
IF YOU HAVE A PROBLEM THAT IS NOT COVERED HERE, please send an email to Chris@charlestonteaparty.org. Don’t forget to tell us your user name and e-mail. We almost never need your password. If we do need your password, we will ask for it in a separate e-mail from a different address.
Thank you for your cooperation!
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