DaveW
11-12-2007, 08:35 PM
The new TBCS front page brings community spirit in many ways.
First, there's our dedicated team of preacorians. These guys are here to bring you content, should it be in the form of the modcast, visual aids, or front page stories. The admins and the preacorians will create top-notch content for TBCS, while will be posted to the front page on a regular basis.
On top of that, you'll notice that Jon, Paul, and I also have some blogs to twitter on about what is likely to be completely unrelated nonsense. This is a trial feature, and if it's unpopular, we'll lose it.
In addition to our own TBCS staff content, we're giving you the opportunity to write your own content for TBCS. This allows the staff to take a break-maybe to go to the Bahamas. (Who am I kidding...)
The content is split up into 3 distinct categories.
1) News
News is disposable information, something that loses relevance as time progresses. This should weigh in at around 200 to 500 words, and is usually accompanied with a good amount of media, such as a video, pictures, and external/internal links.
2) Columns
A column is an article that allows you to give an opinion on a particular subject. This subject should obviously be related to what we do here at TBCS, but feel free to expand into other territory if you think it's important enough. A column doesn't really need any kind of media to back it up, so it can be as bland as you like. These are usually around 500-1000 words long.
3) Articles
An article is a large and well researched piece, up to 4000 words long, about a particular subject. Articles should be given from a unbiased viewpoint. For example, you could write an article about the effects of the AMD/ATI merger. Because of their size, they can be written by small teams, instead of single individuals.
What happens after I submit?
First up, you submit your content. This then goes into a queue of items to be edited and checked. Once the item has been checked, it will either be returned to the submitter for fixing, refused, or given a publishing date. After submitting the content, take out an issue in the new 'Guest Content' feature. You can use this to tell us things about what you're submitting, and we can use it to tell you the status of your submission. You'll be able to see things such as who's approved it, what it needs to make the grade, and the date it's going to be published.
Sounds good.
Well, it's really all a trial. Jon (jdbnsn) has some pretty cool ideas for where this can go, as do I. We know that the TBCS community will take advantage of this, and we're looking forward to reading your submissions!
...and if I get rejected?
It just means that your article isn't up to scratch. We'll give you advice on how to improve it. If it's utterly dismal, then don't expect us to put it on the front page, and if you rip stuff from another site, we'll get pretty pissed.
So, any advice?
Be original, be cool. Think of things you want to hear, and tell the world. Share your knowledge, or if you spot something on the web, post a news item. Really, just have fun with this.
First, there's our dedicated team of preacorians. These guys are here to bring you content, should it be in the form of the modcast, visual aids, or front page stories. The admins and the preacorians will create top-notch content for TBCS, while will be posted to the front page on a regular basis.
On top of that, you'll notice that Jon, Paul, and I also have some blogs to twitter on about what is likely to be completely unrelated nonsense. This is a trial feature, and if it's unpopular, we'll lose it.
In addition to our own TBCS staff content, we're giving you the opportunity to write your own content for TBCS. This allows the staff to take a break-maybe to go to the Bahamas. (Who am I kidding...)
The content is split up into 3 distinct categories.
1) News
News is disposable information, something that loses relevance as time progresses. This should weigh in at around 200 to 500 words, and is usually accompanied with a good amount of media, such as a video, pictures, and external/internal links.
2) Columns
A column is an article that allows you to give an opinion on a particular subject. This subject should obviously be related to what we do here at TBCS, but feel free to expand into other territory if you think it's important enough. A column doesn't really need any kind of media to back it up, so it can be as bland as you like. These are usually around 500-1000 words long.
3) Articles
An article is a large and well researched piece, up to 4000 words long, about a particular subject. Articles should be given from a unbiased viewpoint. For example, you could write an article about the effects of the AMD/ATI merger. Because of their size, they can be written by small teams, instead of single individuals.
What happens after I submit?
First up, you submit your content. This then goes into a queue of items to be edited and checked. Once the item has been checked, it will either be returned to the submitter for fixing, refused, or given a publishing date. After submitting the content, take out an issue in the new 'Guest Content' feature. You can use this to tell us things about what you're submitting, and we can use it to tell you the status of your submission. You'll be able to see things such as who's approved it, what it needs to make the grade, and the date it's going to be published.
Sounds good.
Well, it's really all a trial. Jon (jdbnsn) has some pretty cool ideas for where this can go, as do I. We know that the TBCS community will take advantage of this, and we're looking forward to reading your submissions!
...and if I get rejected?
It just means that your article isn't up to scratch. We'll give you advice on how to improve it. If it's utterly dismal, then don't expect us to put it on the front page, and if you rip stuff from another site, we'll get pretty pissed.
So, any advice?
Be original, be cool. Think of things you want to hear, and tell the world. Share your knowledge, or if you spot something on the web, post a news item. Really, just have fun with this.