Elsmar Cove Forums Index - Article Submission Rules and Guidelines

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Article Submission Rules and Guidelines - The Basics
(View the original discussion thread with full colors, attachments and images)

Posted by: Marc

Article Submission Rules, Regulations, and The Fine Print

How To:

Every month a new 'sub-forum' will be started specific to the month. Start a New Thread in the forum for the appropriate month.
Title the Thread Appropriately. It is the Title of your article. This is important.

The Concept:

Any Registered User can submit an article - an original work - for review by all other Registered Users. If this proves to be popular, barring any significant drop in advertising revenue, I will happily keep the feature going.
I am looking for original content from authors or others who would like to share their business systems knowledge, thoughts, experiences and beliefs.

Rules:

Simple - Write an article. A bio would be appropriate to demonstrate your 'credentials'. Not required, but...
Expected (Hoped for?) - Images and Data - Please use the Attachment feature. If you feel you need images inline, I can do that here - Please PM me.
Original Writings ONLY - Copy and Paste of any copyright material is NOT acceptable.
I do not want to have to monitor for links which go DEAD a year or more (or less for that matter) from now, so no graphics or other files linked to external sites will be accepted.
Data - You must support your article / position with data. Preferably graphics data as post 'attachment(s)'.
Articles are limited to 30,000 characters if you put it in the body of the post. If your article exceeds this limit, please PM or e-mail me and I'll help. Or,
You may submit a 'Word' or 'rtf' document as an attachment if you wish, rather than just submitting text and attachments in a post, but if you do so please give us a good description of your 'article', including your premise (theory, hypothesis, whatever), in your post.
You may submit an HTML or XHTML document. If you do this, particularly if you have graphics, I suggest you put the file and graphics in a ZIP or TAR or GZIP file and attach it to the post.
Acrobat (pdf) files are acceptable, but I request they not be LOCKed in any way.
PowerPoint presentation data files are acceptable, however, .pps (slide show limited files) are not.

Remuneration:

At the end of the month I will start a thread with a Poll. In this thread, all Registered Users will have the opportunity to vote expressing your opinion of which Article (Thread) they gained the most from.
The Poll will be open for about a month. The Close Date of the poll is stated in the poll.
The 'Winner' of the poll will be sent a check for US$ 150.00.

Please ask questions and post comments about this Elsmar Cove forum feature in this thread.

Added 9 June 2004 at 6.25PM EDT (Zulu -4 hours):
To satisfy potential liabilities in response to Chris Paris' (Oxebridge) complaint to the Ohio Attorney General's Office:

Void where prohibited by law.

People under 18 may submit articles but their parent must be involved in the process.

Children over 18 years of age are encouraged to participate.

There is no charge or other requirement to submit an article in the forum other than to be a Registered user.

Registration in the forums is open to everyone.

Registration in the forums is free.

Registration in the forums is not an inducement to buy anything.

Article submission is not an attempt to get anyone to buy anything. There is nothing to buy which is in any way related to submitting an article.

There is no requirement to listen to, or to read, a 'sales pitch'. For anything. For any reason.

Voters understand when they vote their name will be recorded by the software and is visible to everyone - the monthly polls are OPEN polls.

I personally do not vote in the poll so that no one can claim bias on my part, nor do I, nor will I, attempt to bias the poll.

While moderators may monitor the poll, they are absolved of all responsibility - I assume all liability for the accuracy and honesty of the voting.

If you submit an article and your article is not voted to be the best of those submitted, you can and may complain publicly in a post in the forums. If you e-mail a complaint, it will be posted in a public thread for discussion and resolution. I don't hide things here. If there's a complaint, let's all discuss it.

Should any other potential 'legal' aspects surface as a result of Chris Paris' complaint, or any other complaint, I will post them in this thread and I will amend this post - Post 1 in this thread - appropriately.

24 June 2004

Please remember - This is not a contest per se. I am not the person 'voting' - YOU are. I want original content and I am willing to pay for an article. But I cannot pay lots of bucks. I'm not a big company. I'm Marc - A One Man Band, so to speak... So - I ask for article content submissions, and then you - the Registered Users - 'Vote' as a part of the Elsmar Cove Forums 'editorial board' and, based upon the results of YOUR votes, I pay the contributor of the article judged as best US$150.

If you submit something and you don't get the majority of the 'votes', please consider the response (the vote count) a 'Rejection Notice for This Month' {I really hate this but it's a legal neccessity to say because of Chris Paris' (Oxebridge) complaint to the Ohio Atty General's office that this is an illegal 'contest'}. Submissions are journalistic submissions subject to 'rejections' by the board {all Registered users = 'the board'}.

Posted by: Govind

Marc,
Great Idea.We really appreciate your efforts to promote "Quality" contribution among professionals.
Couple of questions:
1.Once submitted, will the article become the property of Elsmar.com?
2.Can we send the article for publishing in Quality Magazines (with the poll results)?
Govind.

Posted by: Marc

1. No - The content will NOT become property of Elsmar.com, me or anything like that. If you post an article it is in the public domain as are all posts in this forum.

2. Yes - you may send the results anywhere you like. It is YOUR article - NOT mine.

Posted by: Greg B

Marc,

This is a great idea. I think it will give the 'professionals' within the Cove mebership the opportunity to express their ideas in detail rather than the sometimes 'quick' responses which are required to satisfy questions from the 'floor' (this is not derogatory - it means general public). I personaly would even forego the monetary prize simply for the peer reward but that is MHO only. I can't wait to see the first batch. I may even try one of my own.

On the advertising side, I do not see anything under the advertising banner other than BSi which I visited yesterday and gained some very good articles from, db's sites and symphony. There is simply nothing in the box below 'Please Take a Minute and Check Out The Potential Solutions Below!. Amazon used to be there as I used it several times. Is this normal or is my PC (I have Kerio firewall) somehow blocking it?

Greg B

Posted by: Marc

Quote:

Originally Posted by Greg B

Marc,

This is a great idea. I think it will give the 'professionals' within the Cove mebership the opportunity to express their ideas in detail rather than the sometimes 'quick' responses which are required to satisfy questions from the 'floor' (this is not derogatory - it means general public).

I hope to see a variety of topics. Someone may want to write about something they did to solve a problem. Or how they improved something. This is a chance to be creative as opposed to answering folks question(s) as we normally do here.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Greg B

On the advertising side, I do not see anything under the advertising banner other than BSi which I visited yesterday and gained some very good articles from, db's sites and symphony. There is simply nothing in the box below 'Please Take a Minute and Check Out The Potential Solutions Below!. Amazon used to be there as I used it several times. Is this normal or is my PC (I have Kerio firewall) somehow blocking it?

The box below the 'Please Take a Minute and Check Out The Potential Solutions Below!' should have Google Ads. If they're not showing for you I have no idea why. They changed their system including how much they pay but if you're not seeing any Google ads, and if that's the case with others, I'm not sure what to do. I see them on every page. It is a 'script' so its possible some browsers don't show them, but this is the first hint that some people may not be seeing the Google AdSense 'box'.

I dropped the Amazon advertisement because when I last looked a couple of weeks ago it showed only a US$ 1.75 'profit' for something like 3 months which obviously isn't worth it. They don't pay until at least US$100 is due - which at the rate it was going would take quite a while.

Posted by: A Navajo

undefined
Hi Marc,
This is simply great and thanks for offering a reward. This will motivate us to write good articles.
rgds
Navajo

Posted by: A Navajo

Good approach to create more Quality professionals.

Posted by: sal881vw

Hello Marc,
Now that is what I call continous improvement.

Posted by: Marc

Time will tell if it will 'fly' or not.

BTW - if anyone wants to do something in Word or other word processing program and submit it as an attachment in a post, that will be acceptable.

Posted by: CINDY

Marc,

What a great way to challange our minds! It will be interesting to see the first few submissions. As time goes on, I would like to give it a try.

The feed back from so many qualified individuals is reward enough!

Cindy

Posted by: Marc

Quote:

Originally Posted by Marc

The box below the 'Please Take a Minute and Check Out The Potential Solutions Below!' should have Google Ads.

As an FYI - we determined that the firewall Greg cited - Kerio firewall - is blocking Google's ads on his home computer and he believes his corporate firewall is blocking them as well. Oh, well...

Posted by: Govind

Based on Article Submission Rules and Guidelines - The Initial Basics

Quote:

Registered Users will have the opportunity to vote expressing your opinion of which Article (Thread) they gained the most from".

There is already first article posted.
Is there any objective way we can assess the article like interms of
Clarity, original ideas, conclusive,usefulness in real life, etc?

I am worried if there is not objectivity in assessing the article, the poll results will be difficult to decide for articles comparing close results.

Also this way the author will have precise feedback as to what he/she need to improve in the next submission.

Any thoughts?
Govind.

Posted by: D.Scott

Govind - Your point is valid however I would rather not be restricted by a list of items that I may not be qualified to judge. It would seem much more reasonable for me to "choose" the article that gave the most to me and my particular needs. I think the judgement from us at the Cove should be in the value the article has for our quality applications. We should leave the professional writing critique to the publications.

Just my opinion.

Dave

Posted by: Govind

Scott,
Valid points. Fair enough.Atleast we should know that we assess the article based one criteria- that is "usefulness in terms of Practical applications".

Thanks for the feedback.Govind.

Posted by: db

Quote:

Originally Posted by Greg B

...gained some very good articles from, db's sites...

Wow! Someone actually reads stuff from my site! I'm shocked! Perhaps I need to get the monthly newsletters out on time.

Posted by: Marc

Quote:

Originally Posted by Govind

Based on Article Submission Rules and Guidelines - The Initial Basics "At the end of each month, I will add a Poll to the thread. In this thread, all Registered Users will have the opportunity to vote expressing your opinion of which Article (Thread) they gained the most from".

There is already first article posted.
Is there any objective way we can assess the article like interms of
Clarity, original ideas, conclusive,usefulness in real life, etc?

Iam worried if there is not objectivity in assessing the article, the poll results will be difficult to decide for articles comparing close results.

Also this way the author will have precise feedback as to what he/she need to improve in the next submission.

Any thoughts?
Govind.

I don't think we can get into a multitude of different criteria. I will reword the first post in this thread to read "At the end of the month I will start a thread with a Poll" and everyone can vote in that poll. I'll make a new 'sub-forum' each month so things stay separated.

I think it would be good if someone reads the article that they Reply in the article thread and give any comments there.

Posted by: ccochran

Marc,

Is it okay to paste a URL into the body of the message if the article is already on the web somewhere, or would you prefer attachments/text? I don't remember seeing URLs as being one of the options.

Thanks for the innovative idea for sharing and encouraging articles!

Craig

Posted by: Marc

I really don't want outside urls because then down the road they break. I can't begin to tell you how many broken links I've tracked down in threads since December - and I'm sure there's still a lot left. That's one reason when someone posts an active link anymore I sorta look twice if I see it because so many break. Quality Digest links make me cringe because they're usually to /currentmag/ and thus after a month that link isn't valid any longer.

And I sorta expect something a bit 'original'. I don't want to offer people $ for links to what they have posted somewhere else.

Posted by: Graeme

Quote:

Originally Posted by Marc

Only 20 days left in May! Get your entry in soon!

I'm working on it! (but it might slide until June ...)

As attachments - I think you mentioned Microsoft Word document (.doc or .rtf), text or HTML. Would an Adobe Acrobat .pdf file be acceptable as well?

Posted by: Marc

Acrobat files are OK by me.

Posted by: Greg B

marc,

I realise this thread is about 'articles' or 'papers' but could I post a training package (Slide show) for example a package on Process Management, Integrated systems etc?

Greg B

Posted by: Marc

I don't see why not. OK by me.
Edited 30 June 2004

I've thought about this a bit. I really would prefer a .ppt file as opposed to a .pps (slide show) file.

Posted by: Wes Bucey

Quote:

Originally Posted by Marc

To satisfy potential liabilities:

Void where prohibited by law.
People under 18 may submit articles but their parent must be involved in the process.
Children over 18 years of age are encouraged to participate.
There is no charge or other requirement to submit an article in the forum other than to be a Registered user.
Registration in the forums is open to everyone.
Registration in the forums is free.
Registration in the forums is not an inducement to buy anything.
There is nothing to buy which is in any way related to submitting an article.
This is not an attempt to get anyone to buy anything.
There is no requirement to listen to a sales pitch - for anything.
Voters understand when they vote their name will be recorded by the software and is visible to everyone - this is an OPEN poll.
I personally do not vote in the poll so that no one can claim bias on my part, nor do I, nor will I, attempt to bias the poll.
While moderators may monitor the poll, they are absolved of all responsibility - I assume all liability for the accuracy and honesty of the voting.
If you submit an article and your article is not voted to be the best of those submitted, you can and may complain publicly in a post in the forums. if you e-mail a complaint, it will be posted in a public thread for discussion and resolution.

Should any other potential 'legal' aspects surface, I will post them in this thread.

Can you also tuck this in your FAQ list, please? This will give it more visibility and limit any suggestion of "hiding" the terms and conditions by burying it in a long thread.

Posted by: Marc

I just put it in the first post. Hard to say that it's buried in a thread now. The FAQ is really related to the forum software and how to use it.

These are the 'buried' T&Cs...

Any resemblance to real persons, living or dead is purely coincidental. Void where prohibited. Some assembly required. List each check separately by bank number. Batteries not included. Contents may settle during shipment. Use only as directed. No other warranty expressed or implied. Do not use while operating a motor vehicle or heavy equipment. Postage will be paid by addressee. Subject to CAB approval. This is not an offer to sell securities. Apply only to affected area. May be too intense for some viewers. Do not stamp. Use other side for additional listings. For recreational use only. Do not disturb. All models over 18 years of age. If condition persists, consult your physician. No user-serviceable parts inside. Freshest if eaten before date on carton. Subject to change without notice. Times approximate. Simulated picture. No postage necessary if mailed in the United States. Breaking seal constitutes acceptance of agreement. For off-road use only. As seen on TV. One size fits all. Many suitcases look alike. Contains a substantial amount of non-tobacco ingredients. Colors may, in time, fade. We have sent the forms which seem right for you. Push down while squeezing top. For office use only. Not affiliated with the American Red Cross. Drop in any mailbox. Edited for television. Keep cool. process promptly. Post office will not deliver without postage. List was current at time of printing. Return to sender, no forwarding order on file, unable to forward. Not responsible for direct, indirect, incidental or consequential damages resulting from any defect, error or failure to perform. At participating locations only. Not the Beatles. Penalty for private use. See label for sequence. Substantial penalty for early withdrawal. Do not write below this line. Falling rock. Lost ticket pays maximum rate. Your canceled check is your receipt. Add toner. Place stamp here. Avoid contact with skin. Sanitized for your protection. Be sure each item is properly endorsed. Sign here without admitting guilt. Slightly higher west of the Mississippi. Employees and their families are not eligible. Beware of dog. Contestants have been briefed on some questions before the show. Limited time offer, call now to ensure prompt delivery. You must be present to win. No passes accepted for this engagement. No purchase necessary. Don't even think of parking here. Processed at location stamped in code at top of carton. Shading within a garment may occur. Use only in a well-ventilated area. Keep away from fire or flames. Replace with same type. Approved for veterans. Booths for two or more. Check here if tax deductible. Some equipment shown is optional. Price does not include taxes. No Canadian coins. Not recommended for children. Prerecorded for this time zone. Reproduction strictly prohibited. No solicitors. No alcohol, dogs or horses. No anchovies unless otherwise specified. Restaurant package, not for resale. List at least two alternate dates. First pull up, then pull down. Call toll free before digging. Driver does not carry cash. Some of the trademarks mentioned in this product appear for identification purposes only. Record additional transactions on back of previous stub. Unix is a registered trademark of AT&T. Do not fold, spindle or mutilate. No transfers issued until the bus comes to a complete stop. Package sold by weight, not volume. Your mileage may vary. This article does not reflect the thoughts or opinions of either myself, my company, my friends, or my cat/dog(s), horses or pigs. Don't quote me on that. Don't quote me on anything. All rights reserved. You may distribute this freely but you may not make a profit from it. Unless you give me some of that profit. Terms are subject to change without notice. Illustrations are slightly enlarged to show detail. Do not remove this disclaimer under penalty of law. Hand wash only, tumble dry on low heat. No substitutions allowed. For a limited time only. This article is void where prohibited, taxed, or otherwise restricted. Not sold in stores! Your results may vary! Not responsible for any consequential or inconsequential, trivial or non-trivial, or any other kind of loss or damage that may result before or after use! I never promised you a rose garden! Available only on this web site! Use yesterday for best results! 50% of all profits donated to my cat! If you are not the intended recipient of this humor, please put on a blindfold before reading! Do not use a portable telephone while swimming! I love my wife! Look both ways before crossing! Warning - electric toaster may get hot! This document is uncontrolled if printed on paper! All words are guaranteed to be formed using only genuine ASCII characters! Send $100 Now! Life is hazardous to your health! Sign up now for our anti-drug prevention program! Our tests show that about half of all results are above average! Remove windscreen cover before driving! Our quality policy includes the words 'six' and 'sigma'! Call in the next five minutes before something happens! Not valid with this or any other offer! Caveat emptor. Article is provided "as is" without any warranties. Reader assumes full responsibility. An equal opportunity article. No shoes, no shirt, no articles. quantities are limited while supplies last. If any defects are discovered, do not attempt to read them yourself, but return to an authorized service center. Read at your own risk. No right turn on red. Parental advisory - explicit lyrics. Text may contain explicit materials some readers may find objectionable, parental guidance is advised. Keep away from sunlight. Keep away from pets and small children. Limit one-per-family please. No money down. No purchase necessary. You need not be present to win. Some assembly required. Batteries not required. Instructions are included. Action figures sold separately. No preservatives added. Slippery when wet. Safety goggles may be required during use. Sealed for your protection, do not read if safety seal is broken. Call before you dig. Not liable for damages arising from use or misuse. For external use only. If rash, irritation, redness, or swelling develops, discontinue reading. Read only with proper ventilation. Avoid extreme temperatures and store in a cool dry place. Keep away from open flames. Avoid contact with eyes and skin and avoid inhaling fumes. Do not puncture, incinerate, or store above 120 degrees Fahrenheit. Do not place near a flammable or magnetic source. Smoking this article could be hazardous to your health. The best safeguard, second only to abstinence, is the use of a condom. No salt, MSG, artificial color or flavoring added. If ingested, do not induce vomiting, and if symptoms persist, consult a physician. Articles are ribbed for your pleasure. Possible penalties for early withdrawal. Offer valid only at participating sites. Slightly higher west of the Rockies. Allow four to six weeks for delivery. Must be 18 to read. Disclaimer does not cover misuse, accident, lightning, flood, tornado, tsunami, volcanic eruption, earthquake, hurricanes and other Acts of God, neglect, damage from improper reading, incorrect line voltage, improper or unauthorized reading, broken antenna or marred cabinet, missing or altered serial numbers, electromagnetic radiation from nuclear blasts, sonic boom vibrations, customer adjustments that are not covered in this list, and incidents owing to an airplane crash, ship sinking or taking on water, motor vehicle crashing, dropping the item, falling rocks, leaky roof, broken glass, mud slides, forest fire, or projectile (which can include, but not be limited to, arrows, bullets, shot, BB's, shrapnel, lasers, napalm, torpedoes, or emissions of X-rays, Alpha, Beta and Gamma rays, knives, stones, etc.). For Simon Higgs... no Elvis sightings made here. Breaking this seal voids your warranty. Close cover before striking. 80,000 km or 3 years, which ever comes first. Not legal for trade. No-one can improve on the original, but here are some to masticate. No reply is considered as accepted. Soluble in water? Do not ingest. Vomiting may occur. Local exhaust ventilation required. Dispose of in accordance with local, state& federal regulations. Immediately flush eyes for 15 minutes in clear running water. Do not induce vomiting. (May occur anyway) Seek medical attention immediately. Keep sealed to prevent drying or moisture loss. Use care to avoid falls. Store upright. Contact your System Administrator (SysAdmin). Refrigerate after opening.

Other restrictions may apply.

Posted by: Wes Bucey

Quote:

Originally Posted by Marc

I just put it in the first post. Hard to say that it's buried in a thread now. The FAQ is really related to the forum software and how to use it.

These are the 'buried' T&Cs...

. . . . . . .
Other restrictions may apply.

Oh, yes!

Posted by: Marc

Quote:

Originally Posted by Govind

Is there any objective way we can assess the article like interms of Clarity, original ideas, conclusive,usefulness in real life, etc?

I am worried if there is not objectivity in assessing the article, the poll results will be difficult to decide for articles comparing close results.

Also this way the author will have precise feedback as to what he/she need to improve in the next submission.

Any thoughts?

I've thought about this a bit and I may try something new in the way of a Multiple Choice poll for July. I want to do a few tests. For example, it is an 'Open' poll where one can see who voted for what. The problem which could arise with a Multiple Choice poll is that someone could, simply by 'mistake' vote for 2 articles. If it puts the person's name on each vote - as I think it logically will - it's not an issue.

I really do prefer the idea of discussion in the submission thread - it tends to bring a 'human face' and details to responses, but I'm open to 'extras' where some people may vote but may not want to elaborate in a post. Look for a 'test poll' in the near future. I want to see what the software does.

None the less, do remember:

Clarity
Original ideas
Usefulness in real life

are NOT objective - they are entirely subjective.

Posted by: Marc

Post 1 in this thread updated 30 June 2004. Please re-read the whole post. No itemized list of line item changes will be posted, but all were minor revisions including corrected spelling errors.

Posted by: Marc

I received a PM from a moderator about voting and the possibility of conflict of interest or bias, or appearance of.

I see no reason why any moderator, or any of the other admins, should be exempt from voting.

If you are one of the people submitting an article: It's up to you. I think most will vote for someone else if they do vote, and I see no reason not to. In political races the candidates vote so I don't see it as an issue here. The only significant difference here is votes are linked to names so everyone knows who voted for what article. In the context of what we're doing here, I don't see 'anonymous' voting as a big deal and plan to keep polls 'Open'.

I don't vote because I'm responsible for overall oversight and am the one writing the check.

Now - we need some July articles!

Posted by: pawel.lang

Are articles in german language accepted?

Posted by: Marc

Quote:

Originally Posted by pawel.lang

Are articles in german language accepted?

My apologies for not catching this post.

Well, I don't object but your audience may be somewhat hampered by the language barrier. If you submit and it gets the most applause you'll get the money.

Posted by: Wes Bucey

Quote:

Originally Posted by pawel.lang

Are articles in german language accepted?

Quote:

Originally Posted by Marc

My apologies for not catching this post.

Well, I don't object but your audience may be somewhat hampered by the language barrier. If you submit and it gets the most applause you'll get the money.

May I respectfully suggest you consider posting an English translation along with your foreign language post (regardless of language) to assure the widest possible readership? There may even be Cove members who would help proofread your translation to assure it conveys the flavor and meaning of the original version.

By default, English is becoming the common language of many businesses and industries which have transnational transactions. Primary in this respect is aerospace and commercial air travel where every country conducts air traffic control in English. In view of that, it seems intuitive you can add many readers, regardless of their native language, if you include an English translation.

Posted by: Craig H.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Wes Bucey

Not only that, those of us who speak only English (I'm guilty) might learn something.

Posted by: Wes Bucey

Quote:

Originally Posted by Craig H.

Not only that, those of us who speak only English (I'm guilty) might learn something.

There are many native language speakers of German, French, and Spanish who would argue I can't speak those languages, either, despite being able to read them with the help of a dictionary

Folks in our Toulouse facility would call in friends to hear me speak and they would all double over in uproarious laughter, then take pity on me and switch to English which they obviously spoke better than I did French.

Posted by: Claes Gefvenberg

Quote:

Originally Posted by Wes Bucey

LMAO. You too?

Been there, done that... I might add that I had major problems in Perpignan some years back. It would seem that it was too close to the Spanish border, and I simply couldn't handle the dialect... Still, it kept everyone in a good mood, so I didn't mind.

Anyway, I think the best option is to try posting in the language spoken by the majority here: English. I mean to say: So what if the text contains the odd mistake? I certainly don't care, not being a native speaker myself... As long as you get your point across I'm happy.

/Claes