The new Homepage is here, and with it comes a few changes. A cover image approximately 350px x 255px is required. However, images inside the article itself should stay the same as before, 625px x 425px. Additionally, we ask that you add at least 5 tags in the designated field, as well as fill out the Article Listing Preview field. This will be the text accompanying your cover image on the front page.
Criteria that must be met in order to have an article promoted to the Homepage:
Do not, under any circumstances, ask us to promote your article. This includes commenting in the thread, reporting the thread or messaging the writer’s team directly, as doing so will result in denial of your submission.
Submitting blatantly copied and pasted material will be considered as spam and deleted.
How to write your article well:
Use correct grammar, it gives your article a more professional look and makes it easier to read. Focus on capitalization, spelling, punctuation and overall grammar, the most common mistakes we see involves commas, so be on the lookout for those. Make sure not to repeat yourself and not to use words you don't fully know the meaning of just to look good. Always proofread your work. Reading the article out loud helps you spot most mistakes and also makes it easier to notice poor choice of words. Another important factor is structure. This all depends on what type of article you are writing. It is recommended that you add evaluation after stating information from your source, either in a quote or paraphrased. Starting your article by evaluating what is stated in your title makes little sense. Your article should start with information from your source(s). As you list information, evaluation should follow. This does not have to be two chunks of writing, as you can switch off frequently. Your evaluation will usually always be subjective.
Information (Fact): Today, Valve announced the official release date of Left4Dead 3. The announcement was made by head developer Abraham Lincoln on the official Valve website through text accompanied by screenshots. Evaluation (Subjective): This has Left4Dead fans caught in more anticipation than ever before. The Left4Dead series is easily the greatest accomplishment made by Valve, and the fact that they will continue this achievement is exciting to say the least.
Be careful not to re-word the source you are writing from, but use the information in it to create your own text. Add originality and feel free to use quotes, tweets and other objective evidence to support these. Keep on point, as people started reading your article for a reason and they don’t want to be led astray into the wilds of your imagination. Do not split your article into sections detailed by bold headings. If you must split the article, try to do it by using transition sentences when you start a new paragraph. If it is absolutely needed, we may over look this if we cannot find a better way to do it ourselves. Excessively using lists (numbered, bullets, dashes, etc) will mostly likely result in your submission being denied. If your article is based off of information from a list, try to pick the most important things from that list, and write your article about it. You can have the entire list in a spoiler if it is important to support the topic you are covering, or you can add the most important ones in a quote. While we're all for 'different' writing styles, if you submit something that has multicolored text, random use of bold, italic or underlined letters, it will be frowned upon. Having absurd font sizes, fonts, characters etc will also be frowned upon. (ie. Don't submit something in large bold rainbow colored font.) If you are seen excessively doing this, we will be forced to report is as intentional spam. And finally, take your time. Don’t rush your article just to have us deny it for not meeting the required criteria.
If your article gets denied:
Below are some things we hope you keep in mind before you submit an article. More importantly, we hope you look back at this thread if your article gets denied.
Regarding comments on articles:
Do not try and correct errors within an article as this IS a form of “mini-modding” and is strictly prohibited. You may report the thread or message a member of the writing team directly should you find any errors in an article. One line responses still break site rules, so replying to articles with "Nice review!", or "Great job!", is spam and it will be treated as such.Review Guidelines
When selecting a topic for a review, please keep the following in mind:
Triple A GamesOnce you've selected your topic, we encourage you to follow this format as best as you can. However, do not feel as if you are entirely limited to this format:
Last but no least, we expect everyone who submits a review to follow these rules. We will be more strict about enforcing these rules upon a review as apposed to the leniency seen with regular submissions:
When submitting a piece to the Homepage, it is highly recommended that give this thread a read.