Nothing too thrilling here. Just thought I'd repost the submission guidelines I use. They appear on the forums of all currently-airing shows I edit, but better to have them here then in the forum of every show I edit.

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1 ) Look at what's already on the page. If there's nothing there yet, look at another episode page. If you want to know what name to use for a regular character (Dick vs. Captain Richard), or if a name should be bolded, or whether there should be double-spacing between quote lines, or whether quotation marks should be used, or where to use italics, do what's already been done. If you're not sure how to do the XHTML, click on Edit for an existing entry and see how it's done.

2 ) Don't steal from another site. Except for Quotes, everything should be in your own words (and that includes quote contextual material). Even summaries based on press releases should be rewritten as "your content." It's a TV.com requirement, it's copyright, and it's common courtesy.

3 ) Be accurate and provide a source. Unless you're an incredibly fast typist/writer and have an incredible ear for dialogue, pause the recording. Rewind. Transcribe the dialogue, rewind again, double-check. For episodes that haven't aired yet, always provide an original verifiable source in Comments. Provide as complete a URL as possible: if I can't find it, I can't accept it.

4 ) If you edit, use Comments to tell me what you're editing and why. Be specific. "Fixing 2 typos." doesn't help. "Changed "his" to "her" in third paragraph, changed "their" to "they're" in second paragraph" does. If something should be deleted, mark it for deletion and put the explanation in Comment, don't "argue" or give a "response."

5 ) Know basic grammar and punctuation. "I" is capitalized. Names are capitalized. Sentences get periods at the end (or question marks or exclamation marks). A single space goes after most punctuation except at the end of a sentence. Know the difference between "its" and "it's." ("It's" = "It is"). When speaking to someone and using their name, a comma goes before and after their name. "It's true that I love you, Fred, but I love you too, George." is correct. "Its true that i love you fred but I love you too,George" is not.

6 ) Don't duplicate. Particularly for major plot points, if the info is in the Recap, it doesn't need to be in Notes or Trivia. If a quote appears entirely in Allusions, it doesn't need to be in Quotes as well. Click on More Quotes/Trivia/Notes. You typically don't see everything on the episode's main page.

7 ) Don't anticipate. That's part of being accurate. Don't go by previews--sometimes scenes get cut or another version used when the episode goes to air. Don't assume an Allusion will be an allusion until you see the episode.

8 ) It's not personal. Don't insert stuff like "I" or "Don't you think" or "We all know..." Stick to the factual and put opinions, analysis, and speculation into your review.

9 ) Quotes. Quotes should be memorable, significant, and/or humorous. They should stand on their own and make sense to someone who hasn't seen the show, and represent quality writing. Don't use quotes just to "prove" something or indicate a key moment if the words aren't otherwise memorable, significant, or humorous. Try to focus on the key line or lines and avoid three paragraphs of "set up" quotes. Bold the speaker name, then put in an unbolded colon, then a space, then the line quote. Don't put quotation marks around each line. Hit a single Return/Enter for the next speaker's line. Contextual explanations should be used as little as possible, be as short as possible, put in parentheses, and italicized. For episodes that aren't currently premiering, a time code in the Comment section is preferred.

10 ) Notes. As per TV.com standards, Notes is for off-screen production-related stuff. Stuff the characters wouldn't know. Background music, special credit info, relevant background on the actors, in-jokes, etc. "What else they've been in" and "They're best known for" and "They've worked together before" is covered by the cast list section and its links, unless there's some kind of in-joke involved.

11 ) Trivia. As per TV.com standards, Trivia is for obscure yet on-screen stuff the viewer might not notice. This includes goofs. Plot points and other obvious stuff are often spoilers and are not Trivia--they should go in the Recap. According to TV.com guidelines, Trivia is not merely a catchall for anything that doesn't fit in the other categories. Nor is it the place for fan theories or speculation, or goofs based on same.

12 ) Allusions. As per TV.com standards, Allusions are for cultural references--other TV shows, movie, films, books. Always provide the single line of the quotation first that contains the Allusion (formatted as #9 above), then a single return, then the explanation. Internal continuity is pretty common in TV shows so unless it's obscure (Trivia), it's not an Allusion. The explanation (not cut-n-pasted) should be detailed enough that someone unfamiliar with the allusion can understand: roughly 20-50 words, one paragraph. Word definitions and translations are not Allusions (or Trivia or Notes, either). Allusions are deliberate and typically something the writers have the characters say. Allusions should be unique and reference the original source whenever possible, rather then another show that references the original source.

13 ) Summaries and Recaps. Summaries should be short and not give away any spoilers. Recaps should be a complete scene-by-scene account of the episode, without stage directions or meta-references like "In this scene...". Actor names don't go in summaries or recaps. Write it like you'd write a reference book entry. Don't include real-life info ("This season," actor listings, etc.). Save quotes for the Quote section (see #9 above).

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One last thing. If you submit something and it's rejected, remember: it's nothing personal. These standards are in place to promote accuracy, readability, and keep the episode pages from being too "cluttered" with extraneous info. If you get a rejection, read the Comments I provide, come here and look at these guidelines, and PM me if you have any questions. Some folks I had to reject the first time are now my most prolific contributors.

Given the recent rash of duplicate submissions, I need to repeat something: you don't necessarily see all the Quotes/Trivia/notes that are on the main episode page.

If you're going to submit something, click on one of the See All Quotes, or Trivia, or Notes link. You can also click the less-intuitive Trivia tab at the top.

Otherwise there's a couple of good indicators to keep an eye out for.

Are you submitting a quote and there's already five quotes on the page? Odds are good there are more "off-screen" behind the See All Quotes link. Five is just all the system will display on the main episode page.

On the other hand, if there is only 4, or 3, or 2, or 1 quote, then you know what you see is what you get.

For most currently airing shows that I edit, I usually mine an episode for quotes within 24 hours of its premiere. So if you come along a few days or weeks or months later and don't see a really cool incredible quote, the odds are it's under See All Quotes.

(Of course, if you think it's a cool quote and it really isn't there anywhere, go ahead and submit.)

Otherwise... I'm going to have to reject a duplicate quote. Not anything else I can do.

Hope that helps.

If you have specific questions you don't wish to discuss publicly, feel free to PM me.

If there's another misunderstanding topic you'd like to see, PM me directly rather than post off-topic here.

Misunderstanding C –What about my freedom of speech?

I'm speaking here on the basis of U.S. law. Your national standards may vary.

First of all, many folks claim they have a "First Amendment Right" to say anything they want. That's pretty specific. The 1A says basically the government can make no law regulating your free speech. However, TV.com isn't the government, and it doesn't make law.

"Freedom of Speech" is a bit trickier. The UN, for instance, has stated that humans have a fundamental right to free speech.

On the other hand, try going into the UN and asking to speak to the delegates, and claim that your right to free speech lets you do it. Even the most liberal Supreme Courts in U.S. history never let just anyone wander in to their courtroom and say anything they want, any time they want.

So "freedom of speech" can be regulated on public property. What about private property? On private property, owners' rights trump "freedom of speech." Why? Because you can always go somewhere else, including your own private property. No one can stop you from talking: however, they can stop you from talking on their property.

On TV.com, you can't start up your own threads on someone else's blog. You can't go into, say, The Mentalist forum and post a hundred Spongebob threads.

TV.com is private property. They invite guests in, they have them sign the Terms of Service, people agree to abide by it. If you don't follow those rules, TV.com can kick you out.

It's no different then if someone invites you into their house and you start saying stuff they don't like. They're not obliged to let you stay in their house and listen to you. And you can't force them to let you stay claiming "freedom of speech."

So, yes, on TV.com you can't say anything you want, any time and any place you want. The same reason that on your private property, people can't come in and say anything you want, any time and any place they want.

There is a heck of lot that you can say on TV.com, in the proper forum. And even more on your blogs. But even that isn't unlimited.

Anybody who believes in total, unfettered freedom of speech, well, great, I can respect that. Since you feel that way...

Please provide me with your address and house keys so I can come in and talk to you any time you want. Give me your calling card number so I can talk to anybody I want to, any time I want. Send me $100: I have some pamphlets I need to post around town. If you have a web site, give me the passwords and accesses so I can post what I want there, when I want it.

And if you don't do all of this, you're against freedom of speech.

Private citizens and companies aren't required to finance your freedom of speech or provide you with a soapbox. And if they do choose to give you a soapbox, they're allowed to set rules and regulations on when and how you can use that soapbox. That's what TV.com does, that's what most sites do in one form or another.

As far as TV.com, the standards are pretty simple: be nice to each other, be considerate, stay on-topic, and don't do anything illegal.

If you have specific questions you don't wish to discuss publicly, feel free to PM me.

If there's another misunderstanding topic you'd like to see, PM me directly rather than post off-topic here.

Misunderstood Moderations B – Why are all my friends banned?

The short answer is: because all you friends do stuff that get them banned.

The long answer?

Certain times of the year, there's more banning. When school's out, typically. Holidays and summer vacation.

When shows are off the air, temporarily or permanently. People get bored, people have nothing better to do.

This summer, 2008. With gas prices up, less people go on vacation, more people stay at home, more people have nothing better to do.

People "fight back." The policy is report it and ignore it. Write it in the sky in gossamer teardrops. Repeat and repeat it again. If someone says something nasty, or posts a spoiler, or is just some dope trying to get attention, why the heck do you want to repeat it?

What else... off-topic stuff. Often there's an off-topic lounge in a show forum. It's there for a reason. If there isn't a lounge, use a blog. There's a hundred blogs where you can talk to your friends about anything you like. There's only one forum to talk about any given show.

Are your friends saying they didn't get many warnings? Have them do a screen capture of their moderation history and send it to you. You'd be surprised...

Show forums are for show. Ideas on changing policy, go to the TV.com Idea forum. Specific questions about specific moderations, or you don't understand a policy? Ask the Mods. Got a complaint about mods? PM the staff, danmod or jaxiecracks or whoever is staff if you read this 2+ years from when I post.

Griping and complaining? That's why everyone has blogs.

Use show forums to talk about shows, use personal blogs (and the occasional off-topic thread) to talk about personal stuff. It's pretty hard to get suspended or banned if you stick to that and play nice with others. Not just your friends: everyone.

And finally, there's the vicious circle of banning. One person gets banned. People protest (often without the full story, or being told a false story). People start flaming and posting in the wrong spot to complain. More people get suspended and banned. More people flame and complain about that. Even more people get suspended and banned. And on it goes.

Follow the suggestions above, stop the cycle.

Hi! Long time, no blog.

I thought I'd borrow an idea from fellow moderator Grailwolf and post on a few misunderstood moderations as well.

As grailwolf notes there, if you have specific questions you don't wish to discuss publicly, feel free to PM me.

If there's another misunderstanding topic you'd like to see, PM me directly rather than post off-topic here.

Misunderstanding A: Censor Bypassing

The first thing to understand is that some "naughty" words are allowed. On any given day we get users reported for using words that in fact aren't censor bypassing. Hell, damn, crap, and ass are all permitted words. We don't recommend people use them, and if they use them in another context (like flaming) then that's still a TOS violation. But in and of themselves using them is not a Censor Bypassing violation and we don't moderate their use.

So if someone typed the word exactly how it is spelled, and the system lets it through so you can see it... it's an acceptable word.

Oddly, some people will try to censor bypass acceptable words, even though they don't need to. We don't moderate people for doing that, either.

If you're not sure if a word is permitted, create a post with the word(s), check Preview, and see if the system automatically censors it. If it doesn't, then the word is permitted. Then just cancel out rather than post your test message.

As moderators there's nothing we can do about the "system hack" naughty words like "c1ass." However, we won't moderate you for bypassing around those words.

Censor bypassing to quote from shows is allowed, as long as it's suitable in context. Discussing what Tony Soprano said last week in syndication and providing a quote to illustrate is fine. Posting something like You know what Tony Soprano would say about a jerk like you: [Quote here]." is not. Common sense prevails.

Yes, the TV.com filter has some... odd ideas about what words should be censored. Although we have no control over what is censored, we try to keep that in mind. Again, if the word is suitable in context when discussing TV, we won't moderate.

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Those are the things you can do. What is it you can't do?

Censor bypassing on blogs isn't allowed. That's gone back and forth a bit, but currently we're consistent with Gamespot's policy. Typically we'll give you a warning to remove, rather than delete the blog.

Use of abbreviations to get around the filter isn't allowed.

Using a hack to get around the filter isn't allowed.

Even one censor bypass will get your entire post deleted. We don't want to get into the habit of going into people's posts and editing stuff. Most folks don't want us editing their posts.

We'll go by the most common and most common sense interpretation of a censor bypass. You'd be surprised at the # of people who say, "Well, that * is an 'o' and I really meant 'Who gives a shot?'" Uh, right... If you had typed "shot" in the first place, the censor bypass wouldn't have kicked in and you wouldn't have tried to find a way around it.

If you can't get out of the habit of typing "naughty words," or you're not sure of the best way to make them unrecognizable within the permitted rules, your best bet is simply type them like you would normally and let the system automatically make them unrecognizable. believe it or not, most people are smart enough to figure out what you meant from context.

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Why is censor bypassing a TOS violation? Several reasons. We have users of all age groups, with access to all shows. Believe it or not, some parents don't want their kids hearing "naughty words." It may be a minority view, but it's one that CNET respects.

"Naughty words" drag down the discourse. You swear, other people swear back. Some people end up swearing more than actually saying anything meaningful. Believe it or not, you can make yourself understood without "naughty words."

Using "naughty words" doesn't make you a grown up. The fact that most of the people on here who use them are junior and senior high schoolers rather than adults should tell you something.

It's understandable that someone might blurt out something naughty in a conversation. It's not understandable that you uncontrollably typed a censor bypass. Why? Because the system won't let you. If you accidentally type a "naughty word" in the heat of the moment, the system will make it unreadable automatically. You have to deliberately go back and make it a little less unreadable.

Hope that all helps.

Well, if you really have to know the intimate details of my viewing habits... Not really looking for a debate on why I should watch a particular show – that’s why we have debate forums. Just some people seem to find this interesting. Maybe some day I’ll rig up a webcam so when you’re done watching TV, you can watch me watch TV. It involves a lot of me sitting and typing recaps, though.

(Note: this adds up to about 16 hours of TV watching a week, give or take.)

Monday: Heroes, of course! It’s interesting enough to keep me going, secure in the knowledge it’ll probably be cancelled quicker and more inappropriately than Night Stalker last year. It’s got Jeph Leob on it, Tim Kring as the guy in charge (Misfits of Science - whoo-hoo!), and it’s got the edginess and originality that Smallville had for… oh, about half a season. Studio 60, I’m kinda watching to see what da buzz is about, but I was never a West Wing fan and this one isn’t doing much for me either. Also a Tales From the Darkside mini-marathon through October. Otherwise it’s wait to January for 24.

Tuesday: House! Despite a few off characterizations this season is still rolling along pretty well. My curse this year is with the departure of UPN, our local affiliate switched over to Retro Television Network, in the evening, which means Tuesday is now Mission: Impossible night. One of my two favorite 60s American TV shows. Arrgh, another two hours of my life lost to the tube.

Wednesday: Missed the first episode of Jericho tried the second one, kinda liked it, kinda not. Will probably stick with it. Lost, have to follow along to get those hints of vague things that might be answers. Blade is gone for the season (and apparently cancelled permanently). Thanks, SpikeTV, for removing the one original show on your station I liked.

Thursday: The killer night for my schedule. Smallville and Supernatural, got to keep up. And RTN strikes again because my other favorite 60s show, Wild Wild West, is on for two hours.

Friday: Well, with the SciFi/USA biggies like Stargate and Monk gone, all I really have now is Doctor Who (2005) until that runs out after 13 weeks. Then back to the Stargates after the new year.

Saturday: Cartoon day! Legion of Super Heroes, Fantastic Four, and The Batman. Also the old school Doctor Who airs on our local PBS station, so have to watch that as well.

Sunday: Venture Brothers until that runs out in a week or so. The new remastered Star Trek is on at midnight if it’s an episode I particularly want to catch.

Things on my to-watch when I have spare time (ha!): tapes and DVDs of Planet of the Apes, Night Stalker, Firefly, and Friday the 13th: The Series.

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*shrug* So there you go. Enjoy whatever insights into my psyche that my viewing schedule mght give you.

Not much to say, not a big blogger. But with the new season upon us, just a reiteration of a few basic rules and common-sense guidelines.

Sources

For episodes that haven't aired yet, please provide a verifiable source. That would be a reputable major fan site, or an official source. And reputable fan sites provide their sources anyway. If the site doesn't say what the source of the info is, I can't accept it. This policy helps to cut down on Internet rumors. Even the most reputable sites get it wrong occasionally. And I'd rather be 50% slower but 100% accurate, than 100% faster but only 50% accurate.

Format

Yeah, there's lot of guidelines here, but really formatting boils down to one thing: look at what's already done. Quote format, allusion set-up, TV & movie titles, names, line spacing, etc. Flip back an episode or two if there's nothing for that episode, you'll find something. If you can't figure out how to use the HTML, click on Edit and see the code.

Preview

Please check the Preview before hitting Submit. If the quote is all in bold, then there's something wrong with your HTML. Hit the Back button and check it. If there's only one word in the preview for your two-paragraph allusion, then you've got something in the wrong place. Hit Back and put it whre it needs to go.

Comments

The more detailed your Comments on edits and deletions, the more likely I'll accept. I don't really need Comments for new stuff, but if you're editing or changing or deleting, please say why. If you're changing something, say what you're changing. There's no easy way to see what you're changing by comparing it to the original.

And please, please put what you want to appear on screen in the Submission field, not the Comment field. That's another one of those things where I could accept it and try to explain in my response-Comments why it's wrong, but then most people won't see it.

Rejection Rate

I never look at anyone's rejection rate. It doesn't concern me, it doesn't bother me. If you're concerned about your rejection rate, read and follow the above and you won't have many problems.

I try not to reject based solely on formatting but if you submit a lot of stuff and it's all incorrectly formatted, I'll reject at least a few since too many people (understandably) don't read Comments on an approval. But (almost) everybody reads rejection Comments.

If you absolutely can't figure something out and have questions, PM me. But most of it you can figure out from above. If not...well, some stuff is going to get rejected. I've got rejections, everybody's got rejections, don't sweat it.

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That's about it. Look forward to seeing your submissions!

Given the recent increase in submissions, seems like a good time to reiterate TV.com policy, what I understand to be Tv.com policy, and make sure it’s at the top of my blog so I can easily direct people there. Sorry if it's long, but there's a lot to cover...

Number One - look at other entries on shows by the same editor. The best way to get something accepted is to see what editors have accepted before. Me or any other editor, look at what we've done in the past.

Number Two – the following applies to what I edit. Other editors may have different standards. I don’t argue with them about their stuff or tell them what to do, they grant me the same courtesy. See Number One above to figure out how they edit their submissions.

If you submit in the wrong category, I will reject and explain in Comments what the right category is. If you want to avoid a “bad mark” on your submission history, either check previous entries as above, or PM me first. I’m around.

As always, don’t use br or p HTML code. Don’t double-space between lines, either. It might look good in preview, but it messes things up when it gets approved.

Put your submission in the Submission box, not the Comments box. Readers won’t see anything you put in Comments, so putting an explanation there is useless. If it’s a new entry, “New Allusion/Note/Trivia” is sufficient as a Comment. If it’s a deletion or edit, explain in Comments and be very specific as to what you’re doing.

Remember to click on “More Allusions/Notes/Trivia.” Single-space after punctuation.

Base your submissions on your own viewing experience, rather then taking it from another site. We’ve seen most of those sites too, so if the material isn’t already here, we probably had a reason not to put it on. And if they get something wrong, us reposting it just perpetuates the error.

In my experience, initially the more you submit at one time, the more likely you are to put something in the wrong category, and the less comprehensive my explanation will be about why it’s being rejected. Making 50 submissions won’t impress me so take your time, focus on one episode, wait to see what I accept and reject, then move on to the next episode. Most people who read this are probably already familiar with my editorial “style,” so once we have a working relationship then is the time to submit more. Unfortunately, it’s the people who aren’t reading this who need to see it the most.

If I rejected once, submitting the same thing again isn't going to help you.

Show and movie titles are in italics. Episode titles are in quotation marks.

On to the specifics…

1) Allusions - An allusion is an indirect or passing reference to an existing form of media, be it to another TV program, a movie, a piece of music, or a book. Allusions are prevalent in television shows, and some shows, like The Family Guy, make exclusive use of this kind of humor. When submitting allusions, always credit the original media being referenced with as much detail as possible.

An allusion must be a reference. It also should be specific. Either the character should be specific (“This is something like Kafka’s Metamorphosis”!), it should be clear from context (a S.F. character who is a fan of Star Trek referencing a Star Trek quotation even if they don’t say “It’s from Star Trek”), or should be a pretty clear in-joke by the writers.

If you're not sure if it's an allusion, it isn't.

Format an allusion with a quote on the first line (following TV.com standards for quotes). Then hit Return or Enter on your keyboard. Then provide the explanation.

Believe it or not, some stuff predates an association with a particular show. If a show quotes a book but that quote also appeared in another TV show, the allusion is to the book (the “original media”), not the other show.

Be complete, and provide a bit of background on the reference. If a character says, “Just like that peanut farmer of a President,” you quoting the line and simply saying “Referencing Jimmy Carter” is not informative. Toss in a little background. No more then one paragraph or about 50 of your own words. Don’t cut-n-paste from other sites.

A show referring to something in its own history and previous episodes is not an Allusion – that’s simply internal continuity.

If they explain the allusion on screen and make a direct reference, then it’s not an allusion. Thus if a character on-screen explains about Jack the Ripper, and the plot is about Jack the Ripper, you don’t have to submit an allusion about Jack the Ripper.

Word definitions aren’t allusions, so please don't provide a definition of a word a character uses, no matter how obscure.

Allusions should...allude to something. A character named "Venus" does share a name with a planet and a Roman goddess and a statue. But if the character has nothing specific to do with any of these, and "Venus" is just...well, their name, you don't need to submit an allusion explaining Venus. Just because someone or something in a show shares a name with something historical doesn't mean the writers are trying to reference the latter.

Promotional materials aren’t part of the episode and thus shouldn’t be submitted as Allusions.

The writers “borrowing” a plot from another show isn’t an Allusion. If it was a plot on one show, it was probably a plot on a dozen others. So it’s not specific, either. If a character notes a similarity of their on-screen adventures to another show or book or movie, then it would be acceptable.

Allusions as noted are to media - books, TV, movies. You can find a lot of historical non-fiction stuff in books and TV and newspapers, though, and even Family Guy references historical events. So cultural and historical stuff is generally acceptable.

2) Trivia - Trivia is any small detail or goof that might not be known to people who view an episode. Trivia is attached at the episode level, not the show level. It should be specific to what aired in the episode and not deal with off-camera events, which should be submitted in the "notes" form. A car license-plate number is trivia, and a producer walking off the set is a note.

I’m putting Trivia first before Notes because it’s easier. If it deals with what you see on-screen and deals with the “reality” of the episode, it’s Trivia. Trivia can be “cross-platform” if the show is part of a franchise. Thus Stargate SG-1 Trivia that ties into Stargate: Atlantis is acceptable. Stuff across the various Star Trek series, ditto.

Trivia is not for plot points. Plot points aren’t small details, and the people who view an episode typically know them.

If you submit Trivia and you talk about actors or writers or background music choices or directing techniques...then you’ve strayed into Notes. None of that is on-screen. “On-screen” to me means the story and the setting and the “reality” of the episode itself. Characters don’t hear the background music or notice the lighting techniques.

Trivia should be significant or at least of some interest. Yep, this is highly subjective – that’s why us editors get paid the big bucks.

Do not submit “first appearance of”-type material unless it’s of huge significance. Any episode of any series features a first or last or hundredth of something – again, this would result in dozens of such entries per episode.

Internal continuity in general is expected and again, there are so many examples in shows these days that listing everyone would take dozens of entries. However, if the continuity is obscure and “trivial,” it may be accepted.

Trivia isn’t for pet theories or what used to (vaguely) be called Analysis over at TVTome. These categories are for facts, not opinions. Discuss it on the forums.

As confirmed by missribs, Trivia submissions aren’t for back-and-forth discussion. If you disagree with an existing entry, Edit it or mark it for Deletion, and explain in Comments what you’re doing. Keep in mind that entries were scrutinized carefully before being accepted, so your odds of winning an “argument” are pretty slim. But it happens.

3) Notes - Notes are off-camera tidbits about an episode. They should contain off-camera events that deal with a show's production. They should not deal with on-camera events or trivia.

Premieres, finales, etc., are stated in the episode lists and don't need to be submitted. As yo might notice, I'm a big fan of avoiding redundancy.

If it’s not Trivia as above, then it’s probably production-related and we’re into Notes.

Plot points aren’t Notes, either. Plot points go in the Recap. If there’s not a Recap, write one!

In general do not submit “best known as” Notes for guest stars. Everybody is “best known” for something, somewhere – we could have one of these for every guest star in an episode. Folks can click on the cast links at the top of the page if they want this info. If there’s some kind of direct in-joke to an actor’s previous role, then it would be a Note, yes.

Do not submit “similar to something on another show” Notes. There have been tens of thousands of episodes of different series in TV history – I assure you if it’s been done once, it’s been a dozen times somewhere. And then we’d have to provide dozens of such entries per episode.

DVD commentary is fair game but please write in your own words rather then cut-n-paste. Ditto cut scenes and such.

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Hope that all helps.

Okay, just to be clear, and hopefully get the news out to a wider audience, here's how it works if you're an editor.

If you're not an editor, us forum moderators won't take lock/pin requests on show forums from you. Contact the show editor to forward your request to us.

Hopefully this will all go away in a few weeks and you can pin & lock stuff yourselves. We'll see...

1) If you are an editor and want a thread on your show forum locked and/or pinned, use the moderation report pulldown. Report the first post in the thread. Use Strong, put in you're the editor, and ask us to pin and/or lock the first thread. We'll do it.

2) Exception - if you want to lock/pin your own thread, PM us. Currently you can't report your own threads.

3) At this time we can't unlock threads that are locked. Lock stuff with care.

4) If you are locking stuff on your forum for administrative purposes, as opposed to for TV.com forum/policy violations, we will re-mark it as Moderator Discretion - the person who created the first thread will not be penalized or have a mark on their permanent history.

5) If you don't want the thread there, or it shouldn't be there, mark it for deletion. Don't lock it.

6) Report violations of policy normally.

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Using the moderation system rather then PMing is the most reliable and expedient way to get your forum(s) moderated. Using the moderation system means that your request is going to all the moderators, with a better chance of someone acting on it quickly. Also, while the PM system has had its ups and downs, the moderation system has had occasional 1-to-2 minute bouts of blank-screening where you just have to keep trying, but to the best of my knowledge it has never gone down.

Hope that all helps.

Since there have been some recent questions about this, and I'm not sure it's been explained in full anywhere else...

Forum Moderation at TV.com works in three stages:

1) The editor has primary control, although he has to abide by the Terms of Use and TV.com's forum policy, same as everyone else. There is currently no hands-on way for editors to handle those forums, but they can request that moderators (see #3) pin and lock threads for them and if appropriate, their requests are honored. On average there are probably 5 such requests a day.

2) The editor and the forum users can report threads that they believe violate TV.com's forum policy, using the pulldown tool at the lower right of each thread.

3) These reports go to a central queue which a volunteer team of 4 moderators have access to, although staff can look in as well. Reports are essentially randomly assigned and the moderator who fields the case determines if the report requires action. Such action can involve doing nothing, deleting the post (which replaces it with an automated message), deleting the entire thread, locking the thread, suspending the user, or giving a full report of all violations to TV.com staff and letting them determine if a ban is necessary.

I'd hate to estimate, but these days there are very loosely 50-60 reported posts a day. That can of course vary wildly depending on holidays, weekdays vs. weekends, etc.

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A third-party system such as TV.com's has two main advantages while still allowing editors to be personally involved, direct discussion, create threads of interest, etc.

A) As a third party, the moderators are unbiased and objective.

B) A small moderation staff insures greater consistency then having 100+ editors, each with their own approach.

Hope that helps.

First of all, in case you don't check my older blog entries, that's The_Unknown2's banner work above. Thanks again!

And 5952 submissions approved as of 11/18. Woo. Hoo.

So what do you do with Comments, anyway? Well, as an Editor here's what helps me.

If it's a new submission, just say it's "New Quote/Allusion/Recap/Whatever." Really. If you're submitting it to me, I figure you figure it's cool, so you don't have to tell me.

If it's a revision to something, tell me what you're revising. especially on longer entries, even with the old and new next to each other, it's hard to tell what you changed.

Common Error #1

When giving explanations for what you're submitting, don't put anything you want to appear on-screen in Comments. Put it in the submission box. If it's an Allusion, don't put the explanation of the Allusion in the Comments. I could cut-n-paste it in, but probably I'll reject it and ask you to resubmit so you catch it.

Common Error #2

If you want to delete something, mark the Delete button and put the explanation for why you want to delete it in Comments. Don't edit the entry and put your explanation in the submission box. I can't approve a deletion if you don't mark it for deletion without going to the page, deleting it myself, gaming up my points, etc. I'd rather you get the points for it.

Feedback

I almost always will explain why I reject something in my own Comments to you. I'll also include what you submitted. Unless you sent me a lot of stuff, I probably won't include the episode because it's just one more thing to do, and I figure you remember.

I'll fix stuff if I have to format-wise and include something in my Comments to you. I almost never reject something because you didn't get it right. If I do, it's so you notice my Comments/Feedback - usually if it's a repeat problem.

If your entry was great, I don't put in Comments. Sorry - it's something I do to speed up my editing process so that folks get their stuff approved that much faster. All submissions are greatly appreciated - thanks everyone! I'm just afraid my saying "Great Job!" and "Good catch!" would sound a little snarky after I said the same two or three things to someone after approving their 10th or 20th or 50th submission.

Hope that all helps.

Don't give out your password!

Even more importantly, don't give it to someone who asks!

And finally don't give it to someone over the Internet!

To paraphrase a Klingon saying, "A running man can cut a thousand throats in a single night." Give me two minutes with the account of a regular user and I can harass someone else and you'll never know it until someone else lets you know or reports you. And you'll be holding the bag.

And if you're an editor *shudder*

Just some friendly helpful advice. Treat your password (any password) like your bank account, and your social security number, and your PIN number.

As there seem to be a few question on how to use the report system, thought I'd cover them here.

1) You are responsible for what's in your posts. That includes quoting. So if someone flames or censor bypasses, or whatever, don't quote them! Plus if someone violates policy with their post, you quoting it is going to perpetuate the problem.

2) Don't respond to people that violate Terms of Use, even if they're flaming you personally. There is no "It's okay to flame someone else if they're flaming you" rule. Report the post and let it go.

3) Censor bypassing is when you bypass the censor by typing some substitution of an offensive word because TV.com's censor wouldn't let you. If TV.com actually lets someone type the word...it's not bypassing, and thus not a violation of policy.

4) Multiple boxed quoting potentially falls under Disruptive Posting and will be moderated accordingly.

5) Posting overly large pictures can also be Disruptive Posting. Anything that is wider than the typical message area can make it difficult for others to read the thread.

6) The abuse-report system is intended to report...well, abuses of the Terms of Use. There may be things that users do that are annoying, such as double-posts and double-threads, but those aren't usually violations of policy. "Doesn't make sense" when folks have responded to the post and discussed it is not reporting a violation of ToU either.

7) The system is also there for editors to report threads they want deleted, locked, etc. An editor should use Strong, specify they're the editor, and specify they want the thread deleted/locked/pinned.

8 ) If you're not the editor and you're reporting something other then a violation of Terms of Use...well, don't. Contact the show's editor and have them do it.

9) Ditto for pinning threads. Lots of people in a forum want their threads pinned.

10) Moderators aren't going to moderate game threads when people break the rules of that game. Game threads are marginally on-topic at best...

11) Blogs are not immune to Terms of Use violations.

Hope that all helps.

(I decided to split this into two parts for ease of reading)

Since I edit a lot of shows, it may be simpler to put down in writing here the kind of stuff I don't take submission-wise.

Please note these are only my personal preferences, when TV.com hasn't or can't specify details. Other editors should do what they feel is best for their shows - that's their decision and I respect it. These are also guidelines - I might take a longer quote or a really interesting piece of obscure pointless trivia. Generally I'm pretty consistent on these, though.

If there is a punctuation or formatting issue, I almost always edit when possible rather then reject. In some cases I will reject and ask you to resubmit, with instructions on how to improve your entry, particularly if you have a consistent problem with getting something correctly submitted.

Whether I approve or reject your submission, check the PM message. I often leave feedback on an approval if there is something I had to fix and keep fixing, as above. Otherwise I may have to reject stuff you're not formatting correctly to get you to read the feedback, and neither one of us wants that.

I will almost always ask you to resubmit if you put something in the wrong category. I'd rather you get one reject and one credit and I get nothing, then you get a credit and I get two credits (one to delete from the wrong spot, one to put in the correct spot) that look rather suspicious on my record.

If you're not sure about something, ask. To quote Paul Newman in Absence of Malice - "I'm around." Don't try and fix 50 things with a common "problem." Try one or two and see what I do with them, then respond with the rest. Or PM me before you submit any.

Overall

Look at episodes of a show I edit that you're submitting for, and see how I do it and how I format. That will tell you more then a book's length of explanation.

Keep it impersonal. Don't speculate on the future, don't give me "Analysis" (to quote the old TV Tome section). Don't use "I" or "we" or "I think" or "I feel" or "I wonder what will happen." Don't ask open-ended questions. Just the facts, ma'am. Opinion you can put on the forums. That doesn't mean you can't have a little fun with it, like pointing out the inherent silliness of something.

The best way to get information for a show is to watch the show. If you go to another site and copy their stuff, you're just repeating any errors they might have. Then folks come here and copy our stuff and the errors keep getting spread...and spread...and spread. Every recap I type up, I created by watching the show and typing it up.

If you submit info on something that doesn't appear on-screen or for an episode that hasn't aired yet, provide a source. Don't speculate, don't guess. Don't cite a fan source that speculates or guesses - I don't care what their reputation is. They may be using info contributed by someone else that is speculating or guessing. Posting it here just spreads fake info around further and faster.

IMDB is not a valid source - they don't QC submissions and you can list an actor as appearing in almost anything on their site. Jack Nicholson in an episode of Everyone Loves Raymond? No problem as far as IMDB is concerned.

Anything beyond brief factual statements and tidbits, do not copy-n-paste from another site. I check. It's not that hard to spot a cut-n-paste job - it usually is much more professionally written then a typical submission. Again, I write up all my own recaps and watch the shows personally when I do - I expect anyone submitting one to do the same.

If your submission appears stolen from another site I will call you on it. If it turns out it's yours...would you rather be unhappy I challenged you on it, or happy that I'm making sure folks don't steal your stuff? You are safest rewriting your own material a bit and submitting it here.

Don't use paragraph HTML code. That includes < p > and < br > or any variant therein. Just use the Enter/Return key. Paragraph HTML might make the preview look good, but it messes up stuff when it gets on the page.

Never double-space line-wise after anything.

Do single-space after periods and commas. This is the current standard in publishing due to proportionate font spacing.

Use the Comments section. If you change something, tell me specifically what it is in Comments. If I can't tell what you're changing in a Recap or Summary, I won't accept it - I'm not even going to try and figure out what you're changing. I will send it back and ask you to clarify.

Click on More [Quotes/Trivia/Notes/Whatever]. There is almost always more there than you see.

Run a basic grammar/spell check on anything that's a sentence or longer. It doesn't bother me if you type it up in a word processing program and cut-n-paste it into a submission form here. I'll Google-check it whether it looks like it came from a website or not. 90% of stuff I have to fix is lack of capitalization and punctuation.

On to Part 2 and specifics...

Part 2

Quotes

TV Tome's standards seem best - short, memorable, not a lot of content necessary to explain. Quotes should be accessible to both the casual reader and the long-time fan. They should be distinctive. Lana telling Clark "I love you," may be a memorable moment for the fans and a payoff for four seasons of back-and-forth, but "I love you" is not a memorable quote in and of itself.

If you are going to provide content, keep it as short as possible. Put in in parenthesis, use HTML to italicize it, lower-cap the first word if not a proper noun, no period - it's a fragment, not a sentence.

Sometimes you can avoid content by replacing a pronoun with the character's name in parentheses in the quote. Don't italicize in this case. Example: Angel: She said I was evil. - becomes Angel: (Cordelia) said I was evil.

Don't transcribe scenes, although a monologue or near-monologue is okay. But it better be really, really funny throughout.

Quotes are...well, verbal. Trying to use Quotes to describe a bit of physical comedy or some sight gag really doesn't work.

I don't believe there is a limit on # of quotes. If an episode has a lot of funny quotes and you submit funny quote #50, I won't turn it away.

Notes

These deal with real-life stuff. Production stuff, background, etc. That as per the FAQ.

They should relate directly to the episode or the show whenever possible.

The obvious doesn't need to be stated as a Note. It's pretty hard to get to an episode page without seeing it's a premiere, season premiere, or season/show finale.

You don't need to list First Appearances, or "This is Their First Appearance Since...Their Last Appearance." Ona lot of shows these kinds of notes can be infinitely long. Folks can click on the actor links if they're interested.

The fact a guest star is on another show is not Noteworthy or relevant to the episode. Neither is a character bio of an actor. People can click on the actor's name to find out about him or her if they want to know.

Given how many people work together in the industry, particularly on Vancouver-based productions, the fact that two or more actors in an episode worked together on another episode of another show is not Noteworthy (if it ever was). In truly astounding cases of maybe 4+ actors, it might be acceptable.

Random coincidence (as opposed to deliberate in-jokes) is not Noteworthy. Yes, actors sometimes play characters with the same first name on two different shows. Again, viewers can click on the actor link if they're interested.

Plot points and major relevations are not Noteworthy, and are potentially spoilers to anyone browsing the first page of the episode page. They should also be in the Recap, so putting them in Notes is redundant.

Trivia

This is where Goofs go. That's where TV.com put them from TV Tome, that's where they say they should be in the FAQ, that's where they're going to stay.

I'm a big person for noting Goofs, and it makes up the majority of the Trivia entries on the shows I edit. Just put in the goof straight out. Don't personalize your entry with stuff like "I think" or even just "I" or "We" or whatever. "Just the facts, ma'am," is the approach you want to take.

Goofs have received some consideration before being accepted. If you disagree with a Goof, mark it for deletion and provide your explanation in the Comments section. We're not going to have running debate-entries in the Goof section.

Trivia, put Trivia: before the entry, to distinguish it from Goofs.

Trivia in the sense of something obscure on the show, as the TV.com FAQ defines it...hmmm. It's hard to come up with a standard here. To me it should be interesting. The color of a dress, the type of shoes, the make of a car, a license plate #...what's interesting about it? I never reject stuff out of hand, but it's fair to say that I am pretty strict on this. You could literally come up with hundreds of trivia entries per any given episode on this kind of thing.

Allusions

Provide a reference like a quote, format wise. Examples:

Title
Fred: Wow, aren't they just like the rock band Kiss?
Fred: Holding a book titled "The Iliad."

Try to keep this stuff relatively short, and only quote one person rather then provide a conversation.

The next line would then be the explanation. Keep it to one relatively small-medium paragraph.

Put the explanation in the submission, not the Comments section. It's weird I see the Allusion submission that has nothing but a book title, and then the explanation in Comments section. The readers like to see your explanation too.

Allusions should be to stuff that is alluded to, but not explained in the episode itself. If the episode is about Charles Manson, and in the show they give an explanation of who Charles Manson is, it's not an Allusion. Use Allusions to explain stuff they don't stop to tell the viewer about.

Allusions should be specific. You're safest if the specific reference is specifically mentioned. Saying, "Hmmm, it looks like something in Movie X" almost certainly won't cut it. If you can cite one movie it generally looks like, I can cite a dozen more.

You don't need to define words.

Recaps & Summaries

I'm okay with accepting corrections on typos and stuff. Minor changes and stuff just to make it look "better" - no. I've had too many back-and-forths of "My entry is better" - "No, my thing is better" - "Hey, I'd better change it back to how my way is better." The reader should be able to come back to the recap from day to day and see essentially the same thing.

On a similar note, make sure what you submit is right the first time. This not only means cut-n-paste it into MSWord or something and run a spelling/grammar check, but make sure you've got everything there when you submit it. Don't submit and then spend the next week posting a word change here, a comma change there.

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Hope that all helps. I'll probably come back and add stuff to this as I think of stuff or see new patterns develop.

This is to folks who don't understand how to submit quotes. And hopefully for the benefit of other editors who have the same problem.

First, remember to click on "More Quotes."

Next, I'm not quite clear how folks can manage to do it, but it seems like quite a few people submit Quotes but don't see the clear "More Help" text 1" to the right of it on the page. Here's what it says:

Episode Quotes: This can be any quote found in throughout this episode. When formatting your quote, please surround the character name with < b > tags followed by a colon ":" followed by the quote.

Example
Lil' Jon: Huuuwhaaatt?!
Real Lil' Jon: Yeaaaahhhhhh!

("< b > tags" means a < b > at the beginning and a < /b > at the end)

Does anybody see any quotation marks there? No. Then don't put in quotation marks when you submit. It makes it look like you're cutting-and-pasting from some other site that uses them.

Does it say to put in a < br > or a < p > between the first and second lines of the quotation? No. So please don't put them in. Yes, it makes it look "normal" when you see it in Preview. But it puts in extra spacing when it actually shows up on the page.

On longer quotes, it slows things down for the editor to clean up this kind of stuff, and since the editing screen is a bit small and hard to read, that means the editor might not catch every thing of these they need to change. Which means they have to go to the page annd fix it, and that takes more time. Not that I mind the extra contributions, but hey, it still takes time.

Hope that helps.

Yeah, I'm back. And going through my editor's queue, well...

Speaking of things not to do when you submit material, at least to shows I edit...

Do not submit Notes, Trivia, Recaps, and Summaries verbatim from other site.

Even if it's your own, rewrite it at least a little. Otherwise it looks like TV.com is stealing it.

If it's not yours, forget it. I don't care if it's factual or not. If you take 50 bits of info from somebody other's site and submit them here, exactly the same as how they have it written, including the owner's opinions, specific use of words, etc., you know what it looks like to that site's user. Stealing.

Even if you change maybe one word per entry and dump them here, you know what it looks like. Once again, Stealing.

Someone tried this over the last couple of days. Somebody who should know better because they've tried this before. Didn't work then, didn't work now. Dumb. They even took it off a site where the owner said he'd pursue legal measures against anyone who took his material.

You can just go to someone's site and copy off quotes and cast, I suppose. But it's usually pretty obvious when you're doing it. Because you're not watching the episode, so you just submit quotes for a bunch of different episodes at the same time. Also when you mess up the HTML code because you're trying to put it on an existing cut-n-paste rather then typing it yourself, or leave in quotation marks that those sites have but TV.com doesn't use.

That means you're relying on someone else for the accuracy of your submission. You can do it...but don't count on being "Trusted" if that's how you pick up submissions, without personally verifying their accuracy.

If you submit someone else's stuff here, it will be rejected. It's a legal risk nobody can afford to take. And I have to assume anything you submit is a theft.

If someone submits someone else's material here, deliberately or not, to make it look like TV.com and/or myself (as editor for a particular show) is stealing stuff, I will have TV.com pursue whatever other matters are necessary, up to and including banning, to prevent it happening again.

Sorry to rant a bit, but I write semi-professionally. Theft of intellectual property is important to me, whether it be artwork or Notes or Trivia or whatever. If you think it's easy to write even something as simple as a Note...do it yourself. The folks who steal stuff from other sites never do, or are horrible at actually spelling stuff and using grammar when they bother to try. If you can't...well, accept your limitations and try something else.

I will be out of town for 2-3 days, and a major writing project is due Sunday. So I won't be doing a lot with editing/moderating through Saturday afternoon.

If you have immediate problems that cna't be handled through the forum-report moderation system, you can PM laurameyer or VillaFan or George Fergus.

Catch you in a couple.

If you want to know about trolling, flaming, "debating" on a forum, etc. read this.

And don't miss the "flame war" link at the bottom - lots more useful info.

Meanwhile, a few clarifications on forum moderation:

Discussing the downloading of illegally duplicated material, or asking someone to tell you how, is against Terms of Use. Discussing something you saw, as long as you don't go into how you saw it or help others to see it, has to be okay.

Making videos based on copyrighted shows and music outside of your personal use and using the forums to promote and distribute them is against Terms of Use.

As I said below, game threads are up to the individual editors for now.

Moderators cannot and will not try to resolve "truth" if someone is discussing something in an upcoming episode, or spreading alleged rumors, or whatever. There aren't enough hours in the day, even if we could tell for sure.

If you start a post or thread with "Well, this is off-topic" or "This really isn't about the series...", we appreciate your honesty but yes, it is off-topic and will be deleted.