Rules

Posting rules for The Minority Report

• No profanity.

• No personal attacks.

• No harassment or demonization of a particular individual.

• No disruptive behavior or off-topic remarks for their own sake.

• We will not allow users to sign up with accounts impersonating identifiable public figures.

The above are all grounds for revocation of privileges (banning). Banning will be determined by one of the site administrators, directors, editors, moderators or what ever other title we see fit to call our owners, editors and hall monitors and will only take place after a warning.

Banned users are invited to use the contact form to make their case for reinstatement. Reregistering under alternate names, initiating blog wars, emailing directly or otherwise contacting the moderators will not result in reinstatement, and may cause us to snark viciously.

Our site, our rules! Sorry guys, that's just the way we roll!

Tips and etiquette

Front Page Stories - Stories are written by the editors and appear the main or "front" page.

Blog Posts - Open to anyone who signs up for an account. When you sign up for an account you will receive your own blog where you will be able to write and keep track of posts. Blog posts are the core of the community aspect of the site. All blog posts can be recommended by other TMR users. Those with the most recommendations appear on the Recommended Diary list on the right side of the screen.

Blogs, that a very high quality, informative and topical may be "bumped" to the Front Page by the editors. In addition, if your blogs are continually bumped to the front page and or you’re a heavy commenter you may be asked to join the team and become a front page poster!

Comments – comments are open to everyone who signs up for an account and are highly encouraged!

How to write a good blog post - First, let's start with the No-Nos.

Bad Blogs:

• One or two sentence posts

• Posts that are just a link to another story

• Duplicate posts (i.e. re-posting a post you already posted)

• EXCESSIVE CAPITALIZATION

• Reprinting entire articles from other sources is plagiarism, and may violate copyright law.

Now for some tips, these are not rules but good suggestions for getting your blog recommended and look good.

Good Blogs:

• Include links to other articles, front page stories, other diaries, or websites. These outside sources serve as supporting evidence or information in your post.

• Include some analysis. If there is an interesting Op-Ed in your local paper which you want others to read, link to it, quote parts of it, and add your personal thoughts about the issue or piece of news.

• Are longer than one paragraph but no longer than a long newspaper article. Exceptions exist, but as a general rule extra long posts may stop others from reading your whole post.

• Address a new piece of information (i.e. news) or introduce a new opinion or viewpoint of analysis.

If no one comments on your blog post, don’t think it an indication of how bad or good it may be. Comments usually indicate how controversial the subject of your blog is. Some of the best posts leave the reader speechless with nothing to add save a word of encouragement.

Some Etiquette:

Spread out your Blog Posts - Posting 3 or 4 in a short amount of time (i.e. less than an hour) pushes out older ones. Our editors will have an open thread (anything goes) for short blogs and news stories that may not require a full blog post.

Stay on topic - At least make the effort to keep a thread on the topic of the original story. Threadjacking happens but try to keep it on topic.

Cross-posting – The Minority Report encourages those who have their own blogs to cross-post some of their material. Do not re-create every post from your personal site in a blog post here (you already have your own blog here so it’s kind of silly). But if a particular post is well-written and you you’d like to share it with the community, cross-posting is a great way to increase your readership.

Hat-tips - If you notice an interesting article or issue in the MSM through another blog and then write about the article here, to avoid the appearance of plagiarism it is customary to end your diary with a line such as this: (Hat tip: Jed Babbin)

No Text - n/t, (NT), or another variation on the theme - this is used when posting a one line comment with no text in the body - That was great Gamecock n/t

Some helpful acronyms and terms:

IMO - In My Opinion

IMHO - In My Humble Opinion

WRT - With Respect To

IIRC - If I Recall Correctly

FWIW - For What Its Worth

FAIK - Far as I know

BTW - By the way

IOW - In other words

YMMV - Your Mileage May Vary

Trolls - Trolls are posters who come to disrupt the site. Some are straightforward rabble-rousers who start fights and arguments through snark and disrespect. Others pose as disaffected Republicans and proceed to repeat Democratic talking points or as extremist Republicans proceeding to bother others through racist, sexist, or other unacceptable and offensive posts.

Moby - "a particular kind of troll modeled after our favorite musical artist, Moby, who said that liberals should pose on conservative sites as conservatives and generally make us look bad!

KnownFacts - A repeated "fact" generally from our liberal visitors that reflects partisanship or groupthink from the left more than reality. Spouting of KnownFacts™ often leads to banning. Also PointySticks™, Bushlied™, and Hit-and-Run posts are good way to get banned in a quick!