Updated: February 17, 2006. Since there's nowhere else to list this, I plan on providing a link to this entry in every blog. Sorry if some people think I'm too "strict" but really I'm following all the rules of TV.com, they're not my original rules. Imagine what the site would look like if no rules were followed... FYI you can check out TV.com's FAQ where they list their submission rules and pretty much anything else you wanted to know about TV.com. SUBMISSION GUIDELINES: 1. SPOILERS: Spoilers are defined as any details about an episode that has not aired yet. No spoilers for future episodes please! I do not allow spoilers to be posted on any of my show guides (for upcoming episodes). This includes guest-stars, episode summaries, episode recaps and quotes - but I will allow episode names, writers & directors to be listed before the episode airs - as they don't normally spoil anything. Note that this is an editor's prerogative, not a TV.com rule - I just prefer to keep my guides spoiler-free until after the episode airs. FYI the rule about guest-stars is in place because some guest-stars can be spoilers, while others, of course, are not (as they're listed in the summary). In order to prevent the spoiler ones from being listed, I have to say no guest-stars can be submitted at all, until after the episode airing. 2. QUOTES: Format: Please use HTML coding for the proper areas. BOLD the speaker's name, but not the colon ( : ). Make sure the colon is put after the bolding, unless there's some sort of action listing next, in that case, put the colon after the action listing & it's HTML coding. Actions belong in brackets, if they're referring to something the speaker is doing or talking to someone right then but if the action is between quotes, no need for brackets. All actions should be listed in ITALICS. Do not include paragraph or break codes ( < br >, < P > ) in submissions please just use the enter key. Yes this shows up strangely in the preview, but believe me, it goes to the normal format once approved. Please remember to close all HTML coding tags with a " / ", otherwise the bolding or italicizing will continue on for everything. I will edit quotes if I have the time, but if I'm in a particularly cranky mood, expect a rejection. You should be typing the quotes like this, but do not leave the spaces shown here between the < and > marks: < b >Phoebe< /b > < i >(talking to Leo about Piper)< /i >: I don't think you know what you're getting into, dead man. Example of how it should look: Phoebe (talking to Leo about Piper): I don't think you know what you're getting into, dead man. Length/Types of Quotes: Quotes should be short and sweet, and word-for-word from the episode. Don't paraphrase and don't rehash a whole scene. Any quotes not following this guideline will be rejected or deleted. The More Quotes section: Yes every quote that was on the TV Tome pages was transferred over here. TV.com only has so much space on the main page for quotes, if you look closely at the bottom of the displayed quotes, there's a link for MORE QUOTES where the rest are listed. Please don't submit duplicate quotes, check first. 3. DISPUTING/DELETING QUOTES & TRIVIA: Don't post anything starting with "in response to...". If you can dispute something and want it removed, use the edit button, click on DELETE THIS BLURB and type (in the User Comments), the reason why it's wrong and should be removed. Do not just edit the blurb adding your reasons why in the actual submission box. 4. APPROPRIATE SECTIONS: Make sure you use the appropriate section for your submission and please do not personalize submissons (for example they should not start with "I think", "we saw", etc). Here's a brief listing: Episode Allusions is the section where you list episode title references or a pop culture mention in an episode. For title references please use the same format as listed below. Use an HTML break mark after the title. Example (< br >) but with no spaces: Title: Dead Man Dating
The title is a reference to "Dead Man Walking", the 1995 film starring Susan Sarandon and Sean Penn. And if your episode allusion has to do with a quote, use the quote format to list the quote (by bolding the speaker's name, etc), then use the html break mark, and list your reference on the next line. Please use quotations to list episode titles, film titles, book titles, TV series titles, etc, and place them in italics - this all makes them stand out better and be noticed. Episode Notes are for off-camera tidbits about an episode. They should contain off-camera events that deal with a show's production and should not deal with on-camera events or trivia. Alternate episode titles and airdates (if it aired in another country before the originating country) are acceptable. Do not list "Shannen Doherty did not appear in this episode" for example - that is what the cast listings are for. Instead, you can uncheck her box in the Show Stars section of the particular episode. Episode Trivia is for general trivia/factoids on the episode, on-camera events, and also the correct section for goofs & nitpicks. If you're listing a Trivia blurb please put "TRIVIA:" in front of it, just to differentiate between the Goof listings and the Trivia blurbs. Example: TRIVIA: Phoebe develops a new power, empathy, in this episode. Please note some plot points can be listed in the trivia section, but I'd recommend that the spoiler warning should apply for recent episodes. 5. PROPER PUNCTUATION/GRAMMAR: Please use proper punctuation & grammar for every submission. However I will edit submissions if necessary, for small errors, but if it's too filled with lots of errors or a continuous occurance it will be rejected. 6. REJECTIONS: Normally I will list in the Moderator Comments, the reason why your submission has been rejected. Sometimes on a particularly cranky day, I may not. I apologize in advance. ;) Please note that I won't just automatically reject something cuz you forgot a comma, I will edit some submissions and approve them nonetheless. But if there are several errors (grammatical or not) I may reject it, and then tell you why. Also FYI I will almost always sign all my moderator comments with my name, so if you receive a rejection and my name isn't there, it most likely wasn't me that rejected it, so please don't ask me why it was rejected. It was probably the TV.com moderation staff - I believe they sign theirs "TV.com staff". However on occasion I won't sign my name if I'm approving/rejecting a bunch of your submissions in one sitting. 7. ADDING NEW EPISODES: To add a new episode title, here's the drill: on the main page of the show that you want to add a new episode to, on the right, there's some blue/yellow buttons, the bottom blue one says CONTRIBUTE. Click on that and it'll take you to the correct area to add the new episode. Be sure and list the proper season, season episode # and the all around episode # as well, to ensure that it gets listed in the right area. Also if you don't add an airdate (estimated or correct) this will mess up the whole listing - and I will normally reject that. So please add an airdate even if it's just an estimate. 8. ADDING DIRECTORS, WRITERS & OTHER CREW: It's a tad confusing, but here's how to find the area to contribute crew info. On the episode's page you wish to add this info to, the main page is on the SUMMARY section. Click on the button listing CAST and then the next button that says WRITERS & DIRECTORS (or CREW, if it's not a writer or director you wish to add) and then click the ADD button. Follow the instructions listed from there onward. 9. ADDING NEW CAST LISTINGS & EDITING CHARACTER NAMES: To add cast listings to an episode you click on the CAST button, then click on ADD. There you can check or uncheck the boxes of the show's main stars, and it's recurring characters. Then use the Step 2 Guest-stars section (about halfway down the page) to add the guest-stars (follow the listed instructions there). There's a TV.com glitch that if you attempt to edit/correct a cast's character's name that's already listed, you cannot do it in one submission. Firstly, delete the actor's name that says "unknown" or the wrong character name. Then in a second, separate submission, delete the actor's name and then add in the new listing with the proper names. In your user comments, list STEP #1, and STEP #2 to correct it. That way the editor knows which one to approve first. This will allow the deletion of the wrong listing and add in the corrected one. It's a tad complicated but it seems to work alright. Same goes with CREW listings too. 10. USER COMMENTS: Some people seem to be confused about this section. When you add a submission there's a mandatory section called the User Comments area. That section isn't for comments on the episode or the series in general, it's for comments about your submission. Basically the reason why your submission should be accepted. Usually it's a good idea to list your submission there as well, or some other notation for your own reference as to the submission, just in case it's rejected incorrectly. If it's for a deletion or correction, please use it to list your reasons why it should be deleted or corrected. 11. PEOPLE PAGES: Actor/actress pages, also known as People pages, should have guidelines too. It takes 40 points to gain editorship of a person page and it takes 10 points for the eligibility of Trusted User status (optional by the editor of course). Biography: An actor/actress' biography should be fairly detailed and have birth info (name, date, location), family info, first acting role and well-known roles. Trivia & Notes: Pretty self-explanatory, this section is for trivia & notes about the person. For my people pages I like to have them list the person's name, rather than just "he". For example: Chris once said in an interview that his dream role would be to play an Italian gangster. Just like for my show guides, I prefer titles to be in quotations and italics. If it's a TV.com listed show or person, a link to that person's page is very helpful. TV.com doesn't allow outside links however, not even to their official sites or IMdb.com. Don't forget about the More Trivia & Notes button to see what doesn't fit on the main page. Credits: TV credits cannot be added via the people pages, only through the show guides. The credits are listed alphabetically and if you click on See All Appearances for (fill in name) you will see a detailed list of the credits but you'll find they're not listed chronologically. If you click on each appearance it will take you to the show/episode guide where the dates are listed. News and Pictures: Users cannot add info or pictures to the people pages. Reviews: Reviews can be added by users to the people pages.