The Blogging for Progress Competition Survival Guide

In a few hours the Fall Blogging for Contest Competition will begin. For those that have been here in previous contests, you know that means it's time for the official start of the contest tips from Fallon. For those of you that are new, consider this your survival guide to the contest.

First off, let's cover the basics of participation.

Registration

There is confusion about the registration deadline every season. The contest starts at 12:01am PDT on October 1, 2008 and runs until 12pm (PST) on December 15, 2008. You must be registered by November 15, 2008. That does not mean the contest ends on November 15, 2008... it simply means that, in order to be eligible to win, your account had to have been created and the Account Terms for the competition selected on or before November 15, 2008.

Now... the not so fun stuff...

Grammar/Spelling

Grammar and spelling are always important and can make a big difference in how well you do in the competition. I can't stress that enough. It. Makes. A. Difference. If you feel the need to point out errors to someone, please do so constructively. Telling another participant that he or she is deserving of death because he or she didn't spell check really isn't conducive to the atmosphere we strive for here at ProgressiveU and will result in a TOS violation notice. If someone points out your errors, please don't get bent out of shape about it. More often than not, those comments are meant to help. Take the advice to heart... it can help. Also, please remember that the contest has been opened to an international audience this year. Some of our participants may not be as well versed in the English language as you are. Cut them a little slack!

Formatting, Etc

Don't post 20 blogs in a row; everyone hates it. Don't put capital letters where capital letters don't belong; everyone hates it. Don't fail to put empty space between paragraphs (a single blank line between paragraphs is great); everyone hates it. Don't randomly space; everyone hates it. Don't use chatspeak; everyone hates it. Seeing a pattern here? There are some things ProgressiveU users will tolerate... some they will not. Those mentioned above tend to fall into the intolerable category. Readers will ignore your posts for multiple transgressions of these ProgressiveU mores.

Copying Articles, Etc

Do not paste more than 4 paragraphs from another source, fail to cite your sources (a simple link is helpful), post chain letters, etc. Someone will flag it as plagiarism and the moderators will be forced to intervene. Your fellow participants want to know what YOU think in addition to what the guy that wrote the article thinks. Linking to that article and giving a brief blurb is enough. All entries must contain at least 200 words of original text. This means that at least 200 words of any entry must come from you and you alone. Repeating text to make the minimum word count doesn't fly either. It was only original the first time you wrote it!

Censorship and Terms of Service

We do not censor you because we disagree. We do censor, if that's what you want to call it, when you violate the Terms of Service. You agreed to those terms when you created an account. It is of vital importance that you read those terms and ensure you understand what they mean. We enforce the ToS every single day. Three violations of the Terms and you will be disqualified and your account may be blocked. Read the Terms. Remember them. There is no need to get angry when you get a notice. If you don't agree, appeal the decision. If the decision stands, don't sweat it. One violation isn't going to kill you.

If you see a violation that hasn't yet be dealt with, flag it for us so we can take a look. If it's a violation, we'll handle it. But remember! We encourage debate and discussion, even those that are heated! We simply expect you to do so responsibly and maturely. Name calling, personal attacks, and other ridiculousness serve only to degrade the conversation. Have fun arguing until you're blue in the face... but do so respectfully!

Bonus Ops

Bonus opportunities are posted for your benefit. Get involved with them as often as you can and have fun doing so. Some ops will be for points towards the competition, others are for awesome freebies. You do not have to get involved if you do not want too... but it's always helpful.

Commenting

Please don't comment on your own posts unless you have something important to add. Respond to others until your heart is content, but it's rather unfair to write an entry and then post 10 comments in that entry about that entry. Likewise, please don't pimp your blog elsewhere. If you want to promote, you may do so in the signature. You can also link to an entry of yours if it's relevant to the discussion. If it isn't... don't post it.

And on another commenting note... commenting on the entries of others is a big help. The more you comment, the more attention your blog will get. But tread carefully! Commenting on every single comment is excessive and others will hate you for it (just ask previous contestants how they feel about those nameless individuals who did this). Those that are unnecessary will also be removed.

And I touched on their earlier, but feel it's worth mentioning again... it doesn't matter if you have 1,000 blogs or 100 at the end of the competition. Quality over quantity. Posting 20 short entries a day will do you more harm than good (others will simply ignore you in the future, thus losing you the unique view points and the points that come from ongoing dialog with others).

The Other Stuff

Introduction posts go in the forums. They do not count as blog entries and will be moved.

Creativity is a must, as Green Underbelly indicated in his comment (below) Users and visitors really appreciate new material and fresh perspectives. Don't beat a dead horse... unless you have a stick or method previously unseen!

Unless otherwise noted, creative writing endeavors (poems, stories, etc) should be posted to the creative writing site. There will be bonus ops for creative writing, but this is a blogging competition... not a writing competition!

It probably seems unfair in the context of this entry, but is for good reason even so... blogs on how to blog don't count. With the exception of this entry that is posted for the benefit of new members, the Coalition handles the blogs on blogging. If you'd like to help with that, check out the Coalition. Otherwise, stick to the progressive topics! That's what this competition is about!

Don't forget the Work Study Program! You volunteer while participating in the competition and we provide references (and other cool incentives as we're able)!

If you have questions, don't hesitate to ask! The moderators and alumni members are always happy to help. You can post questions to the forums (click on the Forum link at the top of the site) or email the moderation team at info@progressiveu.org.

Now... I know this is incredibly long and you're praying for the end, but there's one final absolutely vital thing to mention here.

HAVE FUN and get to know your fellow bloggers. As others can attest, lifelong friendships and all sorts of fun (and mischief) can be made here.... it's as much a part of ProgressiveU as is the competition itself. Enjoy it!

Cheers,
Fallon

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