Last Updated:   January 16, 2007

Welcome to the FireSociety! In order to provide knowledge and information to users everywhere, the community needs people like you to contribute information and ideas to our repository. There are no set guidelines for writing an article; you have complete personal freedom to write as you choose. As long as it is within scope of the community, it is fair game.

Four Easy Steps!

Even if you have never written an article before, don't worry! Your article does not have to be perfect, and you can be done in just a few minutes. In fact, there are just four easy steps to submitting an article. Click on the link and get started!

• Write It! (Effective Writing Tips)
• Format It! (Make Your Article More User-Friendly)
• Tag It! (Categorizing Your Content)
• Submit It! (Editor's Comments)

If you have additional questions or suggestions related to creating or formatting your article, visit our feedback form. An Editor will respond to your questions and/or suggestions.

We are committed to providing a friendly atmosphere for everyone who wants to learn, read about, and share their thoughts and opinions with others. We understand that not everyone is a professional writer, and that's okay! We value everyone's style when sharing ideas. However, effectively written articles can truly make yours stand out, and therefore help many more people. Here are a few things to consider when writing your article.

Scope

Scope is the breadth of knowledge your article covers. It's usually best to limit a particular article to one well-formed idea. Generic concepts are often very difficult to explain in one article. To limit scope, try splitting big concepts into many smaller articles.

Stay on Course

It's easy to veer off course when writing about something you're passionate about. Sometimes when you go off topic it's difficult to find your way back. Do the best while writing to keep your ideas focused and not lose track of the points that you are trying to make. If you find yourself drifting off topic, jot down the idea and write a separate article covering that idea.

Language

We respect the diversity and languages of other cultures, but the community platform is not currently setup to handle languages other than English. Until that time, we require that all submitted works are in written in English.

Profanity

One of our few writing requirements requires that contributing members refrain from using inappropriate language in their articles. Inappropriate language includes profanity, inappropriate phrases, and slang. Articles containing the use of inappropriate language are rejected and sent back for correction.

Check out our member conduct section on the right side of the authoring screen for additional information about conduct.

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Articles that are properly formatted make sharing your ideas with others much easier than just using multiple paragraphs. We have built in a sophisticated editing tool that gives you the ability for you to use headings, bullet points, numbered lists, bolded words, multiple fonts, and more.

The editing tool functions in a similar way to common word processor programs. There are a variety of formatting and control options in button form above the input area. This tool does not require the knowledge of markup tags in order to format your text. The effect on items will appear instantaneously in the box. For example, bolding a section of text will appear bold in the box.

The editing tool should mostly be familiar and intuitive, it does behave differently than your typical word processing package. Below is a quick reference guide to help explain common formatting functions.

Paragraph Breaks

Separating your ideas into paragraphs is the first step to formatting an article. A paragraph break puts a blank line between paragraphs. To use a paragraph break, leave a blank line between paragraphs by using the enter key. While writing your article, let the text wrap in the box. There is no need to press enter at the end of a line.

Bold, Italic, and Underline Text

To bold, italicize, or underline areas of text, look for the B, I, and U buttons in the upper-left corner of the control area. Highlight the text you wish modify and press the appropriate formatting button. You can also turn on and off these controls by pressing them before typing. You can combine two or more of these functions to any area of text.

Here is an example of what these effects look like:

Bold: This area of text is bold
Italic: This area of text is Italic
Underline: This area of text is underlined

Headings

Heading controls make larger text at the top of new points or concepts. Headings are great for titling specific sections of your article. The editing tool supports all six sizes of headings. To select one, highlight the area of text you wish to modify, and click the appropriate heading size in the left drop down box in the upper row of controls. Note that heading sizes will appear larger in the text entry area than they will on the preview page.

Bulleted and Numbered Lists

Bulleted and numbered lists make it easy to highlight specific subtopics and processes. Any area of text can be easy turned into a ordered or unorderd list by highlighting the text you wish to modify and pressing the ordered or unordered list button. An unordered list uses bullet points for each line, while an ordered list uses numbers for each line.

Examples:

Numbered or Ordered Lists

1. This is point 1
2. This is point 2
3. This is point 3

Unordered Lists

• This is point 1
• This is point 2
• This is point 3

It is also possible to make point lists within lists. Here is an example:

• this is point 1
• This is sub point 1
• This is sub point 2
• This is point 2
• This is point 3

Links to Other Web Pages or Articles

It is possible to create links to other web pages or articles by using link control. This is useful if you want to create a link to another article that you or someone else has written to provide additional or sub information that will help the user understand your article better.

To add a hyperlink to your article, highlight the area of text you wish to be a link and press the link control button (looks like a paperclip), or right-click the area of text and select "Insert/edit Link" from the dropdown menu. An "Insert/edit Link" contol box will appear on the screen. Add the URL to the correct field, and select if the link should replace the existing page or should launch in a new window. Typically, links that exit that site should launch in a new window.

Links on the preview page will be a different color than the rest of the text. This means that when the user clicks this text, it will take them to the URL provided.

You can remove links by deleting the text area, or highlightin the area of text and selecting the "unlink" control.

Full Screen View

You can enlarge the text entry area to fill the entire screen by clicking on the "Full Screen View Toggle" in the lower-right corner of the control area. Doing so allows you to see more of your text at once, making it easier to write and edit longer articles. You can return to normal view at any time by clicking the toggle button again.

Additional Help

For additional help using advanced formatting options, like inserting tables and images, click the help button in the control area for more information on how to use these controls.

In order to better organize the articles on the site, all community articles are "tagged" to different categories. We have put extensive effort into making the category selection as simple as possible. Select the categories to which your article relates.

The better job you do in tagging your article, the easier it is for others to find and read it. Sharing your ideas and opinions is important to others, so make sure you tag it in a way it will be found.

To select more than one topic in the category list, hold down the Ctrl key (or equivalent) on your keyboard when making your selections. While holding Ctrl, clicking on a topic will select it, clicking it again will deselect it.

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Once you have written, formatted and tagged your article, simpy submit it for publication. After submitting your article, it is possible it will again show up in the draft section of your unpublished items folder in "My Library". If an article was returned to you, there is a reason. A note will be inserted in the text at the top of the article. View the Editor's Comments for an explanation as to why your article was returned. In many cases, a simple revision like changing a swear word or choosing a different image is all that is necessary for the article to be corrected and published. After you have made your revision, click the submit button to send your revised article for publishing.

If you have a question for the Editor about how to proceed, add additional comments at the beginning of your article. If awaiting feedback before making your changes, please resubmit the article to bring the new comments to the Editor's attention. Upon reading, the Editor will return the article to your draft section along with a response. Once your changes are made, delete any comments at the top of your article, and resubmit for publishing.

Articles may be sent back to you for numerous reasons, but below are the most common:

• A swear word, profanity, or inappropriate language was used
• An inappropriate image, such as pornography, copyrighted works, etc. was submitted.
• The article submitted does not bear any relevance to scope of the site. Please refrain from submitting unrelated content, fiction, poetry, etc.
• The article is a forum post. Please refrain from submitting forum posts as articles.
• Titles comprised of a single word will not be accepted.

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