Submission guidelines

Important things you need to know about submitting things to this site. In a nutshell:

• This is a moderated community. All your submissions must be checked out by a moderator before they can go onto the site.
• All your work must be your own.

NOTE TO ALL SUBMITTERS: All submissions to this site will be reviewed for content appropriateness before being published on the site. The word of the reviewing moderators is final, however you may resubmit a revised version of your work at any time.

1. This site is intended to be appropriate for teens and older. As such, content of an adult nature will not be accepted. Graphic descriptions of sexual activities cross the line, as do excessively graphic depictions of violence. Mild language is acceptable in context-appropriate situations, but bear in mind the words of Jay Alexander — “Profanity is the crutch of a conversational cripple.”

   The ‘Teen’ classification used by the ESRB is a very good rule of thumb to follow. If you’re concerned about the nature of your content, ask yourself if you’d let a 13-year-old read it in front of his or her parents and you. If no, then consider revising. As stated above, the Mods have the final say in what constitutes acceptable content.

2. Submissions are only accepted through the self-serve web publishing system. The web publisher allows for basic text formatting. Help is available and we strongly suggest that you read through it.

   Effort should be made on the part of the submitter to ensure that the submission has been spell-checked and grammar-checked as much as possible. It is strongly suggested that if you need grammar or spelling help, that you use a good beta reader or critique partner.

   Submissions made via the web publisher go through a review process with the Mods. We’ll check it for content appropriateness and the occasional minor grammatical or spelling error, or light formatting error, but we are not your Composition teachers — the more effort your submission needs on our part to clean it up, the longer it will take to get posted. Once approved by a Mod, submissions are then posted to the public site.

   If you are experiencing technical difficulties with the web publisher, or any of the site tools, please check the help. If you still need assistance, you can contact us and ask for help. We also provide assistance in the forums.

3. Edits/revisions to chapters or stories already posted via the publisher will be entered back into the moderation queue to be approved and posted by a Mod. This is to ensure the overall quality of the site. Please do not submit a new copy of your story — just edit the version that is already in the system.

4. Plagiarism is not acceptable, even in fanfic. If it is discovered that you have submitted another person’s work as your own, action will be taken up to and including banning you permanently from the site. If you are an author and feel that someone else has plagiarized your work, contact the Mods and conflict resolution will be attempted.

   Please keep in mind that in fanfic, people often have similar ideas and that ideas are not copyrightable. The plagiarism rule does not apply to in-game dialogue or material, as in the case of depictions of game events.

5. Fan art is welcome! You can submit them just like stories — have a look at the help to find out how. Please check out the guidelines for art, below.

What is art? This question has been discussed for generations. Artist Piero Manzoni in his 1961 piece 'Merda d'Artista,' sealed his own feces in cans, signed and mounted them, and sold them as art. However, just because something can be called art does not mean we'll accept it as a submission for this site.

(Note, if even after reading all this, you're still in doubt, ASK. We don't mind. No matter how the saying goes, it's actually better to ask for permission than to ask for forgiveness.)

1. We accept original (made by you) fan art.

2. Pictures made of or containing other people's artwork will not permitted without permission of the original artist and with full credit. This also means something like CGing or coloring somebody's line art without permission and credit.

3. DO NOT redraw someone else's existing picture or part of it. Just copying something existing is pointless. Using an existing picture for reference is fine, copying a pose and etc, but you really should make changes to make the picture your own.

4. Use of somebody else's character requires permission of the original creator and credit. To prevent disputes, it is suggested that you get approval from the characters creator before posting anything that uses their character

Bottom line: Direct tracing of pictures, photos, official art, art made by other people, pictures containing other people's art, textures/buttons/banners, will NOT be accepted.

Art in a wide variety of mediums is accepted. Hand drawn, paint, CG, photographs of cosplayers are all valid mediums. However, some such as cosplay have special requirements.

Guidelines on Drawn Submissions

1. Put effort into your work. We understand that not everyone is at the same level of skill and we don't require submissions to look like it was done by Michelangelo or Leonardo da Vinci, HOWEVER, please try to spend more than a few minutes on the art you send to the Main Site. Be proud of what you create. If you only spent a few minutes on it, you really should try harder before posting.

2. Don't submit every little doodle. If you really want to share something you did in the corner of your Geometry notes, post it in the Fan Art section of the Forums. Your unfinished sketches and drawings are more than welcome there.

3. Lined paper drawings will NOT be accepted. Draw on CLEAN, UNLINED paper. For all those who draw in class, stick some unlined paper in your binders. Another option is to trace your art on to a clean sheet of white paper before scanning. Drawings done on lined paper with unrelated notes look incomplete and 'doodly.' These types of drawings are best shared in the Forums.

4. Scan your work well. If you don't have a scanner, get one or find somebody with one; digital cameras are usually a poor substitute for a scanner as they tend to have serious light level problems (if you can do it well, then that's fine, but few can). Or learn how to draw on the computer.

5. Keep the size of the picture to less than 450 pixels wide. This size allows for the site's layout to stay together. If your image must be larger, use a thumbnail or text link.

Guidelines on Cosplay Submissions

1. You must be THE cosplayer or be submitting with the cosplayer's permission and give full credits.

2. You must be fully in character. Cosplay means COSTUME play. We will not accept just any photograph with a photoshopped lightsaber added in. You in a black hoodie and a photoshopped lightsaber doesn't count either, sorry.

3. Simple backgrounds are preferred as they help place full attention on the cosplayer.

4. For photos taken at conventions, YOU must be the subject. Unnecessary elements to the image (people not in character, background elements, etc) should be cropped out.

Guidelines on the use of Character Portrait Generators

Images created with Character Portrait Generators (such as Hero Machine) will NOT be accepted as fan art. Something like this is fine if you're posting in the forums, but does not qualify as stand-alone fan art on the Main Site.

Note: While you do push the buttons to generate the character, all resulting art was actually drawn by someone else. With Hero Machine, for example, every bit of a generated character is still under their copyright. With fan art, it's much more ideal if you drew it yourself.

Some might say they 'can't draw' and therefore can only use Generators. All is not lost, these people have two options:

1. Find another outlet of expression. Perhaps you could write a great fic people will enjoy reading. Or...

2. Draw your own character anyway! If you set your mind to it and try your best, you just might surprise yourself! And no matter how the picture turns out, you can still hold your head high and proudly submit your own genuine work of fan art.

Guidelines on the use of 'Dollz'

We will no longer be accepting dollz on this site.

Additional Guidelines

1. You may NOT link to image files uploaded to this site from other sites. You can however link to the page that the image, its description, and other information is on. This is not a file dump.

2. One account per person. Multiple accounts are grounds for banning.

3. Constructive criticism is expected in comments. However, flames and general cruelty will not be permitted.

Breaking any of these rules may cause any or all of the following:

1. Deletion of all your pictures.

2. You being banned from submitting content to this site.

Disclaimer:

Please view the Terms of Service for further details. The rules of this site may change at any time without notice, but any significant changes will be announced. We welcome any and all comments regarding these guidelines (contrary to popular belief, we're not horrible, despotic Sith Lords). If something was not covered or if you have any questions or suggestions, please feel free to contact us.