Drug News Forum: MUST READ BEFORE POSTING

[Heretic.Ape.]

Originally posted by Pondlife, revised by h.a.

Last update: 2008-03-11

Please read these guidelines before posting in the Drug News forum

 

• 1Specific-substance articles now go in Drug News
• 2Only post drug-related articles
• 3Check for duplicate articles before posting
• 4Include the article text
• 5Include the article URL
• 6Use the thread prefixes
• 7Things we want to see more of
• 8Uploading pictures and videos
• 9Use descriptive thread titles
• 10What about Policy and Law articles?
• 11A final word

[top]Specific-substance articles now go in Drug News

All drugs news items should go in the Drug News forum. This keeps all the drug news stories together, and ensures that the news ticker on the front page shows all the recent news stories.

However, we still want substance-specific articles to be seen in the appropriate forum. So if the article that you want to post is about a topic that has a dedicated forum (For example Salvia divinorum), then post your thread there and hit the report button (!). In the report message, ask the moderator to move your thread to the news section with a permanent redirect. This will allow the thread to be accessed via both the substance-specific forum and News.

[top]Only post drug-related articles

Please check that the article has a genuine link to drugs. The media sometimes mention drugs to "sex up" an article even when the drugs are not really related to the main story.

[top]Check for duplicate articles before posting

Before you start a new thread, please check that it has not already been posted. Often several media outlets will cover the same story under a slightly different headline, so don't assume that something has not been posted based purely on thread titles. Two things that can help are:

a) Use the forum search function to look for unusual words in the article. People and place names are often good choices.

b) Take a look at the titles of recent postings in the Drug News forum to see if there is anything that could be the same story.

If the story has already been posted, but you have found an article with new or different information that adds to the discussion, please add this to the existing thread.

[top]Include the article text

Make sure you include all the text from the original article. Don't just post the URL because web pages often disappear or get moved over time. Remove all unnecessary formatting from the text before posting. One easy way to do this is to paste the text into notepad or another text editor first, which will remove any formatting. Also try to remove picture captions, advertisement links and other text that doesn't belong to the body of the article.

Do not put article text in quotes. If you have a commentary on the article, then please add it to the bottom of the article. with a clear seperation between the article and your words.

Please post the introduction paragraph in bold.

[top]Include the article URL

Include a link to the web page where the article came from. Add this at the bottom of your post. This provides attribution and lets people check the original source.

One exception to this rule is if the article came from a government or law enforcement website. In these cases, you should include the URL as text rather than a link by unchecking the "automatically parse links in text" box under "miscellaneous options". This avoids putting DF referer entries in the target webserver logs.

[top]Use the thread prefixes

When starting a new thread, please choose the appropriate thread prefix from the drop-down menu to the left of the subject.

[top]Things we want to see more of

Articles related to the following subjects are of special interest and are especially welcome:

a) Large-scale busts: there are plenty of small-scale busts and arrests for possession of small quantities, especially in the local press, but large-scale busts and closures of big production facilities are far more interesting.

b) Stories that don't make the headlines in the mainstream media: Some stories are only in a local paper with a small readership and not picked up by the big news outlets for some reason. It's not that these are more interesting per se but often people won't see these stories unless they are posted. That doesn't mean that every minor possession story should be posted; it has to be interesting in some way to start with.

c) Details of law enforcement process or legal tactics: these are all-too-often not reported, so it's worth posting when you see them.

d) Followups to stories: It's always good to see followups to old stories - posted in the original thread of course.

e) Stories of plans to schedule substances: Even if it's in an obscure jurisdiction, this sort of story still gives useful information because once a substance is scheduled in one country others often follow.

f) Stories where the person involved was found not guilty or charges were dropped, especially if there are details about the legal process. Jury nullification stories are especially welcome.

g) Drug research, either on new drugs or new research on existing drugs.

[top]Uploading pictures and videos

If the news article contains interesting pictures, then please upload these as attachments by downloading them to your PC and using the "Manage Attachments" button to upload them to DF. Then post them inline like described here: Posting images inline. If images are very large, then consider to resize them or alternatively just insert them as thumbnails using the "Manage Attachments" button.

If the article does not contain images, then please consider to find a suitable image. It will look good in the article and on the main news page. Members will enjoy reading the article more.

Videos should be uploaded to the "News Coverage Videos about Drugs" section of the video archive; not uploaded to the Drugs News forum.

[top]Use descriptive thread titles

Remember that the title will appear on the news ticker. Make sure that you use descriptive thread titles that will spark interest. The headline from the original article is generally a good starting point.

[top]What about Policy and Law articles?

There is some degree of ambiguity and overlap between the Drug News, Drug Policy, and Law & Order forums. Please post all news articles in Drug News with the appropriate thread prefix. This will keep all news together and avoid clutter in the other forums.

[top]A final word

Finally, bear in mind that all of the usual rules of the forum apply in News as in all fora.

Feel free to contact Heretic.Ape. or Pondlife with questions or concerns.

Cheers,
the staff

[Alfa]

Changed:

If the news article contains interesting pictures, please upload these as attachments by downloading them to your PC and using the "Manage Attachments" button to upload them to DF. Then post them inline like described here: Posting images inline.

If images are very large, then consider to resize them or alternatively just insert them as thumbnails using the "Manage Attachments" button.

Do not put article text in quotes. If you have a commentary on the article, then please add it to the bottom of the article. with a clear seperation between the article and your words.

Include a link to the web page where the article came from. Add this at the bottom of your post. This provides attribution and lets people check the original source.

[Alfa]

The main news page works on thread ratings. The articles posted within the last week with the highest ratings are shown. So please rate threads.

[Alfa]

If you copy-paste an article from another site and it has formatting in it (pics, icons, links, etc) then the article here will still have those elements, while they are hosted on the original site. So when someone looks at it here, these elements are actually accessed on the server of the original site. This also means that if that server uses malicious techniques like tracking cookies, this will be added as an extra 'goodie'. US government sites use such tactics.

You can easily prevent this, by copy-pasting the article into notepad. Then copy it from there and paste it here. All formatting will be gone.

[Alfa]

• Please start the article at the beginning of the post.
• Format the introduction in bold.
• Please try to find a suitable image to make the article look good. If the article does not contain images, then please consider to find a suitable image to make the article look good itself and on the main news page. Members will enjoy reading the article more.
• Do not post any additional information(author, source, etc) at the beginning of the post, but post this at the end.

[Alfa]

Please note that the way we post news has changed, because of our main news page.

The most important changes are:

• Articles are no longer posted in quotes.
• The introduction of the article should be in bold.
• Images should be added if possible and placed in the article, following the instructions linked to above and here.
• Information about the article, like link, author, date should be posted below the article.
• Your personal comments about the article can be posted either in quotes at the end of the article or in a separate post.
• The news forums may contain news articles only.

[Alfa]

Please begin an article with the image (either on the left side or the right side), by using the following code:
[imgl=white]place image url here[/imgl] to place the image on the left side.
[imgr=white]place image url here[/imgr]to place the image on the right side.
Post the article text directly after the code.