Viewing Thread:
"GAD Advice: Submissions (Updated)"

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Introduction
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This is a (much promised) quick tips section on how to submit content and format your submissions to ;

a) Assure that all your submissions are actually used
b) Help Freeola staff members spend less time formatting submissions

I will go into a bit of detail about how things are done here :D

Please note that the advice I give here can be used by technical reviews however this is specifically for the Gaming side of the site/forums.



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Contents
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1. Cheats, Tips and Achievements/Trophies
2. Walkthroughs
3 Reviews/Chat Posts
4. General Tips



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1. Cheats/Tips/Achievements
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Achievements/Trophies
Also referred to as A/T

This category is for official XBOX360/PS3 achivs or trophies.

When you submit these please do so in this format:
Effect: List the name of the A/S and then the amount of points or the value of the trophy in brackets (ie: Blah Blah (10)/Blah Blah (Bronze)
When: During game
How: List how to perform the A/S (ie. Kill 20 zombies etc)

Submit these one by one, as they look horrendous submitted in one block, and will only count as 1 submission.

Cheats/Unlockables

These are pure cheat codes, or something that you have to unlock during the game. If there is no A/T for the achievement, then it is an unlockable.

Submit these in this format;
Effect: List the exact effect and nothing more. If the cheat gives you +10 lives state "Gives you +10 lives"
When: Say exactly when, and try and avoid vague phrases. During game is not detailed enough in most cases. If you have to pause say so
How: List what you have to do, if you enter a code list it here, if you have to kill a certain boss.....etc

Tips/Advice

Try and submit these by going through the tips page on the site. This will make our job slightly easier :D

Format is self explanatory by now. Try and use the above advice to by as detailed as possible.


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2. Walkthroughs
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What is a Walkthrough?

Let's put this is simply as possible. A walkthrough is a guide, describing how to perform certain levels or tasks within the game. In general this will be a complete level by level guide of the game, walking the reader through every section and teaching them how to succeed.

What will be accepted as a walkthrough?

As with everything we monitor all submissions manually, and as such there is a bit of lee way here. Generally we will accept anything that is helpful and concise, and chuck away anything that is complete nonsense.

We will also accept non-guide walkthroughs, such as a users recent "How do I get that achievement" submissions. However these should be clearly labelled and as concise as possible. Kill 100 "Blanks" to get "Blah" (10) is not good enough.

How should I submit a walkthrough

Walkthroughs are generally quite long, and detailed. We use the forum text field to display the content on site which is quite small, compared to other walkthrough sites. Due to this it is best to;

-Submit your content in normal text, edited in a simple word processor (Notepad for example) using no strange or uncommon characters, or html

-Avoid "ASCII drawings" of any nature, unless they are small and less than 30 characters wide

-Assure any "tables" (example below) is less than 60 characters long. We have to limit this to avoid breaks occurring ans destroying the "table"

-Assure text is not broken at any point other than where you wish it to be. Do not submit a paragraph on 9 different lines etc, (formatted for another walkthrough site). Sections of text should be effectively, 1 long line until it needs a new line or paragraph. The site will wrap it into the display anyway, and extra breaks will destroy the guide.

Anything else?

Not really. Just make sure you put a title at the top of the game, and check your spelling and punctuation :D


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3. Reviews/Chat Posts
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What is a review

Well this should be easy for veteran reviewers. Everyone has an opinion, and the more we share we more we learn. This section is mainly for reviewing games/movies/anything you want. If you have an opinion let people know! No rules dictate what is allowed to be reviewed (despite our regular forum T&C's)

How good does it have to be?

Again no rules here. Just say what you thought. I am not going to lie and say that quality does not matter, however it's the thought that counts (as they say)!.

Generally a 2 sentence post, poorly punctuated and full of spelling mistakes shows no effort and is unlikely to get any interest. It is also unlikely to win any awards (and in Freeola's case, Awards mean prizes!).

Any advice

There is no harm in submitting anything really, what we want is honest opinions and to let us know what the game is like. But in order to improve the review you may wish to;

-Make the review as tidy as possible, using correct punctuation when possible. This not only improves the look, but makes it a lot easier for readers to scan through the review.

-Explain in as much detail as possible. We are not asking for essays, but saying a game is "brill" is not as good as saying why the game is "brilliant", and explaining your thoughts.

-Score the game. You would be surprised how many people flick straight to this, and read the review based on this.

Anything else?

DO NOT plagiarise! Simple rule this. We do check these manually and there is a 5 second way of making sure the review i your own work. A forum user has posted a helpful topic helping people figure this out, so it's best to avoid it at all costs.

[b]Remember:[/b] If you post a review that isn't your own work please follow these rules, otherwise you will be plagerising, which is strongly frowned upon.

- DO NOT under any circumstances, use content that you do not have express and direct permission from the original owner to use.

- If the content states that anyone may use the information, then feel free to post, but make sure you abide by the owners requests, and credit the owner regardless.




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4. General Tips
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"Common sense is a wonderful thing, try and apply it wherever possible"
-Warhunt, 2009

Joking aside, as you may have noticed I have mentioned that we monitor things pretty much by hand. This gives us a lot of room to fully moderate and control submission, so it's generally a good idea to take your time over your submissions, and put some effort into them.

-Spell check your work. This saves us a job, and increases chances of a win!

-If you are not sure, ask before submitting. This will save you time and give us layabouts on the forums something to do :D

-All submissions should be entered before midnight on the day before the Award period (so to be eligible for Tuesdays award, your submission would need to be done and approved before Monday night at midnight)

Cool,I just glanced down the General Chat Thread and couldn't see any little trophy icons other than the one for the World Cup Prediction thing.

To be honest I'm not even sure why I said that. It was a busy day, and my headache was giving my jip, but meh .....

Yes film reviews can still be counted but, to clarify, they will be considered in with the general thread posts, and as a seperate bracket from the game reviews.

(Although effectively this doesn't mean much, as the prize for Thurs covers both of these things).

And to answer your question about when a forum post won.... about 2/3 awards back...... week before last.

Here is the winning post

Edgy wrote:
> I thought any forum post was eligible?

Is that right,can't remember last time a forum post won ?.Does the forum post have to be the starting thread or can a reply win ?

So the new rule is that film reviews cannot win but some other non game reviews still can ?

I thought any forum post was eligible?

Warhunt wrote:
> Incidentally movie reviews are not eligible for prize awards.

Now I never knew this. It is true, you learn something new everyday.

As Butch said tbh, Ignore Chris :P

And why would you think I would shout at you ? 0_o Questions keep me busy :)

EDITED: To remove my quote originally regarding film reviews.

Ineedsleep wrote:
> Also, I can't find any of the movie revews...

When you are on the Games Reviews forum you should see a drop-down box towards the top of the screen. Clicking this lists all the different game consoles that have been on wide release, at the very bottom of this list is Non-game Reviews. This is where your film reviews will be found.

Reviews of computer software, or hardware devices (phones/sat navs/microwave etc.) are generally placed in the 'Technical Forum' although 'General' is as good as place as any in this instance.

Thank you :)

Usually, any non-game reviews (films, products) will be submitted in the "General Chat" forum. I say usually, but film and product reviews really aren't written that often on here. But yes, for now at least, I'd post your general reviews in the "General Chat" forum, as they are still eligible for a GAD in that forum (in the same way that any thread is eligible for a GAD).

Perhaps the 'Games Review' forum should just be the 'Review' forum?

*apologies if I've misinformed INS with the information above, but it's my attempt at relieving abit of pressure off the staffies ;D*

Warhunt wrote:
>
> What is a review
>
> mainly for reviewing games/movies/anything you want. If you have
> an opinion let people know! No rules dictate what is allowed to
> be reviewed (despite our regular forum T&C's)

Please do not shout at me. I understand you have a huge workload to whittle through but I have a quick query.

"anything you want" - I'd would have liked to review a piece of electronic gear but it doesn't neatly fit into any of the catagories listed.

Also, I can't find any of the movie revews...