Rules and Guidelines for Blogs

[.Rai]

Welcome to Blogs! This is a section for creating and maintaining your own personal blogs, of any topic(s) that may please you.

I. Global YCM Rules
As always, the global YCM rules apply here.
II. Spam
If you're leaving a comment in a blog, make sure you avoid spam. Discussions, compliments and constructive criticism are encouraged, but very short posts, or posts with just an image provide little of worth.
III. Flaming
The line between criticism and plain trolling and/or flaming exists. Verbal warnings will occur, before further warnings are dealt out. If you see anything offensive occurs, please use the Report function in the bottom-left corner of posts.
IV. Inappropriate Content
This is a family-friendly website in general, so the guideline for content is PG-13. Mild, mature topics in the range of PG-16 should be noted as such.
V. One Blog Rule
You may only keep one blog at a time. We may make special exceptions if you want to run another one (an example may be a community or collaborative blog, as well as a personal one): please PM me or another mod if so! If you want a new blog, please request for your blog to be locked, and then go ahead and make a new one.
VI. Advertising
If you have a blog elsewhere, you may edit those posts and post them as a blog here. However, keep any linking to your other blogs at a minimum, with only a single link in your opening post at maximum. Any other updates should link back to this opening post. General linking to relevant personal websites is fine. As long as you're literally not trying to sell us stuff, you're almost definitely in the clear.

FAQ

What am I allowed to talk about in my blog? As long as the topic is forum-appropriate (PG-13 is the general guideline, but there is wiggle space), you're good with pretty much anything!
Does a blog have to be topic-specific? Nope! If you have a blog where you want to just general thoughts, feel free to. Some members may make very dedicated blogs to one particular topic, some split between a few, and others may have sprawling ones.
Podcasts? Yes, podcasts are allowed here in addition to blogs!
How regular should I update my blog? Be as irregular or as regular as you like, although the more regular ones tend to work better. If you want to be organised, the forum has a Calendar function. If you have posts coming up, go ahead and note it in the community calendar.
How long should posts be? As long or as short as you want! Most blogs will likely have mid-length updates, but that may change depending on your content and audience.
My blog topic is related to Custom Cards? If you have a blog that focuses on a topic that may fit into another section, such as a fiction blog, or a music blog, or a custom cards blog, use your best judgement to see whether it fits there or in Blogs. All are welcome in Blogs, but they may be less or more appropriate in their respective section. PM me if you're unsure.
I have a blog on another website…? You can host a version of an external blog here, by imitating it in thread form. Updates should be made here manually, rather than linking elsewhere.
My blog was locked or moved, is it gone forever? Unless a mod says so, you can generally start anew and make an improved version of the locked blog in this section. Unless we said you can't, but I don't expect this to happen too often.
Bumping old blogs: Can I still post in it? If you're the owner of the blog and you're reviving the blog, feel free. If you're a commenter, make you sure bump within a reasonable timeframe, or contact the person in charge of the blog to see how they feel about it.

Your Guide to Building a Blog & Example Blogs

This section is as simple as it sounds really. Post a blog, and update it with various articles timely! There are no rules to how your blog should be set up, but better presented blogs make your lives and your readers' lives simpler! Past blog posts should be neatly archived (click the number in the top-right of a post to get a link to that specific post) in your opening post, and should give some details to what your blog is about. Logos may also be good to have, if you want! Just request one in the Graphic Requests section. If you have a clear schedule, you might want to consider detailing that in your opening post, or even using the Calendar to notify people of when the next post is! Many people may update weekly, but this could easily be less or more. Collaborative blogs may be more difficult to maintain as only one of the people involved will have access to the opening post, but you may want to give each of the people involved their own post below the opening post, for sub-organisation. If you want help organising your blog, don't be afraid to ask someone about it! In the meantime, here are some example opening posts for inspiration.

[spoiler=Example #1]

The YCM Podcast is a weekly feature where I invite various members of the community onto the podcast to talk about what's been happening the past week, both on the forum and off of it. If you would like to be a guest, please send me a PM!

Streams are on Saturdays, 7PM GMT. Streams will be uploaded and posted soon after recording.

Current Hosts: Tourminted, Dye, Thargh
Guest Schedule: Welp, Afro, Coco Pops, Crazy Daughter, Pole, Ford Focus, Clarinet, Admiral Ackbar, Tofu, Solar, GnomeBeggar, White, Han Solo, Kazoo

[spoiler=Past Broadcast Archive]Episode 1, with Coco Pops
Episode 2, with Pole[/spoiler][/spoiler][spoiler=Example #2]

I. Introduction
Welcome to my blog, Shakespeare's Ghetto. If you like the artistry that Shakespeare inspired in all of us, this is a blog to follow! This blog is a mixture of articles analysing Shakespeare, as well as weekly Shakespeare extracts.

II. Regular Schedule
Wednesdays: Shakespeare Analysis
Sundays: Weekly Extracts
Fortnightly: "Shake my Spears" Segment

[spoiler=Shakespeare Analysis #1, Wednesday 17th December 2014]William Shakespeare was great English playwright, dramatist and poet who lived during the late sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries. Shakespeare is considered to be the greatest playwright of all time. No other writer’s plays have been produced so many times or read so widely in so many countries as his.


William Shakespeare was born in Stratford in 1564. He was one of eight children. When William Shakespeare was about seven years old, he probably began attending the Stratford Grammar School with other boys of his social class. Students went to school year round attending school for nine hours a day.

The teachers were strict disciplinarians. Stratford was an exciting place to live. Stratford also had fields and woods surrounding it giving William the opportunity to hunt and trap small game. The River Avon, which ran through die town, endowed him the title the Bard of Avon.

Shakespeare’s poems and plays show love for nature and rural life which reflects his childhood. In London, Shakespeare’s career took off. It is believed that he may have become well I known in London theatrical life by 1592. By that time, he had joined one of die city’s repertory theatre companies.

These companies were made up of a permanent cast of actors who presented different plays week after week. The companies were commercial organisations that depended on admission from their audience. Scholars know that Shakespeare belonged to one of the most popular acting companies in London called ‘the Lord Chamberlain’s Men’.

Shakespeare was a leading member of the group from 1594 for the rest of his career. 1594 had produced at least six of Shakespeare’s plays; During Shakespeare’s life, there were two monarchs who ruled England. They were Henry the eighth and Elizabeth the first. Both were impressed with Shakespeare, which made his name known.

There is evidence that he was a member of a traveling theatre group. In 1594, he became an actor and playwright for Lord Chamberlain’s Men. In 1599, he became a part owner of the prosperous Globe Theatre. He also was a part owner of the Black friars Theatre as of 1609. Shakespeare retired to Stratford in 1613 where he wrote many of his excellent plays. There are many reasons as to why William Shakespeare is so famous.

He was able to find universal human qualities and put them in a dramatic situation creating characters that are timeless. Yet he had the ability to create characters that are highly individual human beings. Their struggles in life are universal.

The world has admired and respected many great writers, but only Shakespeare has generated such enormous continuing interest. Shakespeare’s plays are usually divided into their major Categories. These are comedy, tragedy and history.

Three plays, which are in the category of comedy, are The Comedy of Errors, The Taming of the Shrew and The Two Gentlemen of Verona. Three plays, which are in die category of tragedy, are Romeo and Juliet, Titus Andronicus and Julius Caesar. In the category of history, three plays are Henry V, Richard II and Richard III.[/spoiler][spoiler=Shake My Spears #1, Friday 19th December 2014]shake those spears guys

yeah

just shake them[/spoiler][spoiler=Weekly Extracts #1, Sunday 21st December 2014]SCENE I. King Lear's palace.

Enter KENT, GLOUCESTER, and EDMUND
KENT
I thought the king had more affected the Duke of
Albany than Cornwall.
GLOUCESTER
It did always seem so to us: but now, in the
division of the kingdom, it appears not which of
the dukes he values most; for equalities are so
weighed, that curiosity in neither can make choice
of either's moiety.
KENT
Is not this your son, my lord?
GLOUCESTER
His breeding, sir, hath been at my charge: I have
so often blushed to acknowledge him, that now I am
brazed to it.
KENT
I cannot conceive you.
GLOUCESTER
Sir, this young fellow's mother could: whereupon
she grew round-wombed, and had, indeed, sir, a son
for her cradle ere she had a husband for her bed.
Do you smell a fault?
KENT
I cannot wish the fault undone, the issue of it
being so proper.
GLOUCESTER
But I have, sir, a son by order of law, some year
elder than this, who yet is no dearer in my account:
though this knave came something saucily into the
world before he was sent for, yet was his mother
fair; there was good sport at his making, and the
whoreson must be acknowledged. Do you know this
noble gentleman, Edmund?
EDMUND
No, my lord.
GLOUCESTER
My lord of Kent: remember him hereafter as my
honourable friend.
EDMUND
My services to your lordship.
KENT
I must love you, and sue to know you better.
EDMUND
Sir, I shall study deserving.
GLOUCESTER
He hath been out nine years, and away he shall
again. The king is coming.
Sennet. Enter KING LEAR, CORNWALL, ALBANY, GONERIL, REGAN, CORDELIA, and Attendants

KING LEAR
Attend the lords of France and Burgundy, Gloucester.
GLOUCESTER
I shall, my liege.
Exeunt GLOUCESTER and EDMUND

KING LEAR
Meantime we shall express our darker purpose.
Give me the map there. Know that we have divided
In three our kingdom: and 'tis our fast intent
To shake all cares and business from our age;
Conferring them on younger strengths, while we
Unburthen'd crawl toward death. Our son of Cornwall,
And you, our no less loving son of Albany,
We have this hour a constant will to publish
Our daughters' several dowers, that future strife
May be prevented now. The princes, France and Burgundy,
Great rivals in our youngest daughter's love,
Long in our court have made their amorous sojourn,
And here are to be answer'd. Tell me, my daughters,--
Since now we will divest us both of rule,
Interest of territory, cares of state,--
Which of you shall we say doth love us most?
That we our largest bounty may extend
Where nature doth with merit challenge. Goneril,
Our eldest-born, speak first.
GONERIL
Sir, I love you more than words can wield the matter;
Dearer than eye-sight, space, and liberty;
Beyond what can be valued, rich or rare;
No less than life, with grace, health, beauty, honour;
As much as child e'er loved, or father found;
A love that makes breath poor, and speech unable;
Beyond all manner of so much I love you.
CORDELIA
[Aside] What shall Cordelia do?
Love, and be silent.
LEAR
Of all these bounds, even from this line to this,
With shadowy forests and with champains rich'd,
With plenteous rivers and wide-skirted meads,
We make thee lady: to thine and Albany's issue
Be this perpetual. What says our second daughter,
Our dearest Regan, wife to Cornwall? Speak.
REGAN
Sir, I am made
Of the self-same metal that my sister is,
And prize me at her worth. In my true heart
I find she names my very deed of love;
Only she comes too short: that I profess
Myself an enemy to all other joys,
Which the most precious square of sense possesses;
And find I am alone felicitate
In your dear highness' love.
CORDELIA
[Aside] Then poor Cordelia!
And yet not so; since, I am sure, my love's
More richer than my tongue.
KING LEAR
To thee and thine hereditary ever
Remain this ample third of our fair kingdom;
No less in space, validity, and pleasure,
Than that conferr'd on Goneril. Now, our joy,
Although the last, not least; to whose young love
The vines of France and milk of Burgundy
Strive to be interess'd; what can you say to draw
A third more opulent than your sisters? Speak.
CORDELIA
Nothing, my lord.
KING LEAR
Nothing!
CORDELIA
Nothing.
KING LEAR
Nothing will come of nothing: speak again.[/spoiler][/spoiler][spoiler=Example #3]

This is The Fruity Lagoon, where I'll be updating daily with a fruity cocktail recipe! Whether you're a fruit fanatic like me, or just looking for something new at your next party, go ahead and follow my blog!

Archive
The Nightwalker, Post #4
Cherries on the Beach, Post #9
Smells Like Vodka Spirit, Post #15[/spoiler]

[Agro]

Oh this is how it's going to be set up... uh... huh...

As a suggestion, if it is in any way possible,
Set up the blog section to work less like a forum subsection and more like a... well, a blog:
- Only person who can "post" in the thread is the topic creator/people the topic creator has designated
- Give each post a comment section for people to discuss the specific blog post.

Mainly because having to edit everything/links into the OP is annoying.

[CLG Klavier]

Oh this is how it's going to be set up... uh... huh...

As a suggestion, if it is in any way possible,
Set up the blog section to work less like a forum subsection and more like a... well, a blog:
- Only person who can "post" in the thread is the topic creator/people the topic creator has designated
- Give each post a comment section for people to discuss the specific blog post.

Mainly because having to edit everything/links into the OP is annoying.

Kinda this really. I figured it's gonna be that...might be hard to do for mods though, I'd guess you need admin priveleges for something like that.

[.Rai]

I would do that if I could, but the forum has its limitations. I'll see what I can do, but I definitely can't guarantee anything. There's a Blog plug-in that the others looked into, but it does actually cost money, so it's a no to that particular option.

There might be a few other options though. I'll have a look.

Edit: I don't mean for Blogs to be a huge thing, just a nice place to put those threads that everyone made elsewhere (even my music thread theoretically works here). I agree that OP editing is a little irksome, but we've been doing it for years with tourneys and fanfics and sets and clubs. Same principle here! Depending on how regular your schedule is, this is no more than editing your OP more than like once a week.

[Simping For Hina]

The same idea with Creative Writing. Just get the post link and add it to the OP. Annoying, but convenient to each of the members with them. I'll have an archive for each of my articles. I think it would be better instead of having people look for each article.

[Goose]

I suggest that we put the no double posting within 24 hours on hold for initial entries.  I suspect a lot of people like me will want to structure their blog with an introductory post then put the entries as replies.