Posting requirements
When you post news articles please do not post the entire article. Please include proper attribution as to the source with one or more links back to the article in question on the publisher's web site. Only post full articles when you have the explicit permission of the author or they indicate it is OK to do so in the article its self.
Before you post a news article, be sure to do a search of the exact article title that you wish to post from the main forum page. If you find that the exact article (title, source, etc.) has already been posted then do not create a duplicate thread.
If either from the search or a cursory glance of the news forums, turns up an existing post about an article that is on the same subject as the one you'd like to post, do not create a new thread. Instead, post a reply in the existing thread and format it as if you were starting a new topic. (i.e. original topic:
City or State votes on transgender bill, article as a reply:
Same City or State passes transgender bill).
When posting news articles, please be sure to post them in a news forum that is relevant to the subject matter of the article. If the subject matter of an article overlaps with more than one forum news section, use your best judgment and place it in the one you find most appropriate. (i.e. A school introduces unisex bathrooms. This article could be placed in either Bathroom News or Education News.)
Please only post news articles in the news forums. The primary focus of the News Forum is for Transgender issues, however there are various topics which might overlap or are of interest to our community, such as other GLBIQ issues, DOMA, passage of marriage equality laws, gendered toys, etc. Personal anecdotes, links to videos, articles that do not pertain to the transgender community, etc. should not be posted as a thread in the news forums.
News Post Format and Attribution
Template:Subject: {News Article Title}
Body: {News Article Title}
{Source, linked (can be linked to the news article title)}
{Author}, {Name of publication (optional)}, {Publication Date}
{Excerpt}
------
{Personal thoughts}
The subject should be the exact title for the news article that is being posted.
In the body of the post the first line should be the news source.
The news article link should be linked to the source by using the url=
The second or third line should be the author, if necessary, the origin for the news source*, the publication of the news source (optional), and the publication date.
*Some sites repost news from the AP and other sources, if those sources are documented on the site you are linking to then they should be here as well. An example would be "by L.I. Time via Reuters".DeviationsIf the title of the news article is too long for the subject field, use the most relevant part of the title.
If the author is not attributed, which is often the case in public relation announcements and articles from groups, then the author does not have to be listed and the article is allowed to be posted.
Any personal thoughts on the matter should be placed after a series of dashes, below the excerpt or in a new post after someone has replied.
TriggersIf the article you are posting contains violence, suicide, murder, etc. Please list in the subject, after the article title, *Trigger Warning* or if you have less room *triggers*. If you can't fit either then it's acceptable to leave it off.
Also include *
Trigger Warning* above the linked source in the body of the message whether or not you were able to include the warning in the subject. This prevents those who may be triggered by the events described in the article from reading the article if they so choose.
DescriptorsIt is acceptable to place in the subject heading the following:
[State]
State within the US in which the news story takes place. A city may also be listed.
[Country]
Country in which the news story takes place.
[Name]
Name of an individual, if the story is high profile (IE, Chelsea Manning's case)
Please limit the length of the descriptors and use no more than two in a subject line.
Descriptors should appear after the title and, if a title is too long, should be dropped.
Quoting guidelines
Basically if it is a long article (3,000 words or more), no more than 200 words should be used in the excerpt/quote. If the article is a short one then you should quote much less and never the entire article, try to aim for less than 10%, however an excerpt should always contain more than one sentence.
What you should do:When replying to a part of the article, do not quote the article directly. You can reference a line in another way but please do not quote anything that does not already appear in the initial posting.
Why?This should definitely keep us within the fair use guidelines and limit the possibility of news agencies objecting to their material being presented on this site. In the past a few websites who quote news articles have been slapped with cease and desist letters and a few have been taken to court. The biggest case of this that I found actually concerns the ultra conservative site, Free Republic.
The purpose of a quote is to entice the reader to follow the link and read the entire article at the originating site, or to provide enough information for them to determine that they DON'T want to read the original article.
The first and second paragraph do not always make the best material for this purpose. We ask posters to scan the piece for the most relevant parts of the original article for posting, and use that.
The 200 word limit can on rare occasions be increased, but only if the quote 'falls apart' and loses its intended meaning without those extra few words. Before going with an over-quote, though, consider deleting an internal portion of your selected quote and replacing it with the ellipsis -> [...] (without brackets) to indicate excised material.
Copyright violations
If you own the copyright to an article referenced here on this site and object to it's presence, feel free to contact Susan in regards to it at
susan@susans.org, or use the report to moderator option at the bottom of the message in question. If the posting exceeds allowable fair use then the staff will happily edit or remove it totally based on their judgement.
The staff asks everyone to follow these guidelines when posting news articles here or quoting from them. With blogs and press releases there is more latitude but in an effort to keep everything uniform, I will ask that these guidelines be followed for them as well.
Rules and Regulations of the Forum
Any and all rules that are in effect for the whole of the forum shall not be superseded by any rules listed for the News area. All posts are expected to meet the guidelines that have been placed on the whole of the site plus the guidelines above.
Prohibited topics and themesArticles or posts which references these topics are removed on sight as they have been abused, or violate the Terms of Service of these forums.
- Self Medicating
- Advocating the use of Diane 35 in Transsexual HRT
- Autogynephelia and related themes
- Harry Benjamin Syndrome
- Women Born Transsexual
- Posts which advocate the separation or exclusion of one or more group from under the Transgender umbrella
- Sites linking to or displaying pornographic images or content
- Articles and quotes from sites which staff have determined regularly posts content from prohibited themes listed above.
All rules and regulations may change at any time without notice. The users of this are are expected to keep an eye for any rule changes.
If you have any questions about these rules, please contact the News Administrator or a member of the News Staff.
Thank you for your understanding and co-operation with these guidelines!
