Submission Guidelines

Feb 7 - UPDATE:

With the increasing number of submissions I now receive, I'm afraid the haphazard system I was using sort submissions, requests, and corrections will no longer suffice. The following system will help me out a lot, and will speed up processing of articles. It will also make it easier for me to check who's doing what articles.

You'll probably notice that I now formally accept unsolicited articles. So what's the advantage of requesting to write a new article? Because I can tell you if said article is already reserved or submitted, so you don't waste time writing it. Or because you can find out if that topic is even allowed at all. Also, you can request several before even starting the first, so there's that advantage.

Yes, you can still submit without using these guidelines, but be warned that those emails will get processed more slowly and in the past, they have even gotten lost among other unrelated emails.

Request to write new articles:

1. Find a topic that does not have an article written for it yet.
2. If you would like to write an article for it, send me email at marauder@softhome.net.
3. The subject line should include the name of the topic(s) requested.
4. Please request no more than 3 topics at a time, and state which continuity (US comic, US cartoon, Japanese cartoon, UK comic) each article is for.
5. Make sure you know what source material is allowed for each continuity. Click here if you don't.
6. If the topic(s) is(are) available and acceptable, I will let you know ASAP. If I don't respond in 2 weeks, I've either forgotten or misplaced the request, so please email me again.
7. Please be patient with me. I'm trying to develop a new system that will help ensure that I respond to requests in a reasonable amount of time. No more lost requests... I hope.
8. If you sent in a request prior to June 1999, and I haven't responded either way about it, please email me and let me know. My apologies to all those who thought I was ignoring them.

Solicited or unsolicited article submission:

1. Send me email at marauder@softhome.net.
2. The subject line should include the name of the article topic you are sending.
3. Please submit one article topic per email message (but you can include multiple continuities).
4. Try to include more than a simple description of the character. By "Bio", I mean a brief summary of the important events in the character's life. Telling me that Galvatron is crazy and fought Rodimus several times is not really sufficient for an article. I've let that through a few times in the past, but I'm going to start clamping down on it.
5. On the other hand, don't include a character's appearance in an episode if they do nothing that matters. Simply appearing in the background generally should not merit a mention, unless it's important (say, because it proves they are alive).
6. Although a number of articles in the encyclopedia include bibliographies, this is not, and has never been, a requirement. If, however, you wish to include one, try to keep entries restricted to major appearances only. Unnecessarily long bibliographies may be snipped for size.
7. Remember to include your full name. Anyone who sends articles without a full name will be credited by their email address. If you see yourself credited this way in the encyclopedia but want to change it, let me know. If you want to be credited with a "non-traditional" name, tell me in the email with your article. Do yourself a favor and give me a name you won't be embarrassed by 10, 20 years down the road. Do yourself another favor and use a name that isn't ludicrously common, like "Megatron".
8. I used to send editing changes to everyone for approval before posting, but that got far too unwieldy. Instead, I simply post the article as soon as I finish editing it, and it's up to the author to check it afterwards. Editing changes I make uncredited: spelling, grammatical, and correcting facts. Bibliography entries may be edited if the entry is too detailed. If I feel I had to practically rewrite the article, the credit will say "Article based on submission by..."
9. I shouldn't even have to say this: if at all possible, try to use a spell checker and/or a grammar checker. Unreadable articles make me cranky, and cranky editors are not your friends.
10. Don't mix up Beast Wars and the original US cartoon information. Not everyone agrees that Beast Wars is part of the original continuity, so I try to keep them seperate whenever possible. Just leave a paragraph or two at the end to explain the Beast Wars "updates" to the original cartoon.

Corrections or updates to existing articles:

1. If you find an article that needs correcting, send me email at marauder@softhome.net.
2. The subject line should include the name of the article topic(s).

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