It's Round and It's White
Hello fellow editors, this guide will help you on your way to becoming a successful editor here at Its Round And Its White. Everyone has a different style when it comes to editing and how they like certain aspects to look, this guide will ensure that we are all on the same page so that we stop any inconsistencies in the way articles are published. We assume that you all already know how to edit and publish articles, if you don’t then you should take the time to read the New Users Guide. You should also take a look at the Writer Guidelines too.
Duplicated Articles
Before you waste your time doing anything below, check that the article is unique. There are two checks you should carry out on each and every article that is submitted to It’s Round & It’s White and they are:-
- Copy and paste the title into a Google search, have a look for the article. If you find the article has already been published ANYWHERE. Reject it, see the Rejecting an Article section below.
- Copy and paste the first paragraph into a Google search, have a look for the article. If you find the article has already been published ANYWHERE. Reject it, see the Rejecting an Article section below.
Headline
Never be afraid to change a headline, it has to make sense to everyone. An example of how a headline might be changed is as follows:
A user might submit the headline for review titled something like: “He Is Our Hero!”
To him and anyone that knows what he is talking about, it will make perfect sense but it can be improved for the wider audience by simply adding: “Luis Suarez: He Is Our Hero!”
We need everyone to be consistent when it comes to headlines, we have chosen to to use capital letters at the start of every word. So an example of this is: “Villas-Boas Faces Career Defining Test At Chelsea”, instead of “Villas-Boas faces career defining test at Chelsea”, it will simply help us to remain consistent.
When it comes to Match Reports or Match Previews, we have a set format for the headlines. Every match report/preview title should be as follows:
Match Report: Manchester United 1-6 Manchester City (City Fan’s Perspective) or Match Report: Millwall 5-0 Dagenham.
Match Preview: Liverpool vs Arsenal or Match Preview: Liverpool vs Arsenal (Arsenal Fan’s Perspective).
Tip: Keep an eye on the details within the title, all we want is consistency. The most common mistakes are spacing and the lack of capital letters. For example: 1 – 6 should be 1-6 and (City fans perspective) should be (City Fan’s Perspective).
Spelling and Grammar
I know it seems obvious but in the past we have seen it happen, the easiest way to check for spelling and grammar mistakes is to cut and paste the whole article into Microsoft Office Word, this is not always necessary though. Some users will have included links within their article so make sure that you make a note of where they were and the addresses because when you copy the article back onto the site, they will all have disappeared. The same goes for bold, italics and text size (if it is different), make sure you quickly go through the article again to add them.
Another issue that we keep receiving is people not putting a space after commas and fullstops. Word should point this out to you so keep your eye open for them. This takes us nicely on to spacing.
Tip: When you copy from Word you should use the Paste from Word button located in the middle of the toolbar on the second row. This will ensure the bold, italics and spacing stays the same.
WP to Twitter
We have added an automatic Twitter widget to the site, this will save you manually signing into our twitter and inserting everything yourself. You will NEED to fill in this box with EVERY article you publish and it is important that you do it correctly. Every WP to Twitter box (that you fill in every time) will include the start: #title# – #url# - followed by three twitter hash-tags (#) that are relevant to the article you are editing at the time. Make sure you hash tag (#) the relevant items such as the club name (#BRFC), league or competition (#EPL) and if you get stuck for one, sometimes the most obvious one (#Football). Include the users twitter username too, but only if you know it.
So if I was editing an article about Manchester City’s manager Roberto Mancini and how he approaches the Premier League the hash-tags I would include would be #MCFC #Mancini #EPL. This can be seen below:
Tip: You don’t have to copy and paste the title of the article between the hash-tags, all you need to do is write the actual word ‘title’. The same goes for the URL, you don’t need to copy and paste anything here, just simply write the letters ‘url’ between the hash-tags. It really is that simple.
Help: If you require any further assistance, add the Managing Editor, Andy Lowe on Skype: andyslow23
An example of a good tweet can be seen below, this is the outcome of #title#, #url# – #BRFC #Hoilett #EPL being written into the WP to Twitter box:
In regards to hash-tagging teams and competitions, you may not know them all. We have compiled a list that includes the Premier League, Championship, League One, League Two, Other English Teams, Competitions, Ligue 1, Bundesliga, Serie A and La Liga. You can access this list using the link here, we suggest that you save this link in your favourites so that it is easy to find should you need to use it.
Spacing
It happens all of the time and it probably isn’t your fault. WordPress (it’s what we use to edit the articles) has a mind of its own when it comes to spacing. Sometimes when you open an article there will be inconsistent spacing between paragraphs etc… When you publish an article, you should always preview it on the site to make sure there is only one line break instead of two.
Tip: When you copy from Word you should use the Paste from Word button located in the middle of the toolbar on the second row. This will ensure the spacing stays the same.
Links
Authors are always keen to gain views and followers using their articles on our site, we previously allowed this but we no longer do. Due to NewsNow’s criteria, we can no longer endorse other websites/Twitter accounts within the body of an article. This means that if their are any external links within the text of an article, remove them.
However, we do allow internal links. So if someone links anything within their article that starts with www.itsroundanditswhite.co.uk, those links are allowed.
To address this situation we are having an author information box created to sit below the article, where the author can include a link to their own Twitter and/or blog. This is currently under construction and if you are every questioned about links etc… just explain the situation to the user.
Tip: If you ever come across an article whilst editing that is promoting anything such as Betting, Films or Shopping, please report these articles to Graham or one of the other senior editors immediately.
Pictures
One of the most serious issues we face is copyright infringement, so it is extremely important to be ‘safer than sorry’ when it comes to images. It is almost impossible to tell where an image has come from once it has been uploaded to the site by one of our members. We are giving you authority as an editor to delete any image that looks like it is professional, we would rather there be no image than a copyrighted one. A rough estimate is that only 5% of the images inserted within articles are not copyrighted and are OK to use.
If a user has included a picture and you are 100% sure that it is copyright free, make sure it is a good one. We don’t want anything that looks amateur on the site. If you need any help when it comes to inserting a picture, see the New Users Guide for more information. If the user has not included an image, it’s not the end of the world. Not all articles need a picture and in some cases it is better not to have one.
Information: We have started to build our own image stock library, users have been encouraged to firstly use the Advanced Google Image Search or use a photograph from our library but we don’t have very many at the moment. You can click the image to see the name of it, where is has come from and who uploaded it etc… Make sure you find out more information regarding our Football Photography. Always use your own judgement as to whether it is a copyrighted or not.
Advanced image editing: NEVER ACCEPT A PICTURE THAT IS CLEARLY COPYRIGHTED, FIND A NEW ONE. Use the Advanced Google Image Search to find your pictures, select the aspect ratio as wide and the size as medium or large. Most importantly, modify the Usage Rights section… tick the Only images labelled for reuse tab. This will protect us from copyright laws.
Here we can see the image rights section on an Advanced Image Search
Tip: Centre the image, have it as big as is suitable and name it correctly. An example of a bad image can be seen below, it’s not the worst picture in the world but it is not centred and it is distorted:
It is clear to see exactly what is wrong with this image.
Categories and Tags
The majority of the time, users will select the categories but in some cases they don’t or they miss something out. They may for example, write a match report about Everton losing 2-0 to Manchester City but only tick Everton because that is who they support, when in fact it is also about Manchester City and the English Premier League so these should have been ticked too.
Tags are not as important and we don’t expect you to spend 5 minutes going through adding everything mentioned within the article. If the user wanted something specific to be seen they would have included that tag anyway so most of the time this section will be done for you. You’re also tagging the teams and league that are involved when you select the category anyway.
Rejecting an Article
This is where we separate the men from the boys, if an article simply isn’t good enough, let the writer know… but always be nice and positive. We don’t want to upset anybody and we don’t want to cause the writer to lose confidence in their writing abilities. Articles can be deemed unacceptable if they contain swearing, racist or sexist comments etc… You should take a look at our rules too so that you are fully aware of what is not acceptable. It is very rare that you will find an article that breaks the rules but you will find some dreadfully written ones. Articles that are a paragraph long, articles that have been copied and pasted from another site badly and articles that will take a long time to edit should all be rejected. An example of a past article rejection notice that was send to the user over the site with the private messaging function can be seen below:
Hello,
In regards to your submitted article entitled ‘Why I think David Moyes is the best manager in the Premier League’ I am sorry inform you that unfortunately it has been disapproved by our editorial team, but this can be changed. You should take some time to look over the both New Users Guide (www.itsroundanditswhite.co.uk/new-users-guide) and the Writer Guidelines (www.itsroundanditswhite.co.uk/writer-guidelines) to help your writing improve.
I deem the article is not written well enough and is far too short, we have a guideline of around 400 words minimum. On top of this your article has a weak argument, for example the players mentioned were all well known before Moyes signed them except for Vellios. On the plus side, I like some of the humour you included.
I hope that this does not put you off writing more articles in the future and please, if you have time, edit the article to flow better with a stronger argument. If you ever need any help with anything regarding the site, do not hesitate to get in touch.
Thanks for joining the site and I look forward to seeing your next article,
Your Name
You should use the following templates to send to users whom you are rejecting their article if the article is too short or is a duplicate. Make sure you edit the template to suit the situation and include the correct details:
Too Short
Hello NAME,
In regards to your submitted article entitled ‘ARTICLE TITLE HERE’ I am sorry inform you that unfortunately it has been disapproved by our editorial team, but this can be changed. You should take some time to look over the both New Users Guide (http://www.itsroundanditswhite.co.uk/new-users-guide) and the Writer Guidelines (http://www.itsroundanditswhite.co.uk/writer-guidelines) to help your writing improve.
I deem the article is too short, we have a guideline of around 400 words minimum. INSERT POSITIVE SENTENCE ABOUT THE ARTICLE HERE.
I hope that this does not put you off writing more articles in the future and please, if you have time, edit the article.
Thanks for choosing the site and I look forward to seeing your next article.
YOUR NAME
YOUR STAFF POSITION
Duplicate
Hello NAME,
In regards to your submitted article entitled ‘ARTICLE TITLE HERE’ I am sorry to inform you that unfortunately it has been disapproved by our editorial team, but this can be changed. The article has been rejected because I also found the same article here: LINK TO WEBSITE CONTAINING THE ARTICLE HERE
You should take some time to look over the Writer Guidelines (http://www.itsroundanditswhite.co.uk/writer-guidelines) which will explain why. This article will help too: http://www.bit.ly/uk7v4m
Thank you for choosing us and we hope you understand. I hope to see you writing for us again in the future as your work seemed rather good.
YOUR NAME
YOUR STAFF POSITION
Spread the Love
If you publish an article that you really enjoyed, sing its praises. Use your own personal account too, it will only help to spread the word about Its Round And Its White. Give us a #FF (Follow Friday) mention and post a link to the site every now and again, can’t do any harm.
Together we can make Its Round And Its White a major success.
Communication
As everything we do is done on-line, you should take your time to add fellow editors on Skype & Twitter. Skype is our main platform for communication so if you don’t have it or have never used it, please download it and create an account, it is extremely simple.
Make sure you add:
Graham Large (Executive Editor) – grahamlarge
Andrew Lowe (Managing Editor) – andyslow23
Frazer Lloyd-Davies (Senior Editor) – frazer.lloyd
Jamie Grand (Senior Editor) – jamie.grand
Rob Latham (Senior Editor) – robilaz
Once this is completed, contact one of these editors and they will send you a copy of everyone’s details.
Employment Terms & Conditions
In accepting you as a member of staff here at It’s Round and It’s White we are trusting you will valuable information and administration rights to the site. Your time here should be treated professionally and as if you were on work experience. You can include your time at It’s Round and It’s White on your Curriculum Vitae and should you require us to do so, we are also willing to write you a reference. So the better you do, the better the reference can be, as with any job.
Overall, enjoy yourself! If you ever feel unhappy, unfairly treated or if you have any ideas or questions you wish to ask, ask them. Everyone is friendly and we are on the same team, no question or issue is too small.
