Trollheart

Okay, first of all, you're welcome, but second I'm not sure what you're asking here. Are you asking for feedback on your entries? That would come via people making comments. Unfortunately that is not mandatory or even that likely: my own journal has been going for almost three years now and the amount of comments I get even now is quite small, and not at all on a regular basis.

If you're asking about the "submit to a mod before your entry is posted", that's the system and just how it works. I don't think they necessarily spellcheck or anything --- mostly, I do this myself before submitting the entry --- they just want to know that there's nothing in it that shouldn't be there, I guess.

If you want to clarify your question I'll do my best to answer it. At the moment I'm sorry but I really can't figure out what you're asking...

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Trollheart: Signature-free since April 2018

Rjinn

I'm not really talking about comments on the subject, or the content. But more or less advice about how I wrote it. If it's been written properly or not. How to better the writing, structure, explanation, sense of what is being conveyed.

Say that I wrote a piece and posted it. Then PM'd you for example Trollheart for feedback about some sort of analysis like "well the way you wrote blah blah doesn't really make much sense or, your entry is hard to follow (as you just said ). Instead of you editing the post yourself.

I don't know, do mods look at that before submitting your post?

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last.fm

Burning Down

The approval system in Member's Journal and Editor's Pick is basically so we can control what kind of stuff gets posted in there, i.e. posts of a higher quality/calibre, like journal articles. It's a real good way to keep the spammy stuff and trolls from clogging up those sections as well.

On the approve posts page we get a little preview of the post and who wrote it. I'm not sure about other mods, but I generally just briefly skim over that snippet before approving it (or deleting it in the case of spam, etc). We don't spell check (I already reluctantly do this when marking essays for a professor at school, lol), that's left up to you

Trollheart

Yeah, I think I understand now.
Like BD says, it's not like receiving a rejection letter on a story or anything. The mods don't tell you why your material has not been approved --- mine always have been and I'd say 99.9% of genuine articles are --- they just don't approve it. I've had occasions where they've been under pressure and it's taken a few days to approve material, and then I've looked to see did I say something I shouldn't have, was a graphic too suggestive (when I used the girls in my journal for instance) or whatever. But nothing has ever been rejected.

So nobody will critique your work and say "this isn't good enough". No-one's going to second-guess you or give you an "F": as long as it's acceptable they'll approve it.

I'll be happy, if you want, to offer my advice (in PM if you prefer) when/if you start, but generally speaking as a champion of the journals section (and I don't mean by that I'm the best, just that I encourage people to start journals) I visit most/all new ones and do offer my comments, congratulations that they took the step and any proper advice I can, though usually I will stay away from form, structure, spelling (unless it's VERY bad) and grammar, even if I itch to tell the member what I feel.

So I'd say go for it: look at the other journals around and you'll see some people put a huge amount of effort into their work, some less so, but everyone has fun. As an example of pure fun while still making sure his work is not mere drivel, read the Batlord's journal. For a look at something that's really well written and well put together and thought out, look at anything by Janszoon, and for total research Nirvana and knowing a subject inside out, check Unknown Soldier's journal.

Hope to see you out there!

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Trollheart: Signature-free since April 2018

Rjinn

Thanks for the clarification guys and your help Trollheart.

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last.fm

Burning Down

Yeah, sometimes we just get a huge influx of posts in the moderation panel (avatar requests - we spend a little more time with those of course, journals, spill your guts, etc... they all get submitted at the same time it seems!), so the queue just gets backed up. I can approve everything in one click but sometimes there is spam and other crap that has to be weeded out first. We don't get a notification saying that there are new things in the queue, we have to manually check that and sometimes I am just lazy, haha!

If you've submitted a post for approval, you don't need to send it again - it will be in the queue and someone will approve it within a couple of days at the most.

Trollheart

Yes indeed. I learned this lesson when I complained that one of my journal posts had not been approved in two days. Jansz responded with something along the lines of (though friendlier and more diplomatic of course) "FFS TH it's the weekend and people are out enjoying the sun. People don't sit here waiting for approved posts to be sent in and have nothing else to do..."

This of course was news to me, as sun is virtually unknown here in rainy Ireland. I had to look it up on Wiki!

Now no matter how long it takes I just sit back and wait. I also don't post as many entries at once as I used to; gotta cut people some slack y'know. Took me a while to realise that...

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Trollheart: Signature-free since April 2018

Isbjørn

THERE! Been looking for this thread for ages, decades, milleniums! Not really. Obviously. But I wish I'd found this before I started writing my journal. I'll see if I can get some good tips here to make it better. There will be some, there must, Trollheart's writing.

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Trollheart

Thank man, you're welcome. Nice to see someone is reading it.

Mind you, it's mostly just a framework showing you how you CAN start off and laying out the basics such as how to insert images, use YouTubes and a few ideas for things you can use to get going. It never was, it never will be, it never could be a blueprint for how to write your journal, because of course everyone has their own ideas on what they want to write, and there's no set format nor any magic formula to make your journal popular. For me, it has always been about writing what I like, how I like, and hoping people also like it. Some have alluded to my album reviews being too long-winded, and yes they are, but that's how I write, and I'm not about to change it to be more popular or to appeal to a greater readership.

You write in your own style, how you like, as different or similar to mine as you want (as long as you don't copy me POWERSTARS!) and you make your own little corner of the journal world here. A great new example is butthead's journal; it's a little unfocussed but great fun, and his ideas while maybe not to everyone's taste are entertaining and worth reading. Of course the Batlord is always good for a read even if I hate the current music he's talking about (okay not hate: I don't even know it. But it's the type I feel I would have zero interest in), and to be fair there are few journals I don't read, as I feel if someone is going to put in the time and effort then the least I can do is read it.

But as ever, any help I can give in whatever capacity I will. Just remember --- and this goes for everyone --- it's YOUR journal, so never mind how others write or how often they update or what graphics they use or don't use, the formats they employ, the approaches they take. You write how you want to write, the way you feel best helps you communicate to your audience, and don't let anyone, including me, tell you how you should write.

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Trollheart: Signature-free since April 2018

The Batlord

Who is "man" and why should I think him? Or are you just talking about the human race in general?

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