[tutorial] posting on miracle______
I've noticed that there has been a lot of confusion due to the font rule on miracle______ . I hope this helps some of you who are fairly new to LJ and don't really understand the options, yet, but want to abide by the rules and have a pleasant experience.
To post a fic at Miracle, you have two options.
First, you can post it on your journal, and then post a link at Miracle (this is probably the simplest, if you want to find it easily in the future, or plan to edit it at all).
Alternatively, you can post it at the Miracle community, under an LJ-cut.
I will tell you how to do both.
Option one: Link a post from your journal.
Step 1: Post the fic at your own personal journal. Make sure you haven't locked it, or no one will be able to access it, and a mod will ask you to fix the problem.
Step 2: Open a new posting window. It should look like this:
At the top, change the Post to: field to miracle______, as shown.
Do not edit the date. If you are not breaking the rules by trying to post more than once per day, there is no reason to touch this. It messes up the community archive and makes you look pretty silly, if you do.
Pick your userpic.
Now, look over on the right-hand side, where I've circled two little tabs. Rich text is probably singlehandedly responsible for most of the lj-cut fail we see at miracle______ . It's unwieldy, difficult to edit, and makes it impossible to fix mistakes, half the time. I strongly suggest you do not use it. Instead, make sure you have clicked on HTML, and your window looks like the above picture.
Step 3: Enter your header. It should look something like this:
Note that I have listed my fic title in the Subject: field, and title, pairing, rating, some notes, and a teaser/summary line in the body of the post. Miracle's rules state that all fics should list title, pairing/subject, rating and summary in the header. This not only allows mods to tag your fic easily, but it allows members to decide whether or not they want to read your fic, by getting a general idea of what it's about.
Note the lack of tags at the bottom. Mods will do this, you don't need to beg them, ask them, or complain about how long it takes. It will happen.
Note the lack of Mood or moodtheme. Nobody really needs to see your enormous, animated moodtheme.
Note the lack of Location. Most members do not actually care if you are in Eunhyuk's left pocket or not. Please save it for your own journal.
Note the lack of Music. This isn't a biggie, but honestly, is it important to your fic? If it is, why don't you just put it on your fic post in your journal?
Don't change the comment settings by screening or disallowing comments. That just makes it look like you knew you did something wrong and you're trying to avoid getting called on it.
(Note: If you used Rich text mode, after everything I warned you about, this is how your entry should look right now. Don't make any edits to the font size or color. None.)
Got all that? Good. Now go to Preview, NOT Post.
Your Preview, at this stage, should look like this:
This is what members would see if they went to the main page of miracle______ and saw your fic there. Note the lack of obnoxiously-sized, multicolored font. All the links work, none of the HTML has broken, so you can continue.
Step 4: Post to miracle______
Do not change the Show this entry to: field. It should be set to public, regardless.
Post.
Now go check your f-list and make sure everything showed up properly and links to the right place. If there are any mistakes, edit and save.
Congratulations, you've posted!
Option two: Post directly at Miracle.
Step 1: Open a new posting window. It should look like this:
At the top, change the Post to: field to miracle______, as shown.
Do not edit the date. If you are not breaking the rules by trying to post more than once per day, there is no reason to touch this. It messes up the community archive and makes you look pretty silly, if you do.
Pick your userpic.
Now, look over on the right-hand side, where I've circled two little tabs. Rich text is probably singlehandedly responsible for most of the lj-cut fail we see at miracle______ . It's unwieldy, difficult to edit, and makes it impossible to fix mistakes, half the time. I strongly suggest you do not use it. Instead, make sure you have clicked on HTML, and your window looks like the above picture.
Step 2: Enter your header, then type (or copy/paste) your fic into the field, like so...
Double-check your HTML tags. You should have the cut tag <*lj-cut text="something here"> at the beginning, and you should close the cut tag with <*/lj-cut> at the end. Take out the * for both.
(Note: If you used Rich text mode, after everything I warned you about, this is how your entry should look right now. Look at the instructions on the picture for how to do an LJ-cut using Rich text. Also, be warned that you can't actually fix a mistake with an LJ-cut in Rich text, easily. You should really just do it in HTML instead. Again, don't make any edits to the font size or color. None.)
Go to Preview, not Post. It should look like this:
The preview will not show your LJ-cut as it actually appears on your f-list or on the Miracle main page, so this is deceptive. If there is an error in the LJ-cut, you won't find it until after you post. At any rate, you can check for typos here and at least make sure the font looks normal.
All set? Then continue.
Step 3: Post to miracle______
Do not change the Show this entry to: field. It should be set to public, regardless.
Post.
Now go check your f-list and make sure the LJ-cut works, and didn't just vomit broken HTML all over LJ. It happens to everyone, sooner or later. If there are any mistakes, fix them and save.
Congratulations, you've posted!
What Not To Do:
If at any stage, the preview of your final post looks like any of these, you've made a mistake. Fix it before a mod has to come point it out, and save yourself a warning.
In the first, I've forgotten to close a 'bold' tag, and all of my header is subsequently bolded. This is really unnecessary, and I should correct it by fixing the majority of the font back down to default.
In the second, it looks innocent, but I've actually bumped the font size up one level from default. It's bigger than normal, may look creepy on a lot of people's f-lists, and will net me a warning if I don't fix it.
In the third, I've not only bumped it up to bigger-than-default size, but I've plastered it all in an obnoxious color that will probably make people angry when it hits their f-list. I need to avoid doing that.
And in this one, I'm just demonstrating a complete disregard for every other member of miracle, everyone on the mod team, and my future reputation as a poster on the community. All of you want to stab me in the face right now, right? Well, that's how everyone feels when they see it on their f-list, too. Don't do it.
*posted with mod permission.
To post a fic at Miracle, you have two options.
First, you can post it on your journal, and then post a link at Miracle (this is probably the simplest, if you want to find it easily in the future, or plan to edit it at all).
Alternatively, you can post it at the Miracle community, under an LJ-cut.
I will tell you how to do both.
Option one: Link a post from your journal.
Step 1: Post the fic at your own personal journal. Make sure you haven't locked it, or no one will be able to access it, and a mod will ask you to fix the problem.
Step 2: Open a new posting window. It should look like this:
At the top, change the Post to: field to miracle______, as shown.
Do not edit the date. If you are not breaking the rules by trying to post more than once per day, there is no reason to touch this. It messes up the community archive and makes you look pretty silly, if you do.
Pick your userpic.
Now, look over on the right-hand side, where I've circled two little tabs. Rich text is probably singlehandedly responsible for most of the lj-cut fail we see at miracle______ . It's unwieldy, difficult to edit, and makes it impossible to fix mistakes, half the time. I strongly suggest you do not use it. Instead, make sure you have clicked on HTML, and your window looks like the above picture.
Step 3: Enter your header. It should look something like this:
Note that I have listed my fic title in the Subject: field, and title, pairing, rating, some notes, and a teaser/summary line in the body of the post. Miracle's rules state that all fics should list title, pairing/subject, rating and summary in the header. This not only allows mods to tag your fic easily, but it allows members to decide whether or not they want to read your fic, by getting a general idea of what it's about.
Note the lack of tags at the bottom. Mods will do this, you don't need to beg them, ask them, or complain about how long it takes. It will happen.
Note the lack of Mood or moodtheme. Nobody really needs to see your enormous, animated moodtheme.
Note the lack of Location. Most members do not actually care if you are in Eunhyuk's left pocket or not. Please save it for your own journal.
Note the lack of Music. This isn't a biggie, but honestly, is it important to your fic? If it is, why don't you just put it on your fic post in your journal?
Don't change the comment settings by screening or disallowing comments. That just makes it look like you knew you did something wrong and you're trying to avoid getting called on it.
(Note: If you used Rich text mode, after everything I warned you about, this is how your entry should look right now. Don't make any edits to the font size or color. None.)
Got all that? Good. Now go to Preview, NOT Post.
Your Preview, at this stage, should look like this:
This is what members would see if they went to the main page of miracle______ and saw your fic there. Note the lack of obnoxiously-sized, multicolored font. All the links work, none of the HTML has broken, so you can continue.
Step 4: Post to miracle______
Do not change the Show this entry to: field. It should be set to public, regardless.
Post.
Now go check your f-list and make sure everything showed up properly and links to the right place. If there are any mistakes, edit and save.
Congratulations, you've posted!
Option two: Post directly at Miracle.
Step 1: Open a new posting window. It should look like this:
At the top, change the Post to: field to miracle______, as shown.
Do not edit the date. If you are not breaking the rules by trying to post more than once per day, there is no reason to touch this. It messes up the community archive and makes you look pretty silly, if you do.
Pick your userpic.
Now, look over on the right-hand side, where I've circled two little tabs. Rich text is probably singlehandedly responsible for most of the lj-cut fail we see at miracle______ . It's unwieldy, difficult to edit, and makes it impossible to fix mistakes, half the time. I strongly suggest you do not use it. Instead, make sure you have clicked on HTML, and your window looks like the above picture.
Step 2: Enter your header, then type (or copy/paste) your fic into the field, like so...
Double-check your HTML tags. You should have the cut tag <*lj-cut text="something here"> at the beginning, and you should close the cut tag with <*/lj-cut> at the end. Take out the * for both.
(Note: If you used Rich text mode, after everything I warned you about, this is how your entry should look right now. Look at the instructions on the picture for how to do an LJ-cut using Rich text. Also, be warned that you can't actually fix a mistake with an LJ-cut in Rich text, easily. You should really just do it in HTML instead. Again, don't make any edits to the font size or color. None.)
Go to Preview, not Post. It should look like this:
The preview will not show your LJ-cut as it actually appears on your f-list or on the Miracle main page, so this is deceptive. If there is an error in the LJ-cut, you won't find it until after you post. At any rate, you can check for typos here and at least make sure the font looks normal.
All set? Then continue.
Step 3: Post to miracle______
Do not change the Show this entry to: field. It should be set to public, regardless.
Post.
Now go check your f-list and make sure the LJ-cut works, and didn't just vomit broken HTML all over LJ. It happens to everyone, sooner or later. If there are any mistakes, fix them and save.
Congratulations, you've posted!
What Not To Do:
If at any stage, the preview of your final post looks like any of these, you've made a mistake. Fix it before a mod has to come point it out, and save yourself a warning.
In the first, I've forgotten to close a 'bold' tag, and all of my header is subsequently bolded. This is really unnecessary, and I should correct it by fixing the majority of the font back down to default.
In the second, it looks innocent, but I've actually bumped the font size up one level from default. It's bigger than normal, may look creepy on a lot of people's f-lists, and will net me a warning if I don't fix it.
In the third, I've not only bumped it up to bigger-than-default size, but I've plastered it all in an obnoxious color that will probably make people angry when it hits their f-list. I need to avoid doing that.
And in this one, I'm just demonstrating a complete disregard for every other member of miracle, everyone on the mod team, and my future reputation as a poster on the community. All of you want to stab me in the face right now, right? Well, that's how everyone feels when they see it on their f-list, too. Don't do it.
*posted with mod permission.