Imperial Security Database Contribution Guidelines
Version 1.1 - 19th March 2000
This document is intended for those people that wish to contribute entries for the Imperial Security Database located at http://www.geocities.com/impsecdatabase. Please read it carefully before submitting anything so as not to be disappointed.
7.4. Use
Relative not Absolute links
9.1. Text-Only
formatting rules
If you already have an idea of what you wish to write about then follow these steps to add your entry to the database.
1. Ensure that your entry is not already in the database
2. Ensure that your entry fits into one of the available categories (People, Places, Equipment, Organisations)
3. Ensure that your entry is not one of the entries I have reserved for myself (see below).
4. Obtain permission & templates from me.
5. Write your entries
6. Check them for spelling/grammar/broken links
7. Submit them (as a zip file) to impsecdatabase@yahoo.com
8. Wait J
9. Load up the ISD and show them off to all your friends…
|
Date |
Ver. |
Notes |
|
19 March 2000 |
1.1 |
Added Text Submission Rules |
|
14 March 2000 |
1.0 |
Initial Release |
Before you start writing your entry, please ensure that what you are writing about does not already exist in the ISD.
Once you have assured yourself of this, send me an e-mail at MartinGill@email.com (Note this address is NOT the one to send entries to!) and state that you wish to write an entry for ISD and give the names of the entries you wish to write.
I will check to ensure that someone else is not currently creating your entries and that they do not already exist in the ISD. I will then reply to your e-mail giving you permission to write some or all of your requested entries. I will also send you the HTML Templates.
Please ensure that all your entries are e-mailed to me within 1(one) month of getting permission. After this time I will consider myself free to allow someone else to write these entries.
NO GRAPHICS ARE PERMITTED – sorry.
6.1. Reserved Entries
I have reserved myself the right to not allow others to write some entries. These entries in the end boil down to the principle (or very important) characters.
Examples of these include:
Miles Vorkosigan
Cordelia Vorkosigan
nee Naismith
Gregor Vorbarra
Laisa Vorbarra nee
Toscane
Mark Vorkosigan
Ekaterin Vorsoisson
Duv Galeni
Elli Quinn
Ivan Vorpatril
etc…
You get idea. If in doubt, ask me first!
6.2. Sources
All the information included in your entries must be obtained solely from the books written by LMB. They may not be obtained from:
Fan-fiction (however
good or plausible)
Newsgroup discussions
Your imagination!
Information obtained from sources such as interviews with LMB are allowed as long as there is no doubt that the source is truly LMB.
I reserve the right to refuse entries from contributors that cannot name or produce their sources on request. (e.g. “Komarr” chapter 3 etc.)
6.3. Language
All entries must be in English. Spelling can be any form of acknowledged English (British, American etc.) as long as the submitted entry is internally consistent.
The use of swearwords or bad language is strongly discouraged.
Language and passages that may be considered offensive may only be used if it is a true reflection of events, people or places in LMB’s work and if they are required for the accuracy of the entry.
Special characters (symbols) may be used in the entries if the correct HTML tags are used for them.
6.4. Length
The ISD is intended to be a concise and quick reference guide. As a result the length of an entry should reflect its importance in the Vorkosigan universe. This is especially true for entries on people, less so for other entries.
Remember, I want to encourage people to read LMB’s books, not give them an excuse not to.
6.5. Cross Referencing
Being a database the ISD requires the use of cross-references. When you are writing your entry ensure that, before you submit it, you have created links from all those words that require a cross-reference. To get a feel of what requires a cross-reference look at the entries currently in the database.
If you feel you need to create a cross reference for something that does not yet exist in the ISD insert the reference anyway, ensuring that you obey the file-naming-conventions (see later).
Ensure you have read the information about file naming and locations before creating your links.
Only text in the “Details” section of each entry may include cross-references.
7.1. Templates
Templates (HTML files which contain a skeleton structure of the entry but no actual data) are available and I must insist that they are used. This is to ensure a uniform look to the site and to allow me to easily carry out any corrections or maintenance on your entry should these become necessary.
7.2. The skills you need
Very few!
You need a fundamental understanding of HTML. You will need this to read and use the templates I use for creating entries.
7.3. What Editor to use
I don’t actually care.
Out of personal preference and to make use of the templates easier, I recommend using a text based editor as opposed to one of the WYSIWYG editors (e.g. MS Front Page or MS Word) I don’t actually know if it is possible to use my templates with WYSIWYG editors at all!
A good freeware, text-based HTML editor can be found at http://www.arachnoid.com/arachnophilia
A slightly more advanced, but also freeware, text-based editor can be found at: http://www.chami.com/html-kit/.
7.4. Use Relative not Absolute links
For all cross-references in an entry you must use relative links. That is, if your entry is for a person and you are referencing a piece of equipment, the link should look like this:
<a
href=”../equipment/some_quip.html”>Some Equip</a>
NOT
<a
href=”http://www.geocities.com/impsecdatabase/equipment/some_quip.html”>
Some Equip</a>
7.5. Working with Frames
The frames element of the ISD is of no real consequence for people writing entries.
All that you need to remember is that all anchor tags (links) should either not have have a target attribute or have target=”_self”.
8.1. Filenames
All filenames use a standard naming convention.
For people this is simply:
surname_givenname.html
if the given- or surname is not known, then the only name that is known may be used by itself.
For other entries the file name should be the same as the entry title e.g.:
nerve_disruptor.html
Spaces are NOT allowed; use underscores instead.
Capital letters are NOT allowed; use lowercase only.
Use only letters, numbers, hyphens and underscores. Do NOT use special characters.
The extension of the file must be “.html” NOT “.htm” or anything else.
8.2. File Locations
All entries are in directories according to their category. E.g. equipment entries are in the impsecdatabase/equipment/ directory.
When referencing files ensure you use only the UNIX forward slashes (/) and not the Windows backslashes (\) for directory separators. Also ensure that all referencing is relative, not absolute (see HTML Info).
I would greatly prefer that submissions are in the form of working HTML files.
If you don’t know HTML but still want to contribute I am willing to accept text contributions by prior arrangement.
9.1. Text-Only formatting rules
Contributions should be in the form of text files, i.e. Notepad format.
Carriage-returns should only be used at end of paragraphs. This means that if you turn off the word wrapping on Notepad an entire paragraph should be on a single line. This is to make my job easier when converting it to HTML.
Submission rules are the same as for HTML files.
When you write your entry you may insert the line:
This entry contributed by: Your Name Here
before the top line of the white footer-block at the base of your entry. This line must be in the same style as the footer-block itself.
All people that have contributed entries will be listed on the Acknowledgements page of the ISD.
Once you have written and checked your entry or entries, place them all in a zip file, even if there is only one small HTML file. This is to prevent confusing my e-mail programme.
Then e-mail this zip-file to impsecdatabase@yahoo.com with “Contribution” as the subject line.
The text of the e-mail must contain the following:
1. Your true name.
2. A valid e-mail address.
3. The pseudonym (if any) under which you wish to be acknowledged.
Entries sent to the wrong address, lacking in information or with an incorrect subject line, run the real risk of being ignored.
This is the first draft of these guidelines and the first time I have ever written any, so I may well have missed out some information or left a number of things ambiguous. If you have any queries, please send them to MartinGill@email.com.
Unfortunately I have other things to do than just concentrating on this site or reading Sci-fi books so please be patient if you don’t get an immediate reply to any of your e-mails and/or if you don’t see your entries appearing in ISD the day after you sent them. Feel free to send me reminder e-mail if nothing appears to have happened after a couple of weeks.
I reserve the right to refuse whole or parts of an entry on any grounds whatsoever without the need to explain my actions.
This document is intended as a rough guide only and while all information is correct at the time of writing, I reserve the right to change any and all conditions and requirements for a contribution at any time and without prior warning.