Dakota Rail Trail is a community Web log. Any halfwit with moderate computer skills can post uninformed opinions and incorrect information on this site. And they do.
There are, however, a few things that will annoy the administrators enough to either edit or delete posts and/or comments:
Things that are utterly false or confusing – and not in a funny way.
Things that are meant to annoy or antagonize – and not in a funny way.
Things that violate any federal law – and not in a funny way.
Things that do not adhere closely enough to the vague guidelines below.
Promotional Content
We here at Dakota Rail Trail are interested in promoting attractions, businesses, events, and more on the website--however we need to do so for a fee to make this website sustainable for the community.
If you represent Joe's Restaurant and post a rant about the awesomeness of the grilled chicken sandwich, which is available for the amazing low price of $6.99, your information will only be posted with an ad agreement. Also, community event and attraction organizers and staff, government agencies, municipalities, et al should follow a guideline of contacting the publisher for advertising information. Keep in mind if your marketing, printing or postage budget is over a couple of grand a year, change your thinking and buy an ad.
Obviously there is a gray area between those examples, but as long as what you’re posting has local relevance and doesn’t come off like an advertorial, there should be few complaints.
Because the gray area exists, be aware that if your post is published and not removed by an administrator, there’s a good chance someone will write a negative comment about it if it’s overly advertorial. This happens more often than anyone wants it to, and it sort of defeats the purpose of creating the post in the first place, while also making you feel bad. So — as old fashioned as this might sound — if you want to advertise, maybe you should buy an ad by callingl Dan at 952-473-5800 or emailing wayzata@gmail.com.
Repeat Posting
Don’t post frequently about the same thing. You shouldn’t post about an event more than twice, and not twice in the same week, unless there is something significantly different to mention about it.
If an event takes place over several days (with different things happening each day) or has many different facets, it can be an exception to the rule.
Also, it’s fine to recap an event you’ve previously posted about if you have cool photos or anecdotes.
If a post is just another reminder that something exists, however, it will probably be removed.
Hijacking Traffic
Because Dakota Rail Trail is a high-traffic site, some people are tempted to create posts that link to their own Web sites for the sole purpose of driving up stats. To avoid being accused of this, search your soul to make sure you have the right intentions, then make sure your post stands on its own merit as being moderately interesting.
Obviously, you shouldn’t link to your own (or any other) site frequently. Do it on occasions when the general public will find it useful and appropriate.
Pushing Yourself to the Top
Don’t change the time stamp of your post to move it closer to the top of the home page. That is so wrong.
Linking vs. Copy/Paste
Don’t copy/paste full articles from other websites. Either paraphrase the content in your own words, or copy/paste a sentence or two to give the reader an idea of what it is you are linking to. In all cases where you are citing information from another website, link back to the original.
Yammering
If you must post something with a lot of text or photos, please use the “continue reading” function so your post doesn’t hog the home page.
Images
Please don’t upload large images. Optimize them so the files are less than 300 KB. Over-sized images slow down the site.
If you are using an image from another Web site, make sure to attribute the photographer if possible and link to the site you obtained the image from, unless it’s a publicity photo or public-domain stock photo.
Do not use animated GIFs or any other image that blinks or moves.
Upload your image to DRT. Do not use HTML to use a photo located on another site’s server — this is bandwidth theft. The only exceptions to this are 1) images located on a website you personally own, or 2) images located on a photo-sharing site such as Flickr.
Videos
Do not upload videos directly to Dakota Rail Trail. Upload them to a video hosting service — like YouTube, Vimeo or Daily Motion — and embed them into your posts on DRT.
Do not post any video that automatically starts playing. Everyone hates that.
Style
We’re not necessarily going to get all uptight about this and remove/edit posts over it, but following simple, polite writing conventions is appreciated, such as:
Limiting the use of ALL CAPS, bold and italics to situations in which they actually make sense.
Using capital letters to start sentences, names and other appropriate things.
Avoiding textspeak, LOLcatspeak, leetspeak, and other abominations involving wEiRd cApiTaLiZaTiOn or the substitution of numbers 4 words.
More importantly, there is pretty much never a circumstance in which you should use colorful fonts. So don’t do that.
Also, don’t align your text to the center without good reason.
Same thing goes for aligning to the right.
Readers and Commenters Should Note
Dakota Rail Trail is not constantly monitored by administrators. The clowns who run this site occasionally sleep, travel and engage in social activities. If some jackass posts something awful, it might stay on the site for a little while. Be patient, and don’t “feed the trolls.”
It should also be noted that the Bill of Rights has nothing to do with Dakota Rail Trail. The First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution prohibits Congress from making laws that impede your freedom of speech. The moderators of Dakota Rail Trail can and will impede your freedom of speech whenever they want.
