middleearthnews - Profile (original) (raw)

middleearthnews now accepts posts for both FP and RP news. Please read on for further information, or see THIS POST for more details.

The place to go for all of your Middle-earth news! Published twice a week (Tuesday and Friday), created and maintained by elanorgardner (elanor_gardner on gj) and abby_normal (abby_someone on gj), co-moderated by caras_galadhon, estelanui and empy and done as a service to the LOTR community. This is for the entire community, whether your interests lie with Elves, Dwarves, Hobbits, Men, Actors, Middle-earth geography... anything and everything Tolkien.

PURPOSE

To provide the community with a central place of reference for new happenings within the fandom.

PROCESS

We accept submissions via email for announcements pertaining to new fics, discussions of interest, movie/book news, the sharing of pictures, artwork...

Your email should contain all of the information and formatting necessary to make an informative post. The mods will be copying and pasting only, so anything not formatted will NOT BE POSTED.

Formatting should contain the following:

Category (Media News, Community News, Challenges/Workshops/Awards, Fic/Art News, Discussions Of Interest, Classified, Research Aids, Send Mathoms, Comics). Should you have a suggestion for an additional category, please feel free to contact the mod.

Content (Announcements should contain the following, when applicable: fic/art title, author/artist, pairing(s), rating, brief summary, subject of discussion, email address for those asking questions).

Link(s) to the item(s) you are announcing.

All we need is a quick blurb, formatted as follows (with the '[ ]' changed to '< >'):

[a href="http://www.your_fic_link.com/"]FIC TITLE[/a] by [lj user="username"]
(Rating, Pairing, Brief Summary)

DO NOT SEND LINKS TO LOCKED POSTS!

RULES

If you have news, relating to LOTR and would like to announce it, please send a formatted post to middle_earth_news@yahoo.com with the details. Announcements that are not lj-formatted by the sender will not be posted!

Pictures, fics, etc. will not be posted to this community – links only. Formatting, spelling, etc. is the responsibility of the sender.

Announcements with links to any material that is adult-rated must be clearly indicated. There are no restrictions on what types of announcements will be included, so long as any pertinent ratings are clearly stated.

Announcements must be received by 8:00 a.m. Eastern time, in order to be included in that day’s post. Anything received after that time will be added to the next post.

The individual making any announcement is responsible for all of the information in that announcement’s accuracy. The mod will not be checking links or accuracy but any announcement that is revealed to be inaccurate will be immediately removed.

It is the sender’s responsibility to acquire permission from any site/lj owners they may link in an announcement. Permission will be assumed by the mod and any complaints will be directed back to the sender.

You do not have to be a member to submit an announcement. Anyone with news who has sent an lj-formatted announcement will be included in the next post.

We do not accept links to locked posts. We depend upon the contributors to only send links which are open to all. If a locked link is brought to the moderators' attention, it will be immediately removed.

! ! THIS IS A WANK-FREE ZONE ! !

Membership is open to all. We do ask, however, that everyone keep their comments polite. All comments will be screened by the moderators and anyone using them to start a wank could be asked to leave the community.

QUESTIONS/COMPLAINTS/IDEAS

If you have any questions or complaints or ideas for improvement, please contact elanorgardner or abby_normal at middle_earth_news@yahoo.com.

FAQ

Question: Hey, you guys are taking up my friends page; could you lj-cut your posts?
Answer: This question is asked most frequently by new members who seem to think we have no idea how big the newsletter is when posted, and the simple answer is -- No. We have not changed the format of the newsletter since its inception in 2004, and we don't plan to start, so if size matters to you that much, we suggest you just don't join. Like most other newsletter communities, we post middleearthnews in its full form in order to make access to the links easier for our members, the overwhelming majority of whom prefer it this way. (For further clarification, please refer to the pertinent comments to THIS POST.) If it causes you distress, we're sorry, but perhaps this isn't the community for you.

Question: Can "watchers" make comments on the posts?
Answer: Yes. So long as all rules are followed, anyone may comment on any post.

Question: Can I post announcements regarding new fics, happenings, etc. that are not my own?
Answer: This is not a recommendation community. However, if you are aware of an interesting discussion, or a new fic, or something of that nature that you feel might be missed by the community, you are welcome to post an announcement here, with the permission of the person to whom you will be linking. Your announcement should contain those pieces of information the community requires only – no personal recommendations.

Question: Can I post updates to my 'Real Person' fictional stories?
Answer: As of April 2, 2008, middleearthnews accepts announcements for RP as well as FP. For clarification on what we accept for posting and what do not, please refer to THIS POST. For more RP-focused news, please also join the lj community lotrips.

Question: Can I post updates to my cross-over stories?
Answer: Yes - IF your cross-over story has a large percentage of LOTR (FP or RP) and crosses with another fandom, you may post a link to that story here.

Question: I don't have a LiveJournal/I primarily use a different journaling platform; can I read middleearthnews through a syndicated feed?
Answer: Yes! While you can always bookmark the community and return to read it on a regular basis, middleearthnews is also available as a feed on JournalFen (midearthnews_lj), InsaneJournal (midearthnews_lj) and Dreamwidth (middleearthnews_feed). Each one can be Friended/subscribed to as you would any other journal on those platforms, and each new newsletter will appear on your Friends List/Reading List. (Due to the length of the newsletter, and in order to avoid breaking the feed altogether, it is currently set to provide a title, summary and link to the larger issue.) If you prefer to subscribe to the community through a feed reader, middleearthnews is available in RSS here, and Atom here. (More information on Syndicated Accounts and how to use/subscribe to them is available here.)

Now, join and send us a scoop!