Questions about submitting a guide

[Ace_ETP]

Yes, I managed to find time to make a Wind Waker Nintendo Gallery guide in my "busy" schedule . ;D

The Help Wanted section says that anyone who wants to submit a guide to NinDb is welcome to, and I contemplated the idea various times after being told there definately wouldn't be a Nintendo Gallery section at the Wind Waker page. My Nintendo Gallery is complete, and just to see if I could do it, I started working on a guide and finished, in less than 2 hours, with the following things: data and techniques for getting the figurines in 4 of the 7 rooms, as well as a section with general pictograph items and paraphernalia information.

I was wondering if I could submit the guide when I finish. I decided to post this message here instead of simply e-mailing it Fryguy because I figured it would be more tolerated.

I also have a small number of other questions. If I can't submit, then why? In the Lord's name, why? And if I can submit it, should the guide include version history? Can it include a special thanks section? What guidelines should I follow to make it an acceptable guide?

Though I could make one guide a day for the each of the three remanining rooms, there is no accounting for my laziness, and might take longer than expected, but I presume it will be finished in...two weeks at most.

[Fryguy64]

Rules for submitting guides (that I'm making up on the spot right now) are:

1. The guide must be complete (or as complete as current information allows), or must be completed in a short period of time following its being posted.
1a. If I choose to post an incomplete guide, I will chase for progress reports from the author. In cases where the guide has been abandoned, I will remove the guide. I will not necessarily contact the author before removing the guide.
1b. In cases where the guide is as complete as current information allows, incompleteness is fine, so long as you try and keep it up to date in future. An example is Forte900's SSBM message guide. As more messages were uncovered over time, he sent in amendments to the guide.

2. I reserve my right as webmaster to adapt the guide to fit with Nintendo Database's layout. I also reserve the right to edit the grammar and omit any factual errors. In major cases, I will contact the author before making major amendments.

3. Guide content is not limited to anything in particular. Screenshots must be 267x200 or a larger scaled equivalent, and must be in GIF or JPG format (and are encouraged where possible). The text can be in pretty much any format... but preferably in a Rich TXT format, DOC format, or email. For very long guides, please do not send in fixed-width TXT pages, as they take forever to adapt to the site's layout.
3b. I encourage authors to credit anyone who helped them on their guide. The way this is done is the author's own choice. Email/homepage addresses are optional.
3c. The guide must be your work. If you steal a guide, or a bulk of the text from a guide, from somewhere else, and I am made aware of the fact, I will remove it without hesitation.
3d. Avoid unnecessary language. It is often fun to get all sweary, but it can kill a guide in the wrong context. This was one thing that went very wrong in Zelda HQ's latter years... I will delete any bad language or crude references if they are unfunny, irrelevant, or too extreme. So quite a bit of scope for swears... but I'm watching you!

4. Please keep your luggage by your side at all times. Any unattended luggage will be removed and may be destroyed.

5. The guide must be for a Nintendo game on this website (duh) and will preferably repeat none of the information found elsewhere on the site. Specialist guides for particular parts of a game are especially welcome.
5a. In rare cases I may choose to dissolve certain guides into another page, such as a Secrets / Cheats page. You will still be credited for your work.

6. I am the NinDB dictator. Remember that at all times, minions, for your guide must get past me before it makes it onto the site! I AM WATCHING YOU! I can change the rules at any time I please without warning.

And that concludes my rules (for now!). So yes, I would love to see a LoZ:WW guide. I just didn't want to make one myself.

[Ace_ETP]

I don't understand what you mean by "luggage", but I acknowledge all the rules, mein Führer.

OK, I will keep on working on the guide, and eventually submit it, but in what format would you prefer it to be? I could do it .txt or .doc, but should there be no margins whatsoever, in both width and length? I will probably e-mail it to you since I have no way of posting it on-line.

[Fryguy64]

Not fussed about margins, I meant like when you use Textpad or Wordpad, sometimes when you move down to a new line you have to press ENTER (like when you write a GameFAQs guide), and when I copy and paste the material onto the site I have to remove all of the line breaks.

And after doing all of the Secrets & Cheats pages, I won't fancy doing it again. Don't worry too much though... I might not fancy it, but I'll still do it if I have to. But if it's in Word there'll be no such problems. Email is fine.

And the luggage remark is not a real rule... unless you're at a train station or airport.

[Fryguy64]

Oh, and no... you don't have to include a version guide. If you do, don't expect me to put it up. They're the most boring part of any guide, and no-one reads them. If you want to, you can put in the date of the last update and what it was... but more often than not it will be recorded in NinDB's main updates anyway.

[Ace_ETP]

Then eveything's all right, because I didn't want to think up sarcastic jokes (without language abuse) for a section nobody cares about.

I thought the whole luggage thing was a weird euphemism I didn't get, and after remembering the "Morning after a Mario Party" splash image and thinking about what things must usually go through your mind, I didn't dare to ask.

[Fryguy64]

The best comment about that splash I got from Deezer of TMK... he didn't want to know HOW Mario ended up wearing DK's tie. To be honest, neither do I... I hadn't really thought about it

Good thing I didn't draw DK sleeping next to Mario, or I could have caused some outrage. Had to be careful... Nintendo's lawyers might have twigged