Frequently Asked Questions

• REGISTRATION PROBLEMS Registration is open, on a space available basis. We do not accept registrations from anonymous email addresses.  You will need to register from your real email address. To access registration click on "Register" at the top of our home page.

• PASSWORD PROBLEMS If you have forgotten your password, email LinkLady7@aol.com with your user name and the email address associated with your account. Your password will be e-mailed to you through our secure server as soon as possible.

• USER NAME CHANGE Our system does not allow you to change your user name, however if you have a reasonable need,  send an email to: LinkLady7@aol.com.  Be sure to tell us your current user name and identify yourself with your password. Tell us what you would like your user name changed to and exactly why changing your username is necessary.  If no one else is using that name, we will make the change for you. 

GUIDELINES FOR POSTING ¹

OR

Our "Stylebook"

Article Title (Headline): Article headline only. Post only the primary headline. Split wide headlines by typing the prompt "<BR>" with no spaces. Headline should not include writer's name or the name of the column. Do not post in all caps so be particularly careful with tabloid outlets like the New York Post or Daily News, Boston Herald where headlines often appear in all caps. They must be retyped in upper and lower case.
Author (Byline): This is the writer(s)  of the article.  Post full names. If there are three or more post the first name and make a notation with an asterisk (*), then post the names of the others with an asterisk (*) in the Comments section.  Do not include named editors. If no writer is named, then just post "Staff."  If the article is an editorial, then post "Editorial.".

Publication (Source of the Article): Post the name of the publication in upper and lower case (New York Times, Los Angeles Times, Wall Street Journal, etc.).  

Print Newspapers and Publications:  If the location of the publication is not obvious from its name (i.e.. the Tribune can be in San Diego or Chicago, among others) then post it after the publication's name in brackets, "[San Diego]," "[Chicago]," etc.  If the city is unclear, like Portland follow add the two letter abbreviation for the state, "[ME]" (Maine) or "[OR]" (Oregon), for example.  DO NOT put "the" in front of the publication's name.

Foreign Papers: Most British papers are national, so just use [UK].  

English language papers/translations:  With publications from other countries, the same rules apply.  If the name of the publication is not obvious, post the name of the city.  If the nation of the city is not obvious, post the country name or abbreviation (i.e.. FR for France, SP for Spain, IT for Italy, GER for Germany, etc in Europe; countries without commonly known abbreviations should be spelled out.)

Wire Services:  When wire services, i.e.. Associated Press, Reuters, Agence France-Presse, etc., are mentioned at the head or foot of the article (other than as a contributor) then the wire service is the Publication, regardless of where the article is found.  (i.e.. An Associated Press article at Fox News MUST be identified as Associated Press in the Publication entry, even if you use Foxnews.com as the URL of the article.)

Intro: First sentence of the article, in full, with the dateline (i.e.. "WASHINGTON --- Congress just passed a bill . . .") must be posted at the beginning.  Do not include the date or publication (ABC, CNN, etc.). One-sentence Intro's are not permitted, post the article's text up to the limit, which is 75 words. To edit (omitting text; jumping ahead to interesting portions of the text) type "(Snip)" to indicate that text was omitted.. If last sentence is not complete no "(Snip)" is required.

URL of Source:  This is the web address for the article.  This is where you originally saw the article and is where the Original Article link connects to.  See instructions for "Wire Services" above.

Comments²: This space is for your comments only. Do not use it to post additional text from the article, this is important due to copyright laws!

Important Style Note:

Style for the Intro:  Do not get creative in your posts. Copyrighted material is not to be altered in any way.  Italics, bolding and ungrammatical capitalization are not permitted in the Intro.  In fact no added emphasis is allowed main posts. 

Never compose your own headline or intro²!  While the above rules are important,  these are not subject to leniency, also to comply with copyright law.  

When you are finished, proofread your entire post for accuracy!!!! This will save you time in the long run and keep you in the good graces of your fellow Ldotters.

Breaking the rules of "Guidelines for Posting" leads to a blocked account.

• POST DOESN'T APPEAR (WATCH YOUR LANGUAGE!)  If you have tried to post a comment and your post comes up blank,  you have might have been caught by our Taste Police.  We filter out, automatically, posts that are from blocked websites and/or publications.  Also blocked from Lucianne.Com News Forum are:  foul language; epithets; objectionable terms and all of the permutations that people use to get around dirty word filters.  We are not censors.  We just want to make sure that this is a  respectable, "classy" site.  "We are a Salon. not a Saloon!"

• IF YOU HAVE A PROBLEM that is not covered here, please send an email to LinkLady7@aol.com  Don't forget to tell us your user name and e-mail.  We almost never need your password.  If we do need your password, we will ask for it in a separate e-mail to a different address.  If you see something that you think we should know about, please, send an e-mail to LinkLady7@aol.com with instances of bad language, questionable sites, posts improperly submitted, etc.

• WHEN ALL ELSE FAILS:  Slowly scroll down the site and check the details of the way others have posted.  If the post is still at the lower half of the page, they have done it right.  And, so can you!

Otherwise, please enjoy this website and use it to inform yourself and others!

¹ Failure to follow our Stylebook eventually leads to blocked accounts

² These rules particularly important to comply with copyright laws

Last updated:  February 2009