It’s time to draw some attention to a few issues with LGF Pages, folks.

The most important thing to keep in mind when you’re posting an LGF Page is that if you’re quoting from someone else’s article, you MUST:

• Keep the quoted section(s) short. No more than four paragraphs, and preferably fewer.
• Wrap quoted text in a <blockquote> tag to make it clear that it's a quote and not your own words. You can do this by selecting the quote, then clicking the icon at top right of the posting area that looks like a quotation mark.
• Include a clear link and attribution to the original source.

When these rules aren’t followed, authors of articles and owners of websites tend to get upset — and they get upset at me. This isn’t hypothetical. It’s already happened more than once. It’s very important to respect copyright.

Another important point to keep in mind: there may be times when an article speaks for itself, and all you need to do is post a quote and a link. However, the most interesting Pages are the ones that tell the reader what you think about the article. Something made you want to post it at LGF; tell the reader what that was. Write a few sentences or a few paragraphs of your own to explain why you’re posting the article, and your opinion about it. Not only does this make for a better Page, it makes it more likely that your post will be promoted to the LGF front page.

And finally, keep in mind that if you make a mistake or a typo in your LGF Page, you can edit it at any time by clicking the little icon at lower right of the post that looks like a pencil. And of course, the preview button is your friend.

I’m really glad to see so many people using these tools to create content, and I certainly don’t want to stifle that. But following these guidelines will help your content be much better, and make it less likely that I’ll receive irritated emails from other site owners.