Hello my fellow House-loving Fanpoppers!

Recently, fanpop has undergone some mini make-overs, with the introduction of new features such as IM and the các câu trả lời section. And fanpop has become a much bigger site, attracting new users and perhaps confusing some of us old-timers! So I thought I would put together a guide to help all Fanpoppers come to grips with everything that goes on in our little fanpop world, specifically focusing on the House MD Spot, because we are one of the biggest, most active spots on fanpop (Muhahahahahaha!)
So, here are some key things on fanpop that I think every Fanpopper should at least consider while they are participating in crazy House fandom. For this guide, I have collected các bài viết from all over Fanpop, written bởi fanpop users just like bạn and me, that are intended to help explain certain features, practices and other aspects of fanpop in order help all Fanpopper and make fanpop a better place. Hopefully, this guide will provide bạn with a quick, user-friendly reference for issues on Fanpop.


~The Basics

I recommend đọc an bài viết written bởi harold called link. This bài viết explores basic fanpop functions like how to find a spot/fan club, how to người hâm mộ other users, how to "favourite" things and so on. harold also provides đường dẫn to other các bài viết in his User Guide, including his Lời khuyên on how to make a spot, how to format your text and how to post links. These các bài viết are great reads for new Fanpoppers who are unfamiliar with how fanpop works. I highly recommend that new House MD Spot những người hâm mộ check out harold's fantastic User Guide articles.


~Medals

Ok, lets get this out of the way quick. For new fans, the medal system is an ever-interesting topic of discussion. Basically, huy chương are rewards for your efforts in contributing to a spot. No one knows exactly how bạn get a medal in a spot. All we know is that the thêm content bạn add, the thêm likely bạn are to get a medal. BUT WAIT! Before bạn run off and post masses of crap, bạn must read an bài viết written bởi germany123 called link. This bài viết will answer all your các câu hỏi about medals. In addition, there are other issues relating to rating, crediting and repeat content that need to be considered when posting content to a spot, which I will talk about later in this guide. But germany123's bài viết is an excellent place to start if bạn have any các câu hỏi hoặc concerns about fanpop medals.


~Crediting

Image crediting is a very tricky issue, especially as it is not compulsory on Fanpop. Basically, image crediting is acknowledging the owner of the image that bạn are posting. Confused? Don't worry, so is everyone else. There are no set rules for image crediting (despite what some people, including me, will have bạn believe!), but an bài viết bởi astroasis called link provides some information that many fanpop users follow. While I personally do not agree with all the information provided, other people follow all these guidelines without a problem. At this risk of looking like I'm pimping my own work, I have also written an bài viết about image crediting called link, in which I talk about how I image credit and the reasons why it is important to credit images. If bạn have any các câu hỏi about image crediting I suggest that bạn read both of those articles. The reality is that there is not agreed upong right way to credit images, but there are definitly some wrong ways (i.e. claiming other people's work as your own).


~Ratings

For those of bạn who know me, bạn will know that I am a ratings nut! Rating content is important for a number of reasons, but I believe the most important reason is that ratings give bạn an indication as to whether the content bạn are posting is appreciated bởi users hoặc hated bởi users. For example, if I post an image that gets rated '1' star, I can assume that people think it is crap, therefore, I could be thêm mindful to not post similar hình ảnh in the future. Conversely, if my content gets rated '4' stars, I know that people like it and would probably like it if I đã đăng similar content. I suggest đọc another one of harold's User Guide các bài viết called link, as well as an bài viết bởi Cammie called link. Now, from my perspective, image crediting, keywording, titling and repeated content are also very, very important to the rating process, however that is just my opinion and many other people do not rate based on those other aspects of the image. It is up to the individual user how they chose to rate. The important thing is that bạn rate, and can explain why bạn rated the content a certain way.


~Keywords & Titles

Lets ignore my pet peeve of people putting "<3" in titles for the moment, and just focus on why keywording and descriptive titles are important. There are a number of các bài viết on this suject, so here are 3 great ones:

link bởi cliff

link also bởi cliff

And my personal favourite,
link bởi heeeresjoyce.

I encourage bạn to take special note to an important point in heeeresjoyce's bài viết about bulk uploads and keywords. If bạn are posting multiple hình ảnh with say different members of the cast of 'House MD', please do not use all of their names as những từ khóa unless they are all in every single image. Using "Wilson", "Chase", "Foreman" and "Cuddy" as a những từ khóa for a bulk đăng tải of which only one picture of each character renders your những từ khóa pretty much useless. những từ khóa are there to help other people find the hình ảnh when using the tìm kiếm function. For example, if someone were to searcd for a picture Chase, using my trước đó example, pictures of Wilson, Foreman and Cuddy would also appear because the way in which the những từ khóa have been used. những từ khóa are also important for people searching for content to avoid posting repeated images. If bạn have used your những từ khóa to effectively describe the image, people will be able to tìm kiếm for those hình ảnh to avoid posting them again. If bạn have not được trao good những từ khóa (or any at all!), then it is much thêm likely that people will mistakenly add repeated content.


~Repeated Content & Searching

Repeated content is a HUGE problem in this spot, mainly because it is so big. Firstly, please use the tìm kiếm function to tìm kiếm for content BEFORE bạn post it. Please read germany123's bài viết called link This bài viết tells bạn all bạn need to know about searching and avoiding repeated videos, picks, đường dẫn and images.
Unfortunately, if people have not used their những từ khóa effectively, the tìm kiếm function is not useful to finding the content. Thus, posting reapeated content is a mistake that anyone can make. So, if someone leaves a bình luận telling bạn that bạn have đã đăng repeated content, please be aware that 99% of the time, the people leaving these các bình luận are being very polite and simply informing bạn of your mistake. Please do not be offended. We all know that this is a very large spot and we cannot expect everyone to be familiar with all the content đã đăng here. So if someone does inform bạn that your content is repeated content, please do not get angry about it. Ideally, if someone does inform bạn that the content bạn have đã đăng has already been posted, bạn should remove it. This is because repeated content clutters up the spot and is also pointless. There is no point in everyone posting the same image of Wilson 300 times, no matter how cute he is. When in comes to picks, it is very, VERY easy to serch for them, so there is not exucse for a repeat pick. People usually get a little angrier about repeat picks because they are so easy to tìm kiếm for. So if bạn post a repeat pick, people will tell bạn so, and sometimes less than politely (although that is very naughty! People need to at least try to be polite about it). thêm than likely, your pick will be reported and removed. Don't be upset bởi this, but use it as a lesson to remember to tìm kiếm before bạn post.












~Questions/Answers

I have decided to include this section because oh my god people are driving me nuts with it. Here are 3 các bài viết to help bạn understand the purpose of the các câu trả lời section:

link bởi papa

link bởi Cinders

And,
link bởi harold.

Please, please, please note that the Questions/Answers section is for asking các câu hỏi that will have a factual answer. link is a good question, because even though there may be some different was to argue and justify the answer, ultimately there will be a difinitive answer available. However, asking các câu hỏi like "Who is your favourite character?" hoặc "Who loves Huddy?!?!?!?!?!" are NOT supposed to be asked in the Questions/Answers section. Such các câu hỏi will only produce OPINION-BASED answers. So, I beg you, read those 3 các bài viết and think carefully about where bạn post a question.


~Reporting

Just a small aside, please also read an bài viết on reporting called link bởi harold. It provides an excellent guide for when to báo cáo content hoặc when to just rate it. I think this could be very important as sometimes people over-react (particularly when it comes to shipping...) and báo cáo people who have done nothing wrong except express an alternative point of view. So I definitely encourage bạn to read this article.




So that is my little guide to point people in the right direction if there is something about fanpop hoặc the House MD Spot that is confusing them. I have tried to present a few different points of view, as there are definitely some aspects of some of the các bài viết that I have recommend that I do not agree with, but we all have different perspectives on things. So even if bạn don't agree with the ideas in the articles, sometimes the các bình luận that other people make on the các bài viết will be of some benefit to you, so I suggest that bạn not only read the articles, but also read the các bình luận that other users leave on the articles.

Of course, all of this stuff applies to all spots on Fanpop. I had just noticed a few issues creeping in lately because during the House MD off-season, những người hâm mộ often look for ways to fuel there House addiction bởi joining người hâm mộ các câu lạc bộ like Fanpop, so repeated content and other general missunderstanding increase in occurance.

I hope that this guide points someone in the right direction, and as always, feel free to bình luận with any thoughts bạn have on these issues, especially if bạn feel as though there is something that I have not covered in this guide.