We depend on the suggestions we get from you folks for the raw fodder for Boing Boing. We get a lot of suggested sites. Here's an explanation of the best way to get a link published here:
Dos:
- Do use the Boing Boing form
or the Boing Boing Gadgets form.The Boing Boing suggest-a-site form gets sent to all four editors, quadrupling your chances of getting your link posted. It pre-formats your suggestion for easy posting. It helps us sort through and categorize our mail, ensuring your suggestion isn't lost in the shuffle. Half the time when we get a link suggestion by email, we can't figure out whether it's spam, a suggestion or just something the sender thinks we might want to look at. We never, ever post suggestions we get by email — only stuff that comes in via the form.
- Do describe the link
This is the second most important thing to do if you want your suggestion to show up on Boing Boing. Tell us what the link is, and why you think we'll be interested. We get a lot of suggestions and we visit a lot of sites and life is too short to click on links that we've probably already seen — if you can't be bothered to describe the link, we won't be bothered to look at it.
- Do include your email
It's optional, but if you send us a suggestion and don't include an email address, then we can't write back to you with questions and clarifications. (We don't publish your email address, we don't spam your email address)
- Do include your URL
If you have a URL that you'd like us to link back to in the attribution section, include it in the form, and remember the http:// !
Don'ts:
- Don't submit links by email
See Do number 1: we mean it. Sending stuff by the form is the only way to suggest a link for Boing Boing. No exceptions.
- Don't follow up your submissions with email
Don't send us emails telling us you sent us links — we get thousands of emails and getting your suggestion and your reminder of your suggestion just adds work. We look at every submission we get.
- Don't be cute in your description
When we say "Describe the link," we mean just that: where does the link go, and why is it interesting? Don't be cryptic in your description, don't obscure it with humor, don't bury the description under paragraphs of preamble about something that's not the link.
- Don't send in stuff without links
If you saw something cool on TV or received something interesting in email, you need to either find it on the Web or publish it on the Web before suggesting it. Boing Boing publishes links — so if there's no link, there's not much chance we'll link to it.
We know how much fun it is to share cool links with other people and we're really glad when you choose to share them with us. But when you send us links without describing them, or by email, or when you send in followups, or write confusing descriptions, you're wasting your time. The best way to get something on Boing Boing is to try to do what we try to do: find something interesting, write an informative blurb about it, and send it along.
