Awards The 2007 Fanfic Awards Help Desk: The Doctor is In

I got one! Waves hands!

Please confirm what YOU mean by a broken link because some of mine were and some weren't and I'm not sure what was and what was right.

Should it (end up looking like) Story Name

or should it end up looking like story name

?

Reason I ask is I DID cut and paste the URL into the template, and some show up in my word doc as links and some don't.

I thought a broken link was where you COULD see the code.

Help me please........(darn, I wiped out that word doc, too).

 

I have a question. If you register to vote, can your story be nominated? Or because your a voter, your story gets disqualified?

 

You can be nominated no matter if you vote or not.

 

This is what I think of for a broken link....


The link to this thread IF IT'S ACTIVE is Help Desk.


Now, I copy this sentence and I change just ONE square "[" into a curly "{". It's the very first one.....


The link to this thread IF IT'S ACTIVE is {link=http://boards.theforce.net/fan_fiction_resource/b10304/26987233/p1/?27]Help Desk[/link].


See the difference? Changing the square bracket "breaks" the link. So, it's a broken link. I guess I could change the "[" into a "%" or a "5", or something else and get the same broken link.


The link to this thread IF IT'S ACTIVE is %link=http://boards.theforce.net/fan_fiction_resource/b10304/26987233/p1/?27]Help Desk[/link].

The link to this thread IF IT'S ACTIVE is 5link=http://boards.theforce.net/fan_fiction_resource/b10304/26987233/p1/?27]Help Desk[/link].


Actually, I would like to use something like "=" to break the link. It looks a lot different from the "[" or the "{" and gets the same effect.


The link to this thread IF IT'S ACTIVE is *link=http://boards.theforce.net/fan_fiction_resource/b10304/26987233/p1/?27]Help Desk[/link].


But I don't have to look closely to see which bracket is the curly one to restore the link. The "*" stands out a lot better. So, can I use "*" instead of "{" to break my links?

 

While I'm not official here, I think the idea is that we should all break the links in a uniform way, so that when they receive the PMs they can just copy the contents out and do the same simple find/replace to un-break all the links and put them in a post.

 

You are correct! I'm not coding this time, but I've done it before and PLEASE - as a courtesy to the volunteers - use the format provided in the nomination threads:

{link=paste the url here]type or paste the title here{/link]

This way, the volunteers can simply use the find/replace function to change {link= to to .

 

Um...scratches head...

but if the template is {link=URL] (Broken, right?)

then the question becomes why when I send my PM,say THE STORY it SOMETIMES appears as:

{link=URL]THE STORY and sometimes as THE STORY (?)

In both cases, the template coding is { yet SOMETIMES it comes through one way and sometimes one way another?

Each should look the same, right?

I know enough about computers to get into deep doo doo, but not enough to save myself..

 

*yawns* I intend to keep resubmitting until I get it right . All those brackets and such gave me a headache, but I think I've gotten it now!

 

If you use { instead of [ in your PM, it will break the link.

The only way a link can appear unbroken is if you use the proper un-broken code: and

Is that what you were asking?

 

Valairy, the easiest way is to look at the link in your signature:

Now replace the 2 "[" with "{" so it now looks like this:

{link=http://boards.theforce.net/b/b10476/25756073]Never Look Back{/link]

I hope that helps!

 

How about try, try, try again? Believe me, I do understand the difference between { [ ( (whew) but ... deep breath...

It's solved. Not figured out, solved.

I can even see {link= in the document, but even so SOMETIMES it was showing as {link=THE STORY] rather than either {link=URL]THE STORY


Of course, this doesn't explain why in my PM messages, even when I DO want an unbroken link it doesn't show up that way.

Thanks mucho everyone. If my resubmittal comes back, I'll come back begging for more help.

Cookies and pie for everyone!

 

All you have to do to break a link is replace one of the [ (brackets) with a { (thingie).

Please follow the MAGNIFICENT template that BigFatty has provided us with as Saga Hostess. "Cut-n-paste" is your friend.

 

Here's my "Nominations Template for Dummies." We might have newbies going "What the deuce is all this?" I hope this helps. Yell if I left something out.


1) See that template with all the weird jibberish? It starts out with...

Best Alternate Universe
{link=paste the url here]type or paste the title here{/link] by type or paste the author's name here

...and does that for each category. Copy and paste that entire thing into Word, Notepad, or your favorite typing software.

2) Find the stories, characters, and authors you want to nominate. As an example throughout the rest of this tutorial, I'll just use the Best AU category.

3) Found the story? Copy the link for the very first page.

4) Wherever you see a "paste the url here," do exactly that. Paste the story URL. Be careful, though! Make sure the "]" bracket at the very end is still there. And make sure that there are no spaces between the URL and the "=" that precedes it. Some browsers and word processors will try to be funny and add it in, so that it comes out looking like

{link= http://blahblahblah

That will screw things up, so watch out for it.

Using our example, you should have:

Best Alternate Universe
{link=http://boards.theforce.net/blah/blahblahblah]type or paste the title here{/link] by type or paste the author's name here

5) Copy the story title and paste it where you see "type or paste the story title here." Once again, make sure that you didn't erase the "]" that comes before the story title, or the "{" that comes after the title. See the red things below? That's what I'm talking about. They need to be there (obviously they don't have to be red).

Best Alternate Universe
{link=http://boards.theforce.net/blah/blahblahblah]This is my story!{/link] by type or paste the author's name here

6) Copy and paste the author's name where you see "type or paste the author's name here."

Best Alternate Universe
{link=http://boards.theforce.net/blah/blahblahblah]This is my story!{/link] by Short_Round

7) Repeat for the rest of the categories. For the character categories, the only difference in instructions is that you stick in the character's name where it says "Type or paste the character's name here." For authors, use the link to their profile where it says "paste the url to the author's profile here if you have it," and put their name in between the broken markup codes instead of a story title.

8) This is very important! You need to make sure that the {/link] still exists in each category of the template. If you somehow erase that while pasting in a URL or story title, the template will show up like this:

{link=http://blahblahblah]story title by Me

And that's not right because then the story title won't appear as a link when the volunteers clean up the broken code. So, bottom line, take a couple extra minutes when doing your noms to make sure that you're not erasing important things, and that you follow the template precisely. Those little markups make a HUGE difference when the volunteers are sorting through PMs, and it will also save you the headache of having to redo any noms.

9) If you don't want to nominate something in a category, you can either delete that category from the template, or you can just leave it unchanged. But you don't need to add any other markup codes to the template.

10) Copy and paste the entire finished nominations template into a new PM, and send the package off to the appropriate Awards sock. Make sure you're sending it to the right era sock, and that you have the sock name spelled properly.

 

For PMs that have lots of code in the (like nominations) I compose it offline and first send it to myself and see how it will arrive. If there is a problem, it will show up and I can fix it. When it's OK, I can send it to someone else.

 

Okay, for once, I'm not having issues- I just have a thought and a question.

A lot of us writer's know that many of our stories and such won't be nominated simply because many people around here aren't aware of the awards. We aren't allowed to speak of it... yet we know what is going on.

An idea was proposed to me... and I now propose it to you all. What if, for the duration of the awards, the Saga's banner was removed and was replaced with something advertising it. The little blip moving across the screen is nice, but we might need something a little more obvious

 

I second that motion. I completly understand why we don't have advertising in the threads, but if people don't know about the awards they won't vote, and the scrolling blip is easy to ignore.

 

Out of a desire to help without actually volunteering or anything, I present:

Teh Broken Link Machine

- lazy

 

You...



-Krystal

 

Oh.My.God.

lazy is the Magic Man.

 

QFT! Lazy, we love you!

 

Ok, this is probably going to sound like a really stupid question, but forgive me, I've never nominated/voted before. I have the nom template filled out for Saga but where do I PM it to?!?! I've been looking all over and can't find the info. Help!!!

 

PM your noms to the SagaFanFicAwards sock.

 

In the Best Child category, what is the upper limit on age for "child"? Does a teenager count as a child?

(I know my teenager is pretty childish at times... )

 

13 and under.

 

As a former waitress, I see it as they are considered a child if they'd eat off the kids menue