This is probably the most important news post out of all news posts, since it contains how the image archive news posts will actually look like. So let's begin as to what the format of the news post should look like:
On top AND bottom of each news post you're expected to put some type of navigation that allows viewers to navigate around the image archive. This is how the navigation should look like:
[>>>>>>>>>> Next News Post >>>>>>>>>>]
[<<<<<<<<<< Previous News Post <<<<<<<<<<]
[>>>>>>>>>> Next Archive Section >>>>>>>>>>]
[<<<<<<<<<< Previous Archive Section <<<<<<<<<<]
[<<<<<<<<<< Back to cover post <<<<<<<<<<]
[>>>>>>>>>> List of image moderators <<<<<<<<<<]
[>>>>>>>>>> Commenting Rules <<<<<<<<<<]
[>>>>>>>>>> Submit to the Image Archive! <<<<<<<<<<]
Inside the brackets [] should be a link to the appropriate news post. The entire navigation should be bolded. It should look like the following:
[>>>>>>>>>> Next News Post >>>>>>>>>>]
[<<<<<<<<<< Previous News Post <<<<<<<<<<]
[>>>>>>>>>> Next Archive Section >>>>>>>>>>]
[<<<<<<<<<< Previous Archive Section <<<<<<<<<<]
[<<<<<<<<<< Back to cover post <<<<<<<<<<]
[>>>>>>>>>> List of image moderators <<<<<<<<<<]
[>>>>>>>>>> Commenting Rules <<<<<<<<<<]
[>>>>>>>>>> Submit to the Image Archive! <<<<<<<<<<]
And here are the explanations of each button and what they should link to:
[>>>>>>>>>> Next News Post >>>>>>>>>>]
A link to the next news post after the current post.
[<<<<<<<<<< Previous News Post <<<<<<<<<<]
A link to the previous news post behind the current post.
[>>>>>>>>>> Next Archive Section >>>>>>>>>>]
A link to the next major section of the image archive from the current section (like "Abusive reviews" or "Crazy NG Side Ads"). The name of the section is not required to be posted (so you don't need to include what the next archive section is). The link should link to the main index page of the next major section. This link is consistent throughout the whole section until the next section comes.
[<<<<<<<<<< Previous Archive Section <<<<<<<<<<]
Same as the above, except it links to the index page of the previous major section behind the current section.
[<<<<<<<<<< Back to cover post <<<<<<<<<<]
This links to the first news post of the archive. This link is always consistent.
[>>>>>>>>>> List of image moderators <<<<<<<<<<]
This links to the news post that lists the image moderators and their contact links.
[>>>>>>>>>> Commenting Rules <<<<<<<<<<]
This links to the news post that contains the commenting rules (these rules apply to users only).
[>>>>>>>>>> Submit to the Image Archive! <<<<<<<<<<]
This links to the news post that contains the submission form to submit an image(s) to the image archive.
Asides from the navigation, you have a special format you must follow, fill in and use for every image you post to a news post. Here's the format:
= = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = =
Post Number:
Image/Video Name:
Image/Video URL:
Image/Video type:
Rating:
File size:
Hosting type:
Submitted by:
Posted by:
Description:
Additional Comments:
= = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = =
Here's a breakdown of what each heading asks for you:
Post Number: The numerical ID that can be used to refer to an image if the link is not present. The number goes from chronological order, so the first image is post #1, the second is post #2 and so on.
Image/Video Name: A name of the image/video. Give it some title - it can be static (like an obvious title of the image) or witty. Don't use opinionated titles like "The worst review ever". If it's a video get rid of the "Image/" part . If it's an image get rid of the "/video" part.
Image/Video URL: This is the URL to the image or video. If it's a video get rid of the "Image/" part . If it's an image get rid of the "/video" part. This is probably the most important thing in the post. Also you are NOT allowed to use URL shorteners like bit.ly or tinyurl - you MUST use the actual source URL.
Image/Video type: The format of the image or video goes here (like PNG, GIF, JPG, SWF, AVI, etc).
Rating: Is the image appropriate for all ages or is it explicit that only adults should view it? Use the ratings E, T, M, A with E being appropriate for everyone and A being appropriate only for adults.
File size: This is the file size of the image. The file size can be in any unit you want (KB, MB, etc) but you must list the file size. This is important for those who have bandwidth limits and can't afford to use up 38 MB of bandwidth on a video. Use logic when choosing a unit - don't choose KB for something that's 3,000 KB in file size (MB is better) and use MB for something that's like 200 KB (KB is better). The conversion between the two is: 1 MB = 1,024 KB (so if it's under 1,000 KB then use the KB unit).
Hosting type: Is the image/video hosted in Dumping Grounds (Dumping Grounds) or is it directly linked (Embedded Webpage)?
Submitted by: The user name of the user who submitted the image goes here. The user name must also be a link to the user page of the user who submitted a user. This encourages people to submit a lot of images to increase their exposure.
Posted by: The image mod(s) who posted the image goes here with a link to their user page. There can be two mods in this section if one mod corrects a post (yes this is called a "post") or changes it. The FIRST mod listed in this field MUST be the mod that posted the image. So if icefire23 posted an image and Basset corrected an error or adds something, then the "Posted by:" field MUST say "icefire23 and Basset" or "icefire23, Basset" (first one is better). icefire23 must come first in that example since he is the mod who posted the image.
Description: The description of the image goes here. About a 1-2 sentence description shall be sufficient. For the abusive review archive, the list of the user names of the abusive reviews and why those reviews are abusive are listed here.
Additional Comments: Any comments you have about the image. This field can be dropped if you do not have comments about the image. Sign your name after a comment when you finish writing one. Any image mod that has a comment about the image can add in this field (if it's not present) and sign their names. User comments will be submitted in the comments field - only image mod comments can be posted within the news post itself (or alternatively you can comment in the comments field - it's your decision).
After completing that post, you can proceed to make another image post beneath it.
To make it easy for you all, here's a text document of the layout designed. The HTML tags and design is already set. It's only a matter of copying and pasting, adding in links and posting the relevant information. I recommend you bookmark that link or download it so you have it for reference. Or else you'll have to copy another news post's layout, delete all the filled-in crap and fill in the required information, and that can be a pain in the ass. If there is a ///// it means I added a comment that you need to know - delete that when posting it in a news post. Trim out the extra layout if you have about 9,000 characters left (reason below).
Due to a possible margin of error (we aren't perfect), you MUST leave near 10,000 characters of free space within the news post. The extra 10,000 characters is to accomodate for a possible new layout that has been coded that looks fancier and better and requires more character space, or if an image must be abruptly shoved in the news post. It would be a shame to have an image and not have room to post it to the news post. Remember, we will not be leaving blank posts in the image archive. 10,000 is an estimate - the lower limit is 9,000 characters. You would be surprised on knowing how little crap 9,000 characters can hold.
After doing all that, finish up the news post with the navigation (it must be the EXACT duplicate of the navigation on the top of the news post) and proceed to the next post.
Some of the fields listed above may seem useless and you may think "Why do we need this information?". This system is carefully designed so that if someone gets hacked and the hacker deletes all the images and causes massive trouble that damages the image archive, the damage can be reversed (although it's not easy). So for example if someone's imageshack account gets hacked and all the images were deleted, then it can be restored. The name of the image, description, title, file size (not so much file size), the mod who posted it (which is why the FIRST name of the mod in the list must be the mod who posted the image) and all those stats will make it easy to put back all the images. It is also important that you send me the images that has been submitted by the user base to me so that I can add them to the zip file under your name in case your account(s) get hacked.
Remember, it is VERY important to keep secure passwords, secure your email addresses and to not reuse passwords. While the system may be well-structured, that is no excuse to not secure your accounts. If you take security to a new level then you're pretty much invincible from spammers and hackers. Avoid giving out your email that is linked to an image archive account (like an alt that has images in its dumping grounds for the archive). In fact, it's recommended you make an email address just for Newgrounds and not tie it with any of your accounts. It will deceive the hackers into thinking that your NG email is linked to your main and they will try to hack it to get your account, only to find out that it's a useless email address account that doesn't contain jack shit. And if you never have leaked out your real email addresses, your email address can't be hacked (unless it is hacked by a hacker from some other site).
I will keep backups and records of ABSOLUTELY everything, so that if, theoretically, the archive account and all accounts that host images somehow are terminated, it is possible to restore almost everything back to full speed. Exceptions are the user stats, the links to the images (they will have to be changed), the comments in the news posts, etc. It will require a lot of extensive work to get everything back up though. Once again, that is no excuse to have a weak password to your NG account and email and to accounts that have files linked to from the image archive. Of course, if I go down by a hacker the whole damn thing is destroyed, but I will keep everything backed up in multiple computers and hard drives (when possible) so that it will be very difficult (almost to impossible) to actually destroy the archive as a whole.
*It is very important to note that the entire archive does not consist of videos and images. Most of it will be videos and images, but a very very small percentage will be files that are not videos or images, but rather are website scripts, applications and such. In those cases, replace "Image/Video" with "File" in the headings. So for example, "Image/Video Name:" would become "File Name:". The hosting type for those types of files would be the name of the file hosting site the file is hosted in, since those special files cannot be posted on Imageshack or Dumping Grounds. So a javascript file hosted on Mediafire would have "Hosting type: Mediafire" under the Hosting Type list.