Comprehensive 'Breaking Alternative News' Forum Posting Guidelines (Updated 4-15-11)

NOTICE

We have a lot of inappropriate threads submitted to the Breaking Alternative News (BAN) forum that either do not fit the criteria of the forum or are inappropriately formatted. Before submitting a BAN article, make sure it follows the below instructions. If it does not, your thread may be closed, moved, or deleted without warning.



BREAKING ALTERNATIVE NEWS INSTRUCTIONS

1). All sources must be no older than 36 hours old.

2). The source/article MUST contain an obvious alternative or conspiracy angle. BAN is not for submitting general, political, or 'tabloid shock' news.

3). Copy and paste the EXACT headline as it appears in the original news article. Do not create or sensationalize your titles. Some editorial leeway is allowed, of course, if the original title is too long, inappropriate for ATS, inflammatory, etc.

4). The submission MUST be an actual news piece. Opinions, rants, blog pieces are not considered valid sources.

5). The submission MUST contain a permanent, valid, and direct link. Links that take the reader to the main page of the source site but not the article itself are not permitted. Submissions with broken, expired, or invalid links will be moved or deleted.

6). After providing a snippet from the news source in the news field, use the comment box to add your own spin or opinions on the topic. We want to know what you think. Do not simply copy and paste more from the article or leave a commentary post that boils down to, 'This is crazy! So what does everyone think?' Add your own thoughts and information in order to facilitate discussion to your thread.

IF YOU SUBMIT A DUPLICATE THREAD

Duplicate BAN submissions will result in the newer thread being deleted without warning or closed and redirected to the original article.

Make sure the topic you are submitting is not already posted by checking out the following links:

ATS SEARCH FORM
BAN FIREHOSE
BAN FORUM HOME

IMPORTANT: If you want to start a new thread using an update to a hot breaking news topic already being discussed on ATS, make sure it is a MAJOR update. Minor bits of additional information that are used to start new BAN threads will be considered a duplicate thread and will be closed and redirected to the original BAN discussion or deleted without warning.

NEWS FORUMS DESCRIPTIONS

Please notice that ATS has several locations for submitting news items. Do not submit every news story you come across in BAN by default. Read the following descriptions to see where your thread will be best suited.

BREAKING ALTERNATIVE NEWS

This forum is for posting breaking news articles that contain an alternative or conspiracy angle (NOT general news), political scandals (NOT general political news), and MAJOR news pieces that cover ATS niche topics like UFO's, government secrets, etc.

BREAKING POLITICAL NEWS

This forum is for posting all general political news that does not contain an alternative or conspiracy angle. Discuss pending or recent legislation, news related to political candidates or office holders, and other current events regarding the realm of politics.

BREAKING GENERAL NEWS

This forum is for posting all general news and current events that lack a conspiracy or alternative angle or any general news piece that does not involve ATS niche topics. If your BAN article does not contain a conspiracy or alternative angle or if it does not involve ATS niche topics, it will be moved to the breaking general news forum without warning.

CONTINUAL PROCESS NEWS

ATS encounters various topics from time to time where a very large and hot topic becomes more of a 'continual process' subject and is no longer necessarily 'breaking alternative news.' On occasion, BAN will go through a 'topic flood' in the case of large 'continuing process' topics like swine flu or the Middle East situation.

Because of this phenomenon, certain 'continual process' topics need to be placed in a more specific forum in order to keep the BAN forum uncluttered for fresh topics and also to give readers a specific forum to go for updates.

Please submit the following topics in their more specific forums. They do not belong in BAN.

1). Middle East Issues. General updates or news story on the tension and conflicts in the Middle East need to be placed in the Middle East Issues forum.

2). The Japan Quake. General updates or news story on the 2011 Japan earthquake and all of the fall-out and follow-up stories need to be placed in the Japan Discussion forum.

3). The Deepwater Disaster. General updates or news story on the 2010 Gulf disaster and all of the fall-out and follow-up stories need to be placed in the Deepwater Disaster forum.

4). Social Issues And Civil Unrest. News topics related to ongoing debates concerning social issues (abortion, sexuality, immigration, etc.) or matters related to civil unrest (rioting, protests, police brutality, etc.). Need to be placed in the Social Issues And Civil Unrest forum.

5). Natural Phenomena. News topics related to natural events such as tornadoes, hurricanes, earthquakes, tsunamis, etc. or alerts/warnings concerning such need to be placed in the Fragile Earth forum.

6). World War III, Global/Regional Conflicts, War Escalations, Etc.. News topics related to warfare, conflicts, and wars, both current and possible, or alerts/warnings concerning such need to be placed in the World War III forum.

7). The 2012 Presidential Race of 2012. ALL topics related to the 2012 US elections, candidates, etc. need to be placed in the 2012 US Elections forum.