Review Guideliness (yes we actually have some)

REVIEW GUIDELINES
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We're pretty lax about custom reviews, however there are a few things as far as materials we require as well as a few basic review guidelines:




REVIEW GUIDELINES
Rules and Regulations
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- Everyone has their own review style. Some reviews are very cynical, sarcastic, and critical; others are honest and unbiased. We welcome all manners of reviews.

- Reviews should educate, but should also entertain.

- Pictures in your reviews are recommended because looking at a wall of text without a few breaks is very overwhelming.

- If we can find the exact wording on a Wikipedia site (or any other site that is not your own work) and find out that you have copied and pasted your review, it will not be published and will be ignored. You are to write your review in your own words but please use sites like that to get your facts straight. If we become aware that you have stolen a review from another website, your review will be removed from the site and the forum until it has been re-written, our moderators compare it to the source, and approve it for use.

- YES WE ACCEPT VIDEO REVIEWS... 'IF' THEY ARE INTERESTING TO WATCH. If you are rambling on for a half-hour without any structure or script to your review, are playing with your hair, picking your nose, or talking in mono-tone like a 90 year old university professor, we'll tell you to come back after you've had some practice.

- If you do a video review that is as annoying as 'Fred' (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kLGPpnQHcNI) we will trace your IP, come to your house, and KILL YOU.

- We do NOT accept reviews that are fanboyish and inflammitory, UNLESS they can be backed up by facts. For example: If you wrote a review that was called "The Wii Sucks" and your main arguement is that 'Mario is gay', then you fail as a thinker and a writer. If, however, your arguement is that 'the Wii is trendy and a fad that will eventually pass' AND you back up your position, then you are in good shape.

- 1f u rite liek WTFLOLBBQ!! then YOU FAIL. If it's not in plain-fucking English that everyone can understand, then your review will be DELETED from the forum and never posted.

- Curse words are allowed, but we do suggest that you use them to emphasize your points. If every other word is 'fuck' then we'll deny it soley on the grounds of poor critical thinking and writing.

- No pornographic photos... unless it is really, REALLY funny without being too lewd.

- Anybody posts a horrifically disgusting photo (Granny porn, the pic of that one dude holding his ass open, etc) your IP will be BANNED from the ENTIRE SITE; no second chances on shit like that.

- If you can photoshop your own funny images (Example being 'the Ripper' photo in LaughingMan's Dead Space review), we encourage it whole-heartedly. Another popular brand of funny images are the '+' photos created by RITOS in his Friday the 13th review.

- Games need some sort of scoring system, just like the websites and magazines. Look at our previous reviews to get some ideas. Personally, we believe that 5 = average game, not 7 = average like other sites. That's crap. A 7 = a good game, and a 6 = above average, etc.

- Movies don't need a rating system, but they do need some final word. Feel free to add a '3 out of 5' type of system if you wish.

- All reviews MUST have a final overview opinion paragraph. We need to know your final thoughts about what you are reviewing.




SEARCH ENGINE TIPS
Pointers on getting ranked higher in Google and Yahoo... and Bing
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- One very helpful tip: Write your review, then do a Find + Replace on any vague phrases like 'the game' or 'the movie' and change them to the full name of the subject you are reviewing.
Example: 'The game has amazing graphics' to 'Devil May Cry has amazing graphics'. This helps make your review more relevant and show up higher in the search engines like Google and Yahoo... and Bing...

- Use lots of relative verbiage. If you are writing a review about a movie no one has really heard of, try your best to describe a lot about it: Actor names, Director, genre, plot elements, locations, whatever. The more key words you can add to your review, the more likely people can stumble upon it.

- I post most of my own reviews at ThatGuyWithTheGlasses.com and have developed a cult following. However, I NEVER post my FULL reviews on that site, only a fair excerpt of what I think people would enjoy, and a few links to CheshireCatStudios.com that read: "Click Here for the Full Review". I do this because if I post the full review on another website, there is no incentive to go to CheshireCatStudios.com, and it's less likely people will read my other work. A full review on another website will also cause rank conflicts in Google and Yahoo, as multiple instances of the same review will be fighting for top-spot.

- Naming pictures is actually essential. Instead of uploading an image that is called: "00001235.jpg" rename it to something relevant, using '-' to separate words: "devil-may-cry-trish-on-motorcycle.jpg". It will help with Google Images, which is our leading referrer thanks in part to the NSFW Motivational Poster thread.




REVIEW MATERIALS
Will help speed up process of posting new reviews
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- An image for the home page flash rotation. Something that draws attention. Size needs to be 548 pixels wide x 344 pixels tall (overall size can be bigger and shrunk/cropped to fit, but no smaller)

- OPTIONAL: If you have your own website, blog, or an email address you want to promote, send it to us with the review and we will add them to the 'By <your name here>' line under the header of the new review page.

- OPTIONAL: If you have a 15-word tag-line for your review, please include that as well. This will be used on the home page, the main review page, and in the website description meta tags for Search Engine Optimization. It can be witty, sarcastic, or whatever, but the purpose is to draw attention and make people know the overall nature of your review (rant, professional review, etc).

The BEST example of a tagline is Zimes's "Eve Online and X3 take on Freelancer... and LOSE!!" because it contains the keywords 'eve online', 'x3' and 'freelancer' as well as gives a gist of what the review is about.

- OPTIONAL: If you want a custom header image, we need an image we need an image where the FOCUS of the image fits within a very wide and short area of 955 pixels wide x 95 pixels high. Search through our reviews to get an idea of what I mean by 'Focus of the image'. These are actually extremely difficult to find, and are entirely optional. They do add a lot of class to the review, however. Don't worry about formatting the image with the CheshireCatStudios logo or the rest, we only need an image that fits.



LAST WORD
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JUST HAVE FUN!!!!!!!

Help Support Cheshire Cat Studios.com

OH JESUS. I hope no REPO! images were too bad D:

No worries, you're clear.

There haven't been any infringements, or anything yet, just expecting some crap to crop up now that we are getting more popular.

The only thing that really applies to you is the home page flash image for new reviews. Everything else is A-OK.

Very true, amigo/a! Very true!

hopefully we will have so many reviews coming in that we either have to update the site every day OR we have a vote off to see who gets to be on the front page for the week.

Survivor: Cheshire Cat Studios

No, the images have to be very graphic and disturbing to warrant a ban. I chatted with Zimes and we're going to allow people to contest or plead their case if they ever do get banned.

But there's not a lot to worry about. Take a look at the NSFW Hilarious Motivational Posters thread and all the crazy stuff in there. We allow a lot, but there is a line in the sand where things stop being funny and are just supposed to be horribly offensive.

No instances of anything over the top yet but we're nipping the problem in the bud so people won't do it.

The images that will get you banned are basically anything that would make a normal person throw up: Pictures of naked old people, parasite pictures, etc. etc. etc.

Everybody is focusing on the Permaban thing, but really the guidelines are supposed to HELP you, not HURT you.

The reason for the guildelines is NOT because any of them have been infringed, but just for reference on how to get the most out of your review.

The focus should be the search engine tips, as well as some additional materials that we would appreciate receiving in order to make your review look as good as possible on Cheshire Cat Studios.com.

Most important note: HAVE FUN AND BE ENTERTAINING!!

Hope this helps clear up some stuff.

As long as you guys don't neuter your sarcasm I don't have any problems.