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Rules for Writers

Theme Park Insider is an independent source of news and information about theme parks, from the people who attend and work at them. When you submit information to this site, you grant Theme Park Insider a perpetual right to publish that information, in all media, and under your name. Information submitted to the site may deleted at the discretion of the site's owner.

The following rules are for individuals who submit content to the website, including blog posts, comments, reviews and posts to our discussion board. In addition, we have a page for all Theme Park Insider readers with guidelines for submitting ratings on the site. We ask you to read that page, as well, before submitting ratings on the attractions, hotels and restaurants listed on Theme Park Insider.

To help ensure a high quality of information on the site, we also insist that people who submit content to Theme Park Insider respect the following principles of journalism:

No plagiarism or copyright violations

Attribute all information you get from other sources to those sources, whether they be a person, a website or another publication.

Do not submit someone else's comment or article as your own. If you want to tell people about an article elsewhere, please provide a hyperlink, rather than copying and pasting the entire article.

To hyperlink an article, use the following code in your post,
<a href="Web_Site_Address">Website name</a>

Here's an example:
<a href="http://www.themeparkinsider.com">Theme Park Insider</a>

Accuracy

No one should pass information as accurate he or she knows to be wrong, or even suspects that is wrong. If you see something on the site that you know to be wrong, please post the corrected information, or e-mail the editor so he can correct it.

No gifts or money for coverage

Do not accept gifts, payment or favors from theme parks or their employees in exchange for coverage. We encourage people to attend media preview days and other press events to gather information for the site. And we allow people to accept free admission to a park for the purpose of covering a press event or conducting an interview. Otherwise, people gathering information for Theme Park Insider should pay their own way. Writers must disclose how they gained admission into a park if they did not pay their own way.

Do not solicit theme park companies for anything else of value, including souvenirs, food, air transportation and hotel or cruise accommodations. Theme Park Insider reserves the right to take legal action against a member, or anyone else, who uses the site's name in an effort to get gifts or other accomodations from theme parks.

Theme parks often send promotional items to people covering the industry. Do not accept any gift of significant retail value, and do not sell any promotional items you do receive for personal profit. You can always refuse promotional items of significant value, or donate them to the school or charity of your choice.

Disclose potential conflicts

If you have a family or business relationship with someone who owns or works for a theme park, or if you work for a theme park company, mention it in your posts and profile page on the site.

Being related to someone who works for a theme park, or even working for one yourself, does not disqualify you from submitting content to Theme Park Insider. In fact, as our name implies, we welcome such contributions. But other readers deserve to know when they are hearing from someone who is a theme park employee, or a relative of one, as opposed to an outsider.

For example, the founder and editor of Theme Park Insider, Robert Niles, is a former Walt Disney World attractions host, though he has no current business relationship with Disney or any other theme park company.

No commercial solicitations

We do not accept or allow classified advertising or commercial solicitations on the Theme Park Insider discussion boards, blog entries or reader review pages.

In addition, your postings to Theme Park Insider may not include incentives of any kind for other users to click on ads which are displayed on the site. This includes encouraging other readers to click on the ads or to visit the advertisers' sites, as well as drawing any undue attention to the ads. This activity is strictly prohibited in order to avoid potential inflation of advertiser costs.

Clear, precise writing

Need help spelling a word? Go to http://www.dictionary.com.

Want to know the source of a famous quote or saying? Go to http://www.bartleby.com.

Improve your writing by revisiting that English class standard, Strunk & White's "The Elements of Style".

Looking for facts or data to bolster an argument? Try Finding Data on the Internet or Power Reporting.

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