The Modern Antiquarian. Stone Circles, Ancient Sites, Neolithic Monuments, Ancient Monuments, Prehistoric Sites, Megalithic MysteriesThe Modern Antiquarian

Submission Guidelines



General

A community-led site such as The Modern Antiquarian requires a certain amount of responsibility from its contributors. These guidelines are given as an indication of what will be deemed acceptable contributions.

Primary Concerns


The Modern Antiquarian focuses on megalithic sites and the ancient (i.e. prehistoric) landscape. This means we are not interested in Roman sites, Dark Ages sites, churches etc. unless they have clear prehistoric provenances (and you are prepared to tell us about them).

Post Responsibly


  • Wherever possible, back up your assertions and supply references for your quotations.
  • Avoid chatty exchanges in your posts (you can use the per-site discussion forums for this purpose).
  • If your post becomes redundant (for example, if someone posts a similar image of a site that is undeniably better than one you have posted) do the decent thing and delete yours. Likewise, if information comes to light that shows up errors in your posts, please edit them accordingly.
    The Modern Antiquarian editors will periodically trawl through the site looking for errors and will edit or remove posts when necessary. This pruning takes place to ensure that the site remains lean and relevant, so please do not be offended if a post belonging to you is removed.
  • Please do not post additional images for sites that are already well represented on the site unless they definitely add something new to it. Photographs that contain certain elements other than the site itself must be justified. This includes 'holiday snap' style images or portraits of individuals, which will be promptly removed if they are not directly relevant.
  • Please keep weblog entries on-topic, and factual (i.e. no fictional or satirical submissions). Similiarly, while some linking to external websites is appropriate, please do not use the weblog to excessively advertise your own website or promote commercial activities.
  • Above all, think in terms of signal and noise. Avoid posting if, when it comes down to it, you have nothing new to add.
 

Guidelines for the Various Submission Types

Forum


  • The forum is a place for contributors to discuss ideas, ask for help, advice and have their say. While we understand that there can be differences of opinion, discussions should always remain calm, rational, reasonable and polite. Freedom of speech includes a responsibility not to be willfully nasty. Contributors who are rude, vindictive, bullying, insulting, harassing, hateful, scaremongering or persistently alienate other contributors are not welcome and may be banned.

Sites


  • Firstly, find the most appropriate place to submit your site. If your site is part of a group or complex already listed here, locate that group and choose to 'Add a site' from there. If your site is in a region such as 'The Peak District', locate that region and 'Add a site' from there. Be sure to search around and make sure that the site hasn't already been submitted.
  • Do not add sites unless you intend to add some information or images about them. It is important that you qualify your submissions as much as you can.
    e.g. If you think you've found a site but can't be sure, flag this up in your posts
  • The Modern Antiquarian relies on trust and that trust is easily broken if users start adding everything that they believe is a site without qualifying it any way whatsoever.
  • Sites irrelevant to the subject matter will be removed.

News


  • Keep news items newsworthy and on-topic. Whenever possible link to stories in the press clearly indicating where the link leads to. Individual experiences at a site are usually not news, but should be posted as Fieldnotes.
  • If your news item concerns a particular site, locate that site and add your news item there. If, however the news item concerns the whole of the UK, Ireland and/or beyond, add it under General News.

Images


  • Avoid posting images that are largely similar to existing images (see Avoiding Image Duplications, below).
  • Do not post images if you do not have explicit permission from the copyright-holder to do so.
  • Inappropriate/irrelevant images (e.g. little or no megalithic content) will be removed.
  • For optimum quality, your images should be no larger than 1024k and no bigger than 720 pixels along their longest edge. Images over these limits will be automatically scaled down, with a potential loss of quality.

Avoiding Image Duplications

If you're uncertain whether or not your image constitutes a duplication (or near duplication), compare it to the existing images. Think in terms of composition and content.

The following two photos of Wayland's Smithy are duplications:
 
This third image is a near duplication:

It's not easy to justify the duplication of an existing image. However, you may have a near duplication that has something that distinguishes it from other photos already on the site, and warrants posting it (e.g. significantly different weather conditions). Please think carefully before posting a near duplication. Does it add anything to the way people will understand the site?

If you have an image that is similar to one that is already on the site, but you believe it to be superior (in terms of composition, content or quality) please send a copy to editors@themodernantiquarian.com. Include a short explanation of why you think your image merits a swap with the existing one, and make it clear which existing image you are referring to.

Fieldnotes


  • Whilst you are invited to use the fieldnotes facility to record your own personal experience of a site, please try and balance accounts of your personal exerience (vibes, weather etc.) with information and observations that may be useful to subsequent visitors.

Folklore


  • Recount tales to the best of your abilities and provide references for your quotations wherever possible.

Miscellaneous


  • Post under this category if your information doesn't easily fit into the other areas.

Links


  • First find the most appropriate level at which to post your link.
    e.g. If your link concerns only a specific site or region, add the link to that site or region's page.
  • For general links (e.g. to websites that cover of the whole of the UK) add them to the General Links page.
  • Duplicate links or links to commercial sites with no redeeming relevance will be removed.

Blog


Users often return from fieldtrips and upload a shower of posts and images. TMA's blog allows users to add a narrative to their posts, collating them into one cohesive document. A good use of this would be to document a megalithic holiday or day trip, showing to other users what is achievable within a certain time period or to write an essay concerning aspects of several sites, linking to the evidence.

The blog can also be used to document non-site specific megalithic findings, thoughts, theories etc. Bear in mind your audience and do not write as though readers have come to the site to read about YOU - we guarantee it, they're definitely more interested in the sites.

Terms & Conditions

Standard Disclaimers


While the editors of this site will attempt to remove or edit any generally objectionable material as quickly as possible, it is impossible to review every post. Therefore you acknowledge that all posts made to this site express the views and opinions of the author and not the editors or webmaster (except for posts by these people) and hence will not be held liable. You also accept that consequently some posts may be unsuitable for minors.

In contributing to The Modern Antiquarian website, you agree not to post any abusive, obscene, vulgar, slanderous, hateful, threatening, sexually-orientated or any other material that may violate any applicable laws. Doing so may lead to you being immediately and permanently banned. You agree that the webmaster and editors of this site have the right to remove, edit or move any post at any time should they see fit. As a user you agree to any information you have entered being stored in a database. While your personal details will not be disclosed to any third party without your consent the webmaster and editors cannot be held responsible for any hacking attempt that may lead to the data being compromised.