I decided to put together some Editorial Guidelines so that everyone understands how we do things on MMO and that way we’re all on the same page. This is going to be evolving as we go along. As things come up or as you share some of your own ideas and best practices, we’ll keep adding to it and updating this.
Proper Citations
As you all know, any content (whole or partial) that was not uniquely written by any of us, must include a proper citation. When you link back, follow these parameters:
Bold and hyperlink the site (EG: NY Post not Joel Sherman).
When you post an excerpt from another article – and that includes quotes – you must name the original author with a hyperlink to the article it originated from.
B-R Player Linker
We use the Baseball-Reference player linker to automatically link the players names in our posts. You can follow the instructions here to learn how to add the B-R Linker to your toolbar.
** Make sure you check the option to BOLD and press update linker before you save.
Once you set it up, it takes seconds to run it. Remember that when you run the Player Linker you must be in the text window not the visual window.
Photos
All photos and images that are not from our media library need to be credited. Just add it into the caption window after you upload the image. If you are uploading a photo, make sure you also tag it with the player name in lower case.
Our Photo Services Provider is USA Today Sports Images.
Never use skyscraper or tower shaped photos. They break the theme and front page. Just use rectangular shaped photos or landscape size.
GOOD!
NOT GOOD!
Example of credit:
Photo: John Doe, USA Today
Place this in the “caption box” during upload so when we reuse the pic the credit remains.
*** Do not use photos from Getty!
More on Photos
1. Search for photos by player Last Name in media gallery. You can also search lots of other items: glove, grass, bench, Citi Field, Coors Field, silhouette, spring training, etc.
2. Try to use the most recent photos for players.
3. It’s very important that you do not link any of your images!
Make sure your Display Settings are set as in the example above.
1. LINK TO NONE
2. ALWAYS FULL SIZE
3. CENTER ALIGNMENT
Adding A Footer
Add a footer to the end of every article. Search “footer” to see your options. The above is the one we most commonly use.
Accuracy > Speed
Never sacrifice accuracy for speed. That said there are some shortcuts we take on MMO that do not affect quality.
1. On breaking news, create your title, add image, and report what happened in a few sentences. Then, in parenthesis put (Developing Story, Keep Refreshing).
2. Now you can take your time and complete everything else you want to add and refresh along the way. When you are happy with everything, remove the “Developing Story, Keep Refreshing”.
Breaking News & Rumors
We do not post anything that doesn’t originate from a credible news source like ESPN, FOX, MLB Trade Rumors, etc,
Uncorroborated reports and unsourced rumors should never be posted.
If you do happen to report news, keep it simple and straightforward. You can add some context to it if you like, but it shouldn’t be too opinionated.
** News is never scheduled. Always post news as it happens.
Scheduling Posts
1. Click the edit link next to publish immediately.
2. A drop-down box will appear enabling you to change the date and time.
3. The system uses a 24 hour clock. So 8:00 PM would be 20:00 not 8:00.
4. When you are done, hit the OK button. If you did it right, the publish button now says schedule. Click it to schedule it.
AP Style
1. Write out numbers one through nine, use numerals for 10 or higher.
Ex: Flores batted .297 with four doubles, two home runs and 12 RBI during the four game series.
2. It’s 2-for-4 – NOT 2-4 or 2 for 4 or two for four.
3. 1B and 2B are positions in a lineup, don’t use them as replacements for single and double. Write out positions in paragraph form. Flores grounded out to shortstop not SS.
4. At-bats is hyphenated not two words, home run is two words.
5. Left-handed and left-hander, right-handed and right-hander. Always hyphenated.
More on AP Style in the MMO Style Guide.
Adding Digital Media
Twitter – To add a particular tweet, simply paste the twitter status url anywhere you want in your article. You must be in the visual tab when you do this.
YouTube – Click the share button and copy and paste the video link anywhere you want in your article. You must be in the visual tab.
SoundCloud – Paste the embed code where you want it in your article. Then you must add the following open/close tags [iframe] [iframe/] at the beginning and end of the embed code. You must be in the visual tab.
Editing Articles
It’s important to proofread everything and check for grammar and spelling. If you spot a typo, feel free to jump in and fix it.
When you are editing a piece that is in “pending”, basically add any images, proofread, and if you have to change anything, do it in a way where you maintain the writer’s point of view.
If it is after 4:00 PM, schedule any pending posts for the next morning.
Plagiarism
One of the worst things any writer can do is plagiarize another writer’s article. If you suspect that one of our writers plagiarized someone, use this Plagiarism Checker: Edubirdie.com/plagiarism-checker.
Updating Articles
Sometimes it’s better to update a post rather than creating a new one when a story is recently updated. When you find this is the case, simply go to the post you want to update.
If the article you are updating was originally posted that day, simply separate the content by the previous and current Post Date and Time and Bold it.
If the article you are updating is 2-3 days old, separate the content by the Date and Bold it.
*** When you update an article, make sure you change the title, permalink and date and make the time current.
Date headers should look like this:
Original Report – Jun 1
Previous Report – Sep 23
We want to be consistent in style.
MMO Specialized Task Forces
Breaking News Chat: If covering news becomes overwhelming and you need help, you can turn to our Breaking News Team to get the news out quickly and accurately.
Morning Briefing Chat: Drop in and share any articles worthy of inclusion ranging from Mets News to NL East News to MLB News.
Game Recap Chat: They write the recaps, and we are responsible for final editing, formatting, title and adding game photos.
Quality Is Job One
- I’m not a journalist, but I strive to uphold basic journalistic standards.
- Always preview your post before you publish and read it. After you publish, look at the main page and make sure everything looks good.
- Keep your titles short and to the point and don’t be afraid to be bold. Wordy titles get cut off by syndicators. Never more than 10 words if you can.
- Capitalize the first letter in each word of your title except for ‘and’. This helps our articles stand out on Google and Bing searches.
- Never ever publish a draft. Only posts that have a pending status are eligible for editing and publishing.
- Don’t worry if you make any mistakes. Anything can be fixed. Sometimes failure is necessary to achieve success.
- Use advanced metrics when you can, wRC+, FIP. wOBA, OPS+, WAR, rate stats like K/9 and HR/AB, Splits like AVG with RISP, AVG or ERA vs LH or RH, Home/Road.
- When you write about a player, include age and current stats.
- Use the proper categories, default is Mets News.
Thanks to all of you for helping us to keep our standards high on MMO.
