by Dawn Hawkins

Created on: February 10, 2009   Last Updated: March 01, 2010

Helium's rating system is one of the most important features they offer. This is the place that other writers like yourself decide where your article stands as compared to other writers under the same title. Everyone would like to be in the top spot in those ratings but not everyone deserves the top spot. In order to gain that spot you must give something to the article that no one else has. There are many excellent writers on the Helium site today. In order to compete with them you must win the vote of the people who rate you. Let's look at the top ten ways in which you would lose my vote in the Helium rating system. This may be a way for you to boost your ratings in the future. If you follow the simple guidelines it is a certainty you will find your way to the top of the ladder.

1. Paragraphs- Please, use them! When you write in one very long paragraph without taking a breath you will most definitely get voted down by this rater. This is the number one pet peeve and should be avoided at all costs. It is much more difficult to read an article that is written in this form. Most people will not take it seriously and therefore you are rated down because of it. It won't matter how good the article is if you don't take this formatting advice.

2. Foul Language- Helium is a family website. Many children read the articles that live there. This isn't the only reason not to use obscenities on Helium. Most of the writers here don't feel the need to cuss up a storm in their articles because there is a better way to get the point across. You do not have to offend or shock anyone. That is not what the Helium site is all about. You will get rated down for this and you will also get reported for this. It is completely unnecessary and unwanted in this forum.

3. Poor Spelling- There really is no excuse for this one. You must have proper spelling in your articles. Although errors can be made even when you spell check there should not be large amounts of misspellings in your articles. Always spell check and always re-read the article before you post it. If you miss something and find it later please contact Helium support to ask them to fix it or leapfrog it. This is a huge promise of getting you rated down.

4. Off Topic- Please stay on the topic of the title. Also make sure that you have the correct meaning of the title before you write. This mistake can easily happen. I have some myself that are not yet corrected. This accounts for the reason that they stay at the bottom of

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