by Carol Gioia

Created on: May 31, 2009

Helium.com is an instant-publishing writing community. As is true with any community, the leaders can set rules and guidelines, but it is ultimately the members, who add or detract from the overall quality, by their positive or negative participation.

There are countless ways a member can become an asset to Helium, and help to maintain and improve the quality of the site.

First and foremost, a member can read, understand and adhere to the Writer's agreement and Helium writer guidelines. If something is unclear, or raises questions in the member's mind, there are many helpful sources willing to provide answers, or clarification, in order to avoid confusion or misunderstandings.

Ways for Helium members to obtain help:

* Channel stewards, site stewards and senior stewards are all able to answer questions or point you in the right direction for the assistance you are seeking.

* There are volunteer fact-checkers, editors and forum moderators to prevail upon for help. Fact-checkers and editors display a badge on their About Me page; moderators are a visible presence on the open forums.

* Helium staff is available by contacting content@helium.com for article content assistance or help@helium.com with technical questions.

The more knowledgeable you are as an active member, the more you can contribute to the maintenance and quality of the site. By asking questions, in order to avoid mistakes, you are contributing to the betterment of your writing community.

Writing magazine-quality articles and doing your fair share of quality rating is the most obvious way to actively contribute to the overall quality of the Helium site.

Here are some other considerations:

* Invite top-notch writers you know to join Helium

* Add Helium links to your e-mail address, blogs and other sites in which you participate.

* Become aware of other outstanding writers and add them, and their best article to your favorite writers and favorite articles lists on your About Me page. Promoting other good writers enhances the reputation of the site.

* Generously use the Contact the Writer option to praise and encourage other good writers when rating or reading outstanding content.

* E-mail outstanding articles to your friends to raise awareness of what good information and content is available on Helium.

* Use the typo-fix and leapfrog options to improve your existing articles.

* Take the time to flag inappropriate content during rating, such as self-promotion, adult content, plagiarism,

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