by Pat Lunsford

Created on: December 18, 2007

Guidelines on using the flagging tool are really quite simple. The user agreement states the violations and articles that violate the user agreement should be flagged. Flagging articles for bad writing skills is not what the flagging tool was meant for. Those who violate the user agreements will have their articles deleted, but badly written articles should be rated to the bottom where they are hardly noticed.

Flagging articles such as this, ties up the staff, slowing the system. Furthermore, it isn't very constructive. It would only take a few seconds to bring up note pad and copy the article along with the title and once you've finished rating, type the title into the search, find the article and go to the writer's "About Me" page.

Click on "contact this author " and send them a friendly message, beginning with how you enjoyed their article and that you would like to offer a suggestion. This will greatly benefit them and the whole Helium community. This kind of assistance is very constructive and a better way to improve the quality of Helium content.

According to the guidelines, articles that should be flagged are:

Plagiarism:
Plagiarism is something that will NOT be tolerated on Helium. And since it is such a serious accusation, make sure you get the URL to prove it. While you may feel that the article resembles the work of another enough to constitute plagiarism, it is best to let Helium make the finale decision.

Adult Content:
Adult content is ugly language and adult content that could be inappropriate for younger viewers. While there are many young readers and writers at Helium, there are just as many adults who would prefer not to read that kind of content.

Self-Promotion:
Self promotion is when articles contain the name of the author or URL to their own website or blog. Raters are supposed to be unbiased when rating and if the writer's name/website/blog, is on the article, it is against the rules and needs to be flagged.

Spam:
Spam is any articles that appear to be more like an advertisement than an article, attempting to lure you to their website.

ALL CAPS: Any article that is written in all capital letters is against the rules and should be flagged.

Off Topic:
Sometimes, articles end up in the wrong category. When you see that the article is not about the topic title, it needs to be flagged.

Inappropriate length:
With the exception of recipes and poetry, articles, according to the rules, should be at least 200 to 1500 words in length.

Finally, it is important to realize that flagging helps the staff remove articles that violate the guidelines. But before you flag an article, make sure it has truly violated the rules. Poorly written articles should be rated to the bottom, not flagged.

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