Hello my fellow House-loving Fanpoppers!

Recently, Fanpop has undergone some mini make-overs, with the introduction of new features such as IM and the Answers section. And Fanpop has become a much bigger site, attracting new users and perhaps confusing some of us old-timers! So I thought I would put together a guide to help all Fanpoppers come to grips with everything that goes on in our little Fanpop world, specifically focusing on the House MD Spot, because we are one of the biggest, most active spots on Fanpop (Muhahahahahaha!)
So, here are some key things on Fanpop that I think every Fanpopper should at least consider while they are participating in crazy House fandom. For this guide, I have collected articles from all over Fanpop, written by Fanpop users just like you and me, that are intended to help explain certain features, practices and other aspects of Fanpop in order help all Fanpopper and make Fanpop a better place. Hopefully, this guide will provide you with a quick, user-friendly reference for issues on Fanpop.


~The Basics

I recommend reading an article written by harold called link. This article explores basic Fanpop functions like how to find a spot/fan club, how to fan other users, how to "favourite" things and so on. harold also provides links to other articles in his User Guide, including his advice on how to make a spot, how to format your text and how to post links. These articles are great reads for new Fanpoppers who are unfamiliar with how Fanpop works. I highly recommend that new House MD Spot fans check out harold's fantastic User Guide articles.


~Medals

Ok, lets get this out of the way quick. For new fans, the medal system is an ever-interesting topic of discussion. Basically, medals are rewards for your efforts in contributing to a spot. No one knows exactly how you get a medal in a spot. All we know is that the more content you add, the more likely you are to get a medal. BUT WAIT! Before you run off and post masses of crap, you must read an article written by germany123 called link. This article will answer all your questions about medals. In addition, there are other issues relating to rating, crediting and repeat content that need to be considered when posting content to a spot, which I will talk about later in this guide. But germany123's article is an excellent place to start if you have any questions or concerns about Fanpop medals.


~Crediting

Image crediting is a very tricky issue, especially as it is not compulsory on Fanpop. Basically, image crediting is acknowledging the owner of the image that you are posting. Confused? Don't worry, so is everyone else. There are no set rules for image crediting (despite what some people, including me, will have you believe!), but an article by astroasis called link provides some information that many Fanpop users follow. While I personally do not agree with all the information provided, other people follow all these guidelines without a problem. At this risk of looking like I'm pimping my own work, I have also written an article about image crediting called link, in which I talk about how I image credit and the reasons why it is important to credit images. If you have any questions about image crediting I suggest that you read both of those articles. The reality is that there is not agreed upong right way to credit images, but there are definitly some wrong ways (i.e. claiming other people's work as your own).


~Ratings

For those of you who know me, you will know that I am a ratings nut! Rating content is important for a number of reasons, but I believe the most important reason is that ratings give you an indication as to whether the content you are posting is appreciated by users or hated by users. For example, if I post an image that gets rated '1' star, I can assume that people think it is crap, therefore, I could be more mindful to not post similar images in the future. Conversely, if my content gets rated '4' stars, I know that people like it and would probably like it if I posted similar content. I suggest reading another one of harold's User Guide articles called link, as well as an article by Cammie called link. Now, from my perspective, image crediting, keywording, titling and repeated content are also very, very important to the rating process, however that is just my opinion and many other people do not rate based on those other aspects of the image. It is up to the individual user how they chose to rate. The important thing is that you rate, and can explain why you rated the content a certain way.


~Keywords & Titles

Lets ignore my pet peeve of people putting "<3" in titles for the moment, and just focus on why keywording and descriptive titles are important. There are a number of articles on this suject, so here are 3 great ones:

link by cliff

link also by cliff

And my personal favourite,
link by heeeresjoyce.

I encourage you to take special note to an important point in heeeresjoyce's article about bulk uploads and keywords. If you are posting multiple images with say different members of the cast of 'House MD', please do not use all of their names as keywords unless they are all in every single image. Using "Wilson", "Chase", "Foreman" and "Cuddy" as a keywords for a bulk upload of which only one picture of each character renders your keywords pretty much useless. Keywords are there to help other people find the images when using the search function. For example, if someone were to searcd for a picture Chase, using my previous example, pictures of Wilson, Foreman and Cuddy would also appear because the way in which the keywords have been used. Keywords are also important for people searching for content to avoid posting repeated images. If you have used your keywords to effectively describe the image, people will be able to search for those images to avoid posting them again. If you have not given good keywords (or any at all!), then it is much more likely that people will mistakenly add repeated content.


~Repeated Content & Searching

Repeated content is a HUGE problem in this spot, mainly because it is so big. Firstly, please use the search function to search for content BEFORE you post it. Please read germany123's article called link This article tells you all you need to know about searching and avoiding repeated videos, picks, links and images.
Unfortunately, if people have not used their keywords effectively, the search function is not useful to finding the content. Thus, posting reapeated content is a mistake that anyone can make. So, if someone leaves a comment telling you that you have posted repeated content, please be aware that 99% of the time, the people leaving these comments are being very polite and simply informing you of your mistake. Please do not be offended. We all know that this is a very large spot and we cannot expect everyone to be familiar with all the content posted here. So if someone does inform you that your content is repeated content, please do not get angry about it. Ideally, if someone does inform you that the content you have posted has already been posted, you should remove it. This is because repeated content clutters up the spot and is also pointless. There is no point in everyone posting the same image of Wilson 300 times, no matter how cute he is. When in comes to picks, it is very, VERY easy to serch for them, so there is not exucse for a repeat pick. People usually get a little angrier about repeat picks because they are so easy to search for. So if you post a repeat pick, people will tell you so, and sometimes less than politely (although that is very naughty! People need to at least try to be polite about it). More than likely, your pick will be reported and removed. Don't be upset by this, but use it as a lesson to remember to search before you post.












~Questions/Answers

I have decided to include this section because oh my god people are driving me nuts with it. Here are 3 articles to help you understand the purpose of the Answers section:

link by papa

link by Cinders

And,
link by harold.

Please, please, please note that the Questions/Answers section is for asking questions that will have a factual answer. link is a good question, because even though there may be some different was to argue and justify the answer, ultimately there will be a difinitive answer available. However, asking questions like "Who is your favourite character?" or "Who loves Huddy?!?!?!?!?!" are NOT supposed to be asked in the Questions/Answers section. Such questions will only produce OPINION-BASED answers. So, I beg you, read those 3 articles and think carefully about where you post a question.


~Reporting

Just a small aside, please also read an article on reporting called link by harold. It provides an excellent guide for when to report content or when to just rate it. I think this could be very important as sometimes people over-react (particularly when it comes to shipping...) and report people who have done nothing wrong except express an alternative point of view. So I definitely encourage you to read this article.




So that is my little guide to point people in the right direction if there is something about Fanpop or the House MD Spot that is confusing them. I have tried to present a few different points of view, as there are definitely some aspects of some of the articles that I have recommend that I do not agree with, but we all have different perspectives on things. So even if you don't agree with the ideas in the articles, sometimes the comments that other people make on the articles will be of some benefit to you, so I suggest that you not only read the articles, but also read the comments that other users leave on the articles.

Of course, all of this stuff applies to all spots on Fanpop. I had just noticed a few issues creeping in lately because during the House MD off-season, fans often look for ways to fuel there House addiction by joining fan clubs like Fanpop, so repeated content and other general missunderstanding increase in occurance.

I hope that this guide points someone in the right direction, and as always, feel free to comment with any thoughts you have on these issues, especially if you feel as though there is something that I have not covered in this guide.