Q: What is the best way to send a submission to the Newsletter?

The best way to format a submission and save lots of time and get the article into the system quicker:

1. Go to the article original URL and make sure it is really there, you have all the text, etc… Some submissions come in with only a URL and we don’t know where the geographical location is or even what smokers rights issue it is about. Be careful, you have to check the media’s contact page sometimes to find out if it’s Springfield IL or Springfield MA, etc… Watch the date, is it a 5 year old article?

2. Add the state or country name in the subject line of the email.

3. Format the body of the email so it is in the format below so I can easily move it to the code stripper program and then into the PHP/Nuke system at the Newsletter and then change blurb to the HTML code for the next issue that gets mailed to the readers.

4. Decide what this submission is and let me know:
1. This is an update to an article page already in the system. (Search that state, that topic, see if there is already something there about it.) At the top of the email body put direction to me, “ADD TO and the URL”
Or…
2. This is a totally new article. (Search in system shows that there is nothing about it already.) At the top of the email body put direction to me, “NEW, put in suchandsuch geographical location, and suchandsuch topic.”
Or…
3. This is too similar to another article. (AP and news wires may be picked up by 100 papers that choose to run the same exact article.) At the top of the email body put direction to me, “SIMILAR TO and the URL from our system”
Or...
4. This is already in the system. At the top of the email body put direction to me, “ALREADY IN SYSTEM and the URL you found it in at our system”
Or…
5. This is a horrid piece of crapola, don't use it.

Format like this:

Directions to me
(skip a line)
(skip a line)
Name of article
(skip a line)
Date of article
By authors name
(skip a line)
Body of article with a skip a line between each paragraph
(skip a line)
Read
URL of the article
Draw a line
Here is the original email I sent you, or someone else did, or where you found this article idea.

The word Read is what I will turn into a text link with the URL you have below it. PHP/Nuke doesn’t like long URLs and will make the page as wide as it needs to keep from breaking them up.

Since several people are formatting submissions… if you didn’t see something about a topic at noon, it might be there at 2:00… so you always have to search to be sure. When a big story hits, I like to blurb most articles. We don’t want 7 full pages of articles on day one.

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