Okay so, when I inherited the previous editor's queue, the biggest thing I had to reject submissions on was "improper format." So here is a guide on how to submit quotes, notes, everything. If you have any questions still, post them here (I think I'll keep this thread open, at least for now) or PM me!

Submission Guidelines

Here are the general guidelines for submissions for a TV show. I copied them from tv.com's Guidelines Center instead of rewriting them myself, since I think they are written in a very clear and straightforward manner. If you're still having trouble though, feel free to PM me.

Show Quotes

All show quotes must have the name of the speaker(s) bolded using HTML start and end tags. The name is then followed by a colon, which is not bolded. The dialogue itself should not have quotation marks around it. There should be no spacing between different speakers' lines in the same quotation, or extra spacing after the last line of a quotation. Action/context/background description should be in parentheses (or brackets) and italics.

Note: When you're using these tags for submissions, don't put in the spaces that I have here.

< b >Character Name < / b >:

< i > (Character action) < / i>

Please do NOT use any quotation marks.
Please do not use paragraph or break tags.

< p > or < br >

Please put html tags for italics around any "action" and outside the parentheses (as shown above) using italics tags.

< i > and < / i>

Please put the colon AFTER the closing bold tag.

< b > < / b >:

Here are some additional (but equally important) guidelines to follow:

1.) When submitting quotes, take care to make sure they are written exactly as they appear in the show.
-I will be checking every new quote that is submitted against what is said in the episode itself. I will not accept any quotes that are not written verbatim as they are said on the show.

2.) When submitting a new quote, please check the guide to make sure it hasn't already been added.
-Duplicates obviously will not be accepted. Also, please don't submit parts of quotes that are already posted. I won't accept them.

*EDIT* 7-29-08: I can not emphasize this enough. Please, please, please check the guide before submitting anything. The number of rejections I have had to give out for duplicates lately is simply astounding. I DO check the guide very carefully before processing any submission. So submitting duplicate data is a waste of your time, and mine.

3.) When submitting quotes, notes, trivia, episode summaries, etc, check your spelling, grammar, capitalization, and punctuation.
-I will not accept quotes with errors in any of these areas. If you are unsure of how to spell a word, look it up. I understand that everyone makes occasional honest typos, so I urge you to preview your data before submitting it.

4.) When editing quotes, trivia, notes, etc, make specific comments as to what you are editing.
-If you add one period to a 20 line quote, it's going to take me an awfully long time to go through the current quote and your edited quote to find that one correction. I definitely want to have these kinds of errors corrected, but I'd really appreciate it if you'd specify where the correction is in your comments. Even if it's just something like, "I added a period to the end of Carly's first quote," that would be immensely more helpful than, "I fixed punctuation."

I won't reject your data because of this (although I did read the guidelines of another editor who said that they might if they're in a cranky mood...ridiculous much?), but do keep in mind that the more details you give, the easier you make it for me to process your submissions quickly, and the sooner you'll the get points towards your level.

5.) When adding a new episode, provide as much information as possible and please state your source in the comments section.
-I think this is pretty self-explanatory. I obviously will not accept new episodes from Wikipedia or similar notoriously unreliable sources.

6.) All notes, quotes, trivia, etc will be processed on a "first come, first served" basis.
-Meaning that if a new episode airs, and three people submit the same quote, the person who submitted it first will be the one to get credit, even if all three submissions are identical and mistake-free. This is the only way to be fair. However, if the first one has an error of any sort (typo, lack of proper punctuation, etc), it will be rejected, and I will accept the quote from the person who submitted it next. If all three submissions have errors, all three of them will be rejected.

ADDENDUM:

There has been some confusion over what is categorized as a note, what qualifies as trivia, and what qualifies as an allusion. I noticed this well before I was editor. Here are TV.com's definitions of all of them:

TRIVIA

Trivia is any small detail or goof that might not be known to people who view an episode. Trivia is attached at the episode level, not the show level. It should be specific to what aired in the episode and not deal with off-camera events, which should be submitted in the "notes" form. A car license-plate number is trivia, and a producer walking off the set is a note.

NOTES

Notes are off-camera tidbits about an episode. They should contain off-camera events that deal with a show's production. They should not deal with on-camera events or trivia.

ALLUSIONS

TV.com's definition of an allusion is an indirect or passing reference to an existing form of media, be it to another TV program, a movie, a piece of music, or a book. The format for them will be the following:

< b > item on show < / b>

This is an allusion to (or parody of) < i > real life item < / i>

-Note that when you're actually typing this out, there are no spaces in the bold or italics tags.

That's pretty much it. If your data is rejected for pretty much any of these reasons (excluding #4 and #6), you can (and I highly encourage you to) submit the data again after you make all the necessary corrections. If you aren't sure about why one of your submissions was rejected, please PM me. If you have any questions at all, please PM me.

-Andrea