Because we want to be a platform that is home to a wide variety of voices and types of articles, we do not want to be too prescriptive about what people write, in what format or what length. This might develop more over time, but for now, we don’t want to make the list too long, and we will communicate with you if we feel that some changes could be made, text added or shortened.
General Guidelines – Technical Details
- The length of articles may vary depending on your topic and/or the type of article. Please keep in mind that it will take a reader around 6 minutes to read an article of 1,500 words. Depending on the nature of your article and audience, you might want to write something shorter or something longer than that.
- If you write a lengthier article, please include some sub-headings to break the text up for readability and make it more inviting to read.
- Make sure any quoted/paraphrased info comes with links to the original sources
- Include any pictures (max. 4) separately in .jpg, .gif or .png format, they should be at least 300×300 pixels and we should be allowed to use them.
- Make sure your name and email address are clear and make you traceable: we will not allow articles/posts from temporary or anonymous email addresses.
- For Anonymous Contributions, please see here: Contribute.
Common Sense Guidelines
- Just Be Kind
- When writing critical pieces about anyone other than yourself or when you are not writing with permission of the organisation(s) you are writing about/your employer, please ensure your article speaks in general terms about that issue in the sector and not mention any names or organisations.
- No articles that we would consider slandering or be a defamation of character of any individual or organisation, even if anonymised
- No ‘rants’ or critical pieces without any examples, analysis and suggested changes
- In order to avoid liability to ourselves and potentially derailing formal complaint processes or legal processes. We cannot accept submissions that concern legal or ongoing formal complaint processes, or submissions from a party involved in such processes that concern the employer or landlord who they are in dispute with, even if this is on another topic. We cannot accept submissions from a party that has been subject to a legal process that has seemed them to be causing harassment, alarm or distress to the party they wish to write about.