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 antwoorden 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 artikels from all over Fanpop, written door Fanpop users just like u 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 u with a quick, user-friendly reference for issues on Fanpop.


~The Basics

I recommend reading an artikel written door harold called link. This artikel 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 linken to other artikels in his User Guide, including his advice on how to make a spot, how to format your text and how to post links. These artikels 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, medailles are rewards for your efforts in contributing to a spot. No one knows exactly how u get a medal in a spot. All we know is that the meer content u add, the meer likely u are to get a medal. BUT WAIT! Before u run off and post masses of crap, u must read an artikel written door germany123 called link. This artikel will answer all your vragen 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 artikel is an excellent place to start if u have any vragen of 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 u 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 u believe!), but an artikel door 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 artikel 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 u have any vragen about image crediting I suggest that u 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 u who know me, u 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 u an indication as to whether the content u are posting is appreciated door users of hated door 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 meer mindful to not post similar afbeeldingen in the future. Conversely, if my content gets rated '4' stars, I know that people like it and would probably like it if I geplaatst similar content. I suggest reading another one of harold's User Guide artikels called link, as well as an artikel door 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 u rate, and can explain why u 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 artikels on this suject, so here are 3 great ones:

link door cliff

link also door cliff

And my personal favourite,
link door heeeresjoyce.

I encourage u to take special note to an important point in heeeresjoyce's artikel about bulk uploads and keywords. If u are posting multiple afbeeldingen with say different members of the cast of 'House MD', please do not use all of their names as trefwoorden unless they are all in every single image. Using "Wilson", "Chase", "Foreman" and "Cuddy" as a trefwoorden for a bulk uploaden of which only one picture of each character renders your trefwoorden pretty much useless. trefwoorden are there to help other people find the afbeeldingen when using the zoek function. For example, if someone were to searcd for a picture Chase, using my vorige example, pictures of Wilson, Foreman and Cuddy would also appear because the way in which the trefwoorden have been used. trefwoorden are also important for people searching for content to avoid posting repeated images. If u have used your trefwoorden to effectively describe the image, people will be able to zoek for those afbeeldingen to avoid posting them again. If u have not gegeven good trefwoorden (or any at all!), then it is much meer 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 zoek function to zoek for content BEFORE u post it. Please read germany123's artikel called link This artikel tells u all u need to know about searching and avoiding repeated videos, picks, linken and images.
Unfortunately, if people have not used their trefwoorden effectively, the zoek function is not useful to finding the content. Thus, posting reapeated content is a mistake that anyone can make. So, if someone leaves a commentaar telling u that u have geplaatst repeated content, please be aware that 99% of the time, the people leaving these commentaren are being very polite and simply informing u 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 geplaatst here. So if someone does inform u that your content is repeated content, please do not get angry about it. Ideally, if someone does inform u that the content u have geplaatst has already been posted, u 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 zoek for. So if u post a repeat pick, people will tell u so, and sometimes less than politely (although that is very naughty! People need to at least try to be polite about it). meer than likely, your pick will be reported and removed. Don't be upset door this, but use it as a lesson to remember to zoek before u post.












~Questions/Answers

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

link door papa

link door Cinders

And,
link door harold.

Please, please, please note that the Questions/Answers section is for asking vragen 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 vragen like "Who is your favourite character?" of "Who loves Huddy?!?!?!?!?!" are NOT supposed to be asked in the Questions/Answers section. Such vragen will only produce OPINION-BASED answers. So, I beg you, read those 3 artikels and think carefully about where u post a question.


~Reporting

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




So that is my little guide to point people in the right direction if there is something about Fanpop of 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 artikels that I have recommend that I do not agree with, but we all have different perspectives on things. So even if u don't agree with the ideas in the articles, sometimes the commentaren that other people make on the artikels will be of some benefit to you, so I suggest that u not only read the articles, but also read the commentaren 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 door 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 commentaar with any thoughts u have on these issues, especially if u feel as though there is something that I have not covered in this guide.