Tag: Community Guidelines

Plagiarism is defined as taking the work or ideas of someone else and passing it off as your own. This is not the same as citing someone’s work and crediting it to them.

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Uploading content and copy that is not yours is morally and legally wrong. Plagiarism is a breach of our mission statement and our responsibility to our readers. Users who are found to upload copyrighted or plagiarised material may be ask to leave the organisation or have future works declined.

It is unfair to the rest of our team to have and accept copyrighted materials or plagiarised works published therefore we must have strict guidelines on dealing with plagiarised or copied content for the protection of
a) our journalist integrity,
b) the legal safety of TheGayUK.com and its partners,
c) the fairness of our writers and content creators,
d) the respect of readers and audience.

All writers are asked to click a digital signature before they upload their content to the site to prove that they own the works submitted and that they are liable for any legal procedures to come to light from their work(s).

Writers who are found to repeatedly break the plagiarism policy will have their access, emails and any other services removed, cancelled or sanctioned.

What is not considered plagiarism?

Where you copy and paste a quote. In this instance you must fully cite where the quote came from and who gave the quote. Please include full URL of where the quote can be found.

Where you copy and paste a piece of creative commons material. Again proper citation must be included and a full credit.

Usually creative commons material and content will tell you how the author wants to be attributed. A URL to the original would also be helpful.

What happens if I upload copied content or plagiarised content?

1) In the first instance all copy and content found to be plagiarised will be removed from TheGayUK

2 ) A decline email will be sent via Submittable to you, explaining that we believe that you have submitted plagiarised or copied content and asking for your explanation as to why such content was uploaded. The writer will be reminded of their legal obligations and will be pointed towards documentation about plagiarism and copied content to help orientate them with the terms and process.

3) The editorial team will review the situation and whether to keep the work, if editorially justified, or if the work is suitable for editing and re uploading. If this is the case the writer will be asked to re-submit a fully cited version of the article.

4) If any disciplinary action is needed, it will be given at this stage.

5) You have the right to appeal.

Images speak a thousand words and they’re so important…

But you can get into some serious trouble if you don’t get images right. So here’s a lesson.

Your own images.

If you own the image (that means you took the picture with your own camera), by uploading it to our server you agree that THEGAYUK may use the image on its sites, including the App and via its social media. You also agree that the image can be used to promote your article.

The best places to find royalty-free images.

Pixabay

Pixabay offers beautiful images that do not need attribution. (but we always do, just in case)

Flickr

These means that the photographer or copyright owner is happy for the image to be used. Please take a note of the Photographer’s name and the Flickr URL of the photographer.
Credit must read: Photo Credit: Name Of Photographer, Via Flickr

Wikipedia

Another great resource for Creative Common Licensed pictures is Wikipedia – especially good if you’re wanting to get a current picture of a celebrity. Again please take note of the photographer’s name and include it in your submission. Credit must read: Photo Credit: Name Of Photographer, via Wikipedia

Other places to find images.

Getty Images

Getty now allows users to embed certain images on to websites. We cannot own them or download them, but they can be embedded. You should see the Getty images tab on the ADD A NEW POST page. Click there and start your search of millions of images.

Giphy

If you want to add a little gif to your article, there’s away to easily add them to your article. In the edit area, you’ll find the giphy icon. Click on it to add from thousands of pre-uploaded pictures.

Twitter
You can also utilise images that Twitter users upload, but only if the images are theirs. If a fan of One Direction uploads a picture that they have taken we can use it or embed it, however, if they are just reposting an already famous picture – we cannot.

Twitter or Instagram is a great resource to get pictures of celebrities – but only if said celebrity uploaded the picture themselves – and they own it. We do not host these images they must be embedded.

Promotional Images
With Theatre, Film or Music reviews, we are usually given a selection of images. Please send all of these to the editorial team for review. Please include any credits mentioned to you with regards to the images.

Please note that uploading pictures to our site you are acknowledging and agreeing to our terms of service.

Want to blog and get your opinions heard by thousands of people across the UK and internationally?

Unlike other LGBT media outlets THEGAYUK is built on a foundation of free speech and platform. Part of our mission is to make sure that our readers’ opinions are heard.

If you already have a blog or are thinking about getting one set up then look no further.

You can publish your existing blog on our platform, instantly boosting it to an audience of thousands or you can set one up with us and publish when you’ve got something to say.

There are no requirements other than making your content engaging, thoughtful and interesting – although we do have some guidelines to make sure everything is legal and legit.

We can help you editorially and provide pictures for your content – so you can just concentrate on writing about the most important things to you.

All you need to do is sign up here to get started and we’ll be in touch with your credentials.

Here’s all you need to know about press trips.

If you are a PR company wishing to contact us about offering a press trip please click here.

General.

All press trips must be arranged via the Editorial team.

The editorial team must sanction all trips, before you go. Failure to do this might result in any content you provide not being published.

Your passport must be in date and must have enough validity time as required by the press trip destination.

You remain responsible for your travel to and from the airports, although we will usual ensure that the public relations team dealing the press trip deals with your transfers.

You are responsible for all out of pocket expenses.

Health And Insurance.

You must ensure that you have appropriate travel insurance before engaging a press trip. The Company does not take responsibility for your insurance or healthcare.

If you are travelling inside the EU you must have an EHIC card. This is free to apply for.

On your trip please report anything suspicious or untoward to the editorial team as soon as possible. If you are involved in an incident or accident please inform Editorial as soon as possible.

Behaviour.

When travelling on behalf of The Company you are an ambassador for it. You are also an ambassador for yourself.

Manners don’t cost anything.

Please drink responsibly and make sure that you keep your behaviour professional.

If you are unable to make an agreed press trip you must make Editorial aware immediately.

Write Up.

All write-ups must be delivered within 30 days of the trip’s conclusion.

It may seem annoying and a little Daily Mail, but we’ve taken the editorial decision to not allow swear words – and any that do appear will be gutted with ** replacing two of the letters.

The reason for this is that many advertising networks and media buyers have listed TheGayUK as an ‘adult site’, purely based on the fact that we’re a “gay publication”. This really damages our brand as a viable place to advertise. As we’re no more “adult” than say Cosmo, Men’s Fitness, FHM or any publication that talks about sex, we have to ensure that nothing on site is overly adult – or no more “adult” than you’d find on say The Guardian or DM websites.

We want to prove that we’re a sure bet for advertisers who want to reach the LGBT community in the UK, so we hope you understand if some of your text is edited to reflect this.

If you’ve found that your submission has been declined you may find it is because it contains duplicate content from another source.

Duplicate content is defined as large chunks of content that has been found on other sites.

Content that is uploaded to our site must be fresh and distinct. It should not have been uploaded to another site (with exception to your own personal website or blog) prior to publishing on THEGAYUK.

Duplicated content can lead to a poor user experience and doesn’t allow for THEGAYUK’s voice to be distinct when there’s so much competition on the web.

This is because some search engines have been known to penalise sites that publish word for word articles.

There may be a number of reasons why we’ve have chosen to decline your submission at this time.

Reasons include, but are not limited to:

1) Content was deemed to be plagiarised or copied.
2) Content may be a direct copy of a press release.
3) Content did not meet our editorial guidelines.
4) Content did not meet our style guidelines.
5) Content may be slanderous or have a legal issue attached to it.
6) Content may not be appropriate for our core audience.
7) Content may not have enough words or content.
8) Content might be harmful to our editorial integrity.
9) Content may have appeared on another news source before.

If you feel that your content was decline unfairly please contact editorial with your concern.

Ready to add your first gif?

You’ll find what you need in the toolbar.

It’s super easy to add a gif to your article. From the toolbox click this icon…

You will be greeted with thousands of gif from GIPHY to choose. You can search by name, type, or keyword.

Once you’ve chosen your gif click “EMBED INTO POST”

** please note for some of you the embed might simply disappear once you save as a draft or publish. As a workaround, simply copy and paste the gif’s URL which you will find under the picture and under the tags. Put that URL into the space where you want the gif to upload. Once you press draft or publish they will appear automatically.

Dada! You’re done…

To give you an insight on how restaurants are reviewed we have set out the following criteria.

Overral impressions of the restaurant are given in a star rating format.

★ Critically wrong on every level. Avoid avoid avoid.

★★ Meh. Neither here nor there.

★★★ Good. Probably would go again. A few niggles here and there.

★★★★ Would consider this place for a special date or function would tell your friends and family to go there.

★★★★★ You are dragging your friends to go there.

In our restaurant reviews a place’s expense rating is determined in such a way:

£ Where a main costs less than £5, a starter and a dessert is £3 or less.

££ Where a main costs less than £8, a starter and a dessert is £4 or less.

£££ Where a main costs less than £15, a starter and a dessert is £6 or less.

££££ Where a main costs less than £18, a starter and a dessert is £7 or less.

£££££ Where a main costs more than £20, a starter and a dessert is £10 or more.

A main is determined by a mid-range item – not the most expensive item, not the least.

It is worth noting that TheGayUK reviewers are often the guest of the restaurant we’re reviewing, however this does not impact our decision or rating on a venue.