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September 28 from
2:00 PM-3:00 PM EDT
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Theater Conference
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Guidelines
Welcome to the Theater Pod!
Any Tripod member is cordially invited to join the Theater Pod. If you're not a Tripod member yet, become one now! What on earth are you waiting for?
Please remember, you must abide by the Tripod Terms of Service at all times when online with your Tripod Theater family. Whether in chat rooms, conferencing, on Web pages, or in any other Pod activity, these terms are the standard. After all they are little more than common sense and courtesy.
Pages added to the Theater Pod must be Tripod member pages. Your page should be relevant to the Theater or a theater activity. The "Theater" is a broad umbrella, encompassing many related activities from electrics/electronics to psychology and more (much more). Theater people are equally diverse and tremendously creative. Whatever your area of expertise, if you can find the proper "theater perspective" your page is welcome here. Just be aware of the following guidelines:
- The page you submit to the Theater Pod should not merely be a cover page that links to another Web server or a so-called redirector shell pointing to a Web site outside of the Tripod domain. For your page to be listed as a page in the Theater Pod, you must be a member of the Tripod family, the page must be on a Tripod server, and the page must contain content relating, in some way to the Theater or a theater activity.
- Link lists -- Pages that list links -- can be useful resources, but if it's your only resource, that is, your only contribution to the Theater Pod knowledge base, it should be a well-developed link list, not just one or two links. Please don't recreate Lycos; Lycos is doing just fine. At the same time, keep in mind that pages with fewer than 10 or so links really can't be considered 'resourceful'. Further, occasionally list with hundreds of links can also be useless if they don't direct the visitor to mainstream, quality resource web sites. Be choosy when building your "snazzy list of links".
- Although Tripod doesn't have a problem with commercial Web pages, the Theater Pod will list them only if certain conditions are met. Pages made by or representing commercial organizations are welcome provided that in addition to the commercial content, they also provide resource content, such as hyperlinks or free products and services useful to theater-oriented pod members. For the purposes of the Theater Pod, theaters, shows and all theater-relevant public-information web sites are not considered "commercial Web pages" and are excluded from restriction.
- Furthermore, the page you want listed in this Pod must to be yours, should "make your mother proud" and you must be fully responsible for the content. The
Tripod Terms of Service (not to mention the law enforcement community) explicitly frowns upon copyright violations. Tripod provides many free, excellent, free, colorful, free graphics (Did I mention that they were free?). Please don't rip off somebody else's work. That's not nice and your mother wouldn't like it! One of the absolute best things about building your own web site is that sense of accomplishment you get from knowing it's all your own work. If you need help with graphics or content, please, just ask the poderator.
If your page is not on topic, it will be removed from the Theater Pod. You will be notified by email if such drastic action is required. If your page is removed, remember that you are still a member of tripod, and that you are free to resubmit your page once you update it to relate more closely to the Theater Pod topic.
It is the right of the Poderator to determine what is and is not appropriate for the Publisher's Page. The Publisher's Page is the Theater Pod listing of all Theater Pod Member pages. If you are a member of the pod, your page is listed here.
Further, the Poderator is also fully responsible for the selection of the Bests of the Theater Pod Award, which is presented to the Theater Pod Web site based on the following selection criteria:
- Rule One: When selecting the Best of Pod web site, the Poderator (like a Director) is ALWAYS RIGHT. If you think the Poderator has made a mistake, please reread the first sentence of Rule One. If the Poderator is ever wrong, the first sentence of Rule One still applies.
- Speaking of fiction, Edgar Allen Poe once said that readers must be committed to "... a willing suspension of disbelief." This is not altogether different from the theater. Above all else, on stage we strive to create an illusion of reality so strong as to draw the viewer in until he becomes a part of the action and not merely a dispassionate observer. You must attempt to do this with your web site. It must draw your guest in, make him or her feel welcome and make the visitor want to stay. The better you accomplish this task, the higher the quality of your pages.
- Originality is extremely important. We're all learning to develop web sites, no matter how old we are or how long we've been at it. Borrowing ideas is not forbidden provided that you apply your own unique signature (or twist) to the site making it your creation and not just a copy of someone else's.
- You must select and apply a theme that is consistent throughout the site. Themes make guests feel more comfortable and facilitates navigation of your site.
- When you use graphics, make sure that they are not invasive. That is, your graphics will not distract from the focus of your theme and your site. It is recommended that you use original graphics whenever possible. Also, use them sparsely and only emphasis. If your web site drags onto the screen because it is graphic intense, no one benefits, least of all your guests out there in computer land who must wait four or five minutes for your main page to download on a 28.8 modem. Just use a little common sense. And, by the way, it's not impossible to develop an award winning web site without using a single graphic.
- Technology is important as well. Appropriately applied, a little Java applet, some VBScript or Javascript can add that extra little punch to attract and hold your guests' attention. Beware -- Here there be dragons! If you chose to add interactivity in the form of scripts or applets, or if you use a third party web development package like Netscape Composer or Microsoft FrontPage, among many others, you must take the extra step of viewing your site with at least the two basic browsers: Netscape and the Internet Explorer. All too frequently, pages created with one package or the other will not play well with the opposing browser. If you build with FrontPage, then you need to view with Netscape (just to make sure nothing has gone awry). Inversely, if you build with Composer, view with IE. If you use any other development package, review your site with both browsers.
- It's not exactly unheard of, on the World Wide Web, to promote your own site. If you have a great web site that you think deserves an award, send an email to the Poderator. You should tell him or her why your site is so great and, specifically, why you deserve an award. Even if your site isn't selected, your Poderator may have a few suggestions that will help you qualify next time.
Remember, you don't need to have a page to join the Pod: you can always add a page later. Even if you have a Widgets page (What's a widget?) that is totally unrelated to theater, YOU, (yes, even YOU, but not your page) can join the pod. Please do. You can receive the pod newsletter and visit all the great pod sites. If you haven't built your personal web page yet, try our Homepager! It's a great tool and makes building your site a breeze. If you get stuck or have a problem -- AND -- your page theme is theater related, please contact the poderator for help.
Last call! See you in the Pod!
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