The Purpose of the Review Board​

The Review Board is a way to recommend stories for our Library. The Library, in turn, consists of various categories for stories rated 4 stars or higher, and an aggregate forum for all stories rated 3 stars.

It is not the place to post if you are only looking for improvement of your story. We have four separate Work By Author sub-forums for this purpose. Submitting to the library means you believe your story is good enough to get in -- not next week, tomorrow or in an hour, but good enough right now (see: Posting Works In Progress). For obvious reasons, this implies at least a 3/5 rating in your OP (Original Post).

For stories rated 2/5 and lower or stories that are brand new and not yet ready for the Review Board, we have the Almost Recommendable threads.

Authors and Posting:​

There is no official rule against posting your own story within the Review Board. There will be no official rule to restrict this. That said, be aware there is a negative stigma on this -- and of the above defined purpose of the Review Board.

Posting Formats for All Stories
Prefixes:​

Prefixes are handy little tags that are not part of the title, but pre-configured into the forums. To the left of where you would place your title is a handy drop down box. This makes it easier for DLP to find stories they want, be it something already finished, or perhaps just a simple one shot. Each one is pretty self explanitory, but here is a list anyway.

• Oneshot - A single story contained in only one chapter. It is self-sustaining and completed.
• WIP - Works In Progress. Stores that are continuing and have a frequent enough update history to not be classified as abandoned.
• Completed - Only for multi-chapter that are finished.
• Abandoned - Where all the awesome stories go to die. The auther no longer loves their children and thrown them out into the street to die. These stories will never be updated again but are not "complete."

Thread Titles:​

Oh how we love titles. Poetic ones. Bland ones. Eccentric ones that make you question the authors morals/ethics/sanity. Just titles. Use them. Like this:

[Story Title] By [Author] - [Rating]

Ex: Derper Than Herp by DerpTheUnherply - M

Post Format:​

So. You want to submit stories to the DLP library. You think your tastes are refined enough for sharing with DLP. I can say you're wrong but we both know you wont listen. So at least do us the courtesy of making it easy for us to follow and know what the balls you are talking about.

Please? I mean look at all the hard work we do for you ungreatful assholes. Give something back. Follow the format:

Title: [I am a super creative example title!]
Author: [You aren't as cool as this guy.]
Rating: [Censorship Hooo! Movie and Fanfic rating systems accepted.]
Genre: [What is it? Action? Drama? Romance? TELL ME NOW]
Status: [Is it done? Is the guy still working on it?]
Library Category: [Where is it going, mate? Romance? The Alternatives?]
Pairings: [Who's fucking who? This does not include friendships or mentors.]
Summary: [Don't create one. Use the one posted on the sauce, be it Patronuscharm, or be it Fanfiction.net]
Link: [Where can we find it? And for god sakes, link the first chapter.]

Please copy this template and fill the lines:

And don't forget the tags after you're done (see next section)!

Note: Straight-up Slash goes into the Restricted Section.

Linking has been simplified for fanfiction.net stories with a new BBCode tag, ffn. You only need to input your storyid into the tag.

Example: For http://www.fanfiction.net/s/8591872/1/, you would enter [noparse]FanFiction.Net[/noparse], which will result in FanFiction.Net being displayed.

Everything below this point is yours to post as you wish. Be aware, however, minimalism may be acceptable in some situations, but you are meant to convice us this belongs amongst our lofty standards.

Tell us why it should. Is it the plot? The character development? Do you just want to fuck the author cause you're a loser like MKnote?

TL;DR: REVIEW IT.

Example bad post:

Exampled proper post:

Tags:​

Tags are a lot like Post Prefixes. They let allow us to peruse the library and find what we may or may not want to read. You may like Serverus Snape/Lily Potter. You would be a godless heathen deserving of the most gruesome death ever, but you are free to like it. And Tags would allow you to find it easier.

And its not just pairings. You could also add in a genre, recurring themes, or fandoms should the story be a crossover. Things like "Action/Adventure", "Comedy/Parody", "Betrayal", "Farscape", or "Alternative History/Parallel Universe".

As Always, common sense applies. Don't add tags that don't qualify as factual descriptors of the story. Meaning don't add your opinion to the tags. That's what the post is for.

Tagging your post for pairings:

Tagging your posts for pairings is fairly simple and we already have a thread with info for that here, but for the sake of simplicity, I shall also include it here.

Tags for pairing should follow the format of "Harry/[First Name of Character]. Harry/Padma for an example. Tonks and Madam Pomfrey are the only exception to this, since they're referred to by their last name. When you create a threadcan be found beneath the post box. Please include all pairings if you intend to have multiple, or you know the story has multiple in addition to the tag "Harry/Many". Meaning that instead of "Harry/Tonks/Fleur/Cho", you would add "Harry/Many", "Harry/Fleur", "Harry/Tonks" and "Harry/Cho".

Again, as with everything. Common Sense. Don't intentionally add misleading pairing tags "for the lulz" or laughs. If you're posting an outrageous story with an outlandish pairing for amusement, please still tag it appropriately. DLP is all for gags and fun, but don't muck up the library for a few brief moments of amusement. If the story doesn't contain a pairing with Harry, add one for the main character or main pairing of the story. "Severus/Lily" for example.

Currently existing tags are located here. If it doesn't exist in this list, please post at the very bottom of the tags thread and it will be added eventually.

Important Note about tags: If the story has more than one pairing, please tag it. Once its been posted, if you missed it and someone finds it, they will only be able to add two tags.

Newbs Guide to Posting:​

We know you can't post in the Library categories directly. This is intentional. Please do not contact the staff regarding this issue. Do not ask for permission to post in the library directly. Don't ask why your story got put in the trash and could we please move it. DLP is a community driven collection of stories hand selected for quality and entertainment. All stories must be posted in the Review Board sub-forum of the library.

Colors and Fonts:

Do not alter the font color or font when you post a story. Often times it clashes with our color scheme. It doesn't make your post super unique, or
awesome. It just annoys people. If you want to browse DLP in a different color or font, please aquire Opera for its ability to use external CSS files
to alter your view only. Firefox users can find the Stylish addon to do the same. Chrome likely has this ability as well. Nobody here is dumb enough to use Internet Explorer, so we can skip that one. Politely ask the staff, and you may be provided the appropriate information on how to alter your font color with these tools.

Smile Abuse:

Lets keep the smiles to a maximum of three please. We know DLP has a lot of awesome ones, but there is no need to post every single smile because you think they rock. We've all seen them. There is absolutely no reason you should have seven of the same smile in a row, either.

Necromancy:

DLP defines Necro-posting as posting in a thread that has not had any activity within the last 30 days. The Library is, within reason, free of this rule. If you necro a thread with a proper review, you're likely to get by with minimal fuss. Especially if the necro is inspired by a new chapter being posted to a long-thought-dead story with a high appeal to the general mass of DLP.

On the other hand, if you just post something like "Awesome!" or "New chapter.", expect rape. Brutal, horrid, ungodly, deserved rape.

Personal Opinions and Ratings:

No one gets along with everyone. We don't all like the same things. You may not like Slash, while So-And-So does. Acceptable. But please, if there is something about the story that tells you "Don't read this, it will suck", then don't post. Do not vote negatively because you do not like the pairing, just to make sure the story is trashed. Ditto for any disagreements with the authors you may have.

We are all mature, intelligent individuals. We are above these petty attacks. Act that way.


Getting In To the Library:
In order for your story to make it into the Library, it must meet quality standards as defined by the staff, and voted on by the users. The most important of these are:

• Must remain in the Review Board for no less than one week.
• Must have a minimum of Three constructive reviews.
• Must have a minimum of Five votes.

Time in Review Board:

Its fairly easy to grasp. We want to give everyone the chance to read the story and review it. Some of us are slower readers than others. Some of us devour entire books in less than four hours. Some of us have things to do. Each entry usually stays two to three weeks in the Review Board until it is moved.

Constructive Reviews:

The constructive reviews is rather self explanitory. We want to know what you think of the story. What does the story do right? What does it do wrong? Does the story accomplish what the author has set out to do? Does it lack the polished grammar of a native speaker of English but still maintain being a good story? By god, man, just tell us what you think.

I cannot stress this point enough: Do Not Engage In Personal Attacks On Authors Because You Dislike Them. Ever. If they show up, insult everyone because it was rated poorly and leaves, the staff will deal with it. Do not engage in these flaming contests.

Similarly, do not degrade a story that has a pairing/genre/theme you do not agree with.

Example:

Spoilerific Reviews:

Not everyone wants to know what happens before they had a chance to read it themselves. While there's nothing to be said against discussing the story once it's in the library, special rules for the Review Board applies. If you want to post a gigantic spoiler here, use common sense (xyz dies is a spoiler, Harry owns half of Gringotts is not) and the spoiler tags. That's why we have them. It works like this:

HTML:

[Spoiler]Text you want to hide[/Spoiler]

Five Votes:

If you look at the top of each thread, you will see a drop down menu with one to five stars in it. This is what we mean by votes. If you post in your review that you believe its worth 3 stars, please also use this feature to rate it. It gives the staff an easier method of sorting stories and deciding what goes where.

The above example also brings up another point: Decimals. Please keep arbitrary numbers for the voting. Round down to the nearest whole number. I.E. 3.5 becomes three. 2.75 becomes two.

You can probably see the recurring theme here, but I'll say it again:

Do. Not. Vote. If you:

• Have not read the story.
• Disapprove of pairings and refuse to read it.
• Dislike the author on a personal level and refuse to read it.
• Dislike the theme and refuse to read it.

Posting Works in Progress:​

You remember reading that awesome story that was just posted yesterday? The one with the guy... doing the thing... Don't post it yet. One chapter is not sufficent enough to submit a rating on stories. We've all been there. New story, you follow it for a while, and you notice its starting to slide downard, until you think: WTF is wrong with you?! Y U RUIN GOOD STORIES!?

Lets try to keep stories with only one chapter out of the Review Board. Follow it for a while and if it remains good throughout the story, then post it. Lets keep all stories we post into the Review Board to a bare minimum of at least 15k to 30k (read: It's more than just the set-up of the story that's there to read) words. The only exception to this is Oneshots and completed stories.

Posted Works:​

Checking to make certain your story has not been posted before has never been simpler on DLP. Please check the following points so that you do not look like an idiot when you post a story already on DLP.

• Use our search engine and search for: a) the story title; b) the author's name.
• If you want to post a story hosted on Fanfiction.net, use our search engine and search for its story ID (i.e.: http:www.fanfiction.net/s/2571676/1/)
• This list https://forums.darklordpotter.net/showthread.php?t=14917 lists almost all Harry Potter stories once posted but rejected by our community.
• Our Library List lists almost all Harry Potter stories within our library, be it the Recycle Bin, or the actual library.

Netiquette:​

Ultimately, the library is driven by the opinions of the board. As stated before, rarely does everyone agree on any one thing. Keep this in mind. If you disagree with something said by another reviewer, politely disagree and explain why this is. Don't needlessly flame/bash members for liking things you don't. Debate is not banned, but attacks are. Please remember this.

Images in Posts:​

Posts that contain mainly Memes/Macros are not acceptable. Please do not post an image with /filler just to get around having to write a review. We all enjoy funny pictures, but we already have several threads for that. Go there and post them.

Plagiarism:​

DLP's definition of Plagiarism as defined by the rules. This is a one time offense and will result in instantaneous, Permanent bans. This is not subject to notification or negotiation. You have now been warned. Post someones work as your own and you will be banned, regardless of who you are.

 

• Updated 10/11/2011
• Updated 10/17/2011
  1. Necro rule added
• Updated 10/29/2011
  1. Spoiler rule added
• Updated 06/06/2012
  1. Ratings added
• Updated 10/16/2012
  1. FanFic BB code added
• Updated 11/18/2012 by Minion
  1. Template added for easy copypasting.
• Updated 09/01/2013 by Minion
  1. Updated 'Posted Works'.
• Updated 21/08/2015
  1. Stories rated 3/5 are officially part of the Library.