How to recognise a good article from a bad one

[Tomoyo]

The following are funny rules of thumb. Can you tell I was bored?

One: A good article almost always uses bold for the headings of sub-titles.

Two: Most articles that use asterisks to highlight the headings are bad.

Three: Good articles tend to have a lot of s and s.

Four: Bad articles tend to have more s and s.

Five: Bad articles tend to use all caps more.

Six: Happy people write better articles.

Seven: In a good article, you never see the second post without scrolling. Even the short ones find some way to lengthen themselves.

Eight: No articles have the .

Nine: Most articles that have a very thinly spread layout, in an almost lectury way, are bad.

Ten: Good articles almost never have any outside quotations in the middle.

Eleven: List articles are only good if they use arabic numerals. Yes, that means 1, 2, 3, not one, two, three.

Twelve: Good articles actually have to do with civ3. D)

Thirteen: An article about a tiny point in the game is a bad article.

Fourteen: Good articles don't get moved.

Fifteen: Good articles have distinct paragraphs.

Sixteen: It is better to have an article than no article at all.

Seventeen: If the articles has a million colons in it, it is a bad article.

Eighteen: Any list article that stops on an arbitrary number is a good article - except for this one.

Please don't take this wrongly! I do not mean to imply that some articles are "good" and some are "bad". I just thought that I saw some patterns between well-written articles and those that are... well... not. All of them are just rules of thumbs, and as the rule of thumb of civ rules of thumb goes, "Most rules of thumbs are bad".

 

[Yuri2356]

Eleven: List articles are only good if they use arabic numerals. Yes, that means 1, 2, 3, not one, two, three.

What about Roman Numerals to add that dash of classical Pizzaz?

Most of these points can be applied to the quality of any written work. Be it an essay, news report, narative, or strategy article. A fairly well made list.

 

[Tomoyo]

I must admit, the only Roman numeraled article I have ever seen was written by myself...

 

[Yuri2356]

And was it a "good" one?

 

[citizen001]

How ironic!

 

[Vegasgustan]

You guys are always good for a smirk. Thanks.

 

[rysingsun]

1) good posts have good titles like "libraries and universities? or marketplaces and banks?" bad articles have titles like "help!"

2) good posts include a saved game file. bad posts dont even have a screenshot.

3) good posts are run through a spellchecker. bad posts are run through a scanner.

4) good posts do not promote political candidates or agendas. they stay focused on the game.

by the way .. on point 4 ... i tip my hat to the community of civ3 that we managed to get through the election without a giant slugfest and a huge amount of namecalling like i saw in another site i visited. good job

 

[Tomoyo]

You should have seen OT.

 

[Moonsinger]

Sixteen: It is better to have an article than no article at all.

When it comes to article, "It is better to have an article than no article at all" is really the only golden rule that's matter to me; the rest are irrelevant. Just because an article may be written poorly, that doesn't mean that is bad. Since not everyone is a native English writer/speaker and they don't get pay for documenting or sharing their Strategy/Research here, we should be graceful that they taking the time to write and to answer questions. I know many great Civ players who really want to share their knowledge with us but they either don't have the time, or don't know where to start, or they're worrying that someone may not like their writting! Unless we ask the right kind of questions, they probably will take their knowledge with them to their grave. With the right kind of encouragement/inspiration, we could help turn almost any article into good article.

I wish to thank to everyone who have written on this forum and have shared their ideas with me. Please don't hesitate to write because you think your English may not be good enough or because your grammar/spelling may not be good enough. IMO, good article should not be based on the writting skill of the writter but should be based on his/her heart and soul and of what he/she is trying to express.

 

[soul_warrior]

how about just a few basic guidelines?
- write fluently. if your text keep snagging... rephrase
- write concisely (meaning - briefly). texts that are too long wont get read.
- add visuals! a picture is worth a 1000 words (here's my quatation in mid text )
- add saves if possible. it really helps. also add note of game and version (such as C3C1.22)
- keep the text focoused. either on a single subject, civ, or whatever.
- enjoy your writing
- peace all, Jah bless. KEEP CIV ALIVE (and here is my all cap letter sentence )

 

[ybbor]

- write concisely (meaning - briefly). texts that are too long wont get read.
- add saves if possible. it really helps. also add note of game and version (such as C3C1.22)

how would a save be helpful in an article?

also, look at the war accadmy (which is the standard for 'good' articles) very few are brief, i think you'll find that most people here much prefer the long in depth articles

 

[Moonsinger]

An apple falling down the tree may seem brief and uneventful to some people, but to Newton, it is a discovery of a lifetime. Let's ask not what the apple can do or should be doing for us, but what can we do about the apple.

 

[punkbass2000]

This explains why you're so good at the meta-game aspect of civ...

 

[Moonsinger]

Thanks punkbass2000, but I simply mean to say that when people give out free lemons, just take them and thanks them. Try not to complain too much about their usefullness! A lot of time, we probably can't do much with those lemons anyway; however, eventually other people may give out free sugar too. Bingo! Now, we can make some lemonades. To encourage more people to give out more free stuffs (big or small or whatever that may be), we shouldn't complain about their gifts, especially when they are free.

 

[punkbass2000]

Your modesty only bolsters my argument...