Armenian News Network / Groong

Posting Rules

Here's an incomplete guideline for what is appropriate for posting on GROONG, and what is not. Please note Rule #1: ANN/Groong's administrator has final say on whether or not a posting goes on GROONG.

Submissions to GROONG must be made in PLAIN TEXT.
They must be emailed to groong@usc.edu

Do not send us attachments;
do not send us email in HTML or RTF mode;
(Consult with your ISP or check your email reader's settings, - usually somewhere in the preferences menu, - on how to turn these modes off and just send in plain text.)
unfortunately we currently do not publish articles in Armenian;
We generally can't use material in a language we can't read.
(We can read Armenian, we have other technical issues with it online.)
Did we mention that your submission/email must be made in PLAIN TEXT?

If your submission fails to meet our guidelines, we will simply ignore it, or at best you may get a reply with the URL of this page, to indicate why it was ignored.

WARNING:Most of the material on GROONG is already available to our readers on the Internet. Still, we urge contributors to make absolutely certain that they have permission from the appropriate authors and/or news agencies to redistribute their material. Neither the administrators of this list, nor the site(s) at which this list is based will accept any responsibility whatsoever, for improper or illegal postings. Such responsibility naturally rests with the sender.

Having said this, here are some types of submissions which are acceptable for posting on GROONG:

News about, or relevant to, current Armenian issues or events. It should be of reasonable quality -- not trivial or anecdotal news. Generally speaking, if the piece would be appropriate material for printing in a major newspaper, and if it is deemed to be of reasonably wide interest to the Armenian public, then it's probably appropriate for GROONG.
Press Releases from known organizations. PRs must start with a plain text "Electronic Letterhead" of one or more of the involved organizations, and it should include information that can be used to contact the organizations, such as Tel/Fax/Email/URL/Address. Here is an example letterhead:
```
    PRESS RELEASE
    Organization of Important Matters
    123 4th Street, Suite 567
    Springfield, SI 01234
    Contact: Joe Armenian
    Tel: 123-456-7890
    Fax: 123-456-7890
    E-mail: info@oim.org
    Web: http://www.oim.org/
```
A PR is used to convey information about the organization and its activities. It may not be used as a forum for activism, calls to action, partisanship, or as a platform for editorializing between quotes.
We do not accept "Press Releases" from individuals. Those are considered "Letters". Please read the current guidelines for submitting Letters to Groong. PRs from companies are basically advertisements and we don't accept them, unless it's an announcement for a free public service or event or some such. See Rule #1
Public Service Announcements of wide Armenian public interest -- and not commercial in nature. Examples of a PSA might include announcements for events or functions either open to the public or available for a nominal/trivial fee.Note that our notion of "commercial" is much more expansive than the standard notion.
In case of a nominal fee, Do NOT include the fee/price/donation. Your letterhead should include information which may be used to contact the appropriate people for such info.
Dinners, dances, banquets, galas, fundraisers, popular singers/kef nights, and most events with more than a couple of dollars for an entry fee or donation: forget it. GROONG is not an ad-space. Rarely, a ticketed event might be considered on a case by case basis, in which case please consult Rule #1 above.
Critical Reviews of cultural products of wide Armenian interest, such as books, music, art, etc. are the only form in which we will announce the product. We will accept quality reviews from major publications or by an independent and objective authority in the field, and we don't consider complimentary sound bites about a product, or a listing of its contents to be a "critical review". If you're looking for a free ad, forget it. Buy one in an Armenian newspaper.
GROONG is always looking for quality content, and a meaningful Critical Review is considered a fair exchange for the announcement.
Well-known Armenian newspapers may publish regular issues on GROONG for our readers. We have published a few simple requirements in order to keep postings within GROONG's framework, and present our readers an easy-to-read, standard format.
Items posted to GROONG must have something to do with Armenia and/or Armenians. News about general world political events are discouraged unless they are related or relevant in some fashion to Armenian issues.
Due to wide interest in world events, we post those items directly and only on our website under World News.
Job Ads are borderline acceptable Press Releases. We'll accept simple, informational PRs from well-known organizations about major positions open, and a reasonable likelihood to find a qualified applicant among Groong readers. If you're advertizing for a fast typist or some commercial/corporate type, go somewhere else. If you have a faculty position or your NGO director of operations slot open, we'll help you.

What is NOT appropriate for Groong?

Here's an incomplete idea of the type of material which are INappropriate for posting on GROONG. For "completeness", we remind you of Rule #1.

We do not accept unsolicited original material for publication, such as opinions, editorials, speeches, discussions, polemics etc. We may consider some items which fit our guidelines as a "Letter to Groong." Please read the current guidelines for submitting Letters to Groong.
Commercials and Advertisements. No chance.
"Announcements" or "Press Releases" about products, events, publications, or websites of limited Armenian public, or largely private interest. These are probably commercials or ads. Maybe it's appropriate that we reiterate here that the list administrators are the final arbitrators of what is ultimately acceptable for posting on Groong.
No new publication or new website announcements, or new issues or website updates.
We don't "announce" events with an entry fee/donation/ticket. The "Nominal fee" mentioned above is a couple of dollars maximum, with special consideration. If the event carries more than a nominal fee, not mentioning the fee doesn't help, the issue is that the event has a fee. We suggest you buy an ad in a newspaper.
We do not post repeat articles and PRs, unless the already posted version contains significant errors. Additions and updates will only be considered in the context of a developing story, an ongoing, "breaking" news item. We also do not post repeat announcements and reminders of posted announcements. This is why the Calendar of Events exists, each thursday 8am Pacific Time. We suggest that you notify us of your event as early as possible for inclusion in the Calendar, then a week or two before the event, send us a detailed Press Release about the event, for maximum impact.
We do not accept Campaigning, advocacy, lobbying, etc. for any elections. We don't post "PRs" from organizations specifically created for a campaign effort (eg_ Zimbabwe-Armenians for Mugabe).
No Dinners, dances, banquets, galas, fundraisers, solicitations, cocktails, mixers, calls to action, surveys, BBQ's, etc. Again, we may make rare exceptions for major pan-Armenian events at our discretion and on a case by case basis (presidents, catholicoses, etc. but that's about it).
No Speeches, sermons, lectures, Q&A, etc on GROONG. Whatever we accept for posting will probably go in the Letters. Again, please read the current guidelines for submitting Letters to Groong.
No Cheerleading and boosterism, of either people or products or events on GROONG. We want to hear about the benefit to Armenians and humanity in the form of critical reviews of products. No hype!
Absolutely no vitriol.

We remind you again that this is an incomplete guideline for what is appropriate for posting on GROONG, and what is not. If you find a loophole to argue for material that's not in our spirit, we'll add it on this page and point you to it.