III. Rules for Authors
1. All new MDs must be started in the "Recently Published" subsection.
2. Before publication of your new MD in "Recently Published," you are responsible for reading over all the rules posted here, as well as the SC4D Site Rules, which are also linked above. We understand that this is on the honor system--meaning, by satrting an MD, you're implying that you've also read the rules. If a violation of any rule is found in an MD, "not knowing it was against the rules" will not apply.
3. An author may only have one (1) MD ongoing at any time. If a second MD is started without permission having been granted, the author's first MD will be immediately placed in the "Inactive MDs."
4. While the intention of the Mayor's Diaries section is to further the enjoyment of the game, it is expected that the author will show a commitment to his or her MD along with respect to the readers. An author is expected, along this line, to update the MD with a reasonable degree of frequency and to reasonably respond to questions that are posed in comments. If an MD goes for more than the specified alotted time frame posted in section I without a post from the author, it will be moved to the "Inactive MDs."
5. If the author deems the MD to be complete, or does not wish to work on the diary any longer, he or she will notify a moderator and request that the diary be moved to the "Inactive MDs" subsection. It is requested that an author intending to discontinue work on an MD notify a moderator by PM so that timely action to move the MD can be taken. An MD moved to the "Inactive MDs" subsection may, on the reasonable request of the author, be returned to the subsection where its actual post and page count would cause it to be placed. All requests for Inactive MDs to be reactivated are subject to the moderators' discretion. Also, it is the responsibility of the MD author to notify the MD moderators if or when they intend to reactivate and Inactive MD. Simply posting in an Inactive MD is not a guarantee that you're MD will be reactivated--please contact a moderator.
6. After an author has completed or ended a first MD, or if the first MD has become inactive, he or she may start a new MD as a matter of right.
7. Since advancement through the MD hierarchy is based on post-count, double posting should not be employed under any circumstances without a minimum of forty-eight (48) hours between posts. Failure to do so may result in the removal of any or all non-compliant posts. Also, please refrain from replying to comments on an individual basis as they are posted by readers, but use a "Replies Post" and answer them all at once, since individual replies are, though maybe not intended to be, tantamount to padding your post count for faster advancement. If a comment posted by a reader needs an immediate answer, send a PM.
8. All images will be hosted by an offsite hosting service or other server. Authors are requested to consider that not every reader has broadband Internet access, and should seek, consistent with maintaining reasonable image quality, to minimize the size in kilobytes of images accordingly. Please note that, while not a rule, we do make a strong recommendation that the max width of any image be 800 pixels, as well as being in the .JPG format. Use wider images and other picture formats (.PNG, .GIF, etc.) when necessary, albeit sparingly, since in most instances making a pic bigger does not make it better.