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When writing for the ProjectNews you represent the Project to the entire
world. So please keep in mind that when adding articles, our readers
expect a high level of quality, as they are accustomed from everything
carrying the name "Debian".
When writing for the ProjectNews you represent the Debian Project to the
entire world. So please keep in mind that when adding articles, our
readers expect a high level of quality, as they are accustomed from
everything carrying the name "Debian".

[:DebianWiki/EditorGuide#translation:Translation(s)]: none

(!) [:/Discussion:Discussion]


(Draft) Style Guidelines for ProjectNews

?TableOfContents(3)

General

When writing for the ProjectNews you represent the Debian Project to the entire world. So please keep in mind that when adding articles, our readers expect a high level of quality, as they are accustomed from everything carrying the name "Debian".

To be more exact, ProjectNews should follow the spirit of the [http://www.debian.org/social_contract social contract]; ProjectNews articles should be unbiased, objective and truthful. For example, this means that when writing about an ongoing discussion, both points of views should be reported.

Audience

The target audience of the ProjectNews are average users, which might only have a general overview about the project and technical aspects. ProjectNews should be understandable by these kind of users.

Often ProjectNews will only be able to point to a specific discussion without having the space to write a complete summary. The least thing an article in ProjectNews should do is to allow such an average user to decide, if useful for him to follow the pointer to the in deed discussion.

Content

See the section in [:ProjectNews/HowToContribute#head-d596c19c65607346179676c678512a58fedc5a00:HowToContribute] for now.

Length

Ideally an article suitable for the ProjectNews should be exactly one paragraph with up to 5 lines long. An article shouldn't be longer than 10 lines.

If that's still to long, it might be more suitable for http://times.debian.net/ than for the ProjectNews; please publish it there (or let it be published there); we can link to that article there from the ProjectNews.

Style

As outlined in the [:ProjectNews/Guidelines#head-5589fa41502202a37ba81e3fe47f6dc813380736:audience section] ProjectNews should be understandable by average users. In the starting time without translations being send out, we should further keep in mind, that many of our readers might not be native English speakers. So currently an easy English style is preferred.

So far British english is preferred over American english, as it is done with the Debian web page (where news will end up, too).

The date format follow the [http://www.mhra.org.uk/Publications/Books/StyleGuide/download.shtml MHRA Style Guide], as described at http://lists.debian.org/debian-publicity/2008/05/msg00050.html, as per example, 12 April 2008.

Style guidelines for different kinds of situations

Different situations might require different styles when reporting about them. Here are some ideas:

Reporting ongoing discussions

When writing an article about an ongoing discussion (keep in mind when the next issue will be released! Perhaps the discussion will be ended by then?) we should point the place where the discussion is taking place as exact as possible (don't mention just the mailing list, the discussion is going on, but a link to the mail which started the discussion in our mail archive).

Additionally (and if length restrictions further below allow it), the major arguments of each party in the discussion should be summarized as well.

Reporting finished discussions

When a discussion has already been finished by the time the next issue will be send out, it is more important to report the conclusion. So you may spare the main arguments (which where requested when reporting about ongoing discussions).

However if the discussion was quite long, it would be preferably to mention (and link to) the major arguments, too, so readers don't need to crawl through the whole discussion them self.

Reporting Interviews

When reporting about an interview with relevance to Debian (e.g. Release Master interviewed by LWN; HP representative interviewed and mentioning Debian) it should not only noted that an interview took place and where to find it, but also try to summarize the key points of the interview.

Reporting upcoming events

It must be clear to our readers what they can expect when visiting that events. Will there be a booth or only Debian related talks? How many and what audience they are targeting? Is there an entry fee for the event? Where can Debian be found on that event?


CategoryProjectNews