By: Minki
All the best things I learned about running a Sailormoon site I learned from running a
British Comedy site. The names and places may be different, but there are certain basic
rules that remain the same, and these rules I present to you as advice for creating your
own Sailormoon site. Get your stone tablets and start carving, because here I go!
1. Thou shall not steal.
Stealing is never OK, under any circumstance you can come up with.
Your page my look nice, but you will come off as being pathetic. And don't think for one second
that you won't get caught...despite its size, the Sailormoon community is tight-knit and word
travels fast that you are a thief. It takes only a minute to e-mail someone to ask permission
to use their pictures or text, and most people are nice enough that they will let you.
2. Thou shall not use thy age as an excuse.
So you are 11 and you are making a Sailormoon
page? Good for you! But being 11 does not give you an excuse to steal, put up incorrect
information, or make an ass of yourself. "But I'm only 11, so be nice to me," you whine.
Well, one of most professional Sailormoon pages I know of was created by a 14 year old, and
she behaves more like an adult than some of the older authors out there. If you are going
to use your age as a shield for bad behavior and careless mistakes, turn off the computer and
go back to playing with your wooden blocks.
3. Thou shall not mix manga, NA, and Japanese anime information.
Usagi and Rini do not exist together in the same setting! Keep Japanese and NA information
separate and keep the naming accurate, because the NA and Japanese names are not exactly
interchangeable. Also, take the time to research your information and make sure it is correct—-
there is no excuse for having incorrect information up. Also, drawing conclusions and speculating
is one thing, but claiming speculation as fact is wrong!
This commandment also covers the sin of the wrong uses of the terms Senshi and Scouts:
only in the NA version are they called Scouts--for the manga and anime, they are called Senshi.
Sailorneptune never was and never will be a Sailor Scout!
3b. Thou shall not dub the Outer Senshi.
DIC gave Haruka, Michiru and Setsuna names; only Hotaru has no NA name.
Do not come up with your own names for them (note: speculating on what Hotaru's NA name might be
is permitted, but do not say that Hotaru's name WILL be Helen, Ann, Catherine, etc.).
4. Thou shall not have dead-end links when a site is under construction.
Visitors know that pages undergo construction, and they understand that you have lives outside
of Sailormoon so construction doesn't always get finished right away. Still, links that lead to
404 errors look really bad. Why not create a handy "Under Construction" page (nothing too fancy if
you don't want to spend a lot of time on it) and use it as a filler for the dead-end links?
It looks more professional. Another alternative is to disable the links entirely until they are
ready to be brought back online.
5. Thou shall use a spell-checker.
Do I have to explain this one?
6. Thou shall control thy ego.
Your think your page is great, and you have lots of
people linking to it. You may have even snagged a few awards. But does that give you the right
to walk around like you are king of the roost and treat everyone shabbily? I think not. First of
all, bad egos drive visitors away from your site--people don't want to deal with a webmaster who
talks down to them or is busy whining about how they think they are being treated unfairly because
(insert reason here). Second, like I mentioned before, this is a small universe where word gets
around fast, and pretty soon everyone will be talking about your ego. Third, remember that there
are tons of Sailormoon pages out there. You may find yourself the center of attention now, but in a
few weeks you site may very well be forgotten.
It is very curious to note that the authors with most of the ego problems are not running the
big pages as you might be tempted to think. A lot of the ego-trippers have smaller pages that
are usually full of boosted pics, incorrect info and sub-par work. Just an observation.
7. Thou shall not flame.
Don't be stupid: people don't delete flames when they get them; they publicly mock the
flamers instead. And the word soon spreads that you have an attitude...if you dislike a page
(and hey, it is OK to not like every page you see) and want to comment on it, or want to point
out incorrect information to the author, do it politely. Under NO circumstance should you be
cursing. Flaming as a rule makes youlook really
bad, and cursing violently in your flames makes you appear as though
you have no dignity at all. Such flamers don't even garner the tiniest scraps
of pity.
8. Thou shall respond to criticism as nicely as circumstances dictate.
Accept the fact that we are all human, we make mistakes, we don't know everything about
Sailormoon (unless you name happens to be Naoko) and we don't like every single site out there.
If someone takes the time to offer feedback (positive or negative) or correct a mistake on your
site, don't respond with a "mind your own &%*&^ business" attitude. Instead, be happy that someone
cared enough to take time to tell you what they think. Whether or not you listen to their criticism
is up to you, of course, but "thank you" notes, no matter how brief, are never bad ideas whenever
you receive feedback.
However, if the person has flamed you and misbehaving very badly, all bets are off--tell
the flamer exactly where they can go and what farm animal they can go with. But do it in a
dignified fashion; don't flame right back and set yourself up to look bad.
9. Thou shall control hentai.
A lot of surfers out there are minors
and should not be exposed to hentai. A lot of adults out there don't want it shoved down their
throats either. If you have hentai pictures on your site, you should
consider getting AdultCheck or another age verification system. At the very least, set up a
warning page that lets visitors know that there are hentai pictures on your site and to leave
now if they don't wish to see them. Likewise, if your site is G-rated, consider signing up with
Hentai Free or some other organization to let visitors know that your site is safe for young eyes.
Also, bear in mind that a lot of people (of all ages) find profanity offensive. If every other
word on your site is *^*&%!, you won't be winning lots of return visitors.
10. You don't have to like everyone, but you should give respect where it is due.
There is no law saying that you have to be the best friend of every other Sailormoon webmaster
out there; you don't even have to like them! But love or hate, you should treat everyone with
the respect they deserve. Also, if you want to be treated with respect, remember that respect is
earned and not a given. If you walk around spreading rumors, stealing, and leaving "this site
sucks, come to my site and see what a real site looks like" messages in guestbooks, don't expect
the masses to sing your praises.
Happy website creating!
Comments on this article can be sent to:
Minki.
