The Writers Webring Resource Page

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WRITERS@MITVMA.MIT.EDU is an email writing workshop list where you can find: Subs, critiques, technical discussion, publication & contest info, interactive story lines, chat, philosophy, jokes, Your Favorite Breakfast Cereal surveys -- and anything else. Writers rampant!

The Writers Ring was begun by Sarah Mankowski in September 1998, to link the websites of members of the WRITERS email workshop list.

In September 2000, Yahoo reorganized Webring. Sarah turned the Writers Ring over to Anitra and moved on to set up a new resource site for writers and readers at Homestead.

This is the new Writers Ring homepage, covering:

• What is a Webring?
• Purpose and description of this webring
• Qualifications for joining the ring
• Procedure for joining the ring
• Webring graphics and navigation code
• How to update your webring listing
• Helping the ring
• Use the ring to promote your site
• Ring forum
• Writers Ring Email

Additional Resources

• Other Writing Webrings
• Other Writing Forums
• Other Writing Resources
• Add Your Own Link
• Help with Webpages & Promotion
• More about WRITERS: Many of the references, writing exercises, contest-winning stories and other treasures compiled from the WRITERS list, plus subscription info. What is the WRITERS list? How to join. How to manage your subscription.

My Writing Workshops

• StreetWrites, more about the online workshop
StreetWrites writing exercises - elements of fiction, essays, grammar
• Kalliope, elements of poetry, a poetry exercise workshop 
• WebWriter, elements of webpage design and a webpage writing workshop 
• Speakout, a public speaking workshop 
• The Unicorn Pen writing forum
• Teaching Poetry
• Help with Your Homework 
  

My Writing

What a Webring Is

A webring is a way of linking similar sites without depending on manual link lists. Once a site is registered with a webring, it is automatically linked to all other sites in the ring without needing to periodically verify whether anyone has moved, been added, or dropped out. The webring software tracks all of that. All that you, as an individual site owner, need to do to make sure the Webring Magic works is to make sure that your site information is kept current, and to post a small set of standard webring navigation links on your site.

What the Writers Ring Is

The Writers Ring is intended primarily to link and promote quality sites created by members of the WRITERS email list. It is also intended as a resource for the members; therefore high-quality sites with valuable literary resources are welcome to apply even if the site owner is not subscribed to the WRITERS list.

Former members of the list are also welcome, and you will not be deleted from the ring if you unsubscribe from WRITERS. Your eligibility for the ring also does not depend on how active or popular you are on the list.

What the Qualifications Are

Unfortunately, there is only one administrator for this ring, so you are subject to my own judgment of what a "quality" site is. Fortunately, I am not entirely arbitrary. I will not rule you out of the ring because you write a genre or style that I don't read, or because you print the work of authors I won't read. I won't even rule you out if you use frames, Flash, or Javascript.

What I do require:

• Your site must fit at least one of the following categories:
1. At least 10 works of your original writing, of a quality that enhances the ring. To get an idea of my judgment, browse through the current pages of the webring.
2. An active ezine, updated at least once a month, accepting public submissions, and publishing the work of at least 6 different writers in each issue. Again, the literary quality must be of a level that enhances the ring. Browse the ring to see currently accepted ezines.
3. Resources valuable to writers. Browse the ring to see currently accepted examples.
• Your site must fulfill the following technical criteria:
  1. Clean, attractive, design: no purple-font-on-black-rippled-background or entire-site-on-one-page designs; no Javascript errors, broken images, table errors, rampant misspellings. Tip: Check to see if you fit the standards on How to Win Awards at Selfpromotion.com
  2. Your site is easy to navigate! Webring visitors will enter your site at the page you register with webring. Visitors should be able to get to the rest of your site from that page, and must be able to get back to that page from anywhere in your site.
  3. Accessibility. If you have questions about this, review my tips on accessibility and test your site at Bobby.
  4. If you do use design elements recognized only by advanced browsers, plug-ins, frames, Flash, Javascript, or other high tech, provide an alternative for lower-tech users -- or at least a graceful exit from your site, continuing on with the rest of the ring.
• Webring is once more independent of Yahoo! You must still have a Webring ID before you can join any ring. It is easy to get— you can do it while applying for the ring — and there are many advantages to it, including the ease of maintaining your webring memberships. Webring does not require as much personal information as Yahoo did. They need a valid email address to be able to contact you, and a birth date that validates you are over 18. That's it. And Webring does not spam you.

How to Join the Ring

You've browsed the ring, checked your site against the webring criteria, and you want to apply. Great!

The next step is to fill out an application form.

• This includes signing in with your Webring ID — if you do not already have one, you will need to fill out another form to get one, then you will go back to the application form.
• On the webring application form, enter the page on your site where you will place the webring navigation code. This is the page where webring visitors will enter your site. This does not have to be the main page of your site. I would rather that it be a page with specific content relevant to the webring. It can be a page containing only webring links, IF that page has easily found navigation links direct to your writing content. You may place the webring code on a different page than the one at which visitors enter your site, IF that page contains a clear link to the webring navigation code, with "webrings" in the text.
• Enter your site name (50 characters or less). Suggestion: design the title to indicate the nature of your site, include one or more keywords that someone would use to look for the special content of your site, and be interesting enough to pull in readers.
• Describe your website (400 characters or less). Suggestion: Include keywords that someone would use to find the special content of your site, but don't make your whole description all a string of keywords. Make the description attract readers.

Writers Ring Application

After You Apply

Webring will send you a snippet of Javascript code to insert in your page. This code will automagically load the navigation bar for the Writers Ring, and every other ring you have joined with that page address, whenever the page is called. The code for the navigation bar includes an HTML alternative for visitors whose browsers do not do Javascript.

The bar will display "Writers Ring Pending" until I have reviewed your application. If I add you to the ring, that will change to the full navigation display. If, for any reason, I deny your site application, the link to Writers Ring will simply disappear.

I will let you know within two weeks if you have been approved to join the ring, or I will write to you to let you know what problems need to be fixed before I can approve your application. If you do not hear from me within two weeks, feel free to nudge me.

If your page does not have navigation code displayed when I add you to the ring, it will remain in "suspended" stats's until it does. Unless your site can send visitors on to the rest of the ring, the ring will not be sending visitors to you. Fair 'nuff?

Keep the Magic Working

There is only one more thing you need to do to keep the Webring Magic working: maintain your own site listing. If your email address, site address or description, or the location where you've put the webring code changes, update your record at Webring. The Webring software cannot go find you, and neither can I. If your site cannot be found, or the navigation code can't be found on your site, you will be suspended from active membership until the problem is fixed. If I can't contact you about the problem, or you don't answer my contact, your site will be deleted from the ring.

More Ways to Help

Besides keeping your own listing current, you can help the ring in other ways:

• Visit others in the ring. There's lots of good reading here, that's why we include you!
• If you find any broken links in the ring — you click "next" and there is no site "next" — please let me know.
• If you find other sites that would be an enhancement to the ring, invite them!
• Add your other favorite writing resources to our link list.
• Volunteer to help manage the ring!
• I also welcome new graphics, or any other suggestions.

Other Site Promotion

The new Webring system has additional ways to use Webring to promote your site. Writers is a featured ring in its category at Webring. I can also feature sites within the ring. If you would like your site to be considered as a feature site, please let me know.

In the new webring system, I can customize the navbar. I will be placing a link to the current featured site in the customized navigation code.

I have suppressed the advertising on the ring Hub page and on the pages you see when you edit your site data I can place ads for ring sites there instead, for $1.20 a month. Your ad must be in the form of a graphic that links to an address. The graphic can be up to 768 pixels wide and 90 pixels high.

Forum

Another addition to the new webring system is forums. Each webring can set up a forum on its own topic. You are welcome to use the Writers webring forum for any discussion about the webring, your own site, or writing in general. I do not recommend using it for workshopping. This is a wide open publicly read forum.

Other Webring Help

You can find help for common problems at my Webring Tour page, and help for just about anything at the Webring User's Guide. If you have any further questions, please email me.

Write On!

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Updated: January 3, 2003