Qntra is looking for writers to contribute reporting! To get started writing for Qntra you need:
- A GPG key registered in the WoT with deedbot. If you don't already have one see here for instructions on getting started.
- Interest in the exploring the craft of journalistic writing.
To get started, show up and introduce yourself in the #agriculturalsupremacy or #trilema-hanbot channels on the Freenode IRC network.
As a journalism outlet Qntra is interested in presenting information to our readers. I am happy to help you develop your journalism and writing skills in either a structured or informal arrangement. Qntra contributors are not required to have their own blogs, but it is strongly encouraged. Keeping your own blog is the best way to get better at writing and train the mind. Your own blog is also a great place to publish thoughts, opinions, and other types of writing exercises that aren't necessarily news.
Who Are We Looking For
If seeing the garbage spewing out of "mainstream" outlets has you feeling like a dissident, you are a probably good candidate for Qntra whether you are a writer looking to develop journalism chops or an independent thinker looking to improve your research and writing skills through journalism.
Leaking To Qntra:
Qntra welcomes leakers. Unlike Omidyar, Greenwald, and other imitators Qntra doesn't get its leakers arrested.
Using GPG
Having a GPG keypair allows you to have an identity that persists so long as you keep your private key and keep your private key private. Having a public-private keypair allows you to sign and decrypt communications with your private key while others can use you public key to verify your signatures and encrypt messages for your eyes only.
With respect to Qntra, signatures allow verifying your submissions are truly yours while encyption ensures submissions stay private before publication. For leakers, encryption ensures that nothing is public until publication, and nothing identifying the leaker gets published.
Users generating their first GPG keypairs are recommended to produce 4096 bit RSA keys for their own security. If you are having issues getting started with GPG, please feel free to ask for help.
How To Submit A Piece
From the most recent Qntra style guide.
Formatting for Submission
- All submissions GPG encrypted. No plaintext material will be reviewed. No exceptions. Signed material will be credited to the respective signature, if accepted for publication. Unsigned material will not be publicly acknolwedged in any manner for any reason, ever.
- No linebreaks within paragraphs. Two linebreaks between paragraphs. If your software thinks linebreaks are anything but \n throw it out.
- Single space after punctuation marks. Logical quotes without exception (Right : He said "this sucks". Wrong :
He said "this sucks.")- Link format is <a href="the url">the text</a> without other modifiers. Links to sources out of WoT and links to dynamic pages should be followed with a link to an archive.is snapshot of the page in the form (archived). Direct links to disreputable sources will be elided from the published piece in any case.
- Quotes in excess of five words, with the possible exception of periphrase of common stylistics ("Sing, O goddess, the anger that burned Vuterin the Extraterestrian" etc) go in blockquote tags.
- Straight quotation marks and apostrophes. No "Smart Quotes", "Fancy Quotes", Microsoft quotes etc.
- Footnotes go inline surrounded by double parenthesis. No footnotes in the first (or only) paragraph of a submission. Use sparingly in any case.
- Use strong for bold, em for italic, del for deleted (strikethrough). Do not abuse.
- Images are acceptable if you own them, and if they are particularly relevant. If you are including images, bundle the article and the image files in a .tar.gz archive, and encrypt/sign that.
Acceptable content
- Your piece must contain information. If you can not ennumerate the information your piece contains, it is not an acceptable submission.
- Words are generally not information ("and then he said" is gossip not information, and thus in most cases uninteresting) ; empty comparatives ("bigger" ; "faster"), empty judgements ("acceptable" ; "good"), pointless adjectives and epithets are a waste of the reader's time, the editor's patience and of your own life.
- Judgment calls and your own opinions are only interesting if you are a reputed expert staying within the field of your expertise. If you are unsure whether this is your situation then it certainly is not. If you hope that it will be in the future, we wish to encourage you, but bear in mind that the path towards that future strictly and entirely depends on your sticking to actual information, as well as on your avoiding the pretense of expertise. Both of these.
- The less you write and the more you pack into it, the better. Qntra's literary ideals are alligned closely with "for sale: baby shoes, never worn" ; we don't like Joyce or Proust, nor would we publish either.
- Qntra is not a "professional" venue. It does not publish press releases. It does not abide by the "harm no one" policy of the rest of the English press – we intend to do harm. Broadly speaking if you can't think of any group or entity that would prefer your piece not be published, your piece really should not be published.
All of this is still best practice. That some of these may have been relaxed or appear to have been relaxed in the past does not make any of the above other than best practice. Points that have caused substantial past friction in the editing and publication process in the past have been bolded. When in doubt, do less markup. A block of text without any markup at all and a list of supporting links and comments, questions, and suggestions for the editor at the bottom is a fine starting point.
Interested?
Hop on IRC and introduce yourself