So you want to share your own cool geek-parenty stuff with the GeekDad community? Great! Below you will find common FAQs along with a few guidelines for posting. (If you're hoping to get your article on to the front page of GeekDad.com, then you might also take a look at the style guide.)

Why should I write a blog on GeekDad Community?

Our community is what makes the GeekDad blog so great. We created this space for you, the community. And we want to hear from you -- your ideas, your thoughts, your projects. Write a blog and tell us what you are doing, thinking or working on. By sharing, you’ll invite the community to get to know you in a unique way.

You’ll find blog publishing tools here to help you author and post your blogs easily.

By contributing and writing blogs here on the community site, your posts may get promoted to the front page of the GeekDad Community, the Hotwired homepage or even to the GeekDad Blog on Wired.com! 

More than that, we treat the GeekDad Community blogs as the "farm team" (sorry, a sports metaphor) for the GeekDad blog. If you become an active member of the Community, post fun and interesting stories, and engage with the membership so we get to know you, we may end up offering you a chance to write for GeekDad proper!

What should I blog about?

Create content that you are passionate about and what you know. There are a number of common post types on the GeekDad blog: Projects, Reviews, and Pointers are just a few. You can also suggest your own idea or topic.

Below are some guidelines and best practices we ask our writers to follow on the GeekDad blog:

• Projects are a big deal on GeekDad, and one of the interesting post types that set us apart from other blogs. One great thing to remember is that not every Project post has to be about a year-long, build-a-scale-model-of-the-pyramids kind of project. They can be short day or hour long projects as well. What they all need to share is clear organization, explicit step-by-step instructions (numbered or bulleted as necessary), and as many cool pictures as possible.

• Reviews are a nice way for the GeekDads to feed useful information to our readership. They do not have to be book-long, in-depth analyses of each and every aspect of the item; just a clear report on the device with the positives or negatives clearly stated. Unfortunately, to avoid potential abuse by unsavory PR-types (apologies to all the savory PR-types reading this); we will never promote gadget or game reviews from the community site. It's a pain, and we wish we didn't have to do things this way, but there it is. We will encourage reviews about such things in the Discussion Forums, however.

• Pointer posts are also a great kind of post because they help our readers see cool GeekDad things that they might otherwise miss. When you post a pointer, feel free to report on the item: write a paragraph about what you're showing, pull from the content of the target and inform the readers, avoid big quotations when you can explain it yourself, and make sure you get a picture from the target and include it as suggested above. Always put a link to your target at the end.

How much should I write?

Don't worry about writing too little or too much. Start with the amount required to express your idea(s) or story. Once you actually start writing you will get more comfortable and find your voice soon enough. 

What kind of images should I use?

Each blog post should include an image -- an image you have taken or own. It is very important that you have permission to use the image in your blog. This means it's either public domain, qualifies as fair use or is licensed by Creative Commons. Be sure to attribute the image in your text. For each image used in your post, add a note at the end of the post stating the source of the image. Always include a link if possible.

What size images should I use? And how should I format them?

• Less than 200 pixels wide, with a Left or Right Layout option selected
• Greater than 390 pixels wide (preferably 660 pixels, if it's a horizontal format), with a Full Layout option selected
• No starting images should have the Center Layout option selected

What else should I know about posting blogs on GeekDad Community?

• Have fun!
• Be yourself.
• Write about topics that you enjoy reading and find most interesting.
• Share your knowledge.
• Respond to and get involved in the comments happening on your blog post – often times great conversations can happen in this space.

What shouldn’t I do when posting a blog?

• Share personal information (address, phone number, etc).
• Use images that you do not have permission to use.
• Post long rants or personal attacks directed at the community or members, these will be deleted.
• Off topic posts, these will be deleted at the discretion of the Community moderators.