Guide Note Introduction
The "guide note" on Mahalo is also known as the "content section" of Mahalo Topic Pages, in most cases the guide note is written through an assigned task. The guide note is the single most important feature of every Mahalo page and is critical to the success of your Mahalo page. This page will show you the different elements of a Mahalo Guide Note and how you are expected to complete these sections on every Mahalo page you manage.
Guide Notes are important because they are generally the first thing a visitor on your page will be drawn to, and Mahalo visitors expect to read "information they can trust" so we ask that you keep this section clean of opinion, bias and plagiarism. The guide note is the part of the Mahalo Page that search engines around the web use to list Mahalo pages, search engines can detect plagiarism and will punish your page by offering low in their search results. A well written, original guide note will be rewarded with a higher result.
Your Guide Note Tools
Your Guide note tools include - from Right to Left . A Trashcan: This will delete the section Arrows: This will allow you to drag your section up or down Pin: This will allow you to stick a section so that it can't be moved Scissors: This is the transclude button, which provides you with a syndication link Pencil: This is your "Edit" button which will allow you to modify your Guide Note Section.
When the Pencil is selected you have addition options such as... Link: Which will allow you to hyperlink text Citation: This allows you to add a reference Bulleted List and Numbered List
The Opening Two Paragraphs.
The top section of your Guide Note should be about 3 or 4 sentences. You should give a very general overview of the topic of the page, write an explanation to your reader as if they have no prior knowledge of your topic. Include "journalism"-style information: who, what, where, when and why. No plagiarism in this section or anywhere.
Avoid relying too much on your personal experience. Though this top section of the note can be very general, and does not require rigorous research, it also should be verifiable information that you have received from an informed source.
As well, the Guide Note should be totally free of bias. Avoid giving your own opinion of a subject and instead stick to "just the facts." This is true of pages that are politically or culturally charged, but extends to all other kinds of pages, too, even on topics that are generally considered inoffensive. For example, a page on cinnamon buns should not say "Cinnamon buns are a delicious treat for the whole family" or "Cinnamon buns are my favorite food." This may very well be true, but Mahalo Guide Notes should be more like an encyclopedia entry, free of personal perspective and limited to factual information about the subject.
The 2nd paragraph of a guide note consists of the latest news available on the topic, be sure to include a citation for the news event. When you update your page with newer news, keep the old news, just move it elsewhere in the guide note. Be sure to return to your page and update the news paragraph when breaking news happens. If breaking news is unlikely, periodically challenge yourself to find relative news items to use for an update.
Compiling Fast Facts
When building a new Mahalo Page you are offered "Fast Facts" options within th template, try to complete the template however if a fast fact is irrelevant it's okay to click the "n/a" button to the right of that box and move on to the next fact. If you have some facts about your topic that are not offered in the template you will be able to add them manually.
Please do not invent or guess at facts; you will be asked to provide a link as a citation, to indicate where you got your information. Citations we are are gathered from trusted and official sources rather then user-generated content sites (such as Wikipedia.)
If you want to continue to add facts beyond the suggestions Mahalo has made, click the "Add a Fact" button and continue. If your fact does not need a title as well as the information (such as "Spouse: Michelle Obama"), just type the complete fact in the box marked "Fact Value."
When you build topic pages about people was ask that birthdate and birthplace be included in the fast facts.
Additional Guide Note Content
Every Mahalo page should include, in addition to the main Guide Note and Fast Facts, one or more additional subsection providing more detailed information on the topic. On most page templates, we have suggested a potential subsection for you, but you can decide to write a different subsection as well, if you like. Just click "Edit" and change the box marked "Section Title."
As with Guide Notes and Fast Facts, your subsection should be verifiable and free from bias and personal opinion. Each subsection should be expanded on over time to make your page more rounded and complete, you can always start off with one paragraph and come back and add additional paragraphs and facts. The more content the better!
Page Sidebar
Guide Note columns also contain the following sections:
- "Related Mahalo Pages": This is where users can find other pages on Mahalo that relate to the page they are currently reading. Note that this page's "relateds" are also about working on Mahalo: How to Market a Mahalo Page, How Mahalo Works and so on.
- "Page Managers": If the Mahalo page is being managed by a Mahalo staff member or a user, you will see a box that says "Managed by" and the avatar of that manager. This box also lists how long the page has been managed, how many views it has received since becoming managed and how much money the manager has earned from that page. If you don't see a Page Manager box, you will see a box that invites you to "Request," allowing you to become the manager!
- "Vertical Manager" - This is the 2nd manager of the page
- "Redirects" - These are similar search terms that will redirect to your Topic Page (may only be available to staff members)
- "View Page History" - The edit history of your Topic Page
- "Discuss on the Message Board": Every Mahalo page has its own message board, where you can discuss the topic of the page or anything about the Mahalo page itself.
- "Embed this page" - Every Mahalo page also has its own widget, which you can embed on your personal blog on other websites. The widget is basically a condensed version of the Mahalo page, that includes a lot of the links and original information.
- "Share this page" - These are buttons that will allow you to quickly share your Topic page on other networks.
How to Inlink on Mahalo
"Inlinking" is when you place double-brackets around any text on Mahalo and it will create a link to the Mahalo page (or search results of no page has been created) on that topic.
Having Your Pages Scored
Mahalo has strict standards for quality and presentation. Each guide should expect to have several pages scored each week. The scores will be accompanied by feedback, explaining any areas that were not in line with standards. In some cases, the feedback will ask the guide to update the page and resubmit it for review.
The scores are on a scale from 0-10, with 10 representing the perfect Mahalo page and 0 representing a blank Mahalo page.
Here are some guidelines on how to interpret your scores:
10: Perfect page. These will be very rare.
9 - 9.5: Excellent page.
8 - 9: Very good page.
6 - 7.5: Promising page with room for improvement
5 - 6: Potentially good page with some significant work needed.
3 - 4.5: A problem page. Urgent attention needed.
0 - 2.5: A poor page.
Here are the scoring standards:
Word Count
Topic Pages and "Big Video" How Tos
Under 200 words of original content overall (-2)
Under 300 words of original content overall (-1)
Under 100 words of original content in the Guide Note (-1)
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Pages that contain fewer than 200 words of original content become stubs, which means they do not index on Google. These need to be brought up to 200 words immediately.
300 or more original words on each Mahalo page is the "standard" for topic pages. These 300 words INCLUDE Fast Facts, video/image descriptions and all other original text that appears on a Mahalo page and is composed by a user. List sections that just list information such as movies, books, nominees of awards etc. do not count towards the word count requirement. Quotes are also not considered original content.
"Feature" How To Pages
Under 100 words of original content in a step or intro (-1 for each section)
Under 200 words of original content (-0.5 for each section)
This does not apply to the short, 300 word How To pages. The word count requirement on those is the same as for Topic Pages.
Factual error (-2)
Mahalo pages should have NO inaccurate or incorrect information. All dates, data, statistics and other specific information should be backed up by citations.
Bias/NPOV (-1)
Mahalo pages should not take a perspective on an issue or a side in a discussion. All information presented on a Mahalo page should be fact-based, rooted in supportable research from external sources rather than anecdotal information. This includes political pages or pages about controversies, but also general interest pages. Remember that even positive statements of opinion (such as "schnauzers are great dogs for kids!" or "cinnamon buns are the best way to wake up in the morning") count as biased and should not be included. (NOTE: How To pages may occasionally include a bit more "anecdotal evidence" and "personal opinion" than standard Mahalo pages, but should strive to eliminate bias).
Outdated information (-1 to -2)
While this is more likely to be an issue with updates, it's important to make sure that new pages contain the most current information.
Vague writing/filler (-1)
Often, page managers may be tempted to "pad" their writing in order to create the appearance of more content on their pages. This is strongly discouraged. Examples of padded writing or filler could including repeating the same point or phrase multiple times, talking around an issue rather than getting right to the point or making obvious statements that any person with common sense would already know.
As well, being vague or misleading about a topic should be avoided. Always be as specific as possible, and when writing descriptions of objects, places, events, processes, etc., try to work in as many details (who, what, where, when, why, how) as possible. Remember that the ultimate goal of Mahalo pages is to be truly helpful to readers.
Spelling error (-1) per error
Grammatical error (-.25 to -.5)
No categories (-1)
Aim for 3-8 relevant categories.
Inlinking Errors (-.5 to -1)
Excessive inlinking , having fewer than 1 inlink per 100 words, or inlinking to nonexistent pages will all impact the score.
No Related Mahalo Pages (-1)
A writer should include at least 5 "Related Mahalo Pages" on every topic page. Failure to include at least 5 related pages will result in the loss of a point.
General formatting error (-.5 to1)
This can include any basic formatting problem on the page. Common examples include sub-sections in the written content that do not have "headlines" or titles, Featured Videos that do not have 50-100 word captions, or sections that are misplaced on the page.
No citations (-1)
If a page contains specific, factual information that is not cited, that page will lose 1 point. Not ALL factual information needs to be cited. A good rule of thumb is whether or not that fact is "common knowledge." That Barack Obama is President of the United States who was elected in 2008 is a commonly-known fact that would not need to be cited. That he was born on August 4, 1961, in Honolulu, Hawaii, is much more specific, less commonly-known info and should be cited.
No disclaimer (on medical, legal, financial pages) (-.5)
These disclaimers appear automatically on all new pages in these three categories. They should remain intact on the page and you will be marked down for not having/including them.
No Fast Facts/Tips (-1)
All topic pages require Fast Facts; all How To pages should include Tips sections. Fast Fact sections should include no fewer than 5 facts and Tips sections should include at least 3 tips. Having fewer than 5 Fast Facts would be considered a general formatting error.
No Featured Video (-1)
All Mahalo pages should include a featured video. If you cannot locate a video that is exactly about the topic, then you can use a more general video that includes the topic.
Advertisements in Guide Note
Mahalo pages default with one advertisement within the guide note section, we ask you keep this advertising section below the "Fast Fact" section on your page and only add a second advertisement only after you add at least two more addition text sections after the first advertisement.
