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BuffyGuide.com — The Complete Buffy Episode Guide
BuffyGuide Link Database




 Search | Add a Link | Modify a Link | Link to Us | FAQ
 What's New | What's Popular | Top Rated | Random Link

Main ~ FAQ

  1. Will you add my site? (a.k.a. What are the site requirements?)
  2. How can I increase/decrease my chances of getting approved or getting BuffyGuide Recommended?
  3. Can I submit a site even if it's not mine?
  4. What's with the CAPTCHA?
  5. What does the BuffyGuide Recommended icon indicate?
  6. Is there some way that people visiting my site can give it a rating for the Link Database?
  7. How can I find out what my site's ID number is?
  8. What's the difference between a clique and a fanlisting?
  9. How are links sorted?
  10. How often is the Link Database updated?
  11. What do new and pop mean?
  12. What constitutes a Popular link?
  13. What constitutes a New link?
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Will you add my site? (a.k.a. What are the site requirements?)

Probably, if you submit it. You will need to click "Add a Link" at the top of the page. Fill out the form completely and correctly, and I will then take a look at your site (generally within a few days). While I'm not incredibly picky, your site does have to meet some basic criteria:
  1. It must not be a pharmacy site, casino site, porn or "adult" site, dating site, warez site, term-paper site, mail-order bride site, or anything spammy. This is a a link database with a fairly narrow focus — the sites should be either related to the Buffyverse or of significant interest to fans of the Buffyverse (the judgement call is mine). It is not a free-for-all directory and links are not added automatically; I look at them and validate them. If I feel that a site is not of sufficient quality and interest to our readers, it will not be added.
  2. It must actually be open (not "coming soon" or "under construction").
  3. It must be at least a month old, and must have had at least a few updates since the site opened. (Sorry, but way too many people put up a site, submit it, and then never make a single update to it.)
  4. It must consist of at least a handful of actual, functioning pages of content.
  5. It must be appropriate for the Buffy audience (including young teens), and must not contain any pornographic, illegal, or otherwise unsuitable content, as determined solely by me.
  6. If the site contains any NC-17 fan fiction, it must be clearly labeled as such.
  7. It must have been updated at some point fairly recently and be updated fairly regularly. (Note: Now that the Buffyverse shows have ended, there's more leeway with this. The important thing is that the existing content is still of interest to fans. If it's a news site, then it will be pretty useless if it's not still updated; if it's a large fan fiction archive or episode guide, then updates aren't so vital.)
  8. It must not contain images (other than banners) which are linked directly from another site (or any other bandwidth theft).
  9. It must not contain content that I recognize as stolen or plagiarized from another site, unless appropriate credit is given. Even if you do give credit, your site must not consist of a large amount of borrowed material (there should be much more original content than borrowed).
  10. It must not have more than a couple of broken images, links, etc. (none on the main page) and must not take an unreasonable amount of time to load.
  11. It must have a link to BuffyGuide.com unless there is no feasible place for it.
  12. The design/layout need not be spectacular, but it should be decent. All text should be legible, graphics shouldn't be insanely large, it shouldn't be terribly garish, obnoxious, or difficult to navigate, etc. This is, of course, purely subjective. Exceptions may be made if the content is truly original/extensive/impressive.
  13. It should avoid most or all of the no-no's listed below.
And also: You must fill out the submission form completely and correctly, following the directions given on the submission page.

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How can I increase/decrease my chances of getting approved or getting BuffyGuide Recommended?

There is no particular way to get BG Recommended. I look at each site before approving them, and if I really like it, it gets the BG Recommended icon (see above). Though there are no specific criteria, it's generally a combination of design and content that I look for.

There are a few things that might lower your chances of getting BG Recommended (or in some cases, even getting approved to the database). These are basically things that bother me when I'm browsing the web. I certainly wouldn't tell you to change your site just to please me, but this may give you an idea of why your site wasn't Recommended (or approved at all).
  • Very little content.
  • "Mystery Meat Navigation." (See this page for more info.) I don't want to have to guess where a link is going to take me, or spend ages looking around the page for a clue.
  • Music or sound clips that start playing automatically when a page loads — even worse if there's no way for me to turn it off.
  • Pages with color combinations or background images that make it difficult (or impossible) to read the text.
  • Sites in which the main content is in small windows — even worse if I can't resize it. (There's a reason why people buy 19" monitors, you know.)
  • Sites that disable right-clicking. It does not prevent people from obtaining your images or viewing your source, but it does prevent me (and others) from navigating via the right-click menu (i.e. "Open link in new tab").
  • Dead-end pages — every page on your site should, at the very least, contain a link back to the home page.
  • Sites that were obviously designed for a certain monitor size, and become extremely difficult or impossible to read at other sizes. While many designers do favor a certain size, your site should still be functional at other sizes.
  • Sites on which each page opens a new window. With rare exceptions, people expect the linked pages within your site to open in the same window. (That is, if I'm at your main home page and I click on "Episode List," it should open in the same window, not open a new one.) I don't want 10 windows open when I'm done looking at your site.
  • Sites with really bad spelling and/or grammar (far beyond the occassional mistake; we all make those). If English is your second language or not your strong point, at least use a spellchecker. If you can't be bothered, why should anyone be bothered to look at your site?
  • Sites that bombard me with popup ads. Obviously I know that they're often a necessary evil, but there are limits.
  • Sites with annoying "features" such as trailing cursors, those godawful page transitions, scrolling text, popup alerts saying "sign my guestbook" or the like, wEirD caPITaliZAtioN, TEXT IN ALL CAPS, etc.
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Can I submit a site even if it's not mine?

While it is somewhat preferable that site owners submit their own link (and you may wish to send them an email suggesting they add their link to the database), you are welcome to submit a site that's not yours. However, we still need a contact email address — if you know the contact email address for the site you're submitting, that's much preferred. If not, you'll need to give your email address in that field of the submission form so that I can contact you in case of a problem.

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What's with the CAPTCHA?

When you are adding or modifying a link, you are presented with an image showing 5 alphanumeric digits on top of a distorted background. This is called a CAPTCHA — "Completely Automated Public Turing test to tell Computers and Humans Apart". One use for CAPTCHAs is spam-prevention. Some spamming web-sites use web robots (a.k.a. "bots" or "spambots") to identify pages that accept user data and then automatically and repeatedly send data to them without human intervention — in this case, these spambots submit spam links to the Link Database (for example, to sites that sell porn or Viagra). I, then, have to sift through and delete all of these spam submissions, which is time-consuming and annoying. Thus, the CAPTCHA. It is very hard for a computer to "read" skewed and distorted letters but typically not too dificult for humans. So when you correctly enter the code that you see in the image, the site can be pretty sure that you are a human, and it allows your link submission through. If the code is entered incorrectly or not at all, the site assumes that the submission may be from a spambot and denies it.

Some people do find these annoying, and I empathize (I know that it can be particularly frustrating when you can't read the letters very well and have to refresh to get a new code), but it's the best method I have at hand for combatting the ridiculous amounts of link spam I was getting.

If you are blind or for any other reason cannot read the code, please email me at and I will work with you to get your link added or modified.

More information on CAPTCHAs can be found at Wikipedia or by Googling.

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What does the BuffyGuide Recommended icon indicate?

The BG icon indicates that a site is "BuffyGuide Recommended." A BG Recommended site is, in my very humble opinion, a step above the rest. Though every site in the database has merit, I find these to be among the best.

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Is there some way that people visiting my site can give it a rating for the Link Database?

Absolutely! Once your site is listed in the Link Database, you'll be able to provide your visitors with an easy form with which to rate your site. Since the links are ranked by ratings, encouraging your current visitors to rate your site can help you get even more traffic to your site. You can find the necessary code, in your choice of designs and colors, here. Be sure to follow the instructions carefully (don't worry, it's quite easy).

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How can I find out what my site's ID number is?

If you lost the original email containing your site ID, just find your link in the database (by searching or browsing the category it's in), and look at your site's listing. It will look like this:

Site Title - Site description.
   — ID: 1234   URL: http://www.url.com

The number labeled "ID" (below the link/title, and to the left of the URL) is your site's ID.

You can also see the ID if hover your cursor over the link to your site. Look at the status bar at the bottom of your browser — you'll see a URL like this:

http://www.buffyguide.com/cgi-bin/linkssql/jump.cgi?ID=xxx

The number at the end, after ID=, is your site's ID number.

Alternate ways to view the URL containing your site ID:

If you use Internet Explorer: Find your link in the database (by searching or browsing the category it's in), hover your cursor over the link to your site, right-click, and choose "Properties."

If you use Netscape: Find your link in the database (by searching or browsing the category it's in), hover your cursor over the link to your site, right-click, and choose "Copy Link Location." Then paste the link into your browser's location bar (where you normally type in the URLs of sites you visit), or anywhere else you feel like pasting it.

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What's the difference between a clique and a fanlisting?

Different people may answer this question in different ways. For the purpose of categorization in the Link Database, the basic division is that a clique is something that sites join (i.e. you must have a website to join, and the purpose is a collection of links/proclaiming that your site is a member), and a fanlisting is something that people join (i.e. you can join even if you don't have a website, and the purpose is more to show your fandom of something/someone). This is why sites that call themselves cliques may be listed in the fanlistings category, and occasionally vice versa.

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How are links sorted?

In all pages except for the "Top Rated," links are organized by category, and "BG Recommended" sites are always listed first, in alphabetical order. The rest of the sites are sorted alphabetically below the Recommended sites. When you browse a category, new links will be listed first. When you do a search, the results are sorted by "score" — the system lists what it deems the best results for your search terms at the top of the list.

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How often is the Link Database updated?

The link database it updated automatically every six hours. At that time, everything such as ratings, hits, votes, etc. will be recalculated and updated. New links which have been approved and modified links which have been approved will also be added. Please note that when you submit a new link, or submit a modification for a link, it will not necessarily be included in the next update — it first needs to be looked at and approved by me, which may take up to a few days. Once I have approved or rejected your link, you'll receive an email letting you know, and (if it was approved) you'll then find it in the Link Database within six hours of approval.

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What do new and pop mean?

new designates a link which was added to the database within the last 7 days. pop designates a link which is popular, as determined by number of hits.

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What constitutes a Popular link?

Popular links are determined by the number of hits they get — that is, the number of times someone has clicked on a link from the Link Database. The top 25 most popular links are listed in the "What's Popular" page, and denoted on all pages by pop.

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What constitutes a New link?

A link is considered new if it was added to the database within the last 7 days. New links are listed in the "What's New" pages, and denoted on all pages by new.

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