How to Get Your First SeRP Accepted

• Also try: How to Make Your First Search Results Page
• Please check the Mahalo Style Guide for the most up to date information on our guidelines.

[edit] Our Mission

• Our motto is "We're here to help." We take that mandate very seriously and strive to help our users by providing high-quality results for the most commonly searched terms. As humans, we assemble the best links on the Internet and curate them. We look at Google, Yahoo!, LiveSearch, delicious, and many other sites to find the best spam-free information on the web. As one of the people contributing to our results, you are expected to uphold our standards during your time in the Greenhouse. Every SeRP you create for Mahalo must reflect, refine, and strengthen our mission. Here are some ways you can make sure that happens:

1. Become familiar with our standards. Mahalo's standards regarding the quality of links we put on our search results pages are high. We only link to very helpful, high quality sites. We never link to spam, splogs, advertorials, or sites that are overly ad-heavy, have poor content, have unoriginal content, or are of no help to the user.
2. Abide by these standards always.
3. Let our motto guide you. Ask yourself of each link you want to include: "Does this help the user?"

[edit] Get the Tools

• Use tools to make the process of creating a SeRP faster and more efficient:

1. Firefox: We strongly advise you to download and use the Mozilla Firefox browser for your work on the Greenhouse. Firefox tabs allow you to open multiple links at once and quickly tab through them. Firefox also offers many add-ons and extensions that can make the search process easier.
2. Tabs: Enabling tabs in Firefox allows you to have multiple links open at once. That can be a real time saver for your process. It's helpful to set your middle mouse button (if you have one) to open links in new tabs within Firefox.
3. Guide Tool: After you become familiar with the basics of adding links to your SeRP, you can download a special tool that only works with Firefox. It helps to automate the process of adding links to your SeRP. See How to Make a SeRP Using the Guide Tool for instructions.

[edit] Customizing the Template

• Because we are a human powered search engine, we can use the flexibility of humans and the wiki format (that's the code we use to write each page) to customize a search result page as needed to best fit the search topic.

1. We organize each search result page with sections. Each SeRP should have 3-9 sections, not including the Top 7.
2. Most templates come complete with all of the sections you will need to make a great search result page, however, you may find the need to add a section or delete one. Each search topic will be unique and may require adjustments. For instance, if you are doing a SeRP on Joan of Arc using the Historical Figure template, you might add a Joan of Arc in Popular Culture section and include links to all of the movies and plays featuring Joan of Arc.
   • To create a section use this code: ==Section Title==
3. One way to get a sense of what to include on your page to make it the best SeRP possible is to go to Mahalo and look at examples of similar works to your own.
   • Go to Mahalo.com, click on the vertical that your term belongs to (such as Video Games, Gadgets, or Travel) and find an appropriate SeRP to compare with yours.
4. You may also need to add a subsection. Subsections are related but less important sections that belong to a main section on the search result page. For instance, a subsection under Joan of Arc in Popular Culture could be Joan of Arc in Film.
   • To create a subsection use this code: ====Subsection Title====

[edit] Add Links, Take Two

• There are three components to putting a link on a search result page, besides the basic mechanics of the code:

1. Searching for and finding the link
2. Evaluating the link for inclusion
3. Formatting the link

• It is important to master each of these in order to create the best SeRP possible.

[edit] Searching for and finding links

1. Go to the search engine of your choice. Type in your search topic and start looking at the results.
2. Always open all the links on the first page of results, as many of these links will be good enough to include on your SeRP.
3. Since most users only glance at the first page of results before giving up or clicking on a link, you can help the user by going at least ten pages deep. Comb through the first ten pages for anything that sounds like it would be a good addition to your SeRP.
4. Open all promising links in tabs.
5. Cycle through all these links (ctrl + tab) and determine which ones you'd like to add to your SeRP. EVERY link you add should be of very good to excellent quality! If it is only an OK link, do not include it.
6. Once you find a good link, always check any external links on that page to see if they would be a good addition to your SeRP. For example, the external links on the bottom of Wikipedia pages often have great content.
7. As you go through each link, thoroughly examine everything that the site has to offer. Remember that it's OK to deep-link to several different pages within the same site!
8. Next you want to search for variations on your search term. For instance, if I am doing the Italian Food SeRP, not only will I search for "Italian Food", but also "Italian Cuisine," "Italian Cooking" and "Italian Dinners."
   • Use quotes if you want results that include that exact phrase.
   • If you are using Google, use Google Advanced Search to get more specific results
9. The next step is performing more detailed searches. These searches might help you find links to fill out various sections such as searching for "Italian Food Recipes" or just might give you a different set of results, such as searching for "Cooking American Italian Food". The more specific words you add, the more directed your results will be, usually.
   • Google also offers search tools designed explicitly for searching for videos, news, blogs, etc. Google News search is a great place to start and can provide a reliable RSS feed for many topics
10. Google is by no means the only search engine you can or should use. Yahoo!, MSN and Ask will all give you different and valuable results.
11. We strongly encourage you to get a del.icio.us account, though you can still search without one. It is a great social bookmarking tool for everyday life, and a great place to search for some quirkier results. del.icio.us You are searching a collection of sites that have been tagged by the users, therefore they are usually helpful, interesting and mainly spam-free.
12. StumbleUpon also has a search feature that can yield some interesting results.

[edit] Is the link good enough to add?

• Once you find links you want to add, you must make sure that they are up to Mahalo's standards for inclusion on a page. This involves checking for the following things:

1. Is the site banned by the vertical team according to its Style Guide?
2. Is it too ad heavy?
   • Where are the ads, if any, placed on the page? Are they on the sides or bottom, or are they stuck in the center of the content?
3. Is there high quality original content on the page?
4. Where does the content begin on the page? If there are only ads in the top quarter or top half of the page, we don't link to it.
5. Are the ads distracting or is it difficult to tell what is an ad and what isn't?
6. How is the page designed and laid out?
   • It is acceptable to link to pages that have below-standard layout and design if the content is terrific. It is not OK to link to a slickly designed page that has no content. Ideally, we want to link to sites that look great and have great information to offer.
7. What is the page's Alexa ranking?
   • In general, we don't link to sites that get very little traffic. Downloading the Alexa toolbar for Firefox is a way to keep tabs on the traffic of a given site. If the page ranks higher than 100,000, it is probably safe to include the site on your SeRP.
8. If the ads are of an inappropriate nature, don't link to the page.

• The ideal "good link" is helpful to the user, has original content on a well designed page with a sensible amount of easily identifiable ads.
  • If you are on the fence about a certain link, leave it out. If it is worth being included, then a user will recommend it and it can become a part of the SeRP over time.
• Remember, it is always better to have a shorter SeRP with every single link being of extremely high quality, than to have a longer, lower quality SeRP!
• Sites we will never link to are:

1. Spam, splog and advertorial sites
2. Unhelpful sites
3. Malicious sites that hurt the user or steal content
4. Sites with inappropriate content

• You can read more about what types of sites Mahalo links to on our Mahalo FAQ and read about splogs and advertorials below:

[edit] Splogs

• Spam blogs, or splogs, are blogs that appear to have original content or useful information about a particular subject, but are in fact simply scraping, or stealing, their content from another site or blog. Mahalo never knowingly links to splogs.
• Some splogs might create their own content with the intent to advertise something. These blogs will appear to be blog posts and commentary about a concept, product, or service, but will be funded by or linked to commerce sites. The information on these blogs might be useful, or it might be one sided. It is best not to link to anything that is trying to sell you something.
• Splogs can be difficult to identify at first glance. Many will appear to be legitimate, but here are a few ways to tell if the blog is in fact worth linking to:

1. Click around the blog. Look at multiple entries and see where the links take you.
2. Look at the "about" or "profile" section. Is this blog by an actual person with accountability?
3. Notice how long the blog has been in existence. Most blogs have an archive section on the side. If a blog has been active for only a few months that is usually a bad sign.
4. See how many posts have been made, or if there are any comments. If there have been one or two posts in the last three months, you probably don't want to link to this blog. If there are absolutely no comments, again, not a good sign.
5. Look at the ad placement. Are the ads obtrusive and distracting? Can you distinguish what is an ad and what isn't?
6. Examine the layout. Is it a generic template, or has someone spent time on personalizing the site? Beware: flashy graphics or layout don't necessarily equal quality.
7. Type the URL into Technorati and check its ranking. Is it a good resource linked to by other good blogs?
8. Finally, if the content seems like it is taken from somewhere else, or you just want to confirm that it hasn't been, use the Plagiarism Tool to find out.

[edit] Advertorials

• Advertorials are ads that appear to be legitimate news or editorial commentary. They might seem like informative and useful pages to link to, but are in reality paid-for advertisements. Mahalo never knowingly links to advertorials.

1. • Advertorial-heavy verticals: Health, Travel, Products, Food
   • Here is an example: PlasticSurgery.com: Cosmetic Surgery Addiction
   • To learn more, visit Mahalo's guide to Advertorials

• Advertorials are inherently designed to look like impartial news or editorial content, and can be difficult to identify. Use this check list to help you spot and avoid them:

1. What is the host site's mission? If it is selling a product or service, their content could be skewed.
2. Does the page have many highlighted or underlined words that link to external sites or internal pages with ads or sales pitches on them?
3. Does the content appear anywhere else on the web? To find out, search for a sentence from the page in quotes on a mainstream search engine and see what the results are.
4. Are there conspicuously placed ads or can you not tell what is an ad and what isn't?
5. Who is the author of the piece?
6. Is one particular product or service being mentioned repeatedly throughout the piece?

[edit] Affiliate Links

• Many online retailers, service providers, and other businesses utilize affiliate marketing. Through affiliate marketing, web sites can include links to products or services and earn a small commission when someone clicks the link and makes a purchase.
• Affiliate programs are not inherently bad. However, it is not always obvious to the user when they click on an affiliate link. Therefore, it is Mahalo's policy to never include any affiliate link on a search results page. This is in keeping with our mission to provide the highest quality search results on the Internet.
• To avoid accidentally including an affiliate link on a page, always link directly from the site in question. For example, visit Amazon.com directly, don't copy a link to Amazon.com you find on a third party site.
• Some companies that utilize affiliate marketing
  • Alibris
  • Amazon.com
  • Barnes & Noble
  • Buy.com
  • CD Baby
  • Dreamhost
  • DSL Extreme
  • EB Games
  • eBay
  • eMusic
  • Hallmark
  • iTunes Music Store
  • Newegg.com
  • Netflix
  • NFL Shop.com
  • Orbitz
  • Overstock.com
  • Wal-Mart
• An example of an affiliate link
  • Here is a search of Amazon.com for the keyword "mahalo" using the search bar built into the Firefox web browser:
  • http://www.amazon.com/s?ie=UTF8&tag=mozilla-20&index=blended&link%5Fcode=qs&field-keywords=Mahalo&sourceid=Mozilla-search
  • Here is a search for the same keyword from Amazon.com:
  • http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_ss_gw/103-8568990-0926255?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=mahalo
  • There are several differences, but the clue that the first search leads to an affiliate link is right here:
  • =mozilla-20
  • "mozilla-20" is the affiliate code that tells Amazon.com to credit to the Mozilla Foundation a portion of any sale stemming from that link.

[edit] How to format a given link

• After you have searched for and found great links to add to your page, you want to make sure that you are formatting them correctly. There are some small formatting standards that vary from vertical to vertical. You will have to learn those by consulting vertical style guides and through trial and error. If you are not sure how to format a link, follow the instructions found in the Mahalo Style Guide. Here are the basic formatting rules you will need to follow:

• The Mahalo Top 7
• Links are formatted sightly differently in The Mahalo Top 7 than from the other sections on a page. This is because the other sections are labeled in such a way that the user can tell what kind of site they are going to when they click on a link in that section.
• Describe links in the Top 7 according to type. For example, instead of writing:

1. CBS Sports: Melvin Looks Back on 2007 Season (Time: 0:57)  

• write:

1. Video: Melvin Looks Back on 2007 Season (Time: 0:57)  

• so that the user knows they will be taken to a video when they click on the link.

• Most links in the Top 7 will be well known enough for the name of the site to be more useful than the type of link. For instance, for a New York Times article instead of the word Article beginning the link, you can write The New York Times. However, if it is an unknown small town newspaper article, the word Article would be more helpful to the user than the name of the paper.

• Link descriptions
• Try to keep links short, but descriptive. We need to communicate to the user what they will get when they click on the link through the description.
• Basic link formatting should be in the format of:
  • Source: [URL Name of Deep Linked Page with any Necessary Description]
  • Example:
    • IMDb: Natalie Portman Filmography
    • IMDb: [http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000204/ Natalie Portman Filmography]

• PDF
• Linking to PDF files is fine, but we must alert the user that they will be taken to a download window instead of a web page, and let them know how large the file is. Therefore, the proper way to format PDF links is:
  • Link: [URL Link Description] <small>(15 MB)</small> <w>WARNING: PDF File</w>
• In the Top 7:
  • PDF: [URL Link Description] <small>(15 MB)</small> <w>WARNING: PDF File</w>

• Articles
• Articles from publications that were at one time in print, should be formatted like this: Publication Name: [URL "Article Title"] <small>(January 01, 2008)</small>, with the article title in quotation marks
• Articles from online publications that were exclusively published online should be formatted like this: Publication Name: [URL Article Title] <small>(January 1, 2008)</small>, with the article title without quotation marks
• If a title of the article is longer than one line, cut it short and end it with ...

• Official Sites
• Official sites should always be the first link in the Top 7 and should be prefaced by "Official Site:" Make sure what appears to be an "official site" actually is!

• Blogs/Blog Posts/Forums
• When linking to an entire blog or forum: Blog: [URL Blog Name] or Forum: [URL Forum Name]
• When linking to a blog post or forum post: Blog Name: [URL Post Title] or Forum Name: [URL Forum Post Title]
• When linking to a blog search, tag or collection of posts: Blog Name: [URL Search Topic Blog Posts]

• Merchandise searches
• In general, linking to specific searches for different types of products is more helpful to the user than linking to one generic merchandise search. When doing specific searches on sites like Amazon.com for CDs, DVDs, etc, use this format:
• Amazon.com: Gene Kelly Books | DVDs | CDs
• Amazon.com: [http://www.amazon.com/s/Gene%20Kelly&rh=i%3Aaps%2Ck%3AGene%20Kelly%2Ci%3Astripbooks Gene Kelly Books] | [http://www.amazon.com/s/Gene%20Kelly&rh=i%3Aaps%2Ck%3AGene%20Kelly%2Ci%3Advd DVDs] | [http://www.amazon.com/s/Gene%20Kelly&rh=i%3Aaps%2Ck%3AGene%20Kelly%2Ci%3Apopular CDs]

• Using pipes
• Pipes are the way we separate two links from one site on one line. Simply insert a pipe, which is found on the same key as the backslash, between two links: Amazon.com: [URL Search Topic Books] | [URL Search Topic DVDs]

• Embedding Video and Images
• Images are not enabled on Greenhouse and you will not be able to embed one.
• Some videos are able to be embedded and they use this format: *<video>URL</video>

• Dates
• Dates should be included after the link description of all articles and blog posts, formatted in small font. Always use the full date: <small>(January 2, 2008)</small>

• Times
• Video lengths should be included after the link descriptions for videos in small font: <small>(Time: 10:01)</small>

• What is...?:
• This code appears as a blue bubble next to links to pages that the average user might not recognize, such as Technorati, HypeMachine and Gothamist. When you click on the icon it takes you to a page about the site. These are automatically entered on the Mahalo site. This tag is not enabled on Greenhouse.

• Here are some style guidelines that are valid for each and every page you create:

1. If you use special characters in your page, you must use the appropriate HTML code
2. Titles of Articles that were formerly in print, Songs, and Poems should be in "quotation marks"
3. Titles of Books, Periodicals, Movies, Albums, Television shows, and Ships should be italicized; this is done by adding two ' on either side of the italicized word. Ex: ''The New York Times''
4. Capitalize the beginning of each link, unless the official name is lowercase like eBay or iPod.
5. The abbreviation for United States is always written U.S., not US.
6. Look at a site's title bar and logo to decide what to name it. If there is a choice, like Best Buy vs. BestBuy.com, go with the simpler/shorter variant.

[edit] Abandoning SeRPs/Picking Up Abandoned SeRPs

• Once you claim a search term to work on, you have seven days to complete the term and submit it for review. You will receive an email after four days of inactivity warning if you do not make an edit on the page you will lose your rights to it. You will lose your right to edit a SeRP automatically if you do not make an edit within the required time frame. When that happens, your SeRP goes on the list of abandoned SeRPs. Guides can go to that list and claim SeRPs that were abandoned - but always make sure the page has not been created on Mahalo.com since it was abandoned in the Greenhouse.
• If you claim a SeRP and decide you no longer want to complete it, you can abandon it instantly by clicking on the green Abandon Now button at the top of the page. This will remove the page from your profile and place the page on the abandoned list.
• If you are having trouble abandoning a SeRP, you may email us at greenhouse_staff at mahalo dot com.
• If you are interested in claiming a SeRP that has been abandoned, go to the SeRP you want to claim, either by clicking on it on the Most Wanted List, or by going to the abandoned SeRPs list and clicking on the SeRP in question. Then press the green "Claim" button at the top of the page. The page will reload with your name now attached. You now have seven days to complete and submit the SeRP for review.
  • Important: Make sure that a SeRP that has been abandoned is actually a most wanted term by looking for it on the Most Wanted lists. Sometimes the reason a SeRP has been abandoned is because the term wasn't on the Most Wanted List and the full time guides would not accept it.

[edit] Ethics

• At Mahalo, our mission is to to create the best search results on the Web. This means pages that are not only rich in content and spam free, but also free of any bias.
• We must avoid conflicts of interest and the appearance of impropriety. A conflict of interest is when you link to a site with which you have a personal, professional or financial interest.
• If you create a page or use a link where you have a conflict of interest, that is grounds for immediate dismissal from the Greenhouse program.

• Examples of conflicts of interest include:

1. Accepting any outside payment to do a SeRP
2. Accepting any outside payment to add a link to a SeRP
3. Linking to your own blog
4. Linking to a site you write for
5. Linking to a site you work for
6. Linking to a site you own
7. Creating a page on a group you manage
8. Creating a page on a company you work for
9. Adding an "affiliate link," or any link that benefits you financially

• Just like any other user of Mahalo, you are invited to submit links for any page, even if there's a conflict of interest, once the page is on Mahalo. The link will be reviewed by the Full Time Guide responsible for curating the page, and may be added.
• Many sites (Amazon.com is perhaps the most popular example) allow users to earn money when people shop through that user's custom links. These users are "affiliated" with that site... hence the term "affiliate link." Affiliate links are not allowed on any Mahalo or Greenhouse SeRP. Do not include affiliate links.
• If you have any questions about this policy, please contact greenhouse_staff at mahalo dot com.
• When writing a SeRP, remember to be as objective as possible. Do not bring your own biases into the SeRP you are creating. Look at Wikipedia's article on Neutral Point of View for reference.

[edit] About Plagiarism

• We take plagiarism very seriously at Mahalo. Remember, our mission at Mahalo is to provide the best spam-free high-quality search results on the web. Never link to anything you know is plagiarized. Never plagiarize guide notes, fast facts, timelines, or any other section of your SeRP.

• How can you combat plagiarism?

1. When creating content for Fast Facts, the Guide Note, or any other editorial section of a SeRP, never cut and paste information from another source, including but not limited to other web pages and print material -- that's plagiarism! Use a variety of sources, and find a unique way of presenting the information in the Mahalo style.
2. One of the most important parts of the QC and SeRPing process is making sure the sites we link to on Mahalo do not have scraped or stolen content -- that is, the sites do not take content from another source without attribution. We also don't want to link to sites that borrow content from other sources with attribution if we can link to the original source instead.
3. To find out if a site you are linking to contains plagiarized content, download and use the Plagiarism Tool:
   1. Go to Mahalo's Plagiarism page to access the tool and drag it into your bookmark bar, or create an empty bookmark and drag in the following code:
      • <a href="javascript:q = '' + (window.getSelection ? window.getSelection() : document.getSelection ? document.getSelection() : document.selection.createRange().text); if (!q) q = prompt('Search words', ''); if (q!=null) location=' http://www.google.com/search?q=%22 ' + escape(q).replace(/ /g, '+') + '%22'; void 0">Plagiarized?</a>
      • Note: You must have javascript enabled in your browser for this to work.
   2. Now whenever you are on a site that you suspect may have stolen content, simply highlight a section of the page, about one or two sentences, and select the Plagiarized? button. The results will tell you if the content is scraped from another site, and will help you find the root source.
   3. Your window will be replaced by a Google search for an exact match of the selection. If the results bring back only the page you were on, then it is probably original content and safe to link to, provided it matches all of the other criteria for inclusion on Mahalo.
   4. If the results returned include multiple pages all carrying the same content, then it is up to you to decide if the site you are linking to is the original source, or if the information is best left off the page. When in doubt, don't link to it!

• Watch Mahalo's video about avoiding plagiarism: Part One (Time: 8:50) | Part Two (Time: 6:44)

[edit] On Professionalism

• The Mahalo Greenhouse is a community where the online social interactions of its members are often just as fun and engaging as creating search results pages. Your fellow Greenhouse Guides are your peers, your colleagues, and it's not uncommon to build friendships, too.
• The atmosphere in the Mahalo Greenhouse IRC Chat, on e-mail, instant message, and other modes of communication is often casual and relaxed. However, it is absolutely necessary that everyone involved with the Greenhouse treat fellow Greenhouse Guides and Mahalo staff with courtesy and a professional demeanor.
• What does this mean?

1. Ask yourself:
   1. Would I say this to someone I work with if we were face to face? If the answer is no, don't write it in chat, e-mail, or an instant message.
   2. Would I say this to my (parent, grandparent, priest, rabbi, teacher -- whoever you hold in great respect?) If the answer is no, don't write it in chat, e-mail, or in an instant message.
   3. Would I want someone to say this to me? If the answer is no... you guessed it. Don't say it to someone else via electronic media.
2. Never:
   1. Use profanity
   2. Use a slur against someone's race, creed, religion, social status, political affiliation, sexual orientation, or disability. This is cause for immediate permanent suspension from the Greenhouse.
3. Other best practices:
   1. Avoid using ALL CAPS. In electronic communication, ALL CAPS is the equivalent of shouting. No one likes to be yelled at.
   2. Be clear.
      1. Read what you've written before you send it.
      2. Objectively speaking, does it make sense?
   3. Be patient. Some of us check our various means of electronic communication every few seconds. Others, every few hours, or every few days. Allow time for a response, and if you must follow up, be polite.
   4. Keep your perspective. Your point, problem, or idea may be the most important thing on your mind... but it might not be such in the larger scheme of things.
   5. Avoid gossip and rumors, and do not engage in creating or encouraging them yourself.

• The Greenhouse community is great fun... but the underlying purpose is to build search results pages for Mahalo.com. Even though the participants are remote freelance contractors, it is a working environment. We want everyone to feel comfortable being in that environment.
• If a Greenhouse Guide, Mahalo Mentor, or other Greenhouse community member behaves in a manner that is unprofessional, the Greenhouse reserves the right to take action up to and including suspending that community member's account.

[edit] Common Errors and Troubleshooting

• Before you submit your SeRP for review:

1. For best results, do not use a pop-up blocker when building your SeRP so you can be sure you are catching sites that have pop-ups and give them the proper warning.
2. After your page looks completely finished with links, clear your cache and your cookies, and open your SeRP again.
3. Turn off any pop-up blockers you might have on your browser, and open every single link again, making sure you haven't missed any pop-ups. If so, mark them with   Warning Tags.
4. While you check for pop-ups, also make sure each link you have added goes to the correct page.
5. Also check and double check for spelling, grammar, typos and capitalization errors.

• You may encounter some common problems while making your page. Consult below for some answers. If you can't find the solution to your problem here, email the the Greenhouse staff at greenhouse_staff at mahalo dot com.

[edit] I can't edit my search result page

1. Are you logged into the Greenhouse? Greenhouse Log-In Page
2. Are you on a page that is claimed, i.e. "belongs" to you? Make sure your name is the name in green at the bottom of the page.
3. Is the page claimed by you? Make sure you didn't hit the "Abandon Now" button at the top of the page. You can check and make sure by clicking on the yellow "Manage" button in the toolbar at the top and looking for your SeRP on the Abandoned list. If you did accidentally abandon it, you can reclaim it by clicking on the yellow "Claim" button in the top toolbar. You may have to log out and log back in in order to see the claim button.
4. Make sure you entered the correct template code. Writing anything but {{Subst:PTG Template Name}} will result in problems editing the page.
5. If you are logged in and are on a page that belongs to you and is not abandoned, then you should be able to edit. If not, there may be a problem with your permissions status and you should email greenhouse_staff at mahalo dot com.

[edit] I saved the substitution code for the template, but nothing happened

• Make sure you entered the correct code exactly as it appears on the PTG Templates page. The format for all the templates is: {{Subst:PTG Template Name}}

• If you do not enter it exactly, it will not work. Common errors include using parentheses instead of curvy brackets, and writing "template" instead of "subst". For best results copy and paste directly from the page.

[edit] I saved my changes and half of my page disappeared

• You probably forgot or mistyped a character in your wiki code. This happens most frequently when adding a warning tag or guide's choice tag. If you forget a backslash or greater than or less than sign, or if you start with <w> and end with </c> for instance, and press save, your work will appear incorrectly. However, the information is still saved in the code, so you can go back into edit mode and fix the mistake.

[edit] I can't edit the Guide Note or Fast Facts

• There are two ways to get to the edit screen on each search results page. One is the edit button that appears on the right of each section and subsection on the page. When you click on that button you are able to edit just that section. There is also an edit button at the top of the page in the green toolbar. Clicking that button will allow you to edit the entire page at once, including anything that appears above the first section, which includes Categories, Guide Note, Fast Facts and any "also trys" and "did you means".

[edit] I can't log in to the Greenhouse

1. Make sure you are trying to log in to greenhouse.mahalo.com, not mahalo.com. Mahalo Greenhouse and Mahalo have two separate systems and you will need two separate accounts to be logged in to either. Here is the Greenhouse Log-In Page
2. Make sure your username and password are correct. The username may differ from the real name you entered on your application.
3. If you can't remember your username and/or password, use the "Forgot your password?" box at the right and enter your email address and your information will be sent to you.
4. If you think you are attempting to log in with the correct username and password and you are still not able to log in, try hard refreshing Firefox (Control + F5 on PC, Apple + R on Mac), or restart your browser. If none of those options work, use the "Forgot your password?" box to retrieve your information. Sometimes logging in through the "Forgot your password?" email works when nothing else will.
5. If you are still unable to log in, email all of the relevant information to greenhouse_staff at mahalo dot com and explain the problem.

[edit] I can't get to my profile page

• There are four ways to access your profile page.

1. You can manually enter your profile's unique URL into the address bar of your browser to get to your profile. Your unique URL is determined by your user ID number, or UID. Each Greenhouse Guide is given a UID upon joining the Greenhouse.
   • My UID is 583, and appears at the end of my unique URL: http://greenhouse.mahalo.com/Special:Mahaloprofile?uid=583. You can copy my URL, replace my UID with your own, and paste it into the address bar of your browser to get to your profile.
2. How do you find out your UID? Once logged in, you can click on the green "My Profile" button on the toolbar on the top of the screen. That will take you to your profile page, and you can note the UID from the URL in the address bar.
3. There is a page that lists all of the Greenhouse Guides by their username: Greenhouse Guide List. You can find yourself on that page, click on your name, and be taken to your profile.
4. On any page that you have claimed or had accepted, you can click on your name in green at the bottom of the page and it will take you to your profile.

• Once on your profile page, you can upload an image and edit your biography in accordance with our terms of use.

[edit] The Next Step

1. Download, complete and return the proper payment documents.
2. Download and use the Greenhouse Guide Tool to make SeRPs even faster!
3. When you become comfortable with basic SeRPing, keep striving to be a better guide. There's always room for improvement!
4. Join a vertical team, such as News, Television or Video Games.
5. Once you have a solid body of work and are turning in high quality pages that need very little review time, you can email greenhouse_staff at mahalo dot com with a link to your profile page and a request to become a PTG Plus, which means you will be able to claim up to 10 SeRPs at a time. If you love working in the Greenhouse and helping other guides, you might want to apply to become a Mahalo Mentor.
6. Use the following Hot Keys to speed up your SeRPing process!

[edit] Browser Hot Keys (for Macs)

• cycle through tabs = ctrl + tab
• reverse cycle through tabs = ctrl + shift + tab
• highlight url = apple + L
• close tab = apple + w
• undo "close tab" = apple + shift + t
• move between windows = apple + ~
• new tab = apple + t
• new window = apple + n
• Browse history (back) = apple + [
• Browse history (forward) = apple + ]

[edit] Editing Hot Keys (for Macs)

• copy = apple + c
• paste = apple + v
• cut to clipboard = apple + x
• undo = apple + z
• select all = apple + a

[edit] Tags Hot Keys (for Macs)

• choice tag = ctrl + shift + c
• warning tag = ctrl + shift + w
• related tag = ctrl + shift + 8
• redirect tag = ctrl + shift + r

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