Self Help Section

Author Account & Credits FAQs

Q) Confusion regarding authorship on your website. As an example, if I aim to publish an article on your website, does that mean that my name and credentials will be mentioned at the end of the article? Or the editor of the article (admin of planning tank) holds all the rights to publish without mentioning the author's name?

A) The reason for that is that most of the contributions are one time or very infrequent. This restricts us from providing a dedicated account for all the contributors/ authors. Additionally, since our website is based on WordPress (world's most used CMS), most of the contributors are not aware of the interface available to them from their author account. To overcome this issue, we publish them from our default "Admin" account and the contributors are given credit at the end of the article.

In a few cases, you might also find that no author's name has been mentioned, and the article is published under the "Admin" account. Such cases reflect multiple cases, some of which include:

  1. The article was published by another blogger/ client/ business who wants to receive a link to their website/ blog but does not provide any author bio. It is a widely adopted industry practice. Publishing an author bio is optional in such cases and depends on the contributor.

  2. We receive articles from ghostwriters (who are paid to write for us and transfer/ forego the credits), thus these are either written by our in house team or through professional content writers.

  3. Content which was taken from multiple sources which includes a mix of presentations, speeches, videos, articles and modified extensively. They are completely new or different from the original content.

  4. When a dedicated author account is removed, either on request or inactivity, that deleted content is attributed to the admin account. We try to establish contact with the original contributor to get permission or find alternate solutions, but if no response is received, the same content is moved to the Admin account.

In any case, an Admin account is just a way of publishing such content. The original copyrights remain with the author even when it was published under an admin account. For regular contributors, and those willing to learn and use the WordPress interface, we provide them with a dedicated author account. Any verification (if and when required) is done either through the author bio at the end of the article, or it can be done by emailing us.

The only major restriction we put is related to the deletion of content once published (if the reason is genuine, we remove this restriction as well, thus done on a case to case basis). We do allow republishing of the content by the author since they are the original creator, We just require the author to reference/ attribute Planning Tank accordingly and inform us about the same for record keeping, thus avoiding any potential conflict.

Q) Are there any limitations on the number and frequency?

A) There are no limitations on number or frequency. We just request the contributors to check if any same/ similar articles have been published to avoid any conflicts. It can be checked by the author, or they can send us the title/ draft/ brief so that we can check and confirm the same.

Q) My article was published by another author/ non - "Admin" account.

A) Your article should be available under an "Admin" account if you have not yet provided with a dedicated author account. If you find your article under any other account, kindly get in touch with us so that we can move it to the relevant account.

Q) I received an email that changes have been made to my article, but I am unable to see them.

A) Such an email confirms that the changes have been made from the back end, it might not be visible immediately at your end because of the browser caching and other technical processes in place. We have taken the necessary steps so that changes are visible at your end too without any actions on your part, however if it's not the case please try opening the page in incognito mode. Meanwhile, all the readers will have the updated version shown to them. These are some server side settings which take a few minutes to a few hours for all users to see the changes.

Q) Why was my article not published/ rejected?

A) Planning Tank since the very beginning, has grown based on the content and contributions from guests. Thus, we understand the diverse requirements of our contributors, especially the need for credits to improve credibility within the community. This enables us to maintain quality, but at the same time prevents us from accepting 100% of the articles since a lot of them do not meet the quality requirements, written on topics already covered in detail or are repetitive in nature.

Q) How/ who gets an author account and what I need to know about the same?

A) An author account is provided for regular contributors.

Q) What do I need to know about author account?

A) We use "WordPress" as the basic platform and pay special attention to SEO (Search Engine Optimization) so that our contributors receive maximum advantage of publishing on our platform. Also, depending on the interest of regular contributors, we are happy to explain the various aspects of SEO and provide them with advanced enterprise level tools which provide them an edge over others and expose them to the leading industry practices. This is required because of changing technology and increased competition, since a lot of platforms have come up recently and people are shifting towards online publications.We are in the process of updating our SOPs, which will take some time. This should give a better picture of the benefits of publishing on our platform in the long run.

Q) I am not interested in technical aspects/ SEO, but I would like to have my own dedicated author account, Is it possible?

A) Yes, you are still eligible for your dedicated author account if you are a regular contributor. We will just require you to follow basic guidelines to improve the quality of content and follow minimal technical instructions. The technical part is something we offer to experienced authors which helps them widen their skill sets and gain a better understanding of online publishing.

Q) I do not want an author account but want to be a regular contributor, How do I send my articles?

A) If technical aspects and SEO are not of interest to you, we will be glad to receive your contributions via email just like any other guest post.

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