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Editorial guide

It's important that people reviewing on _nsigned feels comfortable and free to express themselves through their review how they want. However, the site is intended to read like a cohesive magazine more than a forum or advice column. Artists who submit their music for review should receive genuine and meaningful coverage without feeling like they are being marginalised.

It's for these reasons that the site has some hard rules, as well as general guidelines, on how reviews should be written.

Rules

Reviews that do not follow these rules may be edited or deleted, and severe offenses may result in a site-wide ban.

  1. Be honest. Reviews have no value if they are not the honest opinion of the author.
  2. Be respectful. People work hard on and care about the music they put out there. Real people with real feelings are putting themselves out there, and so even if you do not like the music, any criticisms should be constructive instead of just saying "this is bad".
  3. Write for the reader. These reviews are not intended to be advice for the artist, but rather criticism of completed works. Write your reviews for someone who is looking for something new to listen to, not someone who has submitted music for review.
  4. Do not use AI. This site is a celebration of human creativity, and so the use of LLMs or any other form of generative AI is strictly prohibited. Translation tools like Google Translate are okay.
  5. Do not review tracks you believe are AI. Report it on Bandcamp and leave it in the queue. See the AI Policy for more information.
  6. Do not use slurs. The only context in which a slur may be acceptable is when directly quoting the lyrics of a song, in which case it must be censored entirely with asterisks (*) outside of the first letter. If you are in doubt as to whether something counts as a slur, it is better to err on the side of caution.
  7. Do not censor non-slur swear words. Swearing within reason is okay on this site and should not be censored.
  8. Write in English. This site does not currently support non-English languages and its audience. If the site ends up being very successful, there may be non-English variants in the future but for now it is English only.
  9. Obey the terms and conditions.

Guidelines

These are not hard rules, but things you should keep in mind when writing your reviews.

  1. Be yourself. These are your reviews and you should feel free to get creative with it. If you want to use a specific editorial voice or style, go for it!
  2. Proof read your work. Not just for spelling and grammar, but also for clarity and pacing. If you want people to read your reviews, it's valuable to confirm that you are actually able to read it, too.
  3. Don't be crass. Swearing is okay on this site but you should still try and be sensible with it.
  4. Don't ramble. Your review should be primarily about the music. You can bring up aspects of your life or views on the world, but someone submitted this work to hear someone talk about what they made and as the reviewer you should respect that.