FAQ

HOW ROCKHAQ WORKS
JOIN THE COMMUNITY

[symple_accordion] [symple_accordion_section title=”How can you have a FAQ already?”] Rockhaq is new but we’ve been testing things for a while and even ran a pilot with some schools during 2011-12. This is a collection of typical questions we might get asked.
[/symple_accordion_section] [symple_accordion_section title=”What is Rockhaq?”] Rockhaq is a music journalism community for young people aged roughly 11-21, although we don’t set formal age limits. You share your opinions on music to win points and badges on the site. Over time we will add real-life music rewards for community members to win as we have in the past, such as music to review, gig tickets, interview opportunities and prizes. This is a new digital community that aims to boost writing and literacy skills. We have piloted this website from 2010 onwards and after hearing lots of positive feedback, are setting the Rockhaq music journalism community free for all users.
[/symple_accordion_section] [symple_accordion_section title=”Who runs Rockhaq?”] Rockhaq was set up by me, Michelle Dhillon, a journalist and editor. You can find out more about me and the rest of Team Rockhaq on our About Us page.
[/symple_accordion_section] [symple_accordion_section title=”What are community members?”] Any person that joins Rockhaq becomes a community member and we want all of our members to help develop Rockhaq by giving us feedback, telling us what new features you’d like to see and inviting your friends to use the site.
[/symple_accordion_section] [symple_accordion_section title=”What do community members get?”] Obviously you get access to the Rockhaq community, but there is so much more to this. Check how Rockhaq works to get the full picture.
[/symple_accordion_section] [symple_accordion_section title=”What do I get for joining?”] You’ll get your own user profile page on Rockhaq, unlimited access to publish reviews, interviews and the opportunity to win points, badges and a higher profile on site if your work is highly rated. We will also add music rewards to the site, known as Rockhaq Missions. Missions can include gig tickets, interviews, CDs or downloads and more. Each week’s highest rated work will be featured on our homepage grid and the member with the most points will top our Rockhaq leaderboard.[/symple_accordion_section] [symple_accordion_section title=”Why do I need to list my Facebook/social media pages to join?”] Team Rockhaq will review every application to join the community. We want to make sure all our users are real human beings, aged within our target group and living in the UK. Our pilot students loved the fact that we’d built a safe community where they could talk about music. This is why we don’t want spammers, trolls and catfishes to ruin the experience. Don’t worry though – if you meet all the above criteria you’ll definitely be approved. If we’re not sure who or where you are, or if your profiles are new or odd, we won’t be able to let you join, sorry. If you’re a teacher with students outside the UK, just contact us and we’ll do what we can for you.[/symple_accordion_section] [symple_accordion_section title=”What can I write about?”] Absolutely anything that is music related. We welcome all music single and album reviews, interviews, live reviews, comments and feature articles and opinions. We see this as a great opportunity for young people to gain digital media experience and editorial skills. See our Tips article on What Can We Write About? for more. You can read this if you’re a community member after signing in.
[/symple_accordion_section] [symple_accordion_section title=”Do I own copyright over everything that I write, blog or upload?”] We’re not interested in owning your work or owning copyright over it. You’ll own the copyright over everything you send, write and publish. Rockhaq is covered with a Creative Commons 2.0 UK Licence and we will ask for promotional release of your work for publicity or re-use on the community for discussion, but that’s about it. If you’re given review CDs or downloads, these may be watermarked or you’ll agree that you won’t distribute them or upload any tracks anywhere else. We’ll always tell you if this is part of your Rockhaq mission first though. Find out more about Missions in our terms.
[/symple_accordion_section] [symple_accordion_section title=”Can I publish reviews I have written for other publications/organisations?”] It’s completely up to you to make sure you own copyright over any work as we’re not legally liable for any work uploaded here that’s not yours. You’ll always be asked to confirm that you own any work before its uploaded to Rockhaq. For more info, check out our terms. [/symple_accordion_section] [symple_accordion_section title=”This sounds great – how can I support or sponsor the community?”] We’ve been asked about sponsorship opportunities before and we will introduce carefully selected sponsors relevant to our members when we think it’s appropriate. Please contact us with any questions.
[/symple_accordion_section] [symple_accordion_section title=”How does it work again?”] Find out more about how Rockhaq works here.
[/symple_accordion_section] [symple_accordion_section title=”Can I abuse other Rockhaq members?”] No. Abuse or attacks on other Rockhaq community members isn’t cricket. Any members who ignore this run the risk of having their account suspended or deleted and all their work removed. Yes, we will shutdown any shizz. Check out our Community Guidelines for more.
[/symple_accordion_section] [symple_accordion_section title=”Can you run workshops or CPD training for schools or music hubs?”] Yes! We love to talk about music and run school workshops. Team Rockhaq run workshops and training alongside other work commitments so let us know what dates you’d like and contact us with any questions.
[/symple_accordion_section] [symple_accordion_section title=”I am a parent. My child wants to join Rockhaq and/or get work experience as a music journalist. How can he/she get involved?”] Rockhaq is one big virtual crash course in music journalism, so we recommend that they join the community. We can’t offer physical work experience as the Rockhaq community is run entirely by volunteers in our spare time. If your child wants inspiration, help and feedback, please tell their school or college teacher about community and ask them to get in touch with us about workshops.
[/symple_accordion_section] [symple_accordion_section title=”Why ‘Rockhaq’?”] Because almost every other name I could think of was already taken. I think the word “hack” is suited to the ethos of the site – journalists use it as a derogatory term for members of our profession. Go forth, haqs, and enjoy your bounty! Find out more or join the community.
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JOIN THE COMMUNITY