Originally written by Vincent for TMX United
Updates and modifications by eyebo

There will always be many unknown authors – presenting their tracks on this site with very little success – and some of them may even make great tracks or at least are willing to learn. Those authors need the community´s help – our help – to become a known part of this community.

With every new title (environment), the game will welcome new players. They are welcome, because this great game is for everybody – it´s an open community.

Here are some recommendations for the unknown authors (1st part) as well as for the well known players in order to help unknown authors (2nd part).

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------------------------ PART ONE ----------------------------------
This section is for unknown authors.

1. Make good tracks – The members of this site will appreciate the quality of your tracks, not their quantity. A good track is a well elaborated track. A great piece of work is one that you have spent at least several hours building, testing, and refining. It may be best to wait a day or two before posting. Give your track a second look on a different day and see if there's anything you might want to refine further. Most important, you should be happy with every single block of your map before posting it. If something doesn't feel right, it probably isn't. Change it.

2. Drive other people´s tracks – Write helpful comments. Whenever you like a track, award it. If you give feedback to others, they are sometimes more willing to give feedback to you. Be kind and gracious in your comments. Try to focus on at least one thing you did like to accompany any constructive criticisms you might have.

3. Become a good driver – You need to be a moderately fast driver to test your tracks adequately. Besides, you can impress others with your skill, and your name will be more known if it shows up among the top drivers on the site leaderboard (coming soon).

4. Be active in the forums – The more you share your serious thoughts, your knowledge and opinions in the forums, the more people will know your name and your personal identity as a TM² player. Others might get interested in you for curiosity, for sympathy or whatever – as long as you communicate yourself clearly and cooperate with others, it will help you to join the community.

5. Make friends in the community - As an active member, you will sooner or later get to know other members, and some of them might become your friends. The system of private messaging (PM) allows you to stay in touch with them, have a pleasant talk and set up shared projects. It´s easy to make friends here, and usually you can count on them when it´s something about TM².

6. Join track projects with others - That´s one of the best ways to spread your name as an author. Community track projects normally attract more attention than single author tracks. Some are multiple authors, others are just two builders. If you can build with someone who´s more famous than you, it's for sure that more people will know you soon. Find a user who shares a similar track building style as you, and send them a message to see if they'd like to do a shared track project. Listen to their feedback and be willing to change parts of your track that they think could be better. This is how you can learn.

7. Help other members whenever you can. – The more you help others, the more they will want to help you with whatever you need.

8. Participate in projects and competitions – There´s a whole forum section about Projects & Competitions where you can join community activities and get to know other members. Check the forum and look around.

9. Take a look at PlayPal (coming soon) or PlayPal Online (coming sooner or later). These features lets you gain recognition for your track by playing the tracks of others who seek the same.

10. Don´t spam! – This point has many facets:

• Don´t spam tracks! If you post 5 or more tracks on one day – that´s spamming. Nobody can make that many good tracks, and even if you think you can... you won´t find drivers for so many tracks. Remember, other people are posting tracks as well. One track every couple of days is enough.[/item]
  
• Don´t spam awards just to get awards in return! You should award only the tracks you actually like and tell the author why you like them. Don´t award tracks you don´t like or haven't played![/item]
  
• Don´t spam the forum with useless postings! Be serious about what you say, so others will take you seriously. Make sure there's a point to what you post and that you aren't just filling up the chat with something meaningless.[/item]
  
• Don’t spam PM! – For example... announcing your tracks to people you don´t even know![/item]
  
• Don´t spam AT ALL! Everything you do or post here should make sense – and others will notice take notice.[/item]
  

11. Present your tracks in a professional way

• Post a screenshot - Make sure the screenshot has something to do with the track, something that catches the eye of the potential player.[/item]
  
• Write some author comments - Explain why you made this track and why someone may enjoy playing it. Keep it short. Give some statistics about the track. Does it include an intro? An outro? What are the medal times?[/item]

12. Host a screenshot competition - Many players enjoy working with graphics programs. There is a dedicated subforum for screenshot competitions where you can offer some Planets (or other payment) in exchange for some screenshots for your track. This is a great way to expose your tracks to new users and get involved with the community.

13. Participate in the MTC - The official Monthly Track Contest has a long tradition on TMX (since 2006). Every month is a different theme and something challenging to test your building skills. Other participants and onlookers will be more likely to try your track to see how you approached the theme. Keep an eye out for the first MTC here on MX. You will find it in the Projects & Competitions subforum when it starts.

14. Maintain a thread in the Your Tracks subforum - This will allow you to let others on the forum know when you've released a new track. You can write a little about the track and why you made it (much like your author comments on the track page). Be sure to link to the track so people don't have to search for it.

Remember to read the rules before getting started with any new project, or engaging in a new area of the site or forum.

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-------------------------- PART TWO ------------------------------
This section is for those of you who may already be known. This is how you can help the unknown authors get some recognition.

1. Drive their tracks – Post your replays and write helpful comments. Whenever you like one of their tracks, award it. Any serious feedback will help them to improve their skills. By kind and constructive in wording your feedback.

2. Offer your help to them – If you see their track imperfections or an inadequate presentation, offer your knowledge. Get in touch by PM, so they won´t feel alone here.

3. If you find a great track by an unknown author: Recommend it! – You can recommend a track in the Recommend a Track thread or by PM to your friends.

4. Offer to do a duo track with them – It's a great way to meet new players and get them involved with the community. Follow through on each step of the process, and offer helpful suggestions about different passages of the track. Share the burden of building evenly so you can both be proud of what you made.

5. Make your own project to help unknown authors – Have an idea? Show your creativity. Start a project.

6. Moderators: Use the front page showcases mainly for unknown authors – recommending only good tracks of course.

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If you have any idea what else can be done, please post it here!

Remember, be constructive, and have fun!

Great to see this finally posted here! (I have to admit that I was too lazy to search that on United Exchange and post it here myself. ^^)

One possibility for unknown authors that you could add is the MTC. Although this belongs (more or less) to 'projects and competitions', I think it's such a great way to get your tracks played by others that it should be mentioned here separately.

Good one Sriver, I'll add it. I also need to add some links to things described.

Edit: Okay, it's added as #13.

Edit again: Added #14, more formatting, and some links.

Also advice here http://tm.mania-exchange.com/s/ft/930

eyebo says:
Have an idea? Show you´re creativity. Start a project.

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOoooooooooooooooo!!!
eyebo what have you done...

Oh, that "you're" instead of "your". lol I just got it. Fixed.

The thing is ... there is still no help for modders ..... and it will never come .. TM dies slowly

Maybe join the ManiaPlanet Creators' place Discord server. They have dedicated channels for Modders. There's still several people actively building mods for the games.

And ManiaPark still hosts them.