Philosophers' Carnival Hosting

For the sake of transparency, and to save repeating myself to each new host, I should probably explain what is involved in hosting the Philosophers' Carnival.

The host's core job is, of course, to present the carnival. Hosts have a more or less free reign over how they choose to present it, so long as they link to the carnival homepage in their introduction, and present the entries in a clear and accessible manner. This should include a brief description of each entry, and of course a link to the post itself for readers that want to "read the whole thing".

You might get some ideas from looking over past carnivals. (Brandon's one was especially well-presented! A fun idea is to try to draw connections between the various entries, as done especially well by Rad Geek in carnival #24. SteveG's "back to school edition" was also very well received.)

Hosts may wish to post a "call for submissions" early in their carnival period (about when the previous edition is posted), inviting readers to send in their entries via the online submission form. (Received submissions are automatically emailed to the host.) They should include mention of any criteria they will use in selecting entries, e.g. whether they'd prefer posts that are rigorously academic, or more accessible / 'pop' philosophy.

Hosts have discretion over what to include in their edition of the carnival - they may leave out any submissions they deem inappropriate or lacking in philosophical substance, and add any further picks that they think warrant inclusion. Hosts are most welcome to include a recent post of their own as well.

(N.B. Hosts should not feel obliged to include every submission. Some bloggers spam out a single post to dozens of barely relevant carnivals, in hopes of a cheap link. To reward them just devalues the more relevant and interesting entries. So, use your editorial discretion to create the best carnival you can for the online philosophical community!)

We're always on the look out for new hosts. It does require some time and effort, but not an excessive amount, and past hosts tell me that they enjoyed it. (Plus it's a good way to get a whole bunch of links and new visitors, to raise your blog's profile!) So if you have a philosophy blog, and it sounds like something you'd like to try, just send me an email and I'll add you to the list.

Hosting Guidelines -- Don't forget to:
1) [Optionally:] Post a "call for submissions", including any selection criteria, a couple of weeks before the carnival (and email me with the URL).
2) When writing up the carnival post itself, link the carnival homepage in your introduction.
3) Email me with the URL once you've posted the new carnival.
4) [Optional but very helpful:] Sign in to BlogCarnival.com and update the details for your carnival edition to 'already posted'.

And have fun!

P.S. A past carnival has been the target of trackback spam. Hosts may take reasonable steps to counteract this, e.g. by deleting inappropriate trackback pings.