Don't cut and paste, or copy and paste, from Microsoft Word.
DON'T DO IT!

We have a fairly large number of people who compose their
bardic (text, in other words) entries using a word
processing package like MS Word. Then they copy and paste
their entries in the bardic entry form on the Achaea.com site.

Then all the ugly smart quotes (many of you use smart
quotes, whether you know it or not!) - all those ugly smart
quotes turn into $#! and other strange characters which
makes your entry TOTALLY UNREADABLE!

OK, so, you really want to be disqualified? No problem.
Use MS Word to write your entry, then cut or copy and paste
your entry onto our submission form. Voila - YOU LOSE!

Now for the rest of you twisted folk who want your bardic
submission to have a chance, don't do that! Either make
absolutely sure that 'smart quotes' is disabled, or use some
other word processing software.

I use openoffice.org stuff, which is free, and which
does pretty much what the M$ stuff does, but which doesn't
give any more money to M$. Openoffice writer works just
fine and doesn't do smart quotes by default, though it
does have autocorrect stuff which you can _force_ to do
stuff like that if you really insist.

You can also try disabling smart quotes, which is under
Tools -> Autocorrect Options, on the tab/panel labelled
"Autoformat as you type". Make sure the box is UNchecked
that says "Straight quotes" with ``smart quotes''. No
guarantee that that will be enough, but it's a start!

Finally, if you can't be bothered to download the free
and very useful openoffice.org stuff, you could always
just run notepad (Start -> Run, then type "notepad" in
the box and hit enter. Don't enter the quotes around
it! Just an n, then an o, then a t, and so forth to
spell the word out). This doesn't do smart quotes either!

I understand some prefer wordpad rather than notepad.
This can be run the same way, or found under accessories
in at least some versions of windows.

Mac people don't have this problem, by the way, but
they are sensitive people who tend to get upset very
easily if you don't give them fruity colours and lots
of stroking, so here's to you - you don't need to
worry about this, mac people! And openoffice does
work on macs. I know this because I have used it.
The working port at present is called neooffice (.org).

We look forward to many more people who know EXACTLY how
to get disqualified from the bardics! Make sure you use
this new power for good and not evil. Unless you're
Mhaldorian of course.

Penned by my hand on the 22nd of Valnuary, in the year 447 AF.