Gather is one of our favorite places on the Internet. There are some basic tips and rules you should follow, however, if you want to make the most of your time on this great community website.

1. Join as many groups as possible. First, join groups that correspond with your interests. Most importantly, join groups that correspond to the topics you wish to write about.

It's a good idea to also join groups that allow any type of content. For example, you may want to search for groups that contain the words "points," "comments," "mass email," or "anything." It's a good bet these groups were designed specifically for the purpose of gaining lot's of points.

2. After you join a group, make sure to check out the area just under the group name, but above the description (currently in the right column) for a link that says "send group mail." If you see that link, bookmark the page. It means that you will be able to send an email to everyone in the group about your content, provided you follow their rules.

3. Be careful not to heavily promote products or other sites on Gather. It's OK to do some of that, but you want to make sure that if you create a heavily promotional post, that you only post it to groups that allow that sort of thing. Even so, most Gatherers do not take well to that, and your content may be marked as spam or worse! DO NOT POST SPAM!!

If you want to promote yourself or your products, be sure that your post is informative and helpful, regardless of the product, and put any links at the bottom. The rules are not quite as strict if you are a writer promoting a book or blog that you or someone you know has created. Even so, be careful not to create any highly promotional-sounding posts.