Using This Website

You may ask yourself “How Do I Work This?”

This site has a number of powerful features, but we want to make it just as easy to use as possible. This page is meant as a guide. Let's get into it!

Boot Up, Log In, Sound Off

To make full use of this site, you need to create your own personal account. This doesn't put you on any mailing list or sign you up for anything except use of this website. Having an account gives you a voice here: when you have an account, you can create your own blog posts, comment on stories, and participate in our discussion forums.

At the right, you can see a picture of our "Log In" form. The actual form is at the upper left of the page, right below our logo and main menu bar. Just click the blue link that says, "Create new account", and you'll be brought to a page that asks you for just a few bits of information.

First, you'll need to answer a very, very simple math question: that's so we know that you're a Real Person, and not some spammer's robot that wants to mess with our site. Next you'll be asked for a "Username" and your email address. The Username could be your real name, or if you prefer you can be have be somewhat anonymous.

Your Username can be whatever you choose, as long as 1) It's unique - two people can't have the same Username... and B) it's not obscene or otherwise offensive. You'll also be asked for your email address. That has to be a valid email account because when you click the "Create new Account" button on that page, an email will be sent to that email address with your temporary password and further instructions. Since the "temporary password" we create for you looks like like random letters and numbers (which is exactly what it is!) we try to make things easier for you by providing you a link in that confirmation email that will automatically log you in (just once!) bringing you right to a page where you can change your password to one that you can actually remember!

Passwords are "case sensitive", which means that it makes a difference whether you use uppercase or lowercase (capital or small) letters... so make sure you keep that in mind. If you forget your password, you can request a new one, as long as you can provide your Username or email address.

Home, home on the page…

OK, you're logged in. What now?

Well, we usually have a ton of interesting articles to read. Generally in the middle of the Home Page, we'll have a "Featured Story", which is whatever we think is most important at the moment. There's also a "Hotlist", which is a set of links to a handful of other stories that are highly recommended.

Below the Featured Story and the Hotlist are an ever-changing set of stories and blog posts. Some are written by members of our community, and others are syndicated from some of the very finest progressive blogs. You'll notice that some of these stories have a link under them that's a blue button labeled:

This means that the full article is longer, and that you can click on that button to read the entire story. We often truncate long stories for the front page so you can get a good sampling of several recent stories.

Hey You... You With the Stars

At the bottom of stories, you'll see something that looks like this:

The stars below the words "Your Vote" gives you an indication of what other readers thought of the story that you're looking at... and so it's only fair that you let other readers know what you think, too. We all know how a 5-star movie rating system works: this is the same thing. Just click on the star that you think reflects the quality of the story, and you're done. Once we get enough people rating stories, we'll start doing something really cool: recommending stories to you based on how you've recommended them in the past. Stay tuned!

Beneath the star ratings is the date and time that the story was posted to the site... and by whom. There's one special Username, "Syndicated", which means that the article was written elsewhere and is being syndicated to this site. After the Username is a list of "tags" or "keywords". These tags are links to other articles which share that tag, so it's a way to find more information out about a subject. We also have site-wide "Search" capability for finding more articles on a topic. The Search box is on the upper right of every page.

Finally, below most articles, you'll see the following links:

"Read original article" only appears on articles that are syndicated, and allows you to go to the website where the article was originally written. The "Add new comment" link allows you to comment on the article... and leave your own thoughts about whatever the article is about. It's our policy that these comments should be relevant. If you want to write about something unrelated to any of our articles, you can post your own "blog" article... or create a topic for our discussion forums.

The Creature From The Blog...

This site allows you to post a series of your own articles, editorials and/or whimsy in your own "web log" (aka "blog"). This is a platform for sharing your ideas. You can also participate in a discussion forum about any of a variety of topics... and here's how:

There are a set of navigation links under your username in the left column of the page (after you've logged in) which looks like the box at right: here's a description of each of the links...

• My blog - takes you to a page listing your blog stories, if any... and provides a link to allow you to create a new blog entry
• Post - takes you to a page where you can create either a new blog entry, or a new topic of discussion.
• Blog Entry - This is a quick link to creating your own blog entry
• New forum topic - This is a quick link to creating your own forum topic
• Discussion Forums - This takes you to a page that lists our current topics of conversation, including information about the number of topics and posts under each section
• Recent popular content - This will show you content based on popularity (blogs, stories, discussion topics)... so you can see where the action is.
• Recent posts - This will show you the most recent content on the site.
• My account - This allows you to edit your personal information, change your password, etc.
• Log out - just like it sounds: if you log out, you'll no longer be browsing the site under your Username account.

Penalty Flag

OK, so what do you do when you see that someone's posted something really, really offensive? We believe in free speech around here, but sometimes people go out of their way to be disruptive or repulsive (especially on a site that deals with politics!) Any visitor-created content (blogs, comments, discussion posts) will be followed by this button:

DON'T PUSH THIS UNLESS YOU MEAN BUSINESS! Pushing this button will send the site moderator a message, and s/he will remove the offensive content... assuming that it is, in their opinion, truly horribly offensive. However, if you cry "wolf", especially repeatedly, then you may be considered a troublemaker... which might result in you being banned from this site! So, don't "flag" stories or comments just because you disagree with them: content should only be flagged if it's clearly hateful, graphically violent or obscene, or malicious.

We're working on a system of "community moderation" where regular visitors to this site will have the ability to collectively eliminate disruptive content... until that day arrives, use "Flag This" judiciously.