Frequently Asked Questions

Welcome to the Political Cortex “Frequently Asked Questions” Page. Here we’ve attempted to present a coherent and complete explanation of the questions most likely to pop up. Even so, we couldn’t anticipate every one, so if you have any further questions, please feel free to drop us a line at admin@politicalcortex.com.

There are two ways to navigate the FAQ in order to get the information you need in the minimum amount of time:

  • Targeting Specific Data: The various topics are broken down below with hypothetical questions linked to their respective answers.

  • Browsing: The FAQ is also broken down into pages so that you can browse all the information and really get a solid feel for what Political Cortex has to offer. We recommend that all Registered Users read the entire FAQ at some point.

Being Realistic, we’ve also provided a “Primer” that all Registered Users will see in their “USER MENU” in the right-hand column. This will help you get moving ASAP. Even then, the complete FAQ read is highly recommended.


:: FAQ Main Menu :: Page 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 ::



:: PAGE 1 ::


:: INTRODUCTION ::

Why is this FAQ so long?
Blogocracy: blog that works like a democracy


:: JOINING THE CORTEX COMMUNITY ::

Why Should I Register?
How do I sign up?
How do I log in?
Should I ever log out?
How do I modify my account?
What happens if I lose my password?
What's A User Number?
How Do I Find My User Number or Someone Else's?



:: PAGE 2 ::


:: PUBLISHING YOUR ARTICLES ::

What are “Article Submissions”, “Diaries” and “Quick Posts”?
“Article Submissions”
“Diaries”
“Quick Posts”


:: ARTICLE SUBMISSIONS -- EDITING -- VOTING ::

How do I submit an article?
What is the edit queue?
What is the etiquette of the edit queue?
What is the voting queue?
How many votes does it take to make it to the “Top-Rated Submissions”?
What are the steps to submitting an article?
How do I make editorial changes to stories submitted to the voting queue?
How do I know when my story gets voted up to the “Top-Rated Submissions” or sidelined to the “Recent Diaries”?
What do I do if my story gets posted to the front page or sent to the “Recent Diaries?



:: PAGE 3 ::


:: DIARIES ::

How do I post a Diary?
Source Links
Polls
What's the Recommended Diaries List?
How do I recommend a diary?
How Do I Find Out Who Recommended My Diary?


:: QUICK POSTS ::

How do I post a “Quick Post”?


:: COMMUNITY RULES and GUIDELINES ::

What are the Rules?
What Can I Write About?
How Do I Know if a Diary on a Certain Subject Has Been Written?
What should I really pay attention to?



:: PAGE 4 ::


:: CATEGORIZING YOUR ARTICLE ::

Why do we need to assign sections and topics to our articles?
How are articles sorted?
Sections
Topics
Keyword Tags
What section/topic should I use?


:: COMMENTS ::

What are comments?
How do I post a comment?
What are “Posting Modes”?
What is comment rating?
Should I rate every comment I read?
How does the “Rate All” button work?
What's This "Rate? -- Yes, No, Hide" above the comments sections?
How Do I Find Out How People Rated My Comment?
What is a ‘Trusted User’?
How Can I Tell If I'm A Trusted User?
What is a ‘Tip Jar’?
What is the “Mojo” System and how does it relate to the “Trusted User” status?
Am I a Troll?
What are the comment viewing options?
What is an “Open Thread”?
What are trolls?



:: PAGE 5 ::


:: POSTING TIPS ::

What HTML is allowed in our posts/comments?
How about a quick HTML Tutorial?
How do we cite our sources?
Can we post Images?

:: USER PAGES and PREFERENCES ::

What are “User Pages”?
Articles
Comments
Ratings
Subscriptions
My Profile

What is a Hotlist?
What is the Hotlist Page?

:: SITE SEARCH and NAVIGATION ::

How can I easily navigate the site?
How do I search Political Cortex?
What are Keyword Topics?
What is the “Keyword Tag Cloud”
What are “Hot Topics”?
Where can I find the following?
How do I get to the front page and sections?

:: ADVERTISING ::

Why the Advertisements?
Why are the ads interspersed in the post columns on the front page?
What does a subscription to the Cortex offer you and how much is it?
How can I advertise on Political Cortex?

:: LEGAL ::

What is your privacy policy?
Who retains copyright and ownership?
What are Political Cortex’s rights?