How does voting work?

You can vote on posts using this widget, found at the bottom of every post:

Just move your mouse over the number of stars you want to give the post, then click it. Remember, you are rating the post, not the person making that post.

There is a separate system to vote on comments, not unlike how YouTube does it. Next to each comment, you'll see this widget:

Thumbs Up

If you like the comment or think it contributes to the discussion, click the "thumbs up" to give that comment a point. If you think the comment is off-topic, rude, or otherwise inappropriate, click the "thumbs down" to subtract a point. Try to concentrate on giving thumbs up more often than thumbs down.

Thumbs Down

Thumbs down should be reserved for those comments that cross the line into incivility. (Examples: name calling, personal attacks, racist/homophobic comments) A good litmus test of what constitutes incivility would be to ask if a random person reading the site might be afraid to join the discussion for fear of being treated in a similar manner. If so, the comment probably deserves a thumbs down.

For related reading on how to behave in this, and other social spaces, I recommend checking out the essay titled Don't Be A Dick.

So what's this "tagging"?

Tagging is a relatively new concept that lets users describe the content they are viewing. This is more "free form" than older systems, which had a rigid list of categories. With tagging, you can essentially make up categories as you go along!

Just enter tags that you feel are appropriate to describe the post in this box, found at the bottom of each post:

Examples of good tags are people, places, and things, such as: Ardmore, Lancaster Ave., election, or John Smith.

Examples of bad tags are adjectives, insults, profanity, or subjective things, such as: cool, sucks, lame, etc.

All the tags that have been entered so far can be found in this awesome tag cloud.

If you have any questions, please let me know!