| Let me give you an overview of the site:
*Who edits this site?*
I do. Please follow the rules (see below).
*Who can post here?*
The short answer is anyone who wants to. If you are polite, you will be treated politely. Unfortunately, there are some people who post comments or diaries with the sole purpose of provoking others. These people will be banned.
*Anonymity*
Many people who post on blogs choose to post under pseudonyms, keeping their real names confidential. There are many reasons why people would choose not to reveal their real names. Revealing the identify of someone who has chosen to remain anonymous is a bannable offense.
*How can I post here?*
First, you need to create an account. The registration link is in the upper right hand corner of the main page. Choose a username, fill in the rest of the fields, and send in the form. After a 24 hour waiting period, you will be allowed to post comments. After a 3 day waiting period, you will be allowed to post diaries. These waiting periods are intended to discourage those people who wish to post for the sole purpose of provoking others.
*Diaries*
Most of the action on CT Smart Growth takes place inside of diaries. These are written by users, and then read and commented on by other users. Diaries can be found in three places. Most diaries appear in the Recent Diary list on the right-hand side of the screen. People reading diaries can recommend them (see below). If a diary receives enough recommendations, it will automatically be promoted to the Recommended Diary list, which sits above the Recent Diary list. Recommended diaries tend to attract a wider audience and more comments than most diaries. The third, and most prominent, place to find diaries is the front page of the site. Front-page stories have two sources. First are diary entries written by myself, or by one of the guest bloggers (see guest blogger list on bottom left of main page). In addition, I will often promote interesting diaries from the Recent list to the front page. These promotions are at the discretion of the editor.
*Comments*
Inside diaries and front page posts, users can post comments. Generally, these comments are in response to something in the diary, or are responding to other comments. Next to the title of each comment are two numbers inside a set of parentheses. These numbers are the number of people who have recommended the comment.
*User Pages*
Every user has a User Page. The User Page contains a collection of links gathering all of the diaries and all of the comments written by that user. The 'My Profile' link is the place to change all of your preferences.
*Hotlist*
The hotlist is a place to store links to diaries that you want to refer back to. Next to the title of every diary is a + sign. Clicking this icon will add that diary to your hotlist for future reference. Once you have subscribed to a diary the icon will change to a - sign. Click this to remove the story from your hotlist.
*Search*
On the lower left side of the screen is the search function. You can search comments or diaries for key words.
*Tags*
All diaries posted on CT Smart Growth are tagged. Tags are keywords that the diary author and/or readers add to identify the subject(s) of the diary. This allows people to easily find all of the diaries that deal with a specific subject.
*Writing Diaries*
Writing a diary is, in principle, quite simple. Click the 'New Diary Entry' link in the Tools sidebar, pick a title, write some text, choose a tag or two, hit Preview to check for mistakes, and then hit Save. You can also save a draft diary so you can finish it later. Here are the basic rules:
-All users are limited by the system to two diaries per calendar day.
-"Main text" box for new diaries has a three paragraph limit. If you exceed that limit, use the "Extended text" box for the remainder of your diary.
-Diaries should be substantive. A good guideline is that if you don't have at least three solid paragraphs to write about your subject, you should probably post a comment in an open thread, or in a recent diary or front-page post that covers a topic relevant to what you wish to write about.
-Copying and pasting complete copyrighted articles without permission from the copyright holder is absolutely prohibited by both this site's policies and copyright laws. Copyright infringement can expose both you and the site's owners to financial liability. Just don't do it. And if you see someone else doing it, please politely ask them to edit their diary accordingly. This is a bannable offense.
-Limited copying within the bounds of the doctrine of "fair use" is permitted. A reasonable rule-of-thumb is that copying three paragraphs from a normal-length news article or editorial is acceptable.
-When you quote material that is not your own, please provide a link whenever possible. Also, use the blockquote tags to set off the copied material so that your writing is distinct from the material you are copying. For more on HTML tags, see the Basic HTML codes below.
-Duplicative diaries are prohibited. Please scan the recent diaries and front-page posts before starting to compose your own diary.
-Diarists are strongly encouraged to back up all assertions with facts (and preferably links to supporting materials) whenever possible.
-Diaries which contain hateful or defamatory writing are prohibited.
-Diaries which are deliberately designed to inflame are prohibited.
-Deliberately inflammatory titles, or titles which contain attacks, are prohibited. Also, while this site doesn't prohibit profanity, please think very carefully before using any curse words in a diary title.
-"Open Thread" diaries: Diaries designed to serve as "open threads" for discussion on major, breaking events or just to shoot the breeze with fellow members are permissible.
-Do not use ALL CAPS or exclamation marks !!! in diary titles.
*Basic HTML codes*
Comments and diaries are both auto-formatted in using HTML. You need not do anything other than type in your ideas to be able to post. However, here are some basic HTML instructions you can use to spruce up your diaries:
1. To underline, bold, or italicize, click here
2. To create a hyperlink to another website, click here
3. To blockquote, click here
4. To insert an image in your diary, click here
I recommend using flickr to store your photos, plus it creates the HTML for you if you want to put a photo on another web site.
*Calendar and Upcoming Events*
Please feel free to place events pertaining to the issues of sprawl and Smart Growth in these features.
*Blog and Web Roll*
Please take the time to visit these websites and blogs. If you know of a Smart Growth website that is not on the list, please let me know and I will add it.
*Legislation*
You can click on the links in the Legislation box to track Smart Growth bills.
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