Articles, Voting, and Reviews

How often can I submit an article?
Currently, users may submit an article once per 3 days in order to prevent an overwhelming amount of content to the site. Seems like a long time, but that gives writers a chance to seriously take the time to put quality into each of their pieces.

How often can I submit reviews?
Users may submit up to 5 article reviews per day, which prevents flooding. This means if you really want to be an active user of the site, you could gain one rank a day.

What is the Shredder?
The Shredder is a place where articles and reviews go if they are voted down to a score that is determined by the volume of site activity. Shredded articles are available for viewing purposes and are no longer available for feedback (e.g. votes, reviews, comments).

What are reviews?
Reviews, unlike comments, allow readers to give rich feedback and constructive criticism about an article in an organized manner (Pros, Cons, and Additional Thoughts). They are tied to article votes, which means a user must vote on an article before they submit a review, and their review score is the same as their vote score (doubled). With the previous statement, when users submit a review, it will double the weight of their vote (for example, if a user's original vote weight is 5, the review will double it to 10). If a review receives a low score, the review will be deemed 'not helpful' and the user's vote weight of the article will return to the original value.

What are the differences between reviews and comments?
Reviews are critical and informative feedback for an article, while comments are quick and easy responses to do article. Comments can be about the article or the topic about which it pertains to.

When I post a review, will the value of my previous vote on the article update to my current vote value?
Yes, it will.

I have an article that fits a category not available on the site. What should I do?
You can contact and administrator with a category request and we'll see if it is worthy of addition.

What are honors?
Article honors are recognition articles can receive by achieving a certain status on the site.

How is an article featured on the front page?
Articles that are featured on the front page are submissions that receive the 'Featured Article' honor. This is determined by an automated system based on the reception of an article over a period of time.

Is there any way to recover my article after it has been Shredded?
No. The only way to get the article back on the site to be re-evaluated would be to resubmit it, but make sure it has been improved upon or it will end up getting shredded again.

Users and Accounts

What are user ranks?
User ranks are a feedback rating of a site member. Users with high site ranks are typically good reviewers. As the rank of a user increases, the vote weight of the user also increases. Starting at rank 1, a user gains a rank when they submit 5 reviews with an addition of 1 extra required per level (for example, to achieve level 3, a user must submit 1 additional review, level 4, an additional 2 reviews, etc).

What is vote weight?
This is the number that appears on your thumbs up/thumbs down icons when voting. The higher your vote weight, the more influence your vote has on the score of an article.

How much does my vote weight increase with ranks?
For every rank achieved by a user, the vote weight of a user increases by 1 point.

Is there a way I can change my username?
No, the username you chose when you registered will be with you permanently.


Have a question that wasn't covered here? Head on over to the Info Center on the forums and ask away!

<< Back to About Main