Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

Political Crunch is a politically focused social news website that allows its member community to evaluate the relative bias of news.

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Why Political News?

Politics is everywhere, and it affects everyone. No matter how significant an event, the traditional news media and blogesphere is filled with pundits trying to make points that are consistent with their own ideology. As the 2008 US presidential election nears, the punditry will only intensify. It may seem strong now, but in reality, 2007 is the calm before the storm. Imagine what it is going to be like in October 2008. Woh! Get ready, buckle up, Political Crunch will be here to help you slice through that punditry and find out what it all means.

Is bias a bad thing?

Not at all. I'm a firm believer that everyone is entitled to their own opinion. Even if I disagree, I have great respect for people who are open enough to consider all perspectives and makes decisions based on principle. Simply rehashing party bullet points doesn't cut it. I do not believe that bias is fundamentally bad, however it frustrates me when reporters only subtly inject their own personal views (whether intentional or not) into news while claiming that it is objective. Please be honest, we all have biased tendencies. I have greater respect for news outlets that are open about their slant. We all would rather think for ourselves.

How is Political Crunch different?

Political Crunch differs from other media outlets and social news aggregators because it gives its community an ability to react to the ideology presented. Rather than simply voting a story as popular, Political Crunch sets the context for further debate. Also, because the relative bias of user comments can be rated, and echo user's history and statistics is tracked, this prior knowledge facilitates debate in a much better way than traditional forums.

How are stories Ranked?

The Political Crunch ranking algorithm considers up to 7 factors. Some of them are obvious, for example time, number of votes, and karma(0). Others may not be so obvious. Although the algorithm has been tested extensively, I definitely still consider it beta. As site usage ramps up, the algorithm will continually be tweaked to ensure that it remains accurate and that the quality stays high. The details of the algorithm and karma system will not be disclosed to the public.

When should I report a story as abuse?

Stories should only be reported as abuse when it is completely unrelated or malicious. The same is true for comments. Stories or comments that you simply disagree with should not be reported. Rather, you should offer counter-arguments in the comment section. Political Crunch has multiple backend reports and moderators to detect abuse and those abusing the ability to report abuse. Don't do it. Be responsible, and let me concentrate of developing features rather than more controls.

Is Political Crunch objective?

We give our best effort. Ultimately, Political Crunch's bias will depend on the collective bias of its members. Here is the official statement, "the opinions expressed on politicalcrunch.com belong to each respective author. It is the founder's intent that politicalcrunch.com remains neutral by providing a forum for all perspectives across the ideological spectrum." If you perceive any part of politicalcrunch's design as being blatantly bias, it was completely unintentional. Feel free to contact me if you have concerns.

How can I contact Political Crunch?

Before you send an email, make sure that your question hasn't already been answered in this FAQ. Unfortunately, I am extremely busy and would like to minimize unnecessary interruptions. If you find a bug, have a press inquiry, copyright concerns or have any other related business, please feel free to send an email to bdthomas /at/ gmail.com. Please do not be offended if it takes me days or even weeks to respond. My response time is based on priority. Don't give up though, I will get to it eventually. I'm only one person, with a day-job, operating multiples sites, and developing my next.

Who is the target market/audience?

Anyone interested in politics, current events, the media, and debate.

What sort of content should I submit?

Anything related to politics, world news, foreign policy, or similar is fair game. Related satire is also ok. News with an obvious or subtle slant, or news that is controversial and will spark debate is preferred. Keep things fun.

How can I make it easier to submit content?

On the submit page, there is a link that will point you to submit tools. Depending on your browser, these tools are buttons that allow you to more easily insert the title and URL into the submit box. These button will prevent you from having to cut and paste, which will increase post time dramatically. Don't forget to trim and clean up the title.

Do you plan on paying off the top users of Digg and Reddit to submit content?

Now why would we want to do that? I'm a big fan of both of those sites. In fact, I believe they address different market segments and can co-exist peacefully.

Why so many statistics?

Simply, because I'm addicted them. Actually, it makes things much more fun. It will be interesting to identify the trends that develop. Also, it helps put things in perspective. For example, individual user stats may help determine why a user voted a certain way.

Are there tools for webmasters?

Absolutely! Tools range from a simple submit link, a functional meter that goes on your site, to syndicated news headlines. Details of the tools as well as the necessary code to put them on your site/blog are located here: http://services.politicalcrunch.com Please keep in mind that these tools are highly experimental and that I offer no warranties.

How can I take advantage of RSS?

For those of you who don't know, RSS stands for Really Simple Syndication. RSS Feeds gives you the ability to have content pushed directly to you, rather than having to go fetch it. How can you use RSS with Political Crunch? Basically, you can subscribe to feeds that are consistent with each view of content. For example, you can subscribe to most-active news, left-leaning news, objective news, right-leaning news, or recently headlines. You may also subscribe to an individual user's voting history as well as their comments. This may be particularly interesting when tracking a specific user.

What if I forget my password?

That's an easy one. Click the forget password at the top of the page. You will be asked to enter your username and then a new password will be emailed to you. Don't forget to change your password when you login again. Instructions will be included in the email.

Should I be concerned about privacy?

Absolutely! In fact, I've been called a privacy-nut more than a few times in my life. If you're concerned about others reading your comments or voting history, use a login that is completely anonymous. Your email address is safe with Political Crunch. I hate spam as much as everyone else.

Why isn't my country/language fully supported?

Having lived abroad for a year, I understand the importance of building a site with a global audience in mind. I understand how frustrating it can be for many users across the world to find new sites that only focus on the United States. Sadly, most developers take the path of least resistance when it comes to international support. Due to time and resource constraints my brain and my heart had to compromise and I decided to focus initially on countries with a significant English speaking population (either as first or second language). Unfortunately, it was not feasible to initially include support for multiple languages and character sets.

Why isn't the site 100% XHTML/CSS?

This answer is similar to the one above. It is simply an issue of time and constrains vs. getting a functional beta version out the door for users to begin using. Although I would love to get rid of that evil table-tag, I do not see it as important initially. The time required to 'do it right' outweighs the potential benefits received. My focus has solely been on execution and getting a working product out-the-door. It can be refined at a later point in time. Before you flame me, consider donating your time.

Are you really in beta?

I know there has been a lot of recent discussion about the appropriate use of the term beta. In a sense, Google made it fashionable. Initially, I wanted to avoid its use completely. However, I decided to launch the site without implementing may features. I would rather list to my users and develop exactly what the public wants. At the end of the day, this is just an experiment anyway. The site's logo was created in about 15 minutes, that should be case enough.

What about the business model?

As you might expect, I will eventually have to slap some advertising on the site to help pay for pay for bandwidth and hosting. However, it is definitely not my intention to saturate the site with advertising. In fact, I prefer less advertising to more and only see it as a stepping stone to a more diversified revenue stream. Additional sources will be announced and rolled out at a later date. My immediate focus is building a strong user community.

Is Political Crunch part of Web 2.0?

You can make that decision for yourself. Actually, to be precise, there are so many definitions of Web 2.0, I'm sure Political Crunch fits a few of them. To be honest, I don't really care. Yes, the content is user generated, it has RSS feeds, a rating system, comments, and a few rounded corners, but is that Web 2.0? I doubt it. Political Crunch is not a huge technical achievement, rather, I focused on needs of the user.