What is PopRule?
PopRule is an online resource that helps people organize, filter, discuss, and promote political news. It is a community of politically interested and active citizens.
How do I submit and vote on stories?
Submitting stories is simple and straightforward. After clicking "Submit Story" you enter the story's title with up to 70 characters, the URL (website address), and a description with up to 350 characters. Select the type and category. You can “Preview” the story if you like, and then click "Save". You can automate this process by dragging the “Submit to PopRule” bookmarklet to your bookmark bar (found here). To vote on stories, simply click the "Pop It!" button below the vote count. To comment on a story, you can click either the number count or “Read more” to open the full view and add a comment.
What types of stories are appropriate?
PopRule is dedicated to political news and opinion. Any piece of news, whether from mainstream media, bloggers, or citizen journalists, that relates to government or politics at the federal, state or local level has a home on PopRule.
How does PopRule moderate inappropriate content?
Below each story is a link to "Flag as offensive". This notifies the PopRule moderators that a story could be inflammatory, inaccurate, profane, and otherwise inappropriate for the PopRule community. If it is deemed as such, the story will be deleted. Members who consistently submit offensive content will have their profiles deleted and IP address blocked. However, PopRule moderators will not serve as censors in any way for political views and opinions.
How do I promote a story to the front page?
The best political stories of the day will naturally rise to the top. That’s the nature of PopRule. But there are ways to increase a story’s chances. Popping stories starts with good content and a clear, compelling title and description. That’s how to attract votes and stimulate conversation. PopRule Groups (see below) is a more proactive way to promote stories to PopRule members who follow specific political trends and topics. Beyond PopRule, you can email the story directly from the story view by clicking the Email Story link, as well as sharing a story’s direct link through Twitter, Facebook, IM, and other types of social media.
Can publishers and bloggers submit their own content to PopRule?
Absolutely. PopRule can be a valuable resource for small publishers of online newspapers and magazines as well as blogs. With PopRule, all content is created equal. Every story has an equal shot at getting “Popped” to the front page and generating the attention and traffic it deserves. So PopRule can also help newspapers find and attract new audiences.
How do I get videos into PopRule?
The PopRule platform enables members to pull videos into the stories from many of the major video-sharing platforms including YouTube, Veoh, Revver, Metacafe, Yahoo Video, and Google Video. In order to embed the video into the story, you’ll need to paste the video link into the URL field on the Submit Story page. If you’re posting a video that’s embedded in a blog post, be sure to cite the source by pasting the blog’s URL into the description.
How do I get photos into PopRule?
With photos and other graphics, you have to locate the URL for the actual image. This typically ends with .jpg or .png and can often be found by right clicking the photo and copying the image location. Paste this into the URL field of the story. If it’s part of a blog post, be sure to paste the blog’s URL into the description itself. [This feature is not yet active.]
How do I become a PopRule Power User?
PopRule's 10 most active users - the top PopRulers - are listed in the right sidebar. These users are ranked by PopQ.
What is PopQ?
Your PopQ reflects your political authority on PopRule. A number of factors contribute to your PopQ, but in general PopRulers with a high PopQ are active contributors to the site whose submitted stories are popular and whose comments are well-liked by other users. To raise your PopQ, just keep doing what you're doing: submitting and voting on stories, and making comments that contribute constructively to the debate.
What are PopRule Groups?
PopRule Groups provide several ways to organize stories according to specific issues and topics as well as to network with like-minded PopRulers. When a member of a group submits a story to PopRule, a check box on the submit form sends the story to the group’s news feed. Members can browse and subscribe to this feed via email and RSS as ways to follow the political news that’s specifically relevant to the group.
How can I get the most from joining and using Groups?
Each group has it’s own RSS feed to which you can subscribe through any RSS reader. In addition, you can opt to receive email alerts every time a story is submitted to the group. This enables stories to generate votes and comments from those who care about the specific topic, which helps to make them popular and generate attention.
How do I start and manage a Group?
Anyone can start a group. You start by giving your group a title and description. The description should include the group’s main topic, issue, or keyword for indexing and searching. You can upload a photo or logo and provide a detailed group biography. The bio should explain the specific type of news for which the group has been formed. Finally, you can choose from four different membership types: Open, Moderated, Invite Only, or Closed. Once the group is created, you can send invitations to join the group via email directly from the group interface.
Does PopRule use RSS feeds?
PopRule provides a broad range of RSS feed options. You can subscribe to the feed from the main page as well as any of PopRule’s 56 Popular and Trending category pages. You can subscribe to the most recently popular news across all 50 states as well as the individual regions. You can also subscribe to the RSS feed for each PopRule Group.
Does PopRule have a submit button or plug-in for publishers?
PopRule currently offers a submit button that can be integrated with most any content management system using a simple script. For a custom solution, please contact PopRule Support: support@poprule.com.
Does PopRule have any political affiliation?
PopRule is a nonpartisan platform. It is an open forum for political news, thought, ideas, and debate. The company takes no positions and supports no political candidates, party, or ideology.
How is PopRule different from other social news sites?
PopRule provides social news that is organized in ways that are actually relevant to citizens and Groups through a unique organizing structure where news can be accessed, voted on, and shared within categories across the political and geographic spectrum.