This page is intended to provide an overview of the content types and roughly how they should and could be used. These notes should not, however, be allowed to interfere with the ability of members to provide informative content and to put the council in the spot light and keep it there.

Forum Post vs Story
Should I post a forum topic or a story?

If in doubt post it as a forum topic. Forum topics and stories both promote to the front page but age differently.

There is plenty of grey area between the two types and it is often a matter of personal judgement. However giving a little consideration as to where other members might look for such a topic will give you a good guide as to where you might like to put it.

A forum topic ages only when there is no use of the topic, when everyone has said their bit and the issue has been laid to rest. The topic is often unlinked to a particular time or date.

Discussions, debates, questions, opinion articles, rants and so forth make better forum topics and will be available longer.

Topics regarding the site are always forum topics and never news (unless the site is reported in the news).

A story, on the other hand, is often topical by time in the same way a news story is. Announcements make good stories as do news items and other reports.

Once a story leave the front page it is usually done with and only a matter of archival history.

Other content types
What else can I do?

Polls are good for gauging the opinion of members and visitors and can be a good way to start a debate.

Pages can only be made by some members (those given the job of looking after stuff) and unlike stories do not age. They are good for howto's, guidance notes (such as these) and other permanent content.

citizenspeak campaigns allow users to set up a publicity campaign where officials are sent a standard message plus a personal message on a topic. The email addresses used for this communication are set when the campaign is made. It's a useful method of enabling members (and guests) to address issues to councillors and the like easily and with little fuss.

TDC Complaint Ticket is a more complex than simply ranting or moaning. It enables a user to record a specific complaint against the council and then track the result of anything the group might do (and report) until the issue is resolved.

Comments are the way you can add your knowledge and feed back into the system, replying to and commenting on news, stories, polls, topics and so forth. (non-member comments must be first approved to reduce spamming).

A further sense of democracy is added in that all users may now moderate comments voting them up or down. This combines with the ability to set your filter level to block out comments with a negative reputation while still allowing you to see the remainder.

In this way we are answerable to each other for what we say on the site.