Thanks for coming to Blue Hampshire, the Granite State's premier progressive online community.
Now, here's how you can join the conversation:
Making an Account
Get a user name and password by clicking on Make a New Account in the left column below the logo and following the instructions. Accounts are free. While an account is not needed to read the content of the blog, it is necessary in order to write comments and blog posts, rate comments, and participate in polls.
Writing a Comment
It's easy to make your voice heard here. If you've got something to say about a diary that's posted either on the front page or in the Recent Diaries section in the right margin, simply click on Post a Comment at the bottom of the diary entry, or on Reply if you want to respond to someone else's comment. After your comment is finished, you may want to use the Preview button before sending it off with the Post button.
Rating a Comment
You have the ability to rate the comments of others. If you read something particularly useful or insightful, you may give the author a 4 or Excellent rating. On the other hand, if you feel that a comment was written whose sole purpose is to degrade the conversation or be intentionally abusive, you may choose to give it a 0 or Troll rating, a substantial number of which will cause the comment to be deleted. A significant number of troll ratings may also result in the account being banned. Note: Troll rating a comment simply because you disagree with it is considered ratings abuse and is grounds for banning the user.
Writing a Diary
Got something even bigger to say? Then by all means consider writing a diary. After logging in, click on New Diary and get busy. Polls are available for diaries as well, but are not required. Always remember to Preview your diary before hitting the Save button. After you save your diary it will be published on Blue Hampshire in the Recent Diaries section in the right-hand column. If other users enjoy your diary, they may click the Recommend button in the right column. Enough recommendations from users cause a diary to appear in the Recommended Diaries section of the right-hand column. Finally, if we think it's important enough, we might just promote it to the front page.
Be sure to include Tags which are words that represent key content items of your diary. For example, if you are writing about Sununu, write "John Sununu" in the Tag line. That way a reader can click on the John Sununu tag and get a list of your diary and all the others written concerning the Senator. Separate multiple tags by commas.
If you decide to quote an outside source as part of your diary, be sure to follow fair use guidelines and excerpt no more than a few paragraphs. Always link to the source when possible. You can easily create a hyperlink by writing the web address, adding a space, then the text you want linked, and enclosing all of that in brackets. Photos should not be posted on Blue Hampshire unless you have permission to use them or they are your own shots.
On content: we're not going to tell you what to write, but on a blog that focuses on progressive NH politics, expect your diary to get more attention from readers if your content involves NH political material from a progressive viewpoint.
Anonymity and Disclosure
Although the site administrators are not anonymous, many bloggers are. Therefore, a user who reveals the identity of another user on this site without his or her permission will result in their account being banned and/or deleted. The same goes for posting someone else's private contact information.
Additionally if the site administrators suspect that a user is abusing anonymity intentionally to deceive the community as to their identity and/or to pursue an agenda (such as with a "Sockpuppet"), they may remove that user from the community publicly through banning and/or deleting the account.
Finally, paid staffers for political campaigns, elected officials, or advocacy groups are invited to join the conversation here with comments and diaries, but are asked to provide full disclosure. A good place to do this is in your Comment Signature line which can be updated in the Profile section of your user page. If you post a diary with no intent to comment, then provide disclosure somewhere in the text of the diary.
On the New Hampshire Primary and Elections in General
A healthy blog encourages debate. Having said that, this is a progressive blog that by and large supports Democratic candidates. So, while vigorous discussion is desirable, expect to receive poor ratings for unsubstantive or ad hominem attacks on candidates. In addition, you should not understand anything written by the managing editors as a Blue Hampshire endorsement or lack thereof, unless we explicitly say so.
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