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Category Editors |
Category Editors are responsible for maintaining reviews of one or more software categories on this site. Category Editors are privileged users who have have the power to approve, disapprove, or modify contributions by registered users. They can also contribute content without the need for moderation. |
How to Become a Category Editor |
All Category Editors have generously volunteered their time to help support this free website. You don't need to be an expert to become a Category Editor. You should, however, be an experienced user and have good general familiarity with Windows software. You also need to be prepared to dedicate about an hour each week to the site. If you are interested, first check this list of vacant categories . Alternatively, you can contribute by creating and maintaining a new category. I also suggest you read the "Responsibilities of Category Editors" section below. If you have the time to contribute, then contact Elizabeth, our volunteer editor co-ordinator with a little bit about your background and in particular, whether you have any commercial affiliation with products in this category. If you are currently logged in, you can contact Elizabeth directly by clicking here, if not then click here. |
Responsibilities of Category Editors |
The primary responsibility of Category Editors is to ensure the quality, accuracy, and currency of the review sections which they oversee. Very few Category Editors need to write their reviews from scratch, although there is nothing stopping them from doing so. More commonly, Category Editors inherit a set of reviews from a previous Editor. Their initial task is to bring these reviews up-to-date, ensure they are in the correct format, and then change or add content as needed. Editors are completely free to change reviews based on their own knowledge, but often this is in response to suggestions made by site visitors through wiki edits or more commonly, through comments. Responding to visitor suggestions is an important part of a Category Editor's responsibilities. Editors are expected to login to the site at least twice weekly to check and respond to any new comments, and to approve/reject any online wiki edits made by visitors. This may take anything from a few minutes to an hour depending on the activity level for the particular software category. Editors are not expected to respond to user comments individually, although they may if they wish. Similarly, Editors are not expected to enter into correspondence with users who have made wiki-style edits, although they may do so if they so wish. Editors are expected to delete any out-of-date or unwanted comments. That is, comments that are inaccurate, contain commercial material, or do not comply with the site rules (see below.) At least once a month, Editors are expected to update their categories by incorporating into their reviews user comments and suggestions. This may involve downloading and testing suggested products. This make take anything from fifteen minutes to an hour or more, depending on the number of suggestions made. So if you budget for a average time commitment of two to four hours per month you will be close to the mark, bearing in mind that in individual months this could be greater or less. If you have the time to contribute, then contact Elizabeth who coordinates our volunteer editors. If you are currently logged in, you can contact Elizabeth directly by clicking here, if not then click here. |
Site Rules |
In assuming the role of Category Editor you agree to abide by the following site rules:
Any violation of the site rules or other inappropriate conduct may result in your Category Editor account being cancelled. Our policy here is "two strikes and you are out." If this happens you can discuss it with Gizmo, but his decision is final and is without appeal or other recourse. |