Post an Answer to the Website

You must be logged in. The login is now at the bottom of every page.

You can contribute to a question on the site in two ways: submit an answer or add an internal note. The latter will be visible only to other logged in librarians ("librarians" refers to all Rad Ref vetters, regardless of MLS status).

Claim a question
You will do this to change the question's status and also if you need to fix spelling, change the URL, or something else fancy.

1. Click the edit tab.
   
2. Add the text "QUESTION:" (no quotes, all caps) before the name of the question. This is to distinguish the questions from other content (blog entries, etc.) on the Rad Ref homepage.
   
3. Remove questioner's name from the question text, if present. Create an internal note for it.
   
4. Leave the other questioner supplied content alone, unless you need to fix spelling, grammar or some other crime.
   
5. Choose the appropriate status for Reference Questions (Unanswered, Answered, In Progress).
   
6. Select your username in Assigned To (this is the "claiming" process now). You can save time by typing your username. Why it doesn't recognize you when you're logged in, I don't know. We'll work on it!
   
7. You might want to make sure the Subscribe box is checked so you can be notified when others edit, answer, or comment on the question.
   
8. You can change the URL path setting if you want to, i.e. Give the question a URL alias: if the question is about trees, you call it trees, resulting in a URL of www.radicalreference.info/trees.
   
9. Make sure the settings for the question are "published," "promoted to front page," and "create new revision."
   
10. Submit.

Answer a question
New questions will appear at http://www.radicalreference.info/newquestions. You can also sign up for a feed.

1. If you see a question you want to answer, click on its title.
   
2. Then click on create new answer, not edit.
   
3. Type in your appropriately cited answer that responds as fully as possible to the user's asked or implied question, uploading any files or images you see fit.
   
4. Ignore all the settings options. If you want to change any of them, you will do so on the question, not the answer. Answers should always be "published" and NOT "promoted to front page." Answers should never have comments turned on; comments are added to the question.
   
5. Hit submit.
   
6. Contact the questioner by the means of their choice with the URL for the answer.

Guidelines and Tips

• Conduct a reference interview as needed. Use the Email Contact Form for this.
  
• Cite everything! Use your best librarian judgment about what kind of resources are appropriate for the question.
  
• If you cite Wikipedia, please link to the revision you're citing, not the main entry. And try to use an additional source unless this is an instance where Wikipedia truly is the authority.
  
• Use complete sentences and good grammar.
  
• Post to the list if you would like assistance with the question or run into a snag.
  
• Other activists have already gathered a great deal of information—-some authoritative, some less so. Use your skills to determine which. The ready reference shelf contains a number of useful sites.
  
• Links should look like this: Radical Reference or http://radicalreference.info, not like this: http://radicalreference.info.
  If you're unsure about HTML code, you can also go to your favorite editor (e.g. Dreamweaver), create the answer, copy the HTML code and paste it into the form body of the book page you're creating.
  
• Quick tips on settings: Answers should be "published" but NEVER "promoted to front page." Questions should be both "published" AND "promoted to front page." Internal notes should NEVER be "published."
  
• If you need assistance, please contact the main RR list or the admins.

Internal notes
The Internal Notes show up to logged in librarians in the top right corner of the site and only show up when you're viewing the question (i.e. not when you're on the front page).
To add an Internal Note:

1. Log in to your account. The login is now at the bottom of every page.
   
2. Click on the question you want to add a note to. Click "create new internal note" at the bottom of the question. It's also available in the top right margin of the site.
   
3. Ignore all the settings options (Internal Notes should NEVER be "published").
   
4. Write something helpful. As there is no automatical date-stamping of notes, make sure you also type in the date on which you're posting your note.
   
5. Submit.

Edit an answer
(This is a hack, we'll have a less workaroundy method eventually.) If you want to edit your or someone else's existing answer (linkify a URL, correct spelling, etc.):

1. Go to the question whose answer you want to edit.
   
2. Toward the bottom (under where it says "Add an Anwer or Internal Note" {yes John, I see the typo!}) mouse over (do not click) [remove answer: answer]
   
3. Note the second number in the URL that appears in the status bar (e.g. in QUESTION: prison vendors, which has the URL http://radicalreference.info/node/1600, when you mouse over the remove thing, you see http://radicalreference.info/relativity/unparent/1600/1602.
   the second number is 1602, meaning that it is node 1602.)
   
4. To edit node 1602 enter the following URL into the address bar http://radicalreference.info/node/1602/edit

Set yourself up to receive notifications about new questions vie e-mail or RSS.

1. Log in to your account. The login is now at the bottom of every page.
   
2. Click on My Account from the list on the left.
   
3. Click on My Subscriptions tab.
   
4. For e-mail notifications click on Content Types and select question and any others you want.
   
5. The RSS thing seems broke, so don't bother. You can get feeds from other spots on the site. Pretty much whichever node you're in there will be an orange XML button. Utilize it.
   
6. The RSS for unanswered questions is http://www.radicalreference.info/newquestions/feed.