Welcome to Political Cortex! 
3... 2... 1... Blastoff!
Months in the making. Blood. Sweat. Tears.
But now we’re here and we are ready to ROCK!
But who are we? We’re Al Rodgers, ColdFusion04, Devilstower, Hermod, Sdf, Bill Hare, Drew Johnston, mcjoan, SusanG, Bob Kendall, Frederick Clarkson, NYBri, Btyarbro, Georgia10, S. M. Dixon, Myself, and the soon-to-be Cortex community!
Together we will fight against the forces of evil, and injustice and for the progressive ideals of Jefferson, Adams, Paine, Madison, Allen, and Franklin.
These men founded a Progressive Nation. They were America’s Founding Fathers -- a group of the staunchest progressives in our nation's history -- men of enlightenment, ardent supporters of church/state separation with a fervent passion for decentralization of power and freedom of expression. So too were the founding documents they authored and the principles by which they acted.
In recent years, many Americans have come to forget these facts. Political Cortex is here to remind them.
But we can’t do it alone. This will require the unified voice of millions. And as that voice grows throughout the web and across the nation, the Cortex will be here to offer new light and pioneering ways to augment that collective voice.
To start, we’ve created this community as a Democracy – where “One person = One Vote” actually applies. Where the Cortex community takes center stage on the front page garnering equal time and space with the Founding Cortex writers. And where higher thought and mutual respect will combine with a culture of independent, investigative journalism to present a new paradigm in online netroots media.
And if you’re wondering what makes us different from all the others, join the crowd. It was a primary consideration when we put this project together.
The good news is that we think we’ve differentiated ourselves in a way that will eventually augment and enhance the effectiveness of the growing voice of the progressive web.
First, we’ve implemented a “Blog Democracy” via a pioneering community editing and voting process unique to the political blogosphere.
Next, we’ve incorporated new and original features such as Keyword Tags, advanced diary voting, and “Quick Posting”.
Also, we’ve removed the community from the periphery and placed it center-stage on the front page.
And finally, we hope to foster a culture of journalistic Independence that inspires a new generation of bold truth-seekers.
Right now, all that’s just a lot of hot air. It’s time to put the proverbial money where our mouth is and make it happen. All it takes is a bit of passion, desire, and motivation -- Throw in a half ton of moxie, and your nearly there. But believe me, we assert these things with the greatest humility.
Oh, we truly believe it can be done -- But we can’t do it without you. We need to work together to turn vision into reality.
So please join us by creating a free Cortex Account right now! It only takes a few seconds, but the benefits will last a lifetime :)
Truly exciting times!
(Check out the list of features provided below the Recommended Reading to get a glimpse of how you can involve yourself as a proud member of the Cortex Community!)
Recommended Reading:
About :: (from which this post was shamelessly derived)
Primer :: This will get you started fast and easy – step-by-step
FAQ :: It’s big and it’s bold and it will answer many of your most arcane questions. Give it a try!
If you still have questions after digesting all this (or even before), by all means Contact us anytime!
Features
Political Cortex is structured around a community software platform called ‘Scoop’. Although you might have come across some very impressive Scoop sites in the past, you’ve never come across one quite like this. At the Cortex, we make you the star of the show. Sure, we have an extremely talented group of core writers. But one of the primary goals of the site is to give a much greater voice to the community – to make YOU the star.
At the Cortex, you’re not limited to posting comments or creating diaries as you are at most sites. Yes, we have those available to you as well, but then we take it a step further -- offering an entire spectrum of features that allow you to show-off your grand insights, observations, opinions, and analyses. In fact, the entire central column on the front page is dedicated exclusively to articles written by Cortex community members.
Blogocracy : Even more innovative is the Democratic nature by which the community’s front-page submissions are decided. In essence, you, the registered members of the Cortex Community, VOTE on which articles you think should be posted to the front page.
Rest assured, however, that Voting ‘Yay’ or ‘Nay’ is just the beginning. In brief, here are some of the things you can do as a registered user (Each of these will be explained in detail the FAQ):
Submit your Writing : You can submit your personally authored articles to the voting queue and possibly have your work displayed prominently on the front page.
Vote on Submissions : You can vote on others’ article submissions.
Enroll in Blogosphere Writing 101, 201, and 301 (advanced studies) : You can submit your articles and diaries to the ‘editing queue’ where you will receive the invaluable editorial feedback of the community. Yes they will criticize your work, but we cannot stress enough how valuable this process is for both ensuring top-quality writing on the front page AND serving as a training and proving ground for would-be progressive political journalists, writers, and bloggers. This is the place to go if you REALLY want to know what works when it comes to writing for the people.
Write Diaries : You can write ‘diaries’. They aren’t really diaries in the ‘dear diary’ sense of the word, they’re more like ‘journals’ in the ‘I keep a journal’ sense.
Recommend Other’s Diaries : You can ‘recommend’ others’ diaries and likewise have your diaries ‘recommended’ by others. ‘Recommends’ are another sort of community vote that can potentially ‘raise’ your diaries from the ‘Recent Diaries’ section to the more prominent ‘Recommended’ Diaries listing.
Breaking News and Quick Posts : You can write ‘Quick Posts’ for the ‘Nerve Center’. These are breaking news items and otherwise brief posts with only a touch of commentary, and an excerpt and a link to the story. No one will give you a hard time here if your post is ‘too short’. That’s what the ‘Quick post’ is for. It keeps the pulse of the political and breaking news world – the first place you should go when something is happening. That’s why we named this section the ‘Nerve Center’.
Post Comments : You can post comments in any story, diary, or quick post
Reply to Comments : You can reply to specific comments and the author of the original comment will be notified that you did.
Rate Comments : You can rate others comments based on what you feel they add to the conversation -- and your comments will be rated by others as well.
Become a ‘Trusted User’ : You can build up ‘Mojo’ and receive ‘Trusted User’ Status which essentially rewards you with a warm, fuzzy sense of communal respect. It also give you increased power to rate others’ comments more forcefully.
Mailing List – Newsletter : You can receive the ‘Cortex Digest’ Daily, Weekly, or Monthly via email. The newsletter delivers a summary of headlines and excerpts that appear on the Cortex front page to keep you up to date no matter where you are.
Identity : You get your own Username. Have you ever wanted to be ‘Superman’, ‘Mother Nature’, or ‘Hugh Jass’? Now’s your chance. Get ‘em while you can.
‘Hotlist’ Bookmarks : You can bookmark stories and check back to redress an ongoing discussion.
Subscribe : You can ‘subscribe’ to your favorite Cortex writers and receive alerts whenever they post something new.
Discussion Alerts : You can be alerted whenever someone responds to your comments, keeping you in the thick of any ongoing conversation.
So why not go register right now? It’ll only take a moment and the Cortex Community will welcome you with open arms!
Again, Welcome to Political Cortex!
KEYWORDS: Politics, Blog, Media, Journalism
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