Frequently Asked Questions

What is Propeller.com?

Propeller is a social news portal, meaning that it is programmed by you — the audience. Our members post links to stories from all over the Web. Many of these stories originate from the websites of traditional media, including newspapers and magazines. But you will also find many stories that seldom pop up in the mainstream.

Posting a story at Propeller is only the beginning. Once the link has been posted, you can comment on it, share it with friends, or bookmark it to read later. In this context, news is not simply a pile of facts to be absorbed. It is a conversation. And above all, it is fun.

Is this all free?

Yes. Propeller is free to anyone with a computer and an Internet connection.

Do I have to become a member to use the site? What’s the benefit of registering?

You don’t have to become a member to read the stories on Propeller. However, if you wish to participate – by posting stories, commenting, adding friends, or joining one of our many groups – you need to register. The registration process takes less than a minute, and we’ll never share your email address or bombard you with pesky newsletters. We respect your privacy.

Is there any oversight on Propeller, or is this a complete free-for-all?

Propeller is a moderated site. We have a team of full-time editors who do a number of things to keep the Propeller experience clean and compelling. First, they remove spam, objectionable content, and commercial solicitations. They are available to assist community members when a dispute flares up. And they write certain regular features, such the Week In Review and Overlooked, that invite the participation of the community.

In addition to the editorial team, we also have a large crew of part-time Scouts, who function as “power users” but also help us to remove spam, redirect stories that break the Middleman Rule (see below), and moderate discussions. Needless to say, we also have a crack team of developers, who are constantly working to improve the user experience.

The entire Propeller staff is here to serve our community. Please feel free to contact any of us via site mail with ideas, questions, or concerns you may have.

How does the Propeller home page work?

The home page is programmed by the Propeller community. Our development staff has created algorithms that measure all sorts of participation, including the number of votes (or "props"), page views, and comments. Stir in a few more variables, and you get a Propeller Popularity Index for the story. The top-scoring stories make it to the front page – and of course those stories will keep changing, 24 hours a day.

How do tags work?

Tags are descriptive words you should add to your submitted stories. They will make it easier for other community members to find the content they’re looking for. Here’s an example. If you post a story about the iPod, you might add the following tags: apple, ipod, mp3, steve jobs. Depending on your point of view, you might also add industrial design or yuppie or hearing loss.

What is the Middleman Rule?

Our policy is to link whenever possible to the original source of a story. We avoid links to (for example) blog posts that briefly discuss a breaking news story without adding any substantial analysis or discussion. We’d rather point our visitors back to the original source. When we encounter a story that breaks the Middleman Rule, we will redirect visitors to the original source and leave an Editor Commentary box noting the change.

Propeller is not accepting submissions from a specific URL. Why not?

In order to prevent duplicate story submissions, we permanently ban sites like TinyURL.com or other URL aliasing services. We also permanently ban URLs from sites that violate our Terms of Use – that would include links to objectionable content, spam, phishing farms, and any site that promotes criminal behavior.

If sites are reported by users or picked up by our anti-spamming algorithms, we place a temporary ban on them while we investigate. We may lift the ban in the event of a misunderstanding. We also reserve the right to extend such bans permanently.

What do you mean by spam and sock puppets?

You’re more likely than not familiar with spam from email. It’s unwanted content that is often trying to sell you something. Besides eliminating actual spam stories in the system, our staff also watches out for sock puppets – multiple accounts registered to the same member, often used to focus attention on spam submissions. If detected, sock puppet accounts will be eliminated at once, and those users will be permanently banned from Propeller.

For what other reasons will you close a story?

Propeller is a news site. So when you submit stories, try to make sure they are newsworthy, rather than leftovers from the virtual dumpster. We reserve the right to close stories that are:

• old news.
• non-HTML files with minimal news value, including direct links to executable programs, screensavers, PDFs, Word Documents, Excel Documents, and so forth.
• deceptive in any way to our readers, including spam-heavy websites or blogs that are essentially disguised advertisements.
• press releases, which are also disguised advertisements.
• detailed instructions for hacking or exploiting our site.