Frequently Asked Questions

1. Where do the stories on MovieBlips come from?

MovieBlips stories come from two sources — users and the MovieBlips content engine. MovieBlips tracks a huge (and ever-growing!) roster of blogs, then analyzes each post for relevance and influence. Registered MovieBlips members can also submit a link to a story that they've found, and even write their own article on MovieBlips.

2. How do stories make it to the home page?

The home page displays the most popular stories, as determined by links and votes. Once an article or video gets linked or submitted as a story on MovieBlips, we track how popular it is by counting votes, links, and comments. As a story gets older, we discount its score to keep the content fresh.

3. How do I submit content on MovieBlips?

From the home page, click on the Submit a Story button to share a link to a video, podcast, or article. If it's already been submitted by someone else, you'll be able to comment or vote it up.

4. Are there rules about what kind of content or language is OK to post?

Please keep the language PG-13, especially in story titles when you submit a post to MovieBlips. Other bloggers use our content widgets to automatically display top MovieBlips stories on their sites, and their readers might not be as comfortable with cussin' as we are. And obviously, please abide by the Terms of Use, which ask you nicely to not post or write anything that is "obscene, racist, defamatory, abusive, threatening, libelous, or violates the intellectual property or other rights of a third party."

5. Can I write a blog on MovieBlips?

Yes! We want you to! Just click on the Submit a Story button, select a category for your post, and click on the MovieBlips Original button. When you've finished writing, you can preview before publishing, and after you publish, you'll have 15 minutes to edit or delete your story. From your user profile page, you can view your submissions in blog format and share that link with others if you want.

6. How do I keep track of how my story submissions are doing?

Two options:

1. From your profile page, click on the Activity link in the right sidebar to view all of the stories you've submitted, voted on, and commented on.
2. You can add your story submissions to the Dashboard. Click on the Customize button, select My Profile, and choose the My Submissions widget.

7. I have a movies blog. How do I find out whether my blog is being tracked by MovieBlips?

Enter the name of your blog in the search box in the header. You can also enter the name of the movie or category that you write about, and then click on the "Blogs" link in the right hand sidebar.

8. How do I get my blog tracked by MovieBlips?

Just send us a message with the URL of your blog and we'll check it out.

9. What does it mean to claim a blog?

Claiming a blog is when you verify to MovieBlips that you are the rightful owner of a blog that we are tracking. Once you've verified that you own the blog, you have the option of receiving notifications when your posts are submitted, voted, or commented on by others. See the blog rankings page for examples of claimed blogs.

How to claim your blog:

1. Find your blog profile page on MovieBlips by entering the name in the search box.
2. Click on the Claim Blog button at the top of the page.
3. Follow the instructions to verify that you're the owner — we generate a bit of code for you to drop onto your home page. It's invisible so it won't mess up your template.
4. Once you've claimed your blog, set your notification preferences — the link is under your avatar on your blog profile page.

10. Can I submit my own blog posts to MovieBlips?

Yes, please do! We encourage you to submit your best stories (since we all have off days) and to also vote up other people's work. Either vote for them if they've already been submitted, or if you're the first to come across a great story, vote it up! Surfacing quality content for the community is what will attract new readers to the site and your own future posts. The entire community of readers and bloggers benefit, and besides, helping other bloggers out is the nice thing to do, and people notice.

11. Are there posting widgets?

Yes - in the footer of the site there are links for Browser Shortcuts and Tools for Bloggers.

12. What is the MovieBlips policy regarding external nofollow links?

In general, we try to pass along link-love to all of our tracked blogs and other trusted movies sites. However, if a site has a Google PageRank of 0, we will use nofollow links until the site gets to a PageRank of 1 or more. We're happy to help you get from 1 to 5, but you'll need to get to 1 on your own.

13. How do I view stories for my favorite people or movies?

First find the people or other entities that you want to set as favorites by entering their names into the search box in the header. Then click on the Add as Favorite button at the top of the page.

You now have two options for viewing stories about your favorite entities:

1. From any page on the site, your profile sidebar gives you quick access to your friends, groups, and favorites. You can click on a single entity, or the View Details link next to your favorites from this sidebar to access content related to all of your favorites.
2. You can add Favorites widgets to the Dashboard. Click on the Customize button, select My Favorites, and choose which pieces of content related to your favorites that you want to display.

14. How do I make someone a friend on MovieBlips?

Click on any user name link or profile from a story or enter a user name into the search box in the header. On the profile page, click on the Add as a Friend button next to the MovieBlips stat sheet to send them a request. If they accept, you will both show up in each other's Friend lists.

15. How do I view stories submitted by my friends?

You have two options for viewing what your friends have submitted and voted up:

1. From any page on the site, your profile sidebar gives you quick access to your friends, groups, and favorites. You can click on any of the avatars to get to that user's profile page, or the View Details link to access content from all of your friends on one page.
2. You can add Friend widgets to the Dashboard. Click on the Customize button and select My Favorites. For Friends: Stories or Friends: Stories They Like, you can choose whether to view content from any or all of your friends.

16. How do I send messages to my friends?

From a user's profile page, you can leave a public sticky note or send a private message. Use the buttons at the top of the page next to the MovieBlips stat sheet.

17. What's the difference between sticky note and private message?

Sticky notes can be read by anyone. Private messages can only be viewed from a user's inbox or from their email, if they've set a preference to have their messages forwarded.

18. How do I check for new messages?

In the top right corner of the header, there is a link for My Inbox. If you have any new messages since you last logged in, you will get an alert posted next to this link.

19. What are Groups?

Groups are another way for any number of MovieBlips users to get together. Anyone can create a new group and designate it as public, private or closed. Closed groups show up in the Groups list but require an invitation from the administrator to join. Group members have a shared forum, and can view each other's activity on the site.

20. How do I know if there's a new message posted to a group forum?

You can set preferences to receive alerts in your MovieBlips Inbox or your email. For any group you belong to, click on the group home page, then on the Notification Options link in the right sidebar. For both email and MovieBlips Inbox, you can choose from no alerts, immediate delivery, or daily digest.

21. How are the stories in my Weekly Newsletter email selected?

The newsletter includes the top stories (based on links and votes) from the last week that we think you might have missed. This means, so long as you were logged in at the time, we exclude stories that you have already viewed on MovieBlips.

22. How are points awarded for Pop Quiz?

Next to each question is the Pop Quiz Factor (PQF). Points are awarded based on how many people pick each answer. You get more points for picking upsets. Each person who picked an incorrect choice gets -1 x PQF. All of the losing points are then added together, along with a bonus Pop Quiz Factor, and divvied up among the winners.

So if a question with PQF of 10 is answered by two people and they both pick the correct option, they each get PQF 10/2 = 5 points. If one of them had picked the right answer and the other had not, the loser would get -1 x 10 = -10 points, and the winner would get 10+10 = 20 points.