Here a quick summary on how to use this site as an editor participating in Indymedia Scotland. It compliments how to use this site infodoc

A.) First, create a login for Indymedia Scotland. Fill in the registration form. It will look similar like this:

registration form

1. is to set your own display preferences for the newsire and the comments, according to the rating of the articles. So you could avoid reading the comments and articles rated below your treshold. You can set your treshold here.

2. modifies the display of the indymedia site according to your preferences, you could limit the display to the sections and/or categories prefered. You could also choose your layout preference if there would be a choice. (Hopefully in future.)

3. you can here sign up to which area and tasks you want to contribute and participate in future at Indymedia Scotland.

4. submit your form by pressing the button.

B) subscribe to the Indymedia Scotland Discussion email list, and participate in the relevant discussions.

C) State you support the aims of Indymedia and tell us you would like to become an editor.

D) if you get editor privileges you can log in to the editorial interface, which will look similar to this.

E) to edit the newswire, press the "articles" link.

1. the articles link

2. information about the article: if it is displayed or not, P = copy/duplicate, ** stars = rating, and if it is a comment to or a newswire article.

3. to modify the options, e.g. to display or hide, to make it a feature or a comment, click the options box.

F) the newswire = articles listings

1. all the articles submitted are in this list, no matter if comments, articles, displayed or hidden. But: features and other press articles are listed seperately.

2. to search for a particular article/comment you might need to browse the archive

3. the option to submit a new article via the editor interface, e.g. for a collaborative article or an article which demand intensive editing.

4. This button should be avoided unless there is an editorial collective consensus.

G.)how to approve, dissent or rate on a feature proposal. First click on the features link on the left side menu in the editorial interface.

1. state of the feature proposal

2. where you rate

3. press the button after your rating, otherwise it might not be counted

4. trigger it to display if it hasn't done automatically after 2 approvals

An article needs to reach a threshold of approval ratings from editors and if an editor dissents (and reason must be given) then the article is blocked from becoming a feature untill active consenous is achived and dissent reversed, by debate on disscussion list. This step by step process leads to development of indymedia scotland collective editorial policy. At moment the proposal of newswire articles means middle column is often a best of the newswire, but over time a more collective form of middle column feature may develop.