This is our FAQ and help.
Updated: 2008-05-18
How do I join the site as a supporter?
Look to the bottom left or right corner of the site. Click ‘create new account’ or click this: http://www.freedomchambers/user/register
Does 'supporter' mean I'm supporting Anand Ramlogan?
Absolutely not. It means you support the site's principles and functions etc (outlined elsewhere). Anand Ramlogan is only the first of many commentaries we will put up here. Other commentaries may come later on from other learned persons.
But you have a photo of Anand Ramlogan on your site's banner?
True - and photographs of other learned contributors may appear on our rotating banner, with their consent.
Am I supporting a particular political group?
No. This site supports principles. Whilst political groups may share in our principles, how principles are applied and interpreted are separate matters. This attracts fierce debate at times - which we believe, properly conducted, is conducive to learning new ways of thinking.
Do I have to be an intellectual to join?
No. Those who join us come from all walks of life. Any point of view expressed at the site is open to analysis and debate. We cherish the so-called 'grassroots' opinions. However, intellectual or grassroots opinion are open to the same process of analysis and debate by other supporters.
But I don't like debate and analysis!
No problem. You don't have to write anything at the site or debate anything. You could just 'listen' on or watch what's happening.
Okay, so what is the advantage of signing up as supporter?
Is this ‘account’ about money?
No. This is just a registration account. You will not be asked for money. Joining us and using the site is free of charge.
Would my contact details shared with others?
Only with the Site Administrator who is a medical doctor residing in the United Kingdom, or in some circumstances with our legal advisors. We have no political party affiliations and certainly none with the government of Trinidad & Tobago.
Is my name visible to other supporters?
No. But site administration will naturally have access to your contact form details.
Can I contact other supporters at the site?
You can. The site has an internal email feature that allows you to click on a supporters screen name and send an email. In doing so your email address will become visible to the other supporter – which is only fair.
As a supporter will my name appear on content I submit to the site?
No. Normally, only your screen name alone appears in the post. But you can type in your name if you want at the end of a post.
Updated: 2008-05-18
2008-09-11 16:45 GMT
The site will now provide email alerts if commenters check a box to receive alerts.
2008-04-10 12:12 GMT
2007-05-10 17:00 GMT
Ranking Polls were fixed and re-introduced.
2007-04-11 14:40 GMT
Ranking polls were removed because of a bug in the feature.
News Aggregator removed - not used and unlikely to be useful.
Features to add images (photos) to posts and comments introduced for registered supporters on a trial basis. Supporters are reminded to respect privacy of individuals if posting photos of others.
A few extra buttons added to the 'word processor' feature for posting content.
New site theme introduced. This has led to much clearer layout of the site and easier on the eyes. Still needs some tweaking but we'll get there.
2007-03-22 10:06 GMT
A news aggregator is being set up. A the moment this links the latest news from the Trinidad Express. For a limited time unregistered supporters may use it.
What this does is pull all the latest news from various other sites. So we don't have to go clicking around the T&T Express site to pick out the main headlines - you get it right here.
Accessing the news aggregator is easy. Look for the 'News Aggregator' link in the left column. Click on it. That's it really. How easy is that? Very.
2007-03-21 12:30 GMT
A 'subscription' module was installed. This means that our registered supporters can 'subscribe' to a topic line or group of comments and receive email updates to their registered email addresses about new content. Subscribing does not mean you have to pay money. Everything at this site is free.
2007-03-13 11:30 GMT
A new word processor style input module was installed. This will allow contributors to format their text in bold, underlined or coloured text etc using icons or keyboard shortcuts.
For example to bold press CTRL and tap 'B' on keyboard: see what happens. To underline: CTRL and 'U': see what happens. There are many more features to be discovered.
There is even a Spell Checker for those who install a free spell checker at www.iespell.com (selecting text and hitting CTRL + K allows for entry of hyperlinks).
2007-02-21 19:08 Plans for further development of the site.
The layout of the site is very fluid and may change several times over the next few months. The most important thing about this website is that it is fully interactive.
Unlike some websites where you click on but you have no say in what's up there, this one you can have a say. You can actually change the content. Hold on. And you don't need to be a website builder to do so.
We actually need feedback from our supporters on what they want at the site in terms of features. With that knowledge we can be more certain how to best shape the site.
So, the site is therefore not a static thing. It becomes 'plastic' - moving in a direction that suits supporters. Feedback can be given my registering with us and clicking on a 'Contact Admin' button visible to registered supporters.
What is a content contribution?
This could be your written thoughts submitted to the site as a comment or a separate topic line. As time goes on we will be accommodating pictures (photographs), video and sound content.
But I'm not computer literate.
Posting your thoughts to the site is as easy (or easier) than sending an email.
I want to post anonymously
Total anonymity is not possible at this site. You may post whilst remaining anonymous to the public and other supporters, however, because the site administrator is ultimately unaccountable for all posts and must have some way of knowing who is posting at the site.
Failure to know or an inability to trace the identity of persons posting at the site, can expose the site adminstrator to direct legal action on a number of issues. Each individual posting at the site is responsible for their content. Anonymity negates this principle and makes the site administrator directly and legally responsible for another posters content. To find out the who administrates the site contact the site administrator directly at http://www.freedomchambers.com/contactus
How long or short should my written contributions be?
At this time we don't have a limit on the length of written contributions. The longer the contribution the more it should be coherent, snappy and grasp attention. Who likes to read a long boring article?
We discourage short and very short comments and contributions. Short would be less than 50 words and very short would be say about 20 words.
However in the Forum Section we are happy to entertain short comments under 50 words.
Why do you discourage short contributions?
The site is interactive but it is not designed to be a messageboard. The Forum Section operates like a messageboard.
We wish to attract regular contributors who want to make a real difference. Numerous short messages make it difficult to extract real meaning. It is actually beneficial for people to read something of one or two hundred words and go think about it, than to read the same amount and come away with very little to think about. So, in essence we're aiming for quality not numbers of posts.
Do we have to stick to a topic line?
Yes and no. All contributions should bear some relevance to the main topic line. We encourage lateral thinking.
We do not want contributors to runaway with hurling comments at each other and become disconnected from the main topic line.
Is my comment or contribution copyrighted?
Yes. You are the holder of the copyright and by posting here at the site you grant an irrevocable licence for us to display the content indefinitely. But you will be within your rights to use the content you have submitted elsewhere as you please.
Why might I want to contact the site administrator directly?
May be you have a burning question to ask about something that is not addressed or currently available at the site.
The site administrator is contactable on: siteadmin at anandramlogan dot com (write this in the usual way with the @ sign, no spaces etc).
Making a post is just like email. So, instead of posting to one person you are just posting to a website. It is actually easier than sending an email. You don't need to remember an email address - that's the first thing. Also you don't need to be technologically minded to make a post.
Right - making a post is done in a few basic steps:
That's it.
A few finer points for those who want their posts to have greater impact - using the sites word processor:
It's a good idea to note where you place your comment. In order to keep some proper sequence reply to the main comment, not trailing comments e.g. if you see the following headings in a comment sequence:
- Good cars
----Good cars- no way
----Good cars - my way
If you want your comment to follow from 'Good cars' click 'reply' under the 'Good cars' comment. Your comment will come in below and in order like:
- Good cars
----Good cars - no way
----Good cars - my way
----Good cars - my views
If you clicked 'reply' on 'Good cars - no way' this is how your comment would come in:
- Good cars
----Good cars - no way
---Good cars - my views
----Good cars - my way
People who post opinions here at this site are individually legally responsible for the appropriateness and lawfulness of what they say.
The site and its administrators will overview content and modify content where appropriate. However, the prime responsibility for those who have posting privileges rests with the individual.
The reason for the above is that individuals are using a medium that transmits opinions and other content which they know will be viewed widely. It is unreasonable to expect that site administrators can take responsibility for hundreds of comments that may be posted and to examine and judge each one. That would defeat the purpose of this site.
We expect all who post at the site to act responsibly and not assume that the site or its administrators will act as restraints on what they say in the public domain.
Breaches of copyright are not tolerated. This site is not in a postion to educate supporters on the legalities of copyright law.
Anonymous posts are not allowed - except by special arrangement or need.
The site administrators will responded promptly on any post that comes to their attention as being potentially unlawful or injurious, or places an individual or a class of individuals at some serious risk. UK law and principles of accountability apply in the first instance. However, principles of justice in other systems may be applied, to match the area of origins of any suspect posting.
It is the responsibility of those who post at the site to ensure that they check that the content of their posts breach no law, whilst being mindful that ignorance of the law is no excuse.
How come I signed up but I can’t login?
This is usually due to a failure to validate your account. When you sign up, create your password and submit your details, the site will send you an email within a few seconds. That email contains your username and password.
Occasionally a spam filter in your email may weed out the validation email. So it is important to check your spam filtered cache.
The password the site sent me is too hard to remember. Can I get an easier password?
Sure. When you login to the site, look down the left column for ‘My account’. Click on that, then the ‘Edit’ tab. From there it is easy to change your password. Don’t make it too easy so a hacker can guess it.
I’ve forgotten my password. What do I do next?
Use the ‘Request new password’ link near the login portal of the site.
We use Anand's commentaries and those of some of our supporters to stimulate thinking and debate.
Is this a Yahoo groups thing?
No. This is not a Yahoo groups thing. We are talking real debate.
What does real debate mean?
Well, it means we dig deep into the issues. Expressions of opinion may be challenged by other supporters. We think that this is a good way to find diversity and uniqueness of opinon. We expect supporters to really provide some solid reasoning behind their views. Opinions should rest on consistency, coherence and a degree of empirical adequacy.
By the way, is this site affiliated to a political party?
No chance. This site is independently funded on pure generosity. We don't collect money from anyone to keep this site going. We don't seek or expect money or favour. There are no strings attached to us and we don't pull strings. We have no political affiliations whatsoever.
Yeah but some people sound pro-UNC or pro-PNM?
The site accommodates the expression of political opinions.
Can we copy content from other sites?
We would not want supporters to copy content wholesale from another site and ask our supporters to start debating it. The reason for this is that the site is centred around Anand Ramlogan's commentaries. His views take centre stage if you like. There may be a few exceptions to this general advice if a reasonable proposal is put to the site administrator.