FAQ

Q : What is Israelated ?

A : Israelated is a community for independent English Israeli related blogging. Israelated provides Israelated bloggers a platform to share links to their blogs' posts and to provide people interested in Israelated matters a community to find and discuss Israelated blogging information.

Q : How does Israelated work?

A: Israelated provides a steady stream of news by English-language bloggers who write about Israelated issues or by English-language Israeli bloggers. Readers are able to skim the headlines of all the major local blogs, and bloggers should enjoy a wider audience and at least a modest increase in their site's traffic.

Only registered users may submit blogs to Israelated. Please limit submissions to blogs that are primarily related to Israel, Israeli culture, Israeli life or Israelis.

This site only provides links to other blog sites provided by registered users. We do not take any responsibility for the content displayed on the site in any way. In order to protect bloggers copyrights on their information we encourage users to post summary blog-feeds only and we ask that users make sure the URL they submit is indeed their own blog's feed (RSS or ATOM). Blog feeds will be removed from Israelated at the request of their owners if submitted by other users.

Q : Something's wrong. I'm not sure how to add a new blog.

A : OK, let's take it step by step :

1. Are you able to register your username on http://www.israelated.com/user/register ?
2. Did you get the notification email with your username and password?
3. Were you able to login with the username and password?
4. Were you able to add your blog on "Add a new feed" http://www.israelated.com/node/add/aggregator2_feed ?

If you've done all those successfully, then everything should be okay. Just wait till I approve that your site isn't spam and your blog will be updated.

Q : What happens when I add a feed to the list ?

A : The feed that you provide will be automatically indexed by the site and refreshed upon a set time interval (usually every hour). It will then be accessible for visitors to browse through the browse menu on the left side bar. After confirming that the feed provided by the user is indeed Israelated, three of the latest posts will be promoted to show up on the front page among the other blog feeds. This ensures that blogs showing up on the front page are Israelated and that no matter how many posts a blog has and how often it posts, it will share its latest material equally with all the other sites.

Q : Why do Israelated ?

A : Israelated was built based on the basic need for profound change in the way Israelated information is shared on the net. Current projects in Israel are lacking in many respects and Israelated targets to extend their abilities to create a real community.

Q : But there's Webster, do we really need Israelated?

A : As of the day Israelated was created, there was only one major site aggregating blogging content related to Israel - Webster. We like Webster in that it made the first step towards bridging between Israelated blogs across the web. But, the way Webster way created, based on Gregarius, was that a new blog that wants to join the community has to email one author - Hanan Cohen - who moderates the blogs that join the list. Once the blog joins, the only thing that happens is that the RSS items of that blog show up with no way to rate or respond to a blog post. Hence, it's not really a community, but more like a personal aggregator extended towards communal needs. Israelated aims to make the next step - it allows users to add and maintain their blog feeds to what ever content on their blog they see fit, it allows rating, commenting and discussing feeds and feed items so that quality will stand out so that information will be directed both way - to and from the readers.

In a recent development Hanan Cohen called for new Webster alternatives, freezing Webster to not allow any new blogs to join. In an NRG interview HC says that Webster is a burden and that it's time for the Israeli community to move forward. Israelated will try to do just that.

Q : But there are so many alternatives for tagging Israeli information, like Shave Kriaa (worth reading in Hebrew), why need Israelated?

A : All Digg/pligg based/cloned websites require that information be tagged, usually referring to one post or one news item. We want to make that process automatic, so that information is provided all the time with the ability to respond to that information. We like Digg, but we think tagging and rating automatic communal aggregator gives a true value alternative solution for the Israeli community.

Q : But, but, still... why is this better than Technorati with the Israel tag or the Israel forum Jewish blogs list?

A : We don't know about better, but there are differences between the platforms and therefore advantages and disadvantages to each platform, depending on the reading preferences.

When comparing to Technorati - in Technorati there's no real sense of community, every blog that writes about Israel gets tagged, even if the blog is totally unrelated and there's no room for discussion and rating. Technorati is just, well, massive.

As for the Jblog Israel Forum, we think it's going the right way, yet we do things a bit different. First, we offer RSS feeds for just about everything on the website, including feeds on tags, blogs, comment etc, making the site more social-web oriented.

Further, we aim at giving all blogs equal oppurtunity so that all blogs get the same representation on the front page. We do try and promote quality and for that we show the highest rated posts and blogs on the sidebar. We just have a different focus/method for looking at and sorting out the data.

Q : But if anybody can add any feed, then the site can be completely spammed and destroyed.

A : We are strong believers in the overall good spirit of man kind and we believe that in communities, with obvious examples like Wikipedia, giving users power brings back more power to the community. However, this community does have some restrictions and moderation capabilities and those will be exercised when needed. Moreover, the ability of this community to rate and comment on its own material is what will distinct the valuable material from the worthless one.

Q : This is cool, can we help ?

A : That's what a real community is all about - sharing and helping each other.The most basic contribution members can give to the Israelated community is to follow the feeds and posts, rate the ones they like, comment and discuss things in the forums. Since Israelated is still in its first stage it will be highly appreciated if you help and spread the word about Israelated around the Blogsphere. If you're a graphics designer, then you might have noticed that's not our strongest point - we could use help with graphics - banners, icons, design tips etc. Finally, in a later stage, if and when the community grows, we'll need some moderators, and we'll post a notification about that when it becomes relevant.