Let me introduce myself since this is my first post. My name is Craig Brewer and I’m the developer behind TheSmartVoter™. If you've already joined the site, you may have noticed that I was added to your "network". My username on here is PoliticalNovice. I chose that name for a specific reason. I want to make sure that everyone knows I’m not a political expert. As a matter of fact, I’m not even a real web developer. I started this website as a hobby and I’ve been learning as I go. The main purpose of this site is not to get you to vote like me. It’s to make it easier for voters to have access to all viewpoints so they can think for themselves.
I hope the site speaks for itself but I want everyone to know that my political beliefs do not drive the content on this site. Other than providing publicly available government data, my goal is for you to determine the content of the site. I think it’s important to give equal access to all viewpoints then let the voters decide what’s important to them.
Throughout the site, you’ll find all kinds of ways TheSmartVoter™ makes it easier to get educated. I have many ideas to improve or expand these features but I've already added some tools that allow voters to take action and really engage in the political process. One of those features is the blogging platform.
I understand that you can create your own political blog anywhere so why create one here? First off, it’s extremely easy. Just create an account, log in and start posting. Another great reason is exposure. TheSmartVoter™ makes it easier for users to find what they’re looking for so make sure you’re included in those results. Maybe you already have a political blog. Post here too and drive traffic to your site.
This post marks the launch of the platform so, as of this writing, I still have a lot of features to be added. However, there’s already a lot of great functionality built in. First off, it’s easy for bloggers to create, publish/unpublish, edit or even delete their articles. There’s also some great functionality for searching by geographical focus, subject matter, favorite bloggers and more. In addition to this, the most recent, the highest rated and the most viewed content get additional exposure. Finally, bloggers have a unique URL that can be promoted in other places. For example, my blog URL would be: http://www.thesmartvoter.com/blogs/PoliticalNovice
I plan on adding more features that will provide bloggers with even more customization options. I also feel it’s important for popular bloggers to be rewarded for their contributions so I’ll be looking at ways to make sure that happens. I’m very open to suggestions on how I can improve not only the blogging platform but any area of the site. Feel free to contact me with any suggestions, comments or complaints. Just please keep in mind what I mentioned earlier. I started this with absolutely no prior web design experience and I’m the only one building it so please have a little understanding if everything isn’t perfect at this point. I do, however, have a much larger vision for this site so your feedback is extremely appreciated as TheSmartVoter™ continues to expand.
One last thing while I’m on my soapbox. You’ll see this statement in several areas throughout the site but I think it’s worth saying here, too: We’re all adults so please act like it. I understand that politics can really strike a nerve due to the seriousness of the topics at hand and/or how it affects us in our daily lives. That’s the way it should be really. However, I believe we can have civil debates, even heated debates sometimes, while still showing each other some respect.
With that being said, I can’t eliminate stupidity on this site and I’m not going to waste my time trying. I also will not censor someone’s viewpoints if they seem extreme or even borderline offensive. However, I absolutely won't tolerate hateful, obscene, abusive, illegal or any other type of appalling behavior on TheSmartVoter™. This is a family friendly site and young people use it for educational purposes. I’ve already implemented some features throughout the site for users to report bad behavior and those systems will be expanded as time goes on. With these systems in place, I also expect everyone to be adults and not report every little thing just because you don’t agree with it. I can’t really define what should be reported. I guess it’s one of those things that you’ll know it when you see it.
Now that I got all the serious stuff out of the way, let’s have some fun. I’ve already added a few little things to make the site a little more fun and I’ll be adding many more as time goes on. In the meantime, really check everything out. There’s a lot of cool stuff you may find by just clicking around and seeing where it takes you.
Finally, if you like what I’ve built so far and share the vision of what I’m trying to do, please help me spread the word. The hardest part of building this site is growing site awareness. Any help you can provide would be greatly appreciated!
Get educated. Get involved. Think for yourself!
