Guide to Authoring

The easiest and perhaps one of the most constructive ways to become an "author" is to add a comment to an article. Generally speaking, an article is the content type that is most carefully prepared and researched of all the material on the site. Articles are often intended to be reference works or surveys and hence not really expected to be conversation starters. However, there are a number of situations where comments can be invaluable to the author, and to the community at large:

1. The author has done an exceptional job of explaining exactly the concepts you were interesting in understanding. You might give positive comments to encourage the author and other potential authors to address similar topics.
2. The article mentions, but does not really explain, some topic that you are really interested in. Perhaps the author can be encouraged to elaborate.
3. You are knowledgeable of the article's topic and have some information that might enhance, clarify, or correct the article.

Now that you are a logged-in member, it is easy to comment. Just click the "add comment" button at the bottom of the article. You will be given a form which you can use to add your comment. These comments are just plain text, and should be fairly short and to the point. Comments are not moderated or reviewed, but published immediately. Site management can clean up mistaken or inappropriate comments.

Before posting a comment, stop to think whether the comment, particularly if it is a question, is of interest to the community at large. If not, maybe it would be better simply to send a private message to the author. For example, instead of posting "Can you come to our monthly meeting to speak on this topic?", it would be far better to click on the author byline and send the author this question which is mostly of interest to you.