Frequently Asked Questions

  1. Survcast.com
    Is a place where community members discover and share content from sources all over the web. You can share news, blog posts, videos, newsletters, and images. Then you create your own Surv™ in relation to the content for other users to respond to. A "Surv™" is a user generated news survey. The patent pending process represents an effective way for you to source public opinion on a large scale regarding any conceivable subject. We care about your opinion, but not your identity. For this reason SurvCast.com does not ask for personal information. To learn more see our Privacy Statement.
  2. How do I find interesting stuff?
    Survcast.com content is organized into categories based on familiar topics. On our home page you will find a list of the most popular published content. From there you can conduct a search, and review our Top ten and Upcoming stories lists. You can click on the primary topic categories such as Consumer, and drill down into Consumer Affairs, you can also review both Open polls and Past polls sections, which feature stories with surveys deemed most popular by our community.
  3. What kind of stories can I submit?
    You can submit any story on any topic of interest ranging from entertainment such as celebrity buzz, to consumer affairs issues such as complaints about products or services, or you would like to know what others think about public statements made by politicians, or perhaps you want to find out how many people have had similar medical symptoms. Survcast.com is all about community members supporting each other. What you can’t submit is pornographic or offensive content. Submission of such content may result in immediate account suspension.
  4. Does each story require a survey?
    Yes, each story (URL) submitted to Survcast.com requires the user to fill out and submit at least one, or up to five survey question(s) with answer choices in a multiplechoice format. It’s easy, just look for the ‘Submit new story’ button located at the top of each page.
  5. What are the differences between Survs™ (user surveys) and polls?
    A "Survs™" is a user created news survey, which is promoted by users using Survcast.com share features and remains available for the Survcast.com community to view and take for at least 90 days. Survcast.com facilitates sharing with all leading social networking sites including Facebook and Twitter. An Open Poll consists of Survs™ that were on the Daily Top Ten list at the time when Polls opened. The Survcast.com system promotes polled Survs™ to our entire community at weekly intervals beginning each Friday at 12:00 pm. When polls open users are notified by email. Users are then invited to respond to the Open Poll Survs™ for that week. This process invites large groups of users (the majority) to weigh in on the most popular subjects, and makes it difficult for smaller groups of users (the minority) to sway public opinion. This process also increases exposure of the source content and related Surv™. The more users take a Surv™ the more popular it becomes and the more likely that it will qualify for an Open Poll.
  6. How do I take a survey and what does Surv it™, and mine mean?
    Taking a survey is easy just click the “Surv it™” button associated with our Survs™ icon as shown on the left side of every story, or click the Title of the story above the description of each story. This will take you to the Surv™ (survey) details page. Once you have taken and submitted a survey the number in our Survs™ icon will increase by one, the Surv it™ status will change to Surved™, and the background color will change from white to blue. When you see “Mine” indicated below the Survs™ icon this means you entered this content. If you have not taken your own survey you will see a white background behind Mine, and if you have taken your own survey the background color will be blue.
  7. How do I find the source story?
    While viewing a list of Survs™, or the Surv™ (survey) details page just look for and click the button/link that says "Read full story." This will take you to the website where the story originated from and will display the entire story for your review.
  8. How do I submit a story to Survcast.com?
    It’s easy! Login then click on the "Submit new story” button located at the top of each page. You can also follow detailed instructions by clicking “Help” in the "Submit Story Key Points" section. To submit copy the link (URL) of the news story, or video, or image that you would like to submit to Survcast.com. Paste that link in the URL box on step one. Make sure there are now extra spaces added to the end of your URL, or it will not submit. Click your tab button, or select the title entry box. After doing so if the title to the story associated with link does no appear automatically within a few seconds check for errors. If no error messages appear you can add your own title. You can also edit the title as you wish once it appears. Once your title is ready click your tab button again, or select the description entry box. Copy and past a section of a referred story, or write your own description. Then confirm that the description and title are formatted correctly. You must check the description verification box. Next you can add your tags if you wish, then choose your media type, topic category, and click the "next" button. We are working on an auto population feature for story title and description. It should be available soon!
  9. How do posts qualify for the Daily Top Ten stories list and polling?
    The “Daily Top Ten” stories list can be viewed by clicking the related button on the top of each page. Survcast.com compiles this list based on an algorithm that accounts for certain factors including time, and number of surveys taken e.g. Survs™. The goal is that stories that take longer to develop popularity have a chance to appear on this list along with hot stories that emerge quickly. The “Daily Top Ten” stories list is compiled daily by Survcast.com, and functions as a staging area for polling. Survs™ on this list when polls open at 12:00 noon each Friday will be polled.
  10. Can any Surv™ graduate to the Poll process?
    Yes, all Survs™ can qualify for Open Polls assuming they receive enough attention. Our Open Poll process is patent pending.
  11. Can Survs™ qualify for the Open Poll repeatedly?
    Yes, all Survs™ can qualify for Open Polls repeatedly assuming they receive enough attention. However, Survs™ that participate are excluded from Open Poll qualification for one week after they exit polls. After the one week exclusion period the Surv™ can qualify for Open Polls again assuming that it receives enough attention.
  12. How do I report bugs, problems with the site, or abuse?
    If you encounter a problem with Survcast.com functionality e.g. bug, or abusive behavior please locate our Contact us link at the bottom of any Survcast.com page, and send us a message related to the issue. We value your input!
  13. What personal data is used by Survcast.com?
    Currently, only a user’s profile name and profile image are shared. Members can choose to use their real names by entering them as their Survcast.com username, but we suggest that members use pseudonyms so that they can feel as comfortable as possible when it comes to expressing their opinions. Survcast.com requests your age for reasons covered in our Terms of use. We also request your ZIP code so that we can provide localized content.
  14. How can I change my username?
    At this time we don’t allow Survcast.com members to change their username. Can I have more than one account on Survcast.com? Our policy is that each member has only one account. This is to help prevent users from trying to artificially skew Survey results. Having two accounts is against our Terms of use.
  15. What do I do if I get an invalid account message when I login?
    Please notify Survcast Support using the ‘contact us’ feature located at the bottom of any page, then submit your request.
  16. How do I close my Survcast.com account?
    Contact us and request that we close your account and be sure to put the email address associated with your account in your message. This is how we will verify your account. Note: closure of an account does not remove the existing submissions and comments. For further information please refer to our Terms of use, or the Creative Common disclosure available at Creative Commons.
  17. Can I choose how Survcast.com polls notify me?
    Yes, just logon to your account and click your profile name or the Profile link then select the link next to notifications that says "view and change email alerts." If you experience any issues with setting notification preferences please contact us
  18. How do I change the preferences associated with my account?
    Logon to your account and click your profile name or the Profile link. Then select the 'change' link next to you’re preferences that you wish to change. From this page you can change your email address, address associated with your account.
  19. Can I submit duplicate stories (URLs)?
    No, our system automatically checks and rejects duplicate URLs. Similar stories from different sources may be submitted. In these cases our user community will decide which content offers the most compelling perspective. Users that consistently submit similar stories might be banned by Survcast.com, for further information refer to our Terms of use.
  20. Can I submit content that does not fall within an existing Survcast.comcategory?
    No, if you can’t find a relevant category that relates to the topic of your story then please do not submit the story.
  21. How do I edit content that I have submitted?
    At this time we do not support edits after you have posted content. Please review your posts prior to submission.
  22. Can I submit pornography?
    No, any submission of pornographic related content will result in an immediate ban by Survcast.com. Your account may also be deleted. A good rule of thumb is that if there is nudity in images or explicit language in the posted content then it will likely result in a ban.
  23. How can I delete content that has been submitted?
    Content submitted to Survcast.com is dedicated to the public domain under the Creative Commons Zero Public Domain Dedication, available at http:// creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/ Survcast.com reserves the right to remove content, which is in violation of our Terms of use.
  24. How is content published on Survcast.com? Why doesn’t my content get published?
    Stories and their related surveys are published based on Survs a.k.a. surveys taken, and a sophisticated algorithm developed by Survcast.com that accounts for factors such as number of comments, freshness, number of views, and user score, etc. The more the content has these associated values, among others, the more likely that it will be published. Once content is published the top stories and their related surveys move from the Upcoming stories section. They are published and listed on the Survcast.com front page, and on the category pages related to the topics relevant to the content. The publishing process runs at least once daily depending upon the number of submissions in the Upcoming story queue.
  25. What does the Survs™ count indicate?
    Surv™ count indicates how many members have taken a survey for a given story. This number is indicated in the "Survs" icon as shown on the left side of every story.
  26. Why do some stories with lower Survs outrank stories with higher Survs?
    The Survcast.com popularity algorithm measures several factors when determining popularity in addition to the Survs count. For example, a story with a low Survs count outranking a story with a high Survs count can occur when a story has been viewed by a large number of users that did not take the survey.
  27. Can I edit or delete my survey answers after submission?
    No, survey answers and Survs count become permanent upon submission.
  28. Can I rate, or bury a story?
    No, Survcast.com allows every story and related survey to stand on its own. We believe that enabling users to bury content provides them with an unfair advantage. In many cases the content buried can in fact be the most interesting. All you need to do to promote content on Survcast.com is to interact with it by answering survey questions, posting comments, or just viewing content. The Survcast.com popularity algorithm takes care of the rest including improving visibility of the most popular content.
  29. Do I have to answer all survey questions in any given survey?
    No, all you need to answer is at least one question to be able to submit the survey.
  30. When do polls open and close and how do I view polls?
    Every Friday the current poll closes at 12:00, and a new poll opens at 12:00. To see how this works click Open Polls, or Past polls, or read the following description of polling.
  31. How do I set my poll notifications?
    Currently we only offer three poll related notifications (1) notify me when polls open, (2) notify me 24 hours before polls close, and (3) notify me within one hour before polls close. We request that you set these alerts up during signup. To change them simply logon to Survcast.com and click your profile name or the Profile link then select the link next to notifications that says view and change email alerts.
  32. How do I post comments?
    Click the “comments” button under the description of each story. Once you are on the details page of any story you will see three tabs labeled Survey, Comments, and promoted by. Click the comments tab. You will then be presented with features enabling you to review existing comments, and to submit your own.
  33. Can I edit, or delete comments?
    No, at this time we have not enabled this feature. Please be sure to review your post thoroughly prior to submission. Once you post your comment it is dedicated to the public domain under the Creative Commons Zero Public Domain Dedication, available at Survcast.com reserves the right to remove content, which is in violation of our Terms of use.
  34. How do I report offensive comments?
    If you encounter an offensive comment or abusive behavior please locate our Contact us link at the bottom of any Survcast.com page, and send us a message related to the issue. Please include a link to the story, the name of the user that posted the comment, and copy and paste the offensive comment. We value your input!
  35. How do I report Spam?
    When a new story is posted it appears in our upcoming stories section prior to becoming officially published. While stories are listed as upcoming simply locate the button entitled “flag as spam” under the story subscription description. By clicking this button the Survcast.com team will be notified. Another way to report spam is to locate our Contact us link at the bottom of any Survcast.com page, and send us a message related to the issue. Be sure to include a link to the post with your message. We value your input!
  36. What is user score? How does it calculate?
    User score indicates the contribution of a user to Survcast.com. Most of the activity of a Survcast.com user has an associated score that is tracked and calculated by a Survcast.com algorithm. Generally your score increases based on frequency of posts that you submit, when other users take your surveys, and when you take surveys posted by other users. Other factors include how many stories that you submit, which are published and that increase in popularity. User score decreases when story/surveys are posted that are considered by the Survcast.com community to be spam, or offensive (such as pornographic), or if a user inadvertently marks a story as spam.
  37. What are TopMovers & TopLeaders?
    TopMovers are the Survcast.com users who earned the highest score during last 24 hours. TopLeaders are the all time highest score earners.
  38. I want to put a Surv it button on my site, how do I do this?
    We are currently working on supporting numerous blog platforms, till then the easiest way to get the Surv it counter and submission widget html to add to your site is to visit our tools page accessible by clicking the “tools” button located at the bottom of any Survcast.com page. You can also Contact us for further support.
  39. What if my question is not on this list?
    Feel free to Contact us if we missed anything.
Intro Video!