How do I post to the blog on NextBillion?
What are the criteria you use to decide the relevance of information on the site?
Why can't I post a blog directly?
How long will it take for my suggested post to be published online?
What is the difference between a "post" and a "comment"?
How do I "comment" on another user's post?
What happened to my comment?
Can I delete a post?
Can I delete my comments?

How do I find an old post/comment?
How do I search the activity database?
How do I search the news archive?
How I search for events?

What does "RSS" mean?
What is a Blogroll?
I'm having trouble downloading a file...
Can I post an event?
Can I post a news item?
Where can I make suggestions about the site?
If I have a specific question about something on the site, e.g. a specific activity, whom do I speak to?
Which countries are included in each of the regions identified in the Newsroom?

What is a blog?
Short for "Web log," a blog is a chronological posting of events that occur in people’s lives or in the world at large, often along with personal opinion/commentary. Blogs often provide commentary or news on a particular subject, such as politics, local news. Nextbillion.net’s blog offers news and ideas about development strategies that incorporate the private sector as a poverty-reduction tool. NextBillion.net also encourages its members to post their thoughts about such occurrences and proposals by commenting on blog topics and suggesting stories.

Why do we have a blog?
Blogs allow a person/organization to reveal, express and communicate their thoughts, beliefs, and opinions on a subject. In addition, they get people involved in issues and often get them to debate on them. Blogs provide a forum to hear and be heard, to read and be read. NextBillion.net allows us to communicate with each other, share ideas and information, and discuss events in the world at large relevant to our interests.

Will my blogs appear in internet searches?
Yes, the blogs are treated as regular web pages, and are automatically indexed to search engines.

What does the "+" sign mean at the end of each blog post?
The "+" sign enables you to bookmark a blog post using del.icio.us, technorati or digg.

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What happened to the Member functionality on the site?
We have decided to open up the entire site to everyone, so no member login/password is necessary to post or comment.

What happened to my member profile?
In the most recent upgrade of the NextBillion site, we have discontinued the member profile functionality. For more details on this transition, see NextBillion 2.0 - Improving Our Community. If you want other users to be able to view your profile, you can link to your personal bio page when you post a comment or suggest content so that other readers can find and contact you .

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Can I privately e-mail other users?
If you would like to contact a particular staff writer, please e-mail info@nextbillion.net with the author's name included in the subject line, and the moderators will forward appropriately. Disclaimer: due to time constraints, we cannot guarantee that all e-mails to NextBillion staff writers will be returned.

How do I read a particular user's posts?
On the top of each post you will see the author's name; you can click on it and you will be able to see the user's profile. When in the profile, click on "see my latest posts," and all the user's previous posts will be listed.

How do I subscribe/unsubscribe to the newsletter?
On any page on the site, in the righthand toolbar under NextBillion News, you can enter your email address to begin receiving the NextBillion.net newsletter. If you are already a subscriber and wish to unsubscribe to the newsletter, enter the email address you subscribed under, select the Unsubscribe option and click Submit. You can also see an archive of NextBillion newsletter on our site at http://www.nextbillion.net/newsletter.

How do I submit an activity/share a story?
If you have a story, business model, activity, news item or blog topic you want to share with the NextBillion.net community, you can submit the content to us via our Suggest a Story submission form. We will look over your suggestion and decide whether it will fit with the scope of our site. To help us, before you decide to submit to Nextbillion.net, please familiarize yourself with the nature of our site. http://www.nextbillion.net/about

If the content you wish to submit fits our guidelines, use the submission form to send us your recommendation. Be sure to tell us why you think this is something we should check out. The mail form will strip out HTML, so be sure to give the URL for the links directly. You can also suggest which category you are submitting under…blog topic, activity, event, etc.

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How do I post to the blog on Next Billion?
As a public user, you can use the "Suggest a Story" online form to submit an idea for a blog post to NextBillion. If we approve the topic, one of the NextBillion bloggers will edit and format your suggestion and post it to the blog area of the site. From here, you and other users will be able to comment to the post. In addition, we encourage you to comment to other blog posts as well.

To submit an idea for a blog post, click on the "Suggest a Story" link in the right-hand toolbar underneath the "Welcome" header or go to http://www.nextbillion.net/suggest. If we write something up based on your suggestion, we will give you credit, so even though the First Name/Last Name fields are not required, please tell us your full name and the URL of your website. You must enter you Email Address, but your email will be kept private and will not be shown publicly. Enter a "Subject" and your content into the "Message" section then click on the "Submit" button at the bottom of the page.

What are the criteria you use to decide the relevance of information on the site?
See www.nextbillion.net/about to get a better understanding of our content scope.

Why can’t I post a blog directly?
NextBillion wants to ensure that all the resources and information on the site are consistent and relevant with our mission, and to maintain the integrity of our site as a strong resource for NextBillion community.

How long will it take for my suggested post to be published online?
We will try and read, approve and post suggestions as soon as possible, but depending on how many suggestions we get, you may not see your post for a few days.

What is the difference between a "post" and a "comment"?
A "post" discusses a new topic chosen by whoever submitted the post. A "comment" directly responds to another member(s)’s previous post.

How do I "comment" on another user's post?
Click on the post on which you would like to comment. At the bottom of the post, click on "add new comment." You do not have to associate your name with the comment. The Your Name field that appears will automatically be populated with "Anonymous." The E-mail field is required, but the content of this field is kept private and will not be shown publicly; it is just for verification purposes. You can then enter your comment. We suggest you give your comment a title and provide a URL back to your own web site, weblog, or profile so that readers better understand who you are. Once you’ve written your comment, you must first preview your comment by clicking on the white "Preview comment" button at the bottom of the page. To submit the comment, click on the white "Post comment" button next to the Preview comment button.

What happened to my comment?
To avoid spam, comments go through a moderation queue. When you write a comment you have to click on "preview comment" and then submit. Once submitted it stays on the moderation queue until the moderator publishes it.

Can I delete a post?
Public users do not have access to delete existing posts.

Can I delete my comments?
Once you have posted the comment, it cannot be deleted.

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How do I find an old post/comment?
You can find older blog posts by searching the Archives. In the right-hand side of the home page, scroll down to the "Browse Archives" section and select the month you would like to begin your search in. From there, you can access all posts via Year, Month and Day.

You can also use the NextBillion search tool at http://www.nextbillion.net/search/node where you can use a general keyword search or the Advanced search option.

A third way to search is in the same right-hand column within Blog Topics. This will give you all the blog posts within a specific topic.

How do I search the activity database?
You can search the activity database at http://www.nextbillion.net/search/node where you can use the general keyword search or a more advanced search. If you want to search specifically in the NextBillion activity database, enter your search terms and check the box next to "Activity Capsule" and then click on "Advanced Search." The activity search function can also be accessed by clicking on the Activity Database tab at the top of the screen and then "Search for activities."

How do I search the news archive?
You can access the news archive at http://www.nextbillion.net/newsroom and then click on "News Archive" in the right-hand tool bar. Once you get to the news search results page, you can sort by Title, Date Published or Original Source. The News section can also be accessed by clicking on the "Latest News" heading in the right-hand toolbar.

How do I search for events?
The event section is set up chronologically; you can search for events by date. If you wish to see past events, you can click on the link on the left at the bottom of the events page. The archive goes back to 2005.

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What does "RSS" mean?
"RDF Site Summary" or "Really Simple Syndication." It allows you to consolidate several news sources into one place, using a web service like http://www.bloglines.com/, instead of having to check several different websites for news. Go to the RSS section of the website to find instructions for downloading an RSS feed on your computer.

What is a Blogroll?
A blogroll is a collection of links to other weblogs. When you enter into a specific blog topic, the right-hand column will show a section for Blogrolls with a list of links to other blogs that discuss similar topics.

I'm having trouble downloading a file...
If you are having trouble accessing or downloading a file, feel free to contact us and we will try our best to help you. http://www.nextbillion.net/contact

Can I post an event?
You cannot post events directly to the site, but you can use our "Suggest a story" form to send us information about events.

Can I post a news item?
You cannot post news items directly to the site, but you can use our "Suggest a story" form to send us news items that we can check out, approve and post to the site.

Which countries are included in each of the regions identified in the Newsroom?

The Newsroom allows you to filter stories by six distinct regions, as identified on the map below. To view a complete list of countries included in each region, click here.