Using American Reality Today

Accounts & roles

You can browse most of the site without an account. Creating one unlocks comments, flags, and—if you choose contributor—content submission.

• Visitor account — Use Register and choose Visitor. After you verify your email, you can comment and flag articles. You can upgrade to Contributor later from your profile.
• Contributor account — On the same Register form, choose Contributor and provide a username plus city and state. After email verification, you can submit content; submissions are reviewed before they go live.

Check your inbox for a verification link after registering. Until your email is verified, you will not be able to comment, flag, or submit. Already have an account? Log in.

What you can read

Published public content appears in these sections:

• Letters to the Editor — first-person accounts from communities
• Op-Eds — longer opinion and analysis
• Scenes — photos with captions
• Video Submissions — YouTube-linked testimony and footage
• Resources — curated external links and references

Only items marked published and public are shown to visitors. Draft, pending, and private items stay out of public listings until an editor changes that.

Submitting content

Approved contributors (and staff) can open Submit from the site header after logging in.

1. Choose a format (Letter, Scene, Video, Op-Ed, or Resource).
2. Fill in the form. Submissions are saved as Pending Review.
3. While an item is still draft or pending, you can edit it from Your recent submissions on the Submit page.
4. An editor reviews the piece. When it is published, it appears on the public site and in related feeds.

Administrators and content administrators can also add or edit content directly in the admin panel without using the public submit forms. They set status (draft, pending, published, or private) and visibility when publishing.

Published items are no longer editable from the public Submit area—ask an editor if a correction is needed.

Comments

On article pages, verified account holders can leave a comment. New comments start as pending and are not shown publicly until an administrator or content administrator approves them.

• You can see your own pending or flagged comments while they await review.
• Everyone else only sees approved comments.
• Staff may approve, reject, or flag comments in the moderation tools.

Guests and unverified users are prompted to log in or verify email before commenting.

Topic of the Week

Editors post one current question on the homepage. It stays open for days or weeks. Verified account holders can respond from the topic page.

• New responses start as pending and appear publicly only after staff approve them.
• You can see your own pending response while it awaits review.
• When a question closes or is archived, it remains readable with its published responses.

Browse the current question and past topics on Topic of the Week.

Flagging articles

If you believe an article has a serious problem, verified users can file a flag from the article page. Choose a reason (legal concern, terms of service, privacy, or other) and optionally add details.

• You may flag each article only once.
• Flags go into a staff moderation queue. They do not automatically hide an article by themselves.
• If many different users flag the same piece, the site can temporarily take it offline for review (default threshold: 5 unique flaggers; staff can adjust this in admin settings).

Editors may dismiss a flag, mark it reviewed, or take action and leave internal notes.

Copyright owners who believe material on the site infringes their rights should use the DMCA claim form, not the general flagging tool.

Thumbs up / down

Article pages include a simple rating control. Anyone—including guests—can cast one thumbs-up or thumbs-down per article.

• Signed-in users are limited to one vote per account.
• Guests are limited to one vote per browser (via a small site cookie used only for voting).
• Once cast, a vote cannot be changed from the public site.

How staff review work

Human administrators and content administrators use a private admin area to review the community queue:

• Content — publish, edit, or set private any letter, scene, video, op-ed, or resource
• Comments — approve, reject, or flag reader comments
• Topics of the Week — post a question, then approve or reject reader responses
• Content flags — review article reports and decide what action to take
• Moderation Report — overview of pending comments and flags
• Feedback — read visitor feedback about the site itself

Contributor admins may help manage content for contributors assigned to them. Ordinary contributors and readers do not access the admin panel.

Site feedback

To share thoughts about the website (usability, bugs, ideas, or general notes), use the Feedback form. Guests must provide an email address; signed-in users can use their account email. You will see a thank-you page after sending.

AI & human stewardship

Much of this website’s software was built with assistance from AI coding tools. That helps us move faster on design, forms, moderation tools, and site features.

Editorial judgment remains human. People review submissions, comments, and flags; decide what is published; and administer the community. Technology supports the work—it does not replace the editors and administrators who stand behind American Reality Today.