Support for You
If you need help regarding something about a Beaten Path, this is the place to be.
- Navigating the Site
- Writing a Review
- What about Moderation?
To get around this website, the right hand navigation bar is the way to go. The section titled 'View' will get you to the reviews, Countries will bring up a list of all the countries in the world, (the numbers next to the names indicate the number of reviews we have for that country), United States will show all states and territories in the US, Outdoor Areas is a special category that will show you all the reviews we have for places that don't fit into a city. They can be from any country, but they'll always be the same sorts of places, parks, wildlife preserves, etc. 'Contribute' will set you on the path to writing your own reviews, and 'Community' is a collection of links for use of the website, looking for other members, changing things about your own account, and the overall statistics for the site.
Writing a review is a pretty straightforward process, first, click on the 'Submit a Review' link under Contribute in the navigation bar on the right. Your first step in writing the review will be entering the name of the place you wish to review, you can change it later if you find out you mispelled it or some such. Click the submit button. The next step is figuring out Where the place is. Enter the name of the Country, OR, if it's in the United States, the name of the state. The third step is to select the city, OR, if it's a type of place that doesn't fit into a city, select 'Outdoor Area', this indicates that it's a place like Yellowstone, which exists outside of a city. The last step is to fill out the review. Certain pieces of information aren't required, the address, phone number, or website. The rest is, but don't worry, we won't let you submit an incomplete review. Since this is a very subjective thing, the price, trendiness, and overall rating should reflect how you feel about it. If you think it's expensive, put it down as expensive. If you change your mind, you can submit a change to the review later.
You can add links to a review or comment by using [url]the_address[/url]. This will be replaced with a link (that opens in a new window) to the_address. You can link another review on the site by using [rid]Number[/rid], where Number is the ID of a review. You can find this ID by visiting the review's page, where a link is generated for you, or you can look in the URL bar and see the ID up there.
Moderation is done by request (we'll always be patrolling the reviews and such, but we can't expect to find everything). If you see a review, blurb, city, or comment that you feel is inappropriate, or just crap clogging up the database, click the little trashcan next to the name, this is the button to request a deletion. Fill out the form, send it in, and we will take care of it. If you see a review or a blurb that is incomplete, click the clipboard and you'll be able to submit a change. Changes should be made instantly, however the original review or blurb will be saved, and if the new one isn't acceptable, the original will be reinstated.
Support for Us
If you want to help us, this is how. And there's really only a couple of ways.
- Submitting a Review
- Linking to Us
The biggest thing you can do to help, is to write reviews. We're trying to create a site that is 100% user content driven, we don't want to sell review space, or get paid to write good reviews, we want the good, the bad and the just plain horrible. If you think you've been somewhere people should know about, write a review. And even if you don't think people should know about it, write one anyway, just to spite them.
I'm of the opinion that everything internet revolves around Google. One of the best ways to get your name or your site out there is to get a high rank in google searches. But that doesn't happen unless people link to you, and that's where you come in. If you've got a site, or a blog, give us a link. We'd appreciate the good word, or bad one, be honest.