The views and content on this site are solely those of the iReport.com contributors. CNN makes no guarantees about the content or the coverage on iReport.com!

About the site

What counts as "news" here?
It depends entirely on you, the iReport.com community. Please share the stories you think are newsworthy, and give high ratings to others you see on the site that you think make the cut. One of the goals of this site is to expand the current definition to news. Let's do it together. Check out community guidelines for more on this topic.

What if I see something that I don't think qualifies as news?
If you don't think something is newsworthy, you are free to offer that comment below the posting, but the flagging option is limited to material that violates community guidelines. If you think something crosses a line and violates community guidelines, please tell us by clicking on the "report violation" link. The iReport.com moderators will take a look and, if necessary, put the item behind a warning wall or take it down altogether.

What does the "beta" banner on the iReport logo mean?
It means we're testing it. We are still working hard to build the iReport site, and we're not quite finished yet. Do you see something you think could be improved? Something that's not working quite right? Please tell us about it. Your feedback will help us build a better site.

How is this site different from the iReport page on CNN.com?
The iReports you see here on iReport.com come straight from iReporters, and they appear on the site the moment they're uploaded. The iReports you see on CNN.com are selected and vetted by CNN before they are used on CNN's platforms.

What does the "On CNN" graphic mean?
Some of the iReport stories on this site have a little "On CNN" stamp in the top left corner. That means that a CNN producer has picked that iReport to use on CNN, either on TV or CNN.com. How can you get your story on CNN? Start with the list of topics in the news that CNN is covering today.

What is Newsiest?
The "newsiest" stories are sorted in lists at the top of each section on the homepage and in other places around the site. Newsiest is a formula that combines freshness, popularity, activity and ratings. The idea behind newsiest is that all the contributions the iReport.com community of users make to the site -- stories, discussions, comments, ratings, pageviews -- and what CNN producers pick for their own stories could add up to tell us something new about what it means for a story to be newsworthy.

What's a superstar iReporter?
The top members on iReport.com are called superstars. How do we decide who makes the cut? It's all in the math. The site tallies members' contributions, ratings, popularity and site activity, and gives the "superstar" badge to the members whose scores are in the top 20 percent every week. Got an idea for another way to highlight the site's top iReporters? Please share it.

If I register on iReport.com, does that mean I work for CNN?
No. Being an iReport.com user and creating and uploading content to iReport.com does not mean that you work for CNN, and you should never represent yourself as working for CNN. You can read more about this policy in the iReport.com terms of use, under section 7, "Conduct on iReport.com."

Nuts and bolts

What are tags? And why do I need them on my story?
Tags are short, descriptive words or phrases that help identify and group things together on the Web. (For example, a story about a St. Patrick's Day parade might have these tags: St. Patrick's Day, parade, float.) On iReport.com, we use tags as the main way to connect and organize the material on the site. The more tags you add, the easier it will be for others to find your work and connect it to similar pieces. Keep in mind that many of the search tools built into this site rank tags based on their order, so you should list the most important tags up front, and separate tags with spaces.

Why is my iReport not showing up on the site?
There are a few possibilities:
First, if you haven't confirmed your e-mail address, your stories won't post on the site. See this item for more detail.
Second, your story may have included attachments that were larger than 100MB. You may upload as many as 10 files at one time, so long as the total file size is less than 100MB. If you see a message on your My Stuff page that says "processing failed," try uploading the story again using a smaller file if necessary. If it still fails, please let us know.
One other possibility is that your story was taken down by a third-party moderator because it was found to be in violation of the Community Guidelines.

I see "no e-mail confirmation" on my My Stuff page. How do I confirm my e-mail?
When you registered, you should have received a confirmation e-mail from CNN Member Center. You need to click on the "confirm" link in that e-mail before your stories will post on the site. You may need to check your spam filter to find the e-mail. If you need us to send a new one, please let us know.

Which file formats can I upload?
iReport.com supports most image, video, and audio formats (with some exceptions, such as animated gifs and video formats that use the H-264 codec).
However, iReport.com does not support upload of text or formatted documents (e.g. txt, doc, rtf, html, pdf, eml) or files in any other format that is not video, audio or image. If you would like to add text to your story (and we hope you do!), please type or paste it into the description area on the upload form.
Visit the iReport Toolkit for tips on creating great content!

What does my profile page show about me?
Your profile page lets others on the site see your iReports and get to know a little bit about you. Feel free to include as much or as little as you like. No matter what, the site keeps your e-mail address, phone number and mailing address concealed from public view. Follow the "Edit My Profile" link to make changes.

What does it mean to follow someone?
Followers on iReport.com are like friends on other social networking sites. If you see someone whose work you admire or find interesting, click on "Follow this person" to see their new contributions show up on your profile page next time you log in.

What does it mean if someone's following me?
If someone decides to follow your profile, it just means that they are interested in your work and want to keep track of what else you contribute to the site. If someone decides to follow you, you are under no obligation to follow them in return.

Why do some of my story attachments show "failed"?
The Media files list on your My Stuff page shows each of the attachments associated with your story, and what their status is. "Published" items made it successfully through the upload and encoding process and are live on iReport.com. "Failed" items didn't go through. The most common reason items fail is that they're file types not accepted on iReport.com (see list). If your item is an accepted file type and fails the first time, try to upload it again. If it fails a second time, please e-mail contact@ireport.com so we can take a look. Be sure to include the URL for your story.

How does the map work?
The iReport.com map places stories and people by location. For iReports, we use the "story location" information that contributors include when they upload. The map works best with complete, non-abbreviated place names (i.e., Atlanta, Georgia or Accra, Ghana). If you've uploaded a story and don't see it on the map, check to make sure you've included location information. If it's not there, you can edit your story and add it.

For iReporters, we map using the "hometown" field on profile pages. (One important note on that: your private profile information includes an area for your mailing address. We do NOT use that information to place your profile on the map.)