Are you getting the most out of the FlashReport? Here is our "Top Ten Ways To Maximize the FlashReport":
1) Sign up for the daily e-mail on the main page. This is great for two reasons. The first is that we send you all of the headlines from each day’s news, so that whether you want to eyeball them on your computer, or scroll through them on your Blackberry, Treo or other PDA, you are "in the know" on the news of the day. The other reason is that it is your way of knowing when the main page has been updated each morning, as we send the e-mail alert right after compiling the days news. The e-mail now links back to the day associated with the headlines in it – a request of many readers.
2) The Main Page will give you a comprehensive look at California politics. Our motto is, "We spend two hours so you can spend two minutes — or twenty." Our team visits over 80 websites each morning to make sure that if there is a story on California politics, anywhere, we find it and link to in on the main page! Hint: If you go to the toggle next to the date in the upper right corner, you can actually choose to look at the news stories from any day going back to our site launch on October 1, 2005!
3) Interact with our bloggers. If you go to the FlashReport Weblog, you can read the latest in insight and analysis from over twenty great contributors to our site, from all around the Golden State. Did you know that they are happy to dialogue with you? If you click the e-mail symbol at the top of their post, you can send them comments, and perhaps even better, as them questions. You can make your FR experience more interactive — just by reaching out! Of course, we all love it when you add to the public forum by adding your comments to blog posts, so if you haven’t registered for a MyFlashReport Account, to be able to comment, do it today!
4) Check out the FlashReport’s special BlogScan page. This customizable page lets you keep an eye on all of California’s most significant blogs without having to go to a dozen or more separate websites throughout the day. We features blogs from the political left and right, as well as the offerings in the blogosphere from the Main Stream Media.
5) Make the FlashReport your home page! From the FR, because of our easily accessible pull-down menus, you are literally one-click away from every major California paper, every paper’s editorial page and political columnists, dozens of websites and blogs related to California politics, and also a bevy of great resources such as donor searches to campaigns at the Federal and State levels, and more.
6) Take advantage of all of our advertisers. Weather you are looking for a campaign consultant, a lobbyist, information on leading taxpayer organizations, buying campaign materials, looking for a political fundraiser, or looking for more information on some the state’s more conservative, tech-savvy candidates for office, there are dozens of ads to peruse. And, need we remind you, it is those ads that make the FlashReport FREE for you. Clicking through to them helps to support our efforts!
7) Search the site. There is a ton of information on the website — and on just about every page, somewhere on the left green bar, is a search window. So if you want to see entries on the FlashReport from the blog, our featured columns and commentaries, about a particular subject, you can seek them out.
8) Be a source. Is something going on in your area that might be something we would want to bring to the attention of FR readers? If so, drop us a line. You can write to me with an e-mail or with our special "send an anonymous tip" form (if you want to be clandestine) by using the links in the top right corner of the site. Of course, you can reach out to your favorite regional FR correspondent as well.
9) Peruse our Special Reports and Commentary Libraries to see literally hundreds of original columns and commentaries. Both of these libraries are accessible through the "FR Info" pull down menu.
10) Last but not least — tell your friends. The more people that come to the FR for their ‘fix’ on what is going on, the more influence we have as a website. This increases the quality of our reporting, it increases the impact that this site has on current events, and, of course, it shows your friends that you know where to go to get the latest on California politics!
Care to read comments, or make your own about today’s Daily Commentary?
Just click here to go to the FR Weblog, where this Commentary has its own blog post, and where you can read and make comments.