You don't want to publish only words -- you want to illustrate what you're writing about with images. They may be photographs, cartoons, logos -- anything you want to display, usually as .jpg or .gif files, but there are other formats. Here is a guide to working with images on YourArlington.com. Print them out.

To be able to post images to YourArlington, you must be authorized to do so. To get authorization, the publisher must give it to you. If you want that authorization, ask.

If you get authorization, you'll get the Web address from which you may work with images. You'll need that. It the publisher forgets to tell you what it is, march over to his house and demand it. Or try e-mail.

Here are the steps you need to follow:

-- Save the digital image to your desktop (or wherever you want).

-- Resize it to 400 pixels wide, maximum, or smaller. (You may use images that are wide as 500 pixels, but they must be on their own page and not the site's front page.) Logos are usually no wider than 90 to 100 pixels.

-- Log in with your usual username and password, at the lower left of the main page.

-- Using the Web address the publisher provided, go YourArlington's adminstrative page (if he didn't, ask) and click on Media Manager.

-- Go to the folder, at left, and look for a directory called /stories. The majority of YourArlington images are saved here under a series of other directories. Look for the logical place to save your image and then remember where you put it (the publisher may ask). If you do not see a directory or subdirectory that makes sense for your image, you may create one, but it's wise to ask the publisher about this first.

-- Go to Choose file at the bottom the directory, find your image, and upload it to the folder.

-- In most cases, you will be then uploading an image to an existing story. If you have not created a story yet, see the instructions in this FAQ about doing that .

-- To place your image in an existing page, open up that file. Place your cursor where you want the image to be and hit the Image button, just below the story-editing window.

-- That launches a nifty window that shows where all of the images are on the site. Find the photo you uploaded in /stories/ (in the directory you chose).

-- Click on the file name below the image, and that name will appear in image URL, below. Click on align (usually left). Put in a brief image description. If the image needs a caption, write one in the space provided. Go to the top of the window and hit insert.

-- That places the image in your story.

-- To finish the job, you need to click your image with your cursor and then hit the little green box in the last row of editing options above where you're editing. That allows you to place spacing around the image as well as borders (even colorful ones).

-- To move the story type away from the image, choose 4 on the side of the image that touches type. Larger numbers give you more white space.

-- Once you're satisified, hit Update at the bottom of this editing window.

Take a look at the published image and make sure that it looks the way you want. If it doesn't, return to the screens described above and adjust.

Let the publisher know your image is uploaded via This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. .

The publisher of YourArlington.com acknowledges that we live in an increasingly wired world in which the kind of privacy we may have long enjoyed is changing in far-reaching ways. In the light of such change, here is what the site strives to do with respect to privacy issues.

YourArlington's publisher believes the privacy of Web users should be protected, but the nature of the site means that participants give up a small degree of their private lives. YourArlington.com is based on user-generated content. To pursue that aim, it asks users of the site to register. When users do, information that they provide about themselves is retained on the site so that the publisher may communicate them and so that the users who agree to do so, communicate among themselves. YourArlington's publisher does not share personal information the site collects about users with outside parties, including news sources and advertisers. YourArlington does make periodic reports to the public about the number of registered users on the site.

Those who write for YourArlington are asked to use their real names as bylines. Pseudonyms are discouraged and require the publisher's approval. 

Those who use the comment links below news stories -- which may be anyone using the site (not just registered users) -- are asked to use their real names. The publisher may remove postings by those who comment anonymously or with apparently false names. If you believe what you are writing, you should stand behind it with your real name.

Often, advertisers will employ a third-party service provider or serving the advertisements and for tracking the performance of an ad program. These companies may employ cookie and 1x1 pixel technology to measure and improve the effectiveness of ads for their client. These companies may collect and use anonymous information about your visits to our member websites and other websites. The information collected can include:

1. Date/time of your visit
2. The banner ad that was shown
3. Their cookie
4. Your IP address
5. The URLs of sites you visit

This information can also be used for online preference marketing (“profiling”) purposes.

YourArlington does not share, sell, rent or trade information with any party for promotional purposes.

If you no longer wish to be an authorized user of YourArlington, please contact the This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. .

Updated Feb. 17, 2008 

Here is a guide to using Your View, the place for opinion at YourArlington.com and the site's only blog so far, though links to other blogs are welcome.

To add your opinions -- usually a column and longer than a simple comment, you must be a registered user. To become one, click here >>

After the publisher has approved your registration, then log in with your username and password at the log-in button, on the lower left of the site's main page. Once logged in, go to Your View, in the top navigation bar. Click on Your View to reach the dashboard. Or click the first drop-down option called Write a blog. The dashboard allows you to many things. At the Write a blog drop-down, you may, well, write a blog entry.

If you choose the dashboard, then look for the little pencil in the top navigation bar. Click it to bring up an editing window. Choosing Write a blog brings up the same window.

In either case,
1.) Write a headline where it asks for a blog title.

2.) Write or copy and paste text in the large window below all of the editing symbols. Use PLAIN TEXT, not MS Word.

3.) Option above that window allow you to add an image as well as embed videos and links.

4.) Options below the window allow adding tags and trackbacks.

5.) Hit the Apply button, at upper right, to save as you go.

6.) Hit the Publish now button, to send it to the publisher.

7.) Once sent, the publisher will be notified about your post. If it is deemed approriate, it will be published.

8.) You can see all published items in Your View at the Archives and Categories drop-down links under Your View at the top navigation bar of the main page.

Note: Your opinion will be the top item under Your View. It will also be the top item in the Your View box on the right of the site's front page. 

Want a poll on a subject you have not seen yet? Don't the polls already published? Create your own and submit it for publication.

Here's how:

1.) Your must be a registered user of YourArlington. Sign up here or hit the Join YourArlington link on the lower left of the site's main page.

2.) Once you are an approved user, log in.

3.) Hit the Polls button on the navigation bar at the top right of the site or go here >> 

4.) Above the listing of current polls, click on Submit new poll -- which is the icon at the top on the right --  or go here >> 

5.) Fill out the available fields for your poll:

     a.) Title

     b.) Poll type: Do you want just one possible response to a number of options, or do you want to allow multiple responses?

     c.) Description: Briefly describe your poll

     d.) Category: If the options available don't fit your topic, choose the one closest. You may also suggest a new category, and the publisher will add it (email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. ).

     e.) Poll closing: Click on the calendar and choose a date when your poll will end.

     f.) Options: Add your voting choices, one by one. For more, click Add Another Option.

     g.) When you have things the way you want, hit Submit Poll

6.) The publisher will be notified that you have submitted a poll. Then he will decide whether to publish it and let you know his decision.