I've got an opinion and I mean to use it. How about you? How about your readers?

Late last night, Topix launched an awesome new feature. POLLS!

Creating your own poll is easy as pie. (Apple or Cherry? See, it¹s fun!).

1. On the right side of each Topix News page, you will see a Featured Poll box. Click the Create a Poll link at the bottom.

or

2. Click Create a Poll on the Forum & Polls page associated with your newspage.

Next, fill in the form with your question and up to 10 choices, then click Create Poll. That¹s it!

Topix users have gone bananas voting and creating their own polls, making over 600 polls and voting more than 43 thousand times in the first 20 hours. While anyone on Topix can create a Poll, we've given Editors a little extra power.

You have the ability promote any poll from the forum to the Featured Poll box on your Newspage. See that Feature this Poll link in the voting box? Click that link to send the poll to your News page. Once a poll is featured, you can choose to stop featuring it at any time.

We've been having a lot of fun with polls at Topix Headquarters and we're excited to watch you guys run with this.

Now, go forth and poll!

When we developed the editor platform, Topix Newspages were equipped to handle multiple editors for each topic. At times, this can be tricky business when philosophies collide, but we were and are committed to the idea that more viewpoints equals better coverage. Way back when we launched, we had two editors sign on for the Science / Technology page almost immediately. While we had firm convictions with regard for the need for multiple editors for every page, we were anxious to see how our somewhat Utopian plan fit into the real world of cooperative editing. Wow. We were impressed. Today, we spotlight two Topix editors that have really shown us how it is done. Together (and now with even more editors on their page) they have created what is one of the best pages on Topix. Say hello to Cash and Iria. Let's find out where they are coming from.

Why did you want to come a Topix editor?

Iria: I edit at a bunch of different places, and felt it was a natural extension. At first, I did it because I wanted to post home town news. But I discovered my small town doesn't have much! So I moved on to Science / Technology

Cash: I am a big fan of news communities in general and science in specific. Science and policy and culture are forever intertwined so I think it's important that people have access to as broad a cross-section of thought and ideology as possible. Getting that from a generic wire service is difficult. It takes real input from people.

How much time do you generally spend a day editing?

Iria: probably about an hour a day.

Cash: About two hours per day, counting finding and reading the articles. I will read them and save them and then post them all as a group to save some time.

Where else do you find articles, outside of Topix?

Iria: Wow, plenty of spots. Yahoo! News, MSNBC, NY Times, News.com (for tech), Newsburst, Breitbart

Cash: I don't find any inside of Topix. Roboblogger could do that for people. I want to post the news that will show up in the regular news services tomorrow or the next day. Because I am in a few science communities I get all of their feeds. You name it, I have it.

What are some editing pitfalls you've learned to avoid?

Iria: Look carefully for dupes. Also, check to make sure that the Topix Editor puts the correct Source in. I've noticed, for example, it always puts ESPN Sports in for ABC News.

What is your prior editing and writing experience?

Iria: Executive Editor at Real Tech News. Head News Moderator at DriverHeaven. I also post at Newsvine and on Netscape.

Cash: I have written a number of technical papers on physics and I am the science group administrator on a social news site called Newsvine. I am also a featured columnist on a social science site called scientificblogging.com. Because I have access to the science feeds from those large sites and all of the people contributing to them it makes it quite easy to always have interesting science for Topix as well. In return I post the Topix feed in my sections on those sites so everyone benefits. I do science humor on my personal site, www.scienceandsupermodels.com, but you have to go to those places to read my articles from there. I think it would be bad manners to submit things I write to Topix.

What is your editing environment like? Do you post from work or home?

Iria: I post from both work and home. Since work involves the computer, I generally just keep an RSS reader up and if I see something interesting, I post it.

What other sites do you visit regularly?

Iria: Driverheaven, News.com , ZDNet, The Raw Story, ThinkProgress, Crooks and Liars

What advice would you give to other editors in making a great page?

Cash: Interact. Throwing up an article and leaving means it's going to be boring. If you like it enough to post it, leave a comment, respond to people, have some fun.

*Editor's Note: Providing the first comment on a news item that you post to the page is an AWESOME way to make sure that the readers in your forum see that article. Your comment seeds the discussion and gets the proverbial ball rolling on reader feedback.*

One of the things we appreciate in particular about the Science/Technology page is the way you work so well with each other. Can you talk a little about sharing the news page without stepping on each others toes?

Iria: Hmm ... well, honestly, I try to make sure I don't duplicate any articles. For something like that, that's all that needs to be done.

Cash: Iria is more of a technology guru, and I am more on the science side, so it is complementary. Frankly, I am surprised anyone has time to read all of the good stuff we both post. We have accidentally duplicated articles a few times. The audience is big enough that the people who saw a duplicated article the first time ignore it without complaint and in most cases a new group of people get to enjoy it. If you have two people who mean well and want to be part of building something great, there's no toe stepping.

Watching Editors like Cash and Iria has played no small part in how we shape the Editor tools going forward. Things like this, for instance, are a direct result of having multiple awesome and prolific editors sharing Topix pages. You Editors continue to rock it, and we will continue working on bigger and better tools for you to shape the news. Here's to making it happen.