We've talked for a long time around the office about ways to make the forums more interactive, and last week we launched a new feature that does just that. More fun than a barrel of monkeys, more addicting than mom's mac and cheese, I bring you "Judge it!".

Clicking on the Judge it! link in the header of any post will give you a list of adjectives to choose from, each with their own fancy icon. You can select up to three descriptors for each post, but be warned, the robots are savvy. You can not click two contradicting adjectives for one post. In other words, you can't judge something "brilliant" and "clueless" at the same time.

We've had over 250,000 posts judged in just the first few days and we're showing no signs of slowing. One side effect you might notice in more heated discussions is that the addition of these fun little icons on a post can have quite a disarming effect to the reader. This isn't to say that posters shouldn't treat each other with respect and mind their manners, but it is hard to let even very controversial posts get under your skin when you see a cartoon peanut at the top of them, don't you think?

Technically, the forums don't fall under editorship at this stage, but many of our editors are very active in the forums, so I'm sure you guys have something to say about this.

P.S. Feel free to mark all my posts as Brilliant.

It has been a while since we've done a spotlight on one of our editors, so we've got a truly exemplary editor to spotlight today. What do you get when you combine a very active forum poster with cats and plop them down into a tiny town in Oregon? You get TrilbyKat. We've been watching TrilbyKat for a while. She edits up a storm and is a great (and prolific!) presence in the Topix community. Let's see what she has to say.

Why did you want to become a Topix editor?
I was enjoying the interaction on my favorite forums and wanted to become more involved. I first applied to be the editor for my (very) small town and then The Cat News. It’s really satisfying, so I’m glad that I did it.

Where else do you find articles, outside of Topix?
I peruse local news outlets, as well as county and state websites to find stories that are pertinent to my town. I also check recreation, visitor information and local agency’s websites (such as Fire & Rescue) for news. Sometimes I will write a story myself. For the Cat News, I have a newsreader and a long list of cat’s sites that I check in with.
(editor's note: This is a great idea. If you don't use an rss reader, it is definitely worth checking out. We'll talk about the basics of rss feeds and feed readers on an upcoming post.)

What are some editing pitfalls you've learned to avoid?
Having to re-edit a story because of a bad headline, summary or other error. The Preview window is invaluable.

What is your prior editing and writing experience?
I’ve done some writing for various projects including plays, songwriting, puppet shows, press releases, newsletters and children’s stories. I am currently working on curriculum for preschoolers. Topix has provided my first editing experience.

What question would you like to ask other Topix editors?
Do you think that the new judging option will make your job easier, since users now have a way to vent their frustrations at posters they disagree with?

Are there any newspages not currently on Topix that you'd like to see?
We absolutely need a page on Antidisestablishmentarianism, don’t you think? Okay, I was just kidding.

What other user-edited pages on Topix would you recommend?
My hands down favorite page is Science/Technology. Offbeat is fun, too. You never know what you’ll find there.

What is your most memorable editing experience on Topix? Big story? Reader response?
This is it, no doubt! What an honor. Thank you.

Are there any other user editors you'd like to promote?
Cash and Iria both make all their pages outstanding. Their personal blogs are also immensely entertaining. In addition, Topix Ed is doing a great job on the Topix Editor News page and throughout Topix.

What other internet sites do you visit regularly?
I post a monthly blog on Blogger, and check in on BlogCatalog, MySpace and Yahoo! Answers occasionally.

What advice would you give to other editors in making a great page?
Pictures really make a page pop.

What question do you wish we'd asked you?
Would you buy stock in Topix? The answer is, “Yes. It’s the greatest thing since cheese was invented.” I’m a big fan of cheese.

We're big fans of cheese too. :)

You may already be familiar with Twitter, a site for what may best be described as microblogging, sending out snippets of information or conversation in 140 characters or less. We've got some big fans of Twitter in our office, myself included. You can use it to keep up with friends or colleagues, but what's really cool is that there are news outlets on Twitter that you can follow to receive breaking news as well. I follow several of them, and use them to keep me up to date on what might be missing from some of our headlines on Topix.

Starting now, however, you can follow Topix on Twitter. Eureka!

All of our top news nodes, including Sports, Video, World News, US News, Offbeat, Science /Tech, 2008 Election, Popular News, Top Stories and Entertainment now have Twitter feeds. In Addition, you can follow the MLB, NHL, NBA and NFL. Wait...you can ALSO follow news from Austin, San Francisco, San Jose, New York City, Raleigh, Miami, Chicago, Los Angeles, Nashville or Boston. If you happen to root for the Orlando Magic or San Jose Sharks, those news feeds are on Twitter too.

This is a great way to keep track of breaking news for your edited page or for others of interest. If there are news nodes you would like to see on Twitter, leave them here in the comments and we can hook you up. In the meantime, check these out and give us a follow!