Frequently Asked Questions

FAQ 1: Is PerotCharts.com a Web site or is it a blog? And what is a blog?

PerotCharts.com is a Web site with a blog, but the emphasis of this Web site is placed on the blog. For those visitors who are not yet acquainted with blogs, here is a brief explanation, along with some history of the word blog.

A few years ago, traditional Web site developers realized that with a few changes to their software, they could make the job of updating a Web site much easier for non-technical people who were usually more interested in what their Web sites had to say, rather than how they looked. This group was primarily composed of would-be journalists searching for an alternative means of publishing their thoughts and ideas quickly and often, as well as individuals simply wanting to maintain online diaries. The new software logged an entry into the Web site with a date and timestamp, and these postings soon became known as a Weblog. The word was soon shortened to blog.

One of the features that software developers quickly incorporated into their blogging tools was to invite and to display feedback from readers - comments, as they’re called in the blogging world. PerotCharts.com encourages comments to each of the charts posted in the blog.

FAQ 2: If PerotCharts.com is both a Web site and a blog, what are the traditional Web site components and what are the blog components?

The Web site components are found on the Home Page. They consist of text, a video and a link to a chart presentation. These items will remain unchanged, for the most part. In the video, Ross Perot explains his reasons for creating this Web site. The chart presentation is designed to acquaint the visitor with the serious economic challenges that face our country.

The blog components are found on the three tabs marked Blog, Charts and Media that appear in the horizontal menu bar below the PerotCharts logo. Any item - a chart, an article, a video - found in one of these sections can be commented upon. The composition of these sections will change daily and perhaps more often as additional charts are posted to the blog and comments are received from visitors.

FAQ 3: How do I make a comment to one of the charts or one of the other postings in the blog?

You must first register as a visitor to PerotCharts.com. You may remain anonymous to the readers of your comments simply by registering with a pseudonym (e.g., John Doe, policygeek, etc.). Of course, you can simply use your real name. Whatever name you choose will become your username. We ask you for your email address so that we can send a password to you. You will need to know your username and password to log in to the blog. No one will see your email address, and we will never sell or transfer your email address for any reason. See our Privacy Policy.

There are three reasons that we use this Username/Password/Email address procedure. First, it discourages spammers from submitting large volumes of junk comments to the blog. Second, it protects your username. Without a password, someone else could post a comment using your username. Third, if you forget your password, we can email a new one to you. Click here to register.

FAQ 4: The password that I received when I registered with PerotCharts.com is twelve characters long and impossible to remember. Can I change it?

Yes, you may change your password. After you have logged in using the password that was sent to you, look for the Actions section on the right-hand navigation bar. Click on User Profile and scroll to the bottom of the page that appears. If you choose a relatively common word as a password you may see a message that says, “Bad” or “Too Short.” You can choose to ignore the message and use the password that you have chosen. When you have selected a password, Click the Update Profile button immediately below the New Password box. Click on the Perot Chart.com text at the bottom of the page or click on the Perot Charts logo at the top of the page to return to the Home page.

FAQ 5: It appears that I can access the same information by several methods. Is this correct?

Although it may appear that the same information is being accessed from multiple points in PerotCharts.com, a closer inspection of the information will reveal that different results are returned depending upon the selected navigation method. These navigation options and their results are described in greater detail here.

FAQ 6: Why do I not see my comment immediately after I submit it?

PerotCharts.com is a moderated blog. That is, all comments are held in a queue for review for appropriate language and subject matter. PerotCharts.com does not intend to become a forum for the supporters of various political candidates. However, the reporting by a credible news outlet of a candidate’s position on an issue addressed by this blog is perfectly acceptable. Thus, for example, if Candidate A gives a speech containing a policy statement about how he or she would handle budget deficits AND the candidate’s position was reported in the media (particularly a video clip), then such a submission or comment would certainly be acceptable.

PerotCharts.com believes that the advantage of moderating the blog is not only that inappropriate material is eliminated prior to getting published, but that fewer irrelevant items will be submitted in the first place.

FAQ 7: How can I make suggestions to improve the website?

Suggestions for modifications or improvements to PerotCharts.com should be submitted using the form on the “Contact Us” tab. We will make every effort to respond to your suggestions. Suggestions sent via the contact form will not be published in the blog, although they might become the subject matter of an entry on the Frequently Asked Questions page. However, your name or email address will not be associated with the new entry.

FAQ 8: Can I be notified when new material is posted to PerotCharts.com?

Yes, the feature that makes this possible is the RSS Feed that is listed in the right-hand navigation bar of most pages in PerotCharts.com. How you will be notified depends upon the RSS reader you use. Recent versions of Internet Explorer and Firefox include RSS readers. When you click the RSS link, you will be presented with an option to subscribe to the feed. If you choose to subscribe with your browser, the browser will check the RSS feed daily and download new postings which you can view in the feed section of your browser. In Internet Explorer 7, this is found in your browsing history and favorites panel.

Microsoft Outlook 2007 and other external readers can also be used to subscribe to the feed if you prefer reading with an email interface. How you do this depends on your reader, but all of them will ask for the location of the feed which is http://perotcharts.com/feed/. Please note that the trailing slash is required. In Microsoft Outlook 2007, look under your email folders for the orange RSS feed icon labeled “RSS Feeds”. If you click right on “RSS Feeds” and then click “Add an RSS Feed”, you can type the feed URL provided above and Outlook will create a folder for you called Perot Charts. Outlook will check for new postings periodically in the same way that it checks for new email. Each posting will be downloaded in an email message summary which looks very much like the information that is posted to the blog.