Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

What kinds of questions can I ask here?

Most importantly - questions should be relevant to this community. Before you ask - please make sure to search for a similar question. You can search questions by their title or tags.

What kinds of questions should be avoided?

Please avoid asking questions that are not relevant to this community, too subjective and argumentative.

What should I avoid in my answers?

USA Grants is a question and answer site - it is not a discussion group. Please avoid holding debates in your answers as they tend to dilute the essense of questions and answers. For brief discussions please use comments.

Who moderates this community?

The short answer is: you. This website is moderated by the users. Our reputation system allows users to earn rights to perform a variety of moderation tasks.

USA Grants also maintains a staff of contributors who ask questions and provide answers.

How does the reputation system work?

When a question or answer is upvoted, the user who posted them will gain some points, which are called "reputation points". These points serve as a rough measure of the community trust in him or her. Various moderation tasks are gradually assigned to the users based on those points.

For example, if you ask an interesting question or give a helpful answer, your input will be upvoted. On the other hand if the answer is misleading - it will be downvoted. Each vote in favor will generate 10 points, each vote against will subtract 10 points. There is a limit of 200 points that can be accumulated for a question or answer per day. The table below explains reputation point requirements for each type of moderation task.


15	upvote
100	downvote
50	accept own answer to own questions
500	retag other's questions
2000	edit any answer
2000	delete any comment

How to change my picture (gravatar) and what is gravatar?

The picture that appears on your user profile is called a gravatar (which means globally recognized avatar).

Here is how it works: a cryptographic key (unbreakable code) is calculated from your email address. You upload your picture (or your favorite alter ego image) to the website gravatar.com and they let us retreive your image using the key.

This way all the websites you trust can show your image next to your posts and your email address remains private.

Please personalize your account with an image - just register at gravatar.com (just please be sure to use the same email address that you used to register with us). The default image that looks like a silhouette is generated automatically.

To register, do I need to create new password?

No, you don't have to. You can login through Google, Facebook or Twitter. "Login now!" »

Why can other people edit my questions/answers?

We let trusted moderators and users with a high reputation score edit questions and answer in order to improve the content and community. If this approach is not for you, we respect your choice.