Putting reader input front and center, after moderating the input

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  albfrankli · Member · Jan 30, 2012 at 1:17 am

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  I am creating a site that will feature reader input. BUT I do need to moderate that input before it appears.
  I want any and all readers to feel empowered to contribute content. Do I want to make readers have the role of “post”-ers of their content, or do I want them in the roll of “comment”-ers?
  When the content displays, (after I have done the moderation) I will want the reader content to appear prominently, (kind of like posts).
  Any suggestions on how I can make this happen?
  Any suggestions for themes that would work well for this kind of site? THANKS!

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  timethief · Member · Jan 30, 2012 at 1:27 am

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  Hello there,
  I could be wrong but what I sense you are describing is a Wiki or perhaps a forum. Anyone can post and users can respond to each other and in a Wiki everuone can even edit each others posts. You can’t embed a Wiki of a forum into a free hosted WordPress.com blog but you can register one online and then create a custom menu on your blog including a custom link to a Wiki or a forum.

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  thesacredpath · Member · Jan 30, 2012 at 1:34 am

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  +1 for Wiki or forum.

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  thesacredpath · Member · Jan 30, 2012 at 1:55 am

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  You might look at P2 theme, which is a collaborative twitter-inspired thing. You can set it so that any wordpress.com member can publish directly to your site. I’m not sure if you can moderate them or not, and do keep in mind that doing something like this opens you up to spammers and 97% of all comments on the internet are spam. It might well become a full-time job for several people just trying to separate the wheat from the chaff.

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  albfrankli · Member · Jan 30, 2012 at 3:55 am

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  Thanks for your replies. I did look at the P2 theme. As far as I could tell new posts appeared without being moderated. That won’t work for what I’m trying to do.

  I think your ideas of a Wiki or forum are worth looking into. Can those formats be moderated? Any suggestions how a person can get a Wiki or forum off the ground? or where to find the information for getting one started?

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  timethief · Member · Jan 30, 2012 at 3:59 am

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  This is a beginner resources post > What’s a Wiki?
  Wikis are based on the idea that the crowd, collectively, has a greater sum of knowledge than just one individual. That means collaborating with others is the key to creating a successful wiki. Collaboration means you work together to build, design and make decisions on a wiki. No one person owns or rules a wiki. Rather, it is built, supported and owned by all participating community members.