More Than a Test Score

Gotta love Barack Obama. He tweeted to us.

“Report Abuse” on the comments
We just need to clear up a rumor about what the “report abuse” link does in the matchup comments.  Some have said that by clicking that, it wipes the person profile out.  Others have thought that it blocks votes from going through.  None of the above is true.  It’s a rumor. It’s untrue.

So what happens?  When a user clicks “report abuse” in the comments, all it does is flags the comment.  We have a system that tracks all flagged comments.  Our staff looks through those flagged comments and determines either to keep those comments public or delete them.

It’s that simple.  It doesn’t block any votes. It doesn’t wipe out any profiles.  All it does is flag the specific comment.

“Report User” on the user profile
This works in the exact same way as the “report abuse” link in the comments.  No profile is deleted. Votes are not blocked.  All it does is flag the user for our staff to look at later.  Everything in terms of functionality stays the same.  Nothing changes in terms of what the user can do and what can be done.

Hopefully that clears those rumors up. Both links do NOTHING in terms of affecting the outfome of voting in Zinch March Madness.  Hopefully that makes sense.  Feel free to ask any questions.

More than 500 students applied to become a Zinch blogger.  Only 30 were chosen. 25 of them live in the United States.  The other 5 are international (Israel, India, Italy, Abu Dhabi and Spain).  There are a total of 19 females and 11 males.  They cover each of the high school grades; they come from various ethnic backgrounds; they offer unique perspectives.  Meet some of America’s best high school writers. This is the Zinch30.

» Meet the Zinch30

For those who didn’t make it, don’t feel bad.  It was an extremely selective and competitive process.  There were hundreds of exceptional writers and talented individuals out there and it was very difficult for us to choose.  Thanks to all who applied and we wish you the best of luck in all that you pursue.  Thanks!

Cool vid by some students at Clarkson.  Nice rhymes.

So I was going through some blogger apps today when I came across this talent. I figured I might as well do a quick blog about it. Her name is Allie Smith and she’s from Roanoke, Virginia. She’s got some amazing musical talent. She’s good with video (editing, etc). She writes for the local newspaper. She’s amazing at graphic design (her resumé was pimped out with cool design). She’s just all-around talented.

Anyway…here are a few video clips of her musical talent (check out her youtube channel as well). Thought i’d share. We’ll see if she makes the final cut to become a Zinch blogger. It’s very, very competitive.

My favorite is the third vid.