FAQ

From time to time, readers write to us with questions about how we do what we do. Here's our crack at some answers.

What software do you use?

The Paly Voice uses a homegrown content-management system created in large part by years of heroic Palo Alto High School Engineering Technology students working in consultation and with Voice staffers. The site is written in both PHP and HTML, using CSS for the layout and MYSQL as the database.

Where is your site hosted?

After six years of inhabiting a Palo Alto Unified School District server, The Paly Voice will be transitioning in the next few months to a server run by LiquidWeb in Lansing, Michigan.

How often is your site updated?

The Paly Voice is a 24/7 operation. Student staffers, working in consultation with their adviser, update the site around the clock, with students uploading new content and editors enabling that content from on- and off-campus servers. Turnaround time is significantly slower during holidays.

Can you write about whatever you want?

California is not a Hazelwood state. As defined in California Ed Code 48907, student journalists here have virtually the same freedoms as professional journalists. We exercise those freedoms every hour of every day.

What permissions did you have to get to be able to post photos and student names?

None. Or at least none beyond what a standard professional journalist would have to get. Our district and school administrators understand that the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA), or "Buckley Amendment," does not apply to the student press. Here is a Student Press Law Center opinion on this matter.

What advice do you have for us in starting our own journalism Web site?

The American Society for Newspaper Editors provides - for a one-time $50 fee - Web space and a functioning, partially customizable timeplate. Find out more information here.

You seem to get a lot of feedback. How do you decide what gets published and what doesn't?

Most professional journalism Web sites have found what they think is a legal safety in not moderating feedback until after it is posted and people start complaining or editors see something that is clearly defamatory. But The Paly Voice operates under the assumption that we would lose community support if we turned our feedback system into such a free-for-all -- especially one that would be ignored during weekends and holidays. So, since the site's inception in 2002, our editors have done what editors at the New York Times have only recently decided to do: review each piece of feedback before allowing it to be posted. To see the guidelines we use in deciding which feedback to enable, please see our feedback policy.

How can we have a Web site like yours?

As of January 2008, the Voice staff had been working for more than a year with district administrators, attorneys and former staff members to release our code as Open Source software. The future of that project is murky at this point, but if we are successful we will post a link on our home page with more information about how to get the software.

How can we reach you for more information?

Write to us here and we'll get the message.