About the Tips-Q News System

• We poll 500 to 600 news sources. Sources are being added and removed daily.
• There is a conscious effort to provide a representative sample of sources classified as "right wing."
• Every fifteen minutes, the system refreshes about a third of the sources. Therefore, each individual source is refreshed more often than hourly -- at least that's the intent. In the real world, of course, there are time-outs due to congestion and other issues that seem determined to disrupt the most "perfect" of plans and our plan is far from perfect.
• Every day, about 10,000 articles are downloaded and automatically analyzed; About 2% will be identified as pertaining to GLBT issues.
• The algorithms used to filter content are frequently modified (kind of like McCain's positions). We try not to publish items about runner "Tyson Gay" or a review of a restaurant on "Gay Street." From time to time we manage to publish articles about aromatic fag logs and other irrelevant goodies.
• The date and time of articles is retrieved from the source. A few sources do not support date and time which results in the article being stamped by the time of download.
• Some substantially similar items are removed by hand. To prevent "page not found" errors, these remain published but are removed from the Tips-Q news feeds, the front page and the NewsVac. However, they remain in the source category.
• Also removed by hand are some local stories of limited interest. News about gay bowling leagues or a hula contest at The "Manhole Bar" is usually deleted.
• Most published articles are retained for six months -- some longer or indefinitely.
• Each article is now categorized by news source. Of course, we weren't smart enough to do so from the beginning. Content is being categorized retroactively. Hopefully, it will be completed in this decade.

If you would like us to add a feed, please let us know using the contact form.