Redefining the list on CityTools


Everybody loves lists. We love them more than most

  • We think lists are so great that we've built a unique and unusual tool to manage lists.
  • On CityTools we've got a cool interface for creating lists of ranked items about anything you want. Favorite music, most dangerous streets, lists of things your school needs, best movies of the year --- anything.
  • What's really cool about these lists is this: when other people read it, if they want to contribute they can link to your list.
  • Once people link lists together into a family of related lists, we have a truly dynamic document because with our special software we can merge all the lists together to show what the ranked consensus is across all lists.
  • The way is works -- at the top level -- is we analyze the titles of list elements join similar concepts together and then score each based on the unique position the elements have in every list. Happily, you don't have to worry about that -- you get to enjoy seeing the shared view of many people on a given topic.
  • And today, if you want to see the consensus from your local area -- in other words ignoring the viewpoints of people outside of a certain area -- you can do that with a single mouseclick.
  • In a couple of weeks, you'll be able to do the same thing for any arbitrary region you choose.
  • What this means is that with CityTools you might be able to see the consensus viewpoint of hundreds of people on a given topic. If you're looking for pizza in New York, do you want to be stuck with the view of a single reviewer, or would you prefer to see the ranked consensus of hundreds of New Yorkers? Fugeddaboutit! We know the answer!
  • We feel this tool has the potential to do great things -- imagine what happens if 100 PTAs in a state specify their school needs and then with a click of a mouse you can see the common threads between those needs. With another click, you can pull out the common threads of needs in a specific region. Or for that matter, if you want to see the top music picks in Atlanta vs. those in Los Angeles, well, it's all possible here.
  • This is why we're so excited about our lists.

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The lists are so special, they have their own area

  • Like everything else on CityTools, our lists can be voted on by readers, commented upon, etc.
  • They can be searched by geography, by author, topic, team, tags, well, you get the idea. If you take the time to write somethign, we're going to work like the dickens to help readers find you.
  • Highly ranked lists can show up in the main story feed. However, because sometimes the list you care about might be very particular, we have a special area on CityTools where you can find lists.

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Tips!
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Where can I find information on the publisher's network?

The features overview can be found here.

If you're interested in the Howtos and quick guides -- including the 15-minute fast track guide -- to using the networks, you can find that here

Where can I find out about features of the free CityTools public tools?

The overview page can be found here

The howtos for teams, writing stories and lists may be found on the menu rail under "Docs and Howtos."

I've got to have this! Where do I sign up?

We were hoping you'd ask that!

You can sign up for an individual account here which is free for everyone.

If you want to sign up for our paid publisher services you may do so here, but you need to sign up for an individual account first.