To register, click on the link in the 'Member Login' area of any page to be taken to a page that gives you the choice of joining as a free basic member, or for US$2 per year, upgrade to a full member and enjoy extra features. As part of the registration process, you are required to provide your first and last name and to create a username and password. You also need to provide your valid email address, date of birth, country/region of residence and zip / postcode. In addition to the above information, there are 45 optional NON-identifying personal characteristics that you are encouraged to provide for the purpose of producing accurate statistical graphical results of the voting processes. As part of the registration process, members can elect to receive a daily email with updates about their favourite topics. You can edit your profile at any time by clicking on the 'View/edit my profile' link on the 'My Place' page.

Basic membership entitlements include access to read and add comments, as well as to vote for existing topics. Full membership features allow you to add new topics on any subject and to generate graphs that indicate broad and specific voting trends for a topic and also volumes of members by specific characteristics within the member database for market research.

If you are a basic member, click on the 'My Place' button to be taken to your personal page. At the top of the page is a link 'Upgrade my membership'. Click on this link to be taken to the payment page. Payment is made via PayPal for your protection. Follow the onscreen instructions and upon clicking submit, you will be redirected to PayPal to make your payment. After successfully completing the payment process, you will be returned to this site. There are bonus free years of membership available for members that choose to renew for 3 or more multiple years.

Payments can be made only via PayPal. You can make your payment in accordance with the methods they offer.

The optional characteristics are for statistical purposes to learn about how different types of people think and vote. The information is NON-identifying. Members are strongly encouraged to complete all the information as accurately as possible to maximise the value of voting statistics.

Yes. Your name, email address and location are not linked to your optional characteristics that you supply. These details are never made available to other members or other parties.

To log in, you must first register (see also: I am a new user, how do I register?). The login fields are located on the top left side of every page. You need to enter a valid username and password. Ticking the 'Remember me' checkbox will always display your username and password for easy login on that computer. The password will be displayed as black dots for privacy. It is not recommended to do this on public computers or where personal use is not appropriate.

The format of the site is consistent and doesn't change much from page to page. Site operation and most navigation options are located on the left-hand side of every page. Login details are located on the top left of the page, followed by the search fields, member statistics and category list (except on the home page). The category list on the home page is located in the centre of the page towards the bottom. The number of topics within a category is shown in brackets next to the relevant category name. The other area of navigation is the 'Quick links' choices which are located on the right-hand side of each page as short cuts to selected topics. Clicking on a topic name and any other fields shown in 'blue' will display more detail.

There are several ways you can search for topics. Using the various 'search' options located on the left-hand side of every page, you can search on either a single search criterion or a combination. Searching on 'Keyword' will return all the topics that contain the text string of your search. Selecting a 'Category' will return all topics within that nominated category, including all 'sub categories' and if used in conjunction with other search criteria, will further narrow the results. Combining 'Country' with a 'Post code' or a range of 'Post codes' will return a list of local issues, while searching on 'Username' will return all the topics raised by a specific member that interests you. When combining some or all the search fields the results will only return those topics that match all the selected search criteria.

It is important that topics are structured with a NEUTRAL tone to encourage other points of view to be added. Topics consist of a short title, a detailed description field and an optional image field. It is recommended NOT to style your topic description with your opinion about the topic. Your opinion should be represented as your view and should take the form of a simple statement such as 'Solar energy is the safest'. To support each view, a detailed reason or reasons is added after the view has been saved. Small images to assist with describing the topic, views and reasons can be uploaded, providing they do not breach copyright laws or contain illegal content.

Votes are submitted by clicking on the 'write' icon located on the right-hand side of every reason. When adding a new reason, your vote is automatically registered for that reason.

Changing votes is simply a matter of clicking on the 'write' icon located on the right-hand side next to the reason that you now want to vote for. Any previous vote you made for this topic will be replaced automatically with your new selection. If you add a new reason, your vote will automatically be changed to the new reason.

Votes can be withdrawn by clicking on the 'eraser' icon located at the right-hand side of each reason you have voted for and also by clicking on the 'Withdraw vote' link located next to each of your votes on the 'My Place' page.

Topics of any subject can be raised, providing that they are not illegal or inflammatory. Topics may contain views from diverse cultures within our various societies that may seem offensive to others. The purpose of such topics is for educational benefits consistent with the purpose of the site.

Click on the 'Add New Category' button, located below the last category on the category list. A new page will open requiring a category name to be entered. Sub categories are added by clicking on the 'Add New Sub Category' button located near the top of each category page. New categories and new sub categories can only be added by full members.

Topics can only be added after selecting or adding the relevant category. The 'Add New Topic' button is located towards the top right-hand side of the relevant category page and requires a title and detailed description to be entered. A small relevant image may be uploaded also. (See also: What is the best way to structure my topic and my views?). New topics can only be added by full members.

Views can be added by selecting 'yes' to a message box that appears after a topic has been created asking the member if they would like to add a new view now, or by clicking on the 'Submit new view' link located below the summary area of existing topics on the 'Topic Detail' page. (See also: What is the best way to structure my topic and my views?).

Reasons can be added by selecting 'yes' to a message box that appears after a view has been created asking the member if they would like to add a new reason now, or by clicking on the 'Vote with new reason' link located below the last reason for each view on the 'Topic Detail' page. (See also: What is the best way to structure my topic and my views?).

Petitions may be created for any topic that would be relevant. There is a link 'Request this topic be considered for a petition' located below the summary of each topic. Clicking this link will generate an email to the administrator to consider making the topic into a petition. The requirements for making a petition are that the topic has been created for a sufficient time that a popular point of view has been reached and that the topic is by nature relevant for a petition. Requests for a new topic to be made into a petition may be deferred until sufficient discussion has occurred, or in some instances earlier than other topics if warranted.

The 'Topic Detail' page (the page that lists the detail of a topic with associated views and reasons) is the heart of Thought it Through^TM. Each topic has a 'Title' and 'detailed description'. Topics can also have a small relevant image uploaded. Below the body of the topic description is a summary about the topic and related voting activity. If you are logged in, you will also see a summary of your vote. Underneath the summary are some useful links to save the topic as a favourite, contact the author of the topic, view the statistics of the topic as a graph and request the topic be considered for a petition. Below the summary are the views and associated reasons. Views and reasons can be sorted by 'Most popular' or by 'Newest'. The layout for each view is self contained so that all the reasons for that view are listed before the next view is displayed. Views only contain a 'Title' and should be written as a statement reflecting your point of view. If you don't agree with any of the views, clicking on the 'Submit new view' link located in the summary section and under the description of every view will display an option to add a new view. A view must have at least one reason attached to register your vote. Each reason title is shown in blue below the view and can be clicked on to display the reason detail that supports the view. On the right-hand side of each reason is 'write' icon to register your vote by clicking on it or an 'Eraser' icon to withdraw your vote. Below the last reason for each view are links to 'Vote with a new reason' if you agree with the view, but do not agree with any of the reasons, or to 'Vote with a merged reason' if you like several reasons and you want to make a combined reason. All views and reasons indicate their support with the respective percentage of votes received shown on the left-hand side and are ordered with the most popular at the top. Less popular views and reasons are displayed towards the bottom of the page. Views and reasons with less than 1% of the topics votes will eventually be hidden. Click on relevant links to 'List all reasons / votes' to display any that are hidden. Each view indicates the last update time and number of votes received.

The reliability of the statistics depends on the size of the overall member base and the target market of any specific topic relative to the overall community. Topics that have very few votes are less reliable than those with larger votes. Time is also a factor as the longer a topic has been discussed, the more balanced the most popular view may be.

Full members can generate a variety of graphs pertaining to the voting patterns for each topic. Click on the 'Display statistical graphs' link located below the summary of every topic (not available to visitors and basic members). On the graph construction pages, select the criteria for comparison. Each graph opens in a new window, so you can generate multiple graphs for comparison which can be downloaded as a PDF document or as raw data in an MS Excel file. Graphs can be copied by right clicking on them and pasted in other applications such as MS PowerPoint etc.

Full members can analyse the relative volumes of members within the database for different characteristics to determine the market size and trends that will help prepare topics for a specific target group. Click on the 'Analyse Member Profiles' button located below the statistics section on every page. On the graph construction pages, select the criteria for comparison. Each graph opens in a new window, so you can generate multiple graphs for comparison which can be downloaded as a PDF document or as raw data in an MS Excel file. Graphs can be copied by right clicking on them and pasted in other applications such as MS PowerPoint etc.

The impact of Thought it Through^TM is dependent on the membership base and the size of the target market compared to the general community. Topics with sufficient votes over time may have well thought through results that are accepted by the greatest majority of the voting members and may be used to influence individuals, companies and governing bodies at any level.

Yes. Your favourites are located on the 'My Place' page under the heading 'My Favourites'. To add a topic to your favourites list, click the link 'Add this topic to 'My Favourites list'' located below the summary section of every topic.

All the topics you have voted for are summarised on the 'My Place' page under the heading 'My Votes'. The most recent are displayed or to see all the topics you have voted for, click on the link on the right-hand side 'List all votes'.

Topics are deleted from the 'My Favourites' list by clicking on the 'rubbish bin' icon located on the right-hand side of each topic.

Contacting other members may be done for a range of reasons such as you have similar interests to the topics raised by that member. Click on the 'Send email to…' link at the bottom of each topic to generate an automatic email indicating your interest in contacting them. The recipient can decide to contact you at the email address in our data base, which will be included on the email or disregard. The recipients email details are not provided to the sender when initiating this request to protect privacy. You must be logged in to use this feature.

Member's profiles can be viewed by clicking on the username shown in 'blue' that raised a topic in the summary area of each topic. No identifying details are shown.

The site is available only in English at present however other language characters can still be added as text for topics that are local to that language / region. It is not recommended to create comments in languages other than English if the topic is intended for the global community. Members that have limited knowledge of English can still participate in broader topics by taking advantage of the many language translation software options available on the internet. Language translation features may be added to this site at a later date, once sufficient quality to ensure reliable translations is available.

Contacting the site can be done by clicking on the link at the bottom of this page, or by clicking on the 'Contact' tab located at the top of every page. Refer to the 'Contact' page for the different contact reasons. Emails will be attended to in a timely manner as appropriate. You will receive an automated reply to confirm your email has been received, once it has reached our email system. Generally replies, where required, will occur within 24 hours, however it may take longer in some instances. If you do not receive a reply to a valid email request in a reasonable time, try resending.

Full information is available on this site by clicking on the 'About', 'FAQ' and 'Contact' tabs located at the top of every page. Further information can be found by clicking on the 'Terms of Use' and 'Privacy Statement' links on the bottom of every page.