FAQ

I have a question that is not answered in this FAQ. What should I do?
Email your question to webmaster@tomcatexpert.com. We’ll try our best to get you an answer, and if we think it applies to enough people, we’ll even add it to this page. Please do NOT send technical questions about Apache Tomcat to this alias, submit those through the Ask the Experts form.

How do I submit a story to Tomcat Expert?
You can submit a blog post here. If you have existing presentation that was delivered at an official event, including a training event, a white paper or technical howto you would like to submit, you can do so here.

Can I submit press releases?
The Tomcat Expert Contributors certainly appreciate an opportunity to preview press releases and write a blog commentary on them. We will not publish press releases wholesale, however we would be interested in referring to them once they are public. To pre-submit your press release, create a blog post here. Be sure to preface your press release with the timing of the release, and the expected link to the official press release.

Can I email a submission?
No. Tomcat Expert Contributors need to spend their time responding to real questions, drafting unique blog posts, and adding depth to our knowledge base. They do not have time to pretty up your HTML for you. Please respect their time and use the standard channels to submit.

Why did my submission not get published?
There could be a couple reasons why your submission isn’t yet published. One, it may not have met our standards for neutral, useful content on promoting the use of Apache Tomcat in the Enterprise. Two, particularly if it was a question, we may be spending time researching an appropriate answer for you. Three, in an effort to make sure there is a steady stream of content and the community has an appropriate chance to digest the last submission, we may simply be waiting. Additionally, we could have published or are about to publish a similar story and therefore the story would not be considered unique enough. Finally, if your post needed too much copy editing, had broken links, or just didn’t make enough sense, we aren’t going to spend time fixing it for you. Please make sure you copy edit and preview your post before hitting that submit button!

Can I hire a Tomcat Expert to advise my enterprise?
Chances are yes. We created karma and the “Available to Consult” badge for those community members who are available to help you directly. If you like what a member has to say, feel free to contact them if their member profile allows.

Can I submit a recommendation for an interview guest?
Yes! Our Tomcat Experts are always eager to probe the knowledge of additional experts. If you have a suggestion, we’d love to hear it! Submit your suggestion through a Submit a Story for the blog, since that is where it will end up. Be sure to include as much background on the individual as you can find and provide accurate contact details. And yes, if we complete the interview – you will get karma and props in the post for the recommendation.

How do I become a Tomcat Expert Contributor?
There are a couple ways. The one available to most people is simply being a good community member. Build your karma up until you have enough recognition and we will ask you to become a permanent Contributor to this site.

Additionally, for a handful of recognized experts in the industry, such as Apache Tomcat committers, we will consider a “fast track”. You must also be a recognized speaker or publisher of blogs, whitepapers, or Tomcat documentation. This is going to apply to only a very select few, so really your best bet is to just be a good community member. If you think this applies to you, you can email contributors@tomcatexpert.com.

What exactly do I have to do to get to Contributor status?
Contribute regularly! Comment on blogs, knowledge base articles and Ask the Expert questions. If your comments are good, the current Contributors will recognize your post by doling out (or taking away!) karma. Same for submissions, except they are “worth” far more as it is original content and generally a lot more in depth work. Under the covers, it is a point system, although we only publish the levels so it doesn’t become too much of a numbers game. We’ve seen that behave badly in other communities. You’ll see yourself move up through the levels, and will eventually be formally asked if you want to be a permanent Contributor.

Someone is behaving like a troll, what are you going to do about it?
Essentially, moderate them. Yes, we can delete comments although it would have to be clearly spam before we did that. Usually if someone is just overly misinforming the community or intentionally answering questions wrong, we will reduce karma. If their karma gets low enough, they will be locked out of contributing to the community ever again.

Do you ban people from Tomcat Expert?
Yes, occasionally if we detect a server that is hammering our site for no apparent reason, we will ban the IP. We need to be protective of our site performance for readers, not machines.

My karma bottomed out, or my IP was banned, how do I get back on Tomcat Expert?
Everyone makes mistakes. If you have a legitimate reason why you should be let back by emailing the alias banned@tomcatexpert.com. Be sure to include all pertinent information including IP address, username, and explicit reasons for why your bad behavior won’t happen again.