Clix is a "top sites" list specifically for online diaries and journals.

Member sites are automatically ranked by how active they are that is, how many people click through to Clix from their sites (tallied and displayed as "Clix In").

Yes, though they're mostly common sense and fairly painless. Read them here.

The number of people going to a member site from Clix. One of the great things about Clix (and other top sites lists) is that members often get more visitors coming to their site than the number "lost" to the Clix site.

Why, yes! We established a mailing list at Yahoo! Groups as part of our testing, but left it running just because we could. We'll post Clix news now and then, but frankly, anyone can post anything. You can subscribe by using the web form, or by sending a blank e-mail message to .

It seems a little counterintuitive to encourage people who compete for Clix to interact, but you never know. Hit sluts are a proud but generally witty lot the discussions should at least be interesting.

In addition to the overall list, Clix maintains separate ranking pages for journal sites hosted by specific services (i.e. Diary-X.Com), as well as pseudo-journal weblogs (i.e. powered by Blogger, and/or with mixed blog/journal content). Thus, you may be at rank 64 overall, but you could easily also be in the top 25 in your category.

Note that "Independent Site/Domain" covers any journal maintained manually and independently, be it on a private domain or on a general webhost such as Geocities or Tripod. "Other Diary Hosts" covers smaller or more focused journal communities, such as Johndoe.Org or Scribble.Nu.

If you just joined, have the rankings yet refreshed? Check back in 15 minutes. Also, Clix sometimes requires at least one hit through your Clix link before it'll register in the system (also making it minimally visible in the Clix search engine). Of course, you may need a few more hits to climb in the ranks, as only the top 250 sites are displayed. Finally, if it's Friday, the rankings were reset, and all counts are cleared it may take a click or two to surface again.

If you had a working Clix account, but it is no longer available, it may have been removed. In most cases, we will have attempted to notify you via the e-mail address registered with the account. Reasons a Clix account may be deleted include:

• Your account has been inactive (has generated no Clix hits) for more than six months.
• Your web site hasn't been updated for more than six months.
• Your web site is inaccessible or password protected.
• Your site is not an individual journal, diary, or personal weblog. Collaborative projects, message boards, review and interview sites, and other journal-related sites cannot be active members of Clix, but can request a listing on the Clix Links page.
• Your account was flagged for violating Clix rules, but no action was taken despite warnings.

You'll need to (1.) design your own either using a graphics program or a free service like AdDesigner.Com and (2.) upload it to your own webspace, or e-mail it to using your username as the filename (i.e. username.jpg or username.gif). Then, when you create or edit your account, you can include the direct URL to the image file.

Please be sure your graphic is available before including a URL in your account (broken images suck), and be sure to specify the correct dimensions (stretched images suck too). Note that the maximum dimensions are 468 pixels wide by 60 pixels high, the industry standard for banner ads.

Clix displays graphics for all top 250 sites overall, and all top 25 sites in each category. Note that this may mean longer loading times for those pages that list fifty sites at a time.

Fortunately for less active sites, Clix members can't accumulate hits indefinitely. Presently the Clix counts are reset to zero every Thursday night at (or around) midnight. Every single member thus has a chance to break into the rankings... even the top ten.

The featured site is actually picked at random, and changes each time the rankings are updated (or every fifteen minutes). In fact, each page of rankings highlights a different random site, as it's picked from among the sites listed on that page. This feature provides another opportunity for sites to reach readers.

Clix, as you might expect, has measures in place to stop cheating that is, repeatedly clicking on a Clix link to boost one's hits and rank. In theory, it does so by tracking IPs of computers clicking Clix links, and rejects repeat clicks from that computer for a set period of time (presently one hour). It also rejects clicks routed through proxy servers.

Conceivably, however, a determined Clix member might still net 24 fake clicks a day (or more with an available computer lab). We just hope Clix members have more class... or at least better things to do with their lives.

We could institute a "gateway" click-through form page, and/or use cookies for better tracking, but we'd much rather not. We're sure you wouldn't like that either.

Please report possible cheat attempts to Clix Manager Heather Corrinna at . With no established policy, each incident will be handled on a case-by-case basis.

Clix is very much in its infancy, and we're constantly tinkering with it. Whether because we broke something or because members suggested or questioned something, everything from the look to the underlying system settings are subject to change... and often. To stay informed, see question five.

We understand that journals are often special things, places for personal reflection and creative expression. A subjective rank of popularity can therefore seem out of place. But the act of publishing them online belies at least a hint of exhibitionism, an interest in an audience. Clix is for those of us on the "hit slut" end of the spectrum hungry for attention, and proud of it.

Of course, Clix is a voluntary program, and you can emphatically exercise your right not to participate. We know your site rocks, no matter what.

Have questions (frequent or otherwise)? Write to Clix Manager Heather Corinna at or the Diarist.Net webmaster at .