Q: What do I do on the site? I don't get the social networking thing...

A: It's hard to understand what the site can do for you unless you do have at least a handful of active friends on the site. Once you do, you can see what they're up to on The Cork Board. This is a great way to see what events people are going to, or even just announcing things, like "Hey, I'm heading over to Manuel's Pub, anyone want to join me?" Think of The Cork Board as the old town general store, where people left notes for each other on what they were up to, or that they were in town, etc. In addition, since this is for political afficianados, you can debate ideas by posting blog topics, or even creating a Fantasy Ballot. If you have a group, be sure to add it, so that people who are unfamiliar with your group can find it.

Think of it like your neighborhood pub, where you go to hang out with friends and see what they are up to. You can engage to talk as much or as little as you want with people from other political parties. In Atlanta, we are blessed with a pub, Manuel's Tavern, where on any night you can go there to hang out or for a political meeting and more often than not run into other people you know who are there for a different political meeting.

Q: How is this different from Facebook?

A: A lot of the concepts are the same (friending, joining groups), but what sets it apart is that here you have at your fingertips all the different aspects of staying in touch with what's going on politically (instead of having your political info relegated to facebook applications), plus Facebook can't deliver local politics to you. Here you can enter local legislative bills, see your local legislative representatives, and see what local political events are in your area. Plus, if you're wanting to get a job in politics, your D&E profile will help establish your bonafides better than your Facebook profile.

Q: Will the general public be able to see my photos or blog posts?

A: Only if you do not restrict access to these. By default, they are open to the general public, so when adding a photo album or blog topic, be sure to select the appropriate restrictions. You can choose to limit it only to people in your friends list, or even to a specific private network of friends you have created. Or you can elect to have anyone in the same political party see it, but not anyone from another political party.

Have a question you'd like to see here? Email your question to info@adonkeyandanelephantwalkintoabar.com

Q: Is there a mobile-friendly version?

A: You can browse to the site via your handheld, but since a lot of it uses code blocked by handhelds, there is a simple version available at: www.adonkeyandanelephantwalkintoabar.com/mobile

Q: How do I find/make friends?

A: There are several ways. If you know of people who would be interested in the site, go ahead and invite them by clicking on the invite link. From there you can import your address book from Outlook, Yahoo, Hotmail, etc. Also, you can make friends on here. You can go to find and look for folks in your area, or go to Blogs and get familiar with our community of bloggers. If there are any bloggers whom you like, you can friend them.