Over the last few weeks we’ve been enhancing the public profile, accessed by clicking on a contributor’s name.   We now show all the branches and authorities created or edited by the contributor, as well as all of his comments.   The quick profile, which you see when you click on a contributor’s name, indicates the number of contributions, and the full profile will show all the contributions in reverse chronological order.

We consider this one step in building out a contributor’s reputation on the site.   You can use this to keep track of your own contributions, as well as  look up someone else’s.

Spindle Law offers many ways to join our effort of crowd-sourcing the law.   If you have expertise in an area of law, you are encouraged to start mapping out that law by adding topics and rules to the tree along with new authorities, as Nick recently did with forum non conveniens. In addition, you can comment on a rule of law or a particular case.   But perhaps the easiest way to start  is to give your input on existing authorities.  Some authorities are missing details like a pin cite or its disposition, whereas completed authorities need to be vouched for by the community for standing for the rule.

We recently released a new feature on Spindle Law that we call “contribution suggestions” that will help you find these authorities.    As you browse  topics and rules, you’ll see a box with a random selection of rules from within the area of law you are are browsing.  Clicking on one of those rules will bring you to an authority for that rule that either is missing some information or hasn’t been vouched for at least twice.   You’ll see question marks where an authority needs information which you can then fill in by hovering over the authority and clicking the “edit” link.   If the authority is complete and you’ve read the source and can vouch that it stands for the rule, you again hover over the authority and click the “vouch” link.

To see a full list of rules with authorities that need your input, click on the the “view more suggestions” link.   From there, you can also switch to another area of law for finding contribution suggestions.

From the day we first opened up registration on the site, new members were able to add and edit authorities.   But the ability to edit the tree of rules and topics—the fundamental structure of the legal information on the site—was reserved for more experienced community members while the site was in the early stages of development.  We’re by no means done with the development of the site, but we’ve decided it’s reached a stage where the material covered on the site is ready to rapidly grow.   As part of that effort, we decided to relax some constraints and as of today all registered members can edit the tree.

We encourage people to get their feet wet with authorities when contributing to the site.   It’s easy to add new authorities using the “contribute new authority” link at the top of the authority list and even easier to edit an existing authority:  just rollover the authority with your mouse and click the edit link.   Filling in missing fields on authorities as indicated by question marks is a great place to start.

But you may want to add authorities where there is no appropriate rule in the tree yet.   With this change you can just add the rule yourself.  To add a branch to the tree, just click on the “add+” link in the narrow down box on the right.  You then fill in the short and long text and click on the image to select the kind of branch you are creating.    More guidance on how to edit and create branches can be found in the extended contributor guide.

We expect this change to be the first of many over the coming months to encourage contributions.