What is the Social Verdict?
The whole idea of The Social Verdict revolves around promoting awareness of social issues as a first step on the road to encouraging people, especially youths, to become socially active within their communities and the world. The way towards solutions of problems first comes with knowledge of the problem and discussion about possible ways to fix it. The aim is to encourage proactive social activism.

“Inform. Discuss. Debate.” What is that about?
The motto underneath The Social Verdict expresses the fundamental progression needed in order for site to achieve its objective. The transfer of information and news to readers is the first essential step in the process. It is then followed by discussion, analysis, and maybe even an in-depth look at the most important topics through extensive articles and posts. Lastly, and most importantly, debating those very same articles and posts, either through comments or response pieces, is where true awareness is achieved because only through exposure to different ideas and points of view do we truly understand critical social issues.

What kind of stuff do you write about?
Most of the posts on the site will be about the critical social issues I mentioned above. Also, I genuinely write mostly about topics I find interesting and have a strong opinion about. Only then can I generate enough passion to truly delve into writing a piece about a certain topic. Additionally, I will post pieces and articles written by others on topics they may find interesting and important to them in order to reflect on a variety of issues and not just my own interests.

Why the name “The Social Verdict”?
Chosen tongue-in-cheek, the name reflects on what the site does. However, by no means do I suggest that I have a “verdict” on social issues out there. It was purposely chosen to show that there is no true “verdict” on such issues and there is always room for debate on various ideas surrounding these topics. In a law court, submission of arguments and statements of opinion are given forward in order to establish a verdict by a judge. The same process is followed here; many arguments and opinions are put forth, leaving each and every one of you, the judges, to form your own “verdict”.

Why do you do “The Daily Verdict”?
The point of The Daily Verdict is to ensure that the readers of the site are updated on the daily happenings of the world. I believe knowledge of world events is a key ingredient to developing social awareness because it allows us to grasp the complexities of our world as well as build a solid understanding overall understanding of how things work. There are also many points of view in the media as well and being exposed to many sides of the same stories is the best way to develop a deeper comprehension of a subject and form an opinion.

Do you have podcasts?
For the moment, I will not put up any podcasts about the posts on the site. The main objective for now is to build up readership and if there is enough demand and can be effective in communicating with our readers, I will definitely put in the time to do podcasts as well, just not yet. 

Do you have a newsletter?
No, there is no newsletter for the moment. However, as the readership, contributions, and subscriptions to the blog grow, I will definitely look into starting a newsletter, at least a monthly one. It will most likely just be to keep everyone updated about what is going on and what might be coming up.

Can anybody contribute?
Yes, by all means. I do accept unsolicited submissions and will contact all the authors personally before anything is published on the site. 

Any requirement about content? (content, length, etc)
The only true requirement is that you have an opinion about a topic that you think deserves to be heard. Of course, it has to be somewhat appropriate (an article about HTML coding wouldn’t really fit). As long as it is well-written and is effective in getting your message across, length and other formalities do not really matter.

Do you post pieces that disagree with you?
Those are my favourite submissions. Not only will I post them, I may even write a response to them! The whole point is to present everyone out there with different opinions and points of view. The submissions I disagree with will be the first to make it on the site. That is not to say posts that are in line or similar to my opinions will not be posted. All content, upon review and contact of the author, will be published as long as it is appropriate. 

There is nothing on the Merchandise page. Why?
The merchandise store is still under construction and a link to it will be placed on the Merchandise page once it is done. All the proceeds of “Social Verdict” merchandise sold will be donated to charity.

What do you mean by “merchandise”?
For starters, we will have a variety of clothing apparel. We will also look at getting some office supplies as well as anything else that is interesting and cool.

Where will the money go and who decides it?
I have not yet decided where the proceeds will go but most likely to an organization whose goals are in line with ours here. I may even let you, the readers, decide by putting up a poll about it closer to the opening date of the store.

Can we do anything to help?
Yes! Bookmark the site, make it your home page, read every post, digg the articles, comment on everything, and submit posts yourselves! And, if you can’t do all that, at least come by once in a while and drop a line whenever you can.

Who runs The Social Verdict?
The Social Verdict is run and operated by Alex Trusca.