Participation requires a valid email address, access to the WWW and knowledge of some area of science. Scientists join by filling out an online sign-up form. This form asks for the person's name, email, institution, level of education, areas in which they would like to answer questions, and a brief description of their research interests. In addition, the moderators have the option of providing feedback, or of requesting further changes to submitted answers before they appear on our site. For this reason the MadSci Net instituted the review of answers by moderators.
Moderators are graduate students or professionals with expertise in their particular fields.
Nonetheless, with a small staff, it is impossible to have every last detail confirmed by a second party. Disclaimer - Place a disclaimer stating the limitations in providing absolutely correct material, and provide a means for people to notify the site maintainers of errors. Referencing of information - We ask that experts provide references for information that cannot be found in a general text on the subject. Reference materials may include books, journal articles, AV media, or acceptable web sites. Any forum allowing people to ask questions of 'experts' can quickly become very popular, attracting a lot of traffic, but increasing the work load on those maintaining the web site.