I've posted several blog posts here in the past month but I'm still really confused about the workings of this site.

For example, I'm sure there's a logical explanation for why some posts stay on the front pages without many comments or recommendations while others that draw a lot of interesting and meaningful responses just disappear. WHY do they disappear when they're still so active?  Is there a way to find them again if I haven't commented on them?  Is there a link to reader archives?

In the TPM Cafe right now under "Recent Reader Posts" there are five posts by the same person, three with unfinished titles, and only one comment and no recommends.  That's pretty careless.  I've also noticed that reader posts stay on the front pages for days, sometimes without much traffic or recommends.  At the same time, several really interesting threads that I've been following are nowhere to be found except in my own list of comments.  I wouldn't be able to find them at all if I hadn't commented on them. (Sometimes I comment on a thread just to have a record of it in My Blog.)

I also see that threads are cross-posted in Cafe, Muckraker, TPMDC or tpmTV without any real reason for being there.  When I first started posting my blog, I would choose either Cafe or Muckraker depending on the content.  I wasn't getting much response and then I noticed that others were posting in all or most of them.  I've been doing it, too, but it's often obvious that what fits in Cafe, for instance, doesn't necessarily go into Muckraker.  But there it is.

Anyway, if someone could please fill me in on how this place works, I would really appreciate it.  Is there a reader forum where the mechanics are discussed?  I don't want to take up space with something like this if there is a place where I can find answers.

 I'm posting this in both Cafe and Muckraker because it applies to both.  I think!

(BTW--what are Trackbacks?  What is the "Outbound, Trackback, URLs" box used for?)