Frequently Asked Questions

Questions:

OK, I'm here now. What do I do?

You can either start an investigation - or join an existing investigation. You can start and join as many investigations as you like.

Once you have started or joined an investigation, you can accept one of a number of challenges set by the site. Typical challenges might be:

  • Add 3 useful links about this issue to help others
  • Persuade 2 other people to help you with your investigation
  • Write a typical answer to your question with blanks where information is missing
  • Find the answer to this question
  • Find out who is responsible for this area
  • Verify some information added to the investigation

If you accept a challenge, a member of the website team can help you pursue it if you post an update saying where you need advice.

What are challenges?

Challenges are the way we break down investigations into manageable tasks. At the moment they are set by people working on the site - Paul and Heather - but future versions of this site should see users being able to set them as well. 

The more challenges are completed within an investigation, the more prominently that investigation will feature on the site, and the more likely it will be to attract other people or attention, which means it's more likely to get results. It's a virtuous circle.

I've just submitted an investigation - why can my friends not see it?

Before an investigation is published it has to be moderated to make sure it's not spam, or libellous. We also help to make sure the question is as well phrased as possible so people can find it easily. The support journalist may contact you to talk about the question in more detail.

Nothing's happening with my investigation - why?

It's down to you to make your investigation a success - the more detail you can add, and the more useful people you can invite to an investigation, the more will happen. If you contribute to other people's investigations they are more likely to help you (and you'll probably pick up some useful knowledge and contacts along the way). And the more active your investigation is, the more visible it will be on the site.

What do I do if I have documents I want to upload to the site?

Help Me Investigate does not host documents - we ask you to upload them elsewhere and link to them here.

We've written a guide on how to do this - you can find it here.