A few answers to questions you may have...

Why would anyone share their idea?
Simply put, when you share your idea, you become the catalyst for its growth. Sharing forces you to describe your idea and in doing so, hear how it sounds, observe reaction to it, gather feedback and attract support. Through this process, your idea changes, but always your idea remains - at its core - an expression of yourself.

I get why sharing is good, but what's to stop someone from stealing my idea?
Because each idea is an expression of an individual, ideas can't be taken from you. There are as many unique ideas as there are unique people. Furthermore, while ideas can sound similar, odds are that once realized, they won't be, because they are expressions of the different authors. That's why we call the people who come up with ideas "IDEAuthors". No two creative expressions are alike.

Then why do some people get trademark, patent and copyright protection for their ideas?
They don't. They employ these legal tools once they have figured out how to execute on their idea. Trademarks cover things such as logos; patents handle the actual formulas and details of how an idea is being delivered; and copyrights, well, we give you one of those on your Idea Page; it protects your representation of your idea, not the idea itself. The government has yet to say here's an 'IdeaMark' and we think we know why...innovation would be stifled! If you can't absorb one idea in the creation of another, how would we evolve? How would we learn and grow? This may sound very idealistic but it's the truth.

OK so put your money where your mouth is. Did you share IDEASTOX before it launched?
We sure did. We had to. How could we know if it was lame or cool? And most of the people we shared the idea with, have become a part of what IDEASTOX is. For example, while IDEASTOX is an original idea, we have credits to give (to John Gilmour, Victor Kaufman, Barry Diller, Bill Clinton, Dean Garfield, Helen Rosenberg, Sarah Taylor, Wendy Kopeikin and more) - all people who had ideas from which IDEASTOX grew. This honor system of credits is so essential to making ideas happen that we've institutionalized it as part of IDEASTOX. Every IDEAuthor can give and receive credits (and if you credit someone who is not yet on IDEASTOX, encourage them to sign up). The more credits you give and receive, the better; better for your STOX VALUE, more exposure for your ideas, and you have a natural stake in others.

Still, you do provide a few neat tools. What are they?
1. You get a date and time stamp when you publish, memorializing the entry of your idea in a public place.
2. We copyright your Idea Page, in your name, if you wish to have its representation protected.
3. Our membership terms are pretty strict. Using an idea off the site without the permission of its Author is in direct violation of IDEASTOX's terms of use which all members agree to when they vote or author.

What if I have an idea that I want stolen! What if I don't want the burden of making my idea happen, I just want it to happen (already)?
Say so. Don't copyright your Idea Page and do say that you want someone to step up and give it a go, and discuss the degree to which you want to be involved, on your Idea Page. You can select to put your idea "up for adoption" when you author it.

Now tell me about analyzing other ideas. How long does it take?
10 seconds, with one caveat. The first time you do it, unless you have already authored an idea, it will take about 60 seconds longer because you will need to register with our site. Registering allows us to set up your STOX ACCOUNT where you can access information about all the ideas you have either published or analyzed and it gives us a bit of information about you which we use in our STOX VALUE formula. This information is aggregated which means it is not connected to you, personally, in any way. We combine it with all the other people who register with IDEASTOX (that’s the aggregation part). It’s our belief (you’ll notice we have a lot of opinions) that without an obvious request for your permission, the practice of connecting people to personal information should be illegal, and to us it’s just wrong. Please if you have any doubt, read our privacy policy or send us a question. We take this matter very seriously…our business depends on your trust.

What if my friend wants me to analyze their idea but I don't think it's a very good one?
No worries, your friend can't see your analysis unless you publish it so go for it. Your friend needs honesty more than yes's.

What are the benefits of analyzing an idea?
Analying an idea gets you in the door; you’ll learn more about it in the Author's "Extra Information" section and discover the idea’s current STOX VALUE.

Why do you say “current” STOX VALUE, does it change?
Yes, think of the STOX VALUE as a measure of an idea’s value at a specific point in time, every hour actually when we publish it. Our system works a bit like the stock market; you can look up the value of a public company at a specific moment in time (though IDEASTOX doesn't close and go home to a family at night because, um, it's a website). Therefore as ideas change, their STOX VALUEs change too, to reflect their development.

So how often will the STOX VALUE change?
IDEASTOX updates the STOX VALUEs once every hour.

Companies publish press releases to alert their investors to new developments, so how do we find out about an idea’s development?
IDEAuthors can publish news stories any time they have something to share with the community. Once you analyze an idea, you can sign up to be notified when news stories are published.

Real stocks are bought and sold everyday which drives their values up and down. What happens when my opinion about an idea changes because of news that is published or competitive news or for whatever reason, I just feel differently? Can I change my analysis after I have already submitted it for an idea?
Yes, you can. Any time you feel more or less optimistic about an idea, login into your Stox Account and change your analysis through your STOX ACCOUNT to reflect your changed opinion about a particular idea.

What is the STOX VALUE formula?
Ah yes, the secret sauce. This is the domain of our resident smart people who have put together an “algorithm” (math equation) which combines your votes with your opinions and how you use the site and aggregated demographics and some other stuff to determine a value for each idea. (Unfortunately, if we told you the precise formula, we’d be giving away part of the execution of our idea). Remember, IDEASTOX’s goal is to give you more influence, much more, over which ideas see the light of day and the STOX VALUE is a critical component to our achieving this goal. If the STOX VALUE provides an accurate and current indication of which ideas will be successful, in a true “marketplace of your imagination”, companies and others will have to pay attention to it.

Why can’t I see the STOX VALUE until after I vote for an idea?
There has been a lot of research done which shows that we’re all better at making decisions when influence by others is reduced, and in this case, IDEASTOX does everything we can to make your first vote a completely independent one. Groups operate really well when members can do this, and sometimes very poorly when they don’t.