This document describes the different roles, processes, and features that are available and how to access and use them
This guide shows the help topics, roles, and workflows relevant to your current account. Protected staff and administrative processes are only listed when your account is authorized to use them.
Common starting points for readers, members, subscribers, patrons, and marketplace shoppers.
Create a free member account using the signup form. Staff can connect eligible legacy print or digital subscriptions to the web account so you do not need to purchase the same subscription twice.
Open this workflowUse the subscribe options on the About page. Digital and print subscription options are available, and pricing no longer depends on service-area geography.
Open this workflowStart with the signup form, verify your email address with the code we send, and keep your password private. Staff will never ask you for your password.
Open this workflowCreate a free member account, then submit an article, photo album, photos, or video as a draft. Staff review drafts before anything is published or considered for print.
Open this workflowUse the contact form for account, subscription, advertising, announcements, and general support questions. If you are signed in, you can also open a support ticket from your account so staff can track the request and follow up in one place.
Open this workflowNo. Obituaries, birth announcements, graduation announcements, engagement and wedding announcements, and ordinary classifieds are individual self-service ads. Sign in or join free, choose the ad type, create and save the ad, pay securely, and the ad publishes online when payment completes. Staff then handles the print queue for print-ready ad families.
Open this workflowPrint display ads, digital companion ads, patron business profiles, and marketplace listings are connected to an advertiser company or organization. Announcements and ordinary classifieds do not require a company association.
Open this workflowStart from Legal Notices and choose LLC Listing. You can sign in or create a free member account, enter the notice copy, review the listing, and complete payment securely. After payment, staff will submit the LLC Listing to the print queue, manage the publication run, and attach the notarized affidavit when the run is complete. We can help with the publication workflow, but we cannot provide legal advice about what your LLC notice must say.
Open this workflowThe marketplace is for new, unopened physical goods from producer businesses physically located inside our service area. Orders are local pickup only; shipping and delivery are not available. Cannabis, alcohol, tobacco, firearms, ammunition, fireworks, explosives, batteries, paint, and toxic chemicals may not be sold. Staff assigns marketplace categories to qualified advertiser companies. Associated patrons can then list eligible products for that company.
Open this workflowThe $1 newsstand price is intentionally subsidized, and subscriptions are what make it possible for the newspaper to exist at all.
Newsstand copies are offered at a low price for people who only need the paper occasionally, including visitors, part-time residents, or those who simply prefer to pick it up when convenient. At $1 per edition, we actually lose money on every copy. We do this to support our advertisers, maintain circulation, and ensure the paper remains accessible as a newspaper of record. But if we relied on newsstand sales alone, there would be no Mountain Eagle.
A subscription, on the other hand, reflects the real cost of producing and delivering a local newspaper. It supports the journalism, the staff, the printing, the delivery routes, and the postage required to get the paper to individual homes and businesses. Subscribers are the people who make it possible for us to continue operating as an independent, locally owned news organization.
Subscribers also receive benefits that newsstand buyers do not:
We also maintain all of our technology infrastructure locally. Our web platform is 100% custom, built and improved based on community feedback, and we do not sell or share user data. Running our own systems, rather than outsourcing to ad-driven platforms, carries real costs that subscribers help sustain.
Roles are shown only when they are public, match your account role, or are below your current authorization level.
A reader, search crawler, or other unauthenticated visitor using public pages such as articles, events, legal information, weather, and support resources.
Each process below is filtered through the same route authorization checks used by the platform.
Public resources available without signing in.
Browse original reporting, essays, features, and public article pages without a web paywall.
Go to workflowUse the upcoming-events list to find community meetings, public events, local gatherings, and deadlines.
Go to workflowRead recent obituaries, birth announcements, graduation notices, and engagement or wedding announcements.
Go to workflowShop local-pickup-only orders of new, unopened physical goods from approved producer businesses rooted in the Mountain Eagle service area.
Go to workflowReview producer eligibility, product scope, category approval, and the local marketplace workflow.
Go to workflowReview current conditions and regional forecasts for the Mountain Eagle coverage area.
Go to workflowOpen the radio stream when available for live or scheduled audio programming.
Go to workflowBrowse public photo albums, images, and visual coverage published by the newsroom.
Go to workflowRead county guide pages for regional orientation, local directories, profiles, and useful community links.
Go to workflowAccess privacy, terms, copyright, cookie, security, payment, and email preference information.
Go to workflowSend a question or request to staff using the contact form.
Go to workflowCreate a free account and verify your email address to unlock member workflows.
Go to workflowChoose a digital or print subscription from the subscription options on the subscriber page.
Go to workflowRSS and sitemap resources are available for readers and search engines that follow public articles.
Go to workflowAccount and subscription tasks shown only when your account can use them.
If a county directory profile already represents you, your group, or your organization, request ownership from the profile page so staff can review and assign it.
Go to workflowReader and patron workflows for paid notices, listings, and ads.
Associate with an advertiser company, choose a print display size, upload or describe the creative, complete payment, and let staff handle print submission.
Go to workflowChoose the legal notice type, enter the notice copy, complete payment, and let staff handle print submission and affidavit attachment.
Go to workflowChoose an obituary, birth, graduation, or engagement announcement. Announcements are individual self-service ads: create the notice, save it, pay, publish online, and receive staff notification when it enters the print queue.
Go to workflowThe Mountain Eagle separates reader, member, subscriber, advertising, marketplace, staff, and administrative responsibilities so that newsroom integrity, customer service, and platform operations remain clear. Advertising, patron, and marketplace activity does not purchase editorial coverage, and staff workflows are limited to the accounts responsible for those tasks.
User Guide
