It's been over a month since we launched the community blog, and already you've written 400 entries! Because the blog is still kind of in experimental mode, we've got some bugs to fix and things to get it right. One thing we thought might be helpful was a more detailed guide to becoming a Feministing community blogger. If you've wanted to try it but been hesitant, or if you're already blogging but a little confused about how the whole thing works, below the jump there's a more detailed guide to using the community blog.
Getting Started
- Click on "Register" in the very upper right corner of the site.
- Fill out the requested fields, and you should get a confirmation email. Click the confirmation link. You should be registered! (Click "Edit your profile" in the upper righthand corner of the site to add more information about you to your user profile page.)
Writing a Post
- You should be able to write your post and edit it just like writing an email. You can format the text by highlighting it and clicking on the various buttons -- bold, italic, etc. We're still working on creating a "Preview" function, so hopefully you'll be able to preview your posts soon. Also, we're aware that the text-formatting buttons are not showing up for people who use Internet Explorer and perhaps other browsers. For a basic guide to formatting your text using HTML tags, click here. We're working on this problem, too!
- Inserting a picture: Click the button with a little green tree on it. (Next to the anchor.) Cut and paste the URL of the picture you want to insert where it says "Image URL." (This could be an image from a free image-hosting site like Photobucket, from which you'd copy the field that says "Direct Link." Or you can right-click on any image on the web, select "View Image" from the menu that pops up, and then cut and paste that URL.) Click "Insert."
- Inserting a YouTube video: From the video's YouTube page, copy the "Embed" code (which typically appears in the box to the right of the video) and paste into the body of the post.
- Choose your category from the drop-down list.
- Click "Submit" to save your post.
Community Blog Moderation
- After you've submitted your post, it goes into a queue for moderation. This means one of the Feministing editors will read it and publish it. Depending on how frequently we're able to check the queue of posts that day (we all have full-time day jobs other than Feministing!), your post could go up immediately or up to 24 hours later. We apologize in advance for the delay. If your post has been in the queue for longer than a day, please email us and alert us. That could mean there was a technical error.
- We reserve the right to not publish posts that contain hate speech or blatantly anti-feminist language, or that we know to be repeating false information. We also will hold posts that do not make a relevant contribution to the feminist discourse on this site. (That doesn't mean everything has to be formal and academic or anything -- it just means that rants that are completely off-topic, say, a video game review that lacks any gender/feminist angle, will be held.) In general, though, we will not hold a post just because we disagree with its opinion, as long as it's respectful, on-topic, and not deliberately spreading misinformation.
- If you have a concern about a commenter or blogger, please send a detailed email to contact@feministing.com.
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I know that this might get rife for abuse, but is there any way that you can let those who make the post able to moderate and control comments? While the community blogs are a little less likely to get trolled, they're not immune and, from what I can tell, those who are being trolled can't fight back other than to come to the regular posters for help.
Just a thought on how to make that area a little "safer."
I've emailed in about this, but just want to put it out there for others-- is anybody else getting an error message when you try to post something? I have an account, have a profile, have a link inviting me to write a post, and then I get an error message every time.
Am I the only one??
Frau sally,
I have not been able to get in either. I click on write a post and I get an internet explorer error message. I am thinking maybe I need to clear out my cookies or something?
Glad to hear it isn't just me!
The community page is 80% of the time, layout-wise, a mess for me. The margins are odd--some posts are tall and thin, with only a few words on each line, and others are long, so I have to scroll horizontally in order to read them, and they often overlap with the columns on the right side of the page, making it difficult to read. It looks this way on either my work computer or home. Does anyone else have this issue?
I have the same problem, Cedar. It does make some posts very difficult to read.
Mamma Mia, I've tried clearing out my cookies, and it still doesn't work.
Cedar, would you mind telling me what kind of browser you're using? (And just FYI, I'm having our tech person look at this thread - we're doing our best to work thru the glitches, I promise!)
Hi -- been having the same issues. I use Firefox but that the issue in Safari too. Thanks.
Jessica--
I use firefox and internet explorer.
I have the same problem with posting. I can comment but when I click on "Write a post" I get:
Not Found
The requested URL /community/create-entry.html was not found on this server.
Apache/2.2.3 (CentOS) Server at www.feministing.com Port 80
I have tried writing an email and got no response. It makes me sad. I use firefox also but it does it with Explorer as well.
PLEASE HELP.
I have the same problem. I've tried to alter the URL to community.feministing.com like the rest of the community blog, in case it was just something that forgot to carry over, but in that case I get told that I'm not allowed to create an entry.
I use IE 7. (Please, no Firefox-pushing. I have it, I've tried it, it's slow.)
I just wanted to say THANK YOU for creating the community blog feature -- it's a really cool thing, and I think it will be a great resource for discussion and generally creating more of an online community here. To everyone else: read the community posts, comment, and post away! :)
Let me just add that the only reason the error message even matters is because it is such an awesome feature of the website. Kudos to whoever came up with it! I love reading other people's stuff, and it means there is always something fresh here.
I'm using Firefox and Safari on my Mac and I cannot get it to open, either. Same error message.
I hope it gets fixed soon, I'm dying to share some posts with everyone.
Hey all,
Quick question, what's up with the profile pictures? When the Community side first launched mine worked but every time I've tried to upload one since then I just get a blank box.
That preview post would be wonderful! I've had some rather odd and unpredictable issues with html in posts, sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn't.
Another thought I'd LOVE to see implemented is for the author of a post to be notified when a comment is posted. That would make things much easier for keeping track of our threads.