7 replies to this topic

[Helene]

What Is a Blog?

A blog is an online journal.   You can think of it as a combination of a mini message board and a diary.  Blogs are a great way to define your own space, as long as the entries and photos follow the guidelines listed below.  Some suggestions are a seasonal diary, ballet memories, essays, a year of ballet side trips, great stages, competitions, festivals are just some of the possibilities, and a single blog can span different "categories."    Blogs are self-moderating as well as being moderated by the Ballet Alert! board moderators, and you can decide whether or not you want others to comment on your blog itself, or to comment on Ballet Talk.  

On Ballet Alert!, blogs are in a separate "module" that in many ways works like the board itself, and there is a link to them at the top left of each Ballet Alert! page, under the logo.

Before you blog, here are a list of

Rules and Policies:

1.  Blogs topics are limited to ballet and other arts.  That doesn't mean that you can't mention that the day you saw La Bayadere in Paris you visited Notre Dame, or that you saw a wonderful production of The Tempest at the new Opera House in Copenhagen, where the Royal Danish will perform large productions.  But a blog shouldn't be a travel log or a cooking blog with a little ballet on the side.

2.  All of the board policies -- including our policy that all news must be in print or announced officially -- are in force for hosted blogs, which will be moderated.  

3.  You must be a Senior Member in good standing to create a blog on ballet and other arts from the audience point of view.  Any other ballet-related topic (teaching, technique) must be pre-approved by a member of the Administrator team.  You must be a Member in good standing to comment on the blog itself (where the blogger allows comments) or on the Board.

4.  All blogs are self moderating, as well as being moderated by Ballet Alert! moderators.  That means that the blog owner may edit any comment made by another poster on his/her blog, may refuse any comment up front, or may delete any comment from the blog retroactively.

>Bloggers may choose to refuse all comments or any comment for any reason, except where a moderator comments on policy.

6.  Please note::  If we need to remove a blog because of policy violations, it may disappear without notice, and there is no archive.  

Please click any of the following links to go to the instructions:
How to Set Up and Configure a Blog
After First-time Set-up
How To Manage Your Hosted Blog (includes posting entries and moderating)
How to Notify People of a New Blog Entry
How to Goto a Blog
To Comment on a Blog (on the blog or board)
Additional Options

[Helene]

How to Set Up and Configure a Blog -- you must be in the group "Senior Member" to create one.  (Your group is in your profile and is listed under your name in every post.)

1.  Click your username in the upper right corner of every page and select My Settings from the drop-down box.

2.  Under "Your Options" on the left under the toolbar, select "Blogs" (It's a link, but not underlined.)

3.  If you agree with the Blog Terms & Rules,

a. Click the checkbox to the left of the statement "I have read, understood and agree to these terms of the Blog usage" at the bottom of the text.

b. Click the Next button.

4.  Enter the name of your blog.  The default will be [Username]'s Blog, but you can change this.  (It can be changed later.)

5.  It is optional to enter a description. (It can be changed later.)

6.  The default is Local Blog and can't be changed.

7.  Select the "Finish" button, et voila, you have created a blog with the following default settings, which you can change later**:

Your local Blog settings

+ Guests who are not members and members who are not logged in may view your blog. ("Allow guests to view your Blog?"=checked)


* You can block guest from seeing you blog by unchecking the box.

+ Comments are allowed ("Disable comments?" checkbox is not checked)


* You can disallow comments by unchecking the box. (All other comments settings will be moot.)

+ You will not automatically receive email when someone posts a comment ("New comment notification?" is unchecked.


* You can receive email notifications by checking the box.

+ Your entries will default to draft/unposted and you can publish them when you're ready ("Default status of new entries?"="Draft")


* You can change this to "Published", which will display entries immediately after posting.

+ All comments will be posted/published automatically, without approval. ("Approve comments posted on your blog?" = "No approve")[list]


* You can change this to "Approve all comments", and no comments will appear until you manually approve them.  (Choosing "Approve guest comments only"will do nothing, as guests can't post on the site.)

Customize the look of your Blog

+ Your entries will be displayed in a list ("View mode of Your Blog"="list")


* You can change this to "List per date" or "List per month"

+ 10 entries will display on each page ("Number of Entries per page"="10")


* You can change this to "5", "15", or "20"

+ 20 comments will display on each page ("Number of Comments per page"="20")


* You can change this to "5", "10", "15", "25", or "30"

+ Entry size is limited by group permissions ("Limit the entry size on main Blog page"="0")


* You can change this to a number of bytes, but if it is larger than group permissions, group permissions will prevail.

* It may be helpful to print this post as a reference while you set up your blog.


**Please note:  These settings may be changed at any time from "Options" button on the Managing Your Blogs page.  By clicking the button, you can:

+ View Blog
+Post New Entry
+Manage Settings
+Manage Categories
+Manage Comments
+Manage Entries

You can get to the Managing Your Blogs page with the "Options" button by any of the following:

1. Click your username and select My Settings, which will bring you to the "Your Options" page.  Click "Blogs".

2. Click your username and select "My Blog", which will bring you to the first blog on your list, if you have more than one.  Click the "Go" button and select "Manage Your Blogs".

3. Access your blog through its URL.  Click the "Go" button and select "Manage Your Blogs".

Edited by Helene, 24 May 2011 - 11:26 AM.
To update for upgrade version

[Helene]

After First-time Set-up

As soon as you create your blog, it will appear on "Your Current Blogs" list on the "Manage Your Blogs" page with an "Options" button.

You can change settings, described in the post above, or

1.  Manage categories -- create custom categories to filter your posts:  

+From the "Manage categories"/"Options" button, add a category to the input box and click "Add Category".  To delete a category, check the box next to the category and click
+From a blog entry itself, click the "Options" button, select "Edit entry", click "Add New Category", enter a new category in the input box, and click the small green "+" button.  (Clicking "enter: will lose your entry.)


* The new category will be checked for that entry, in addition to any other categories previously assigned.
* Uncheck the checkbox to remove categories from a post.
* Default is "Uncategorized" if there are no custom categories are created and assigned, or the you delete the custom category.
* Please keep "Uncategorized checked for people who want to see all entries.
* Once created, the category can be used for any other entries, but the new category has to be applied manually.

2. Manage comments -- delete, approve, un-approve comments

+ Select an option from the drop-down box at the bottom right of the comment you wish to manage and click the "Go" button.

3.  Manage entries -- Navigate to the entry to edit, delete, lock, feature, un-publish, publish, and create and assign new categories.

[Helene]

How To Manage Your Hosted Blog

1.  When you click on Your Blog from My Controls, or if you bookmark your URL,

a.  The default category will be "all."
To change this, select a category from the "Filter by category" drop-down box in the upper left corner.
b.  Any drafts will show, with a pink background, in contrast to the standard light blue background.

c.  Last Entries and Last Comments will be updated, if there's been activity.

d.  Unread posts will show a little orange square with a tiny white bottom right corner to the left of the entry.

2.  To Create an Entry in Your Own Blog:

a.  Click the Add Entry link from Your Blog Options.

b.  A screen will open that looks very similar to a standard post screen through the Enter Your Post section.

c.  There is are two additional options
i. Under the Entry Title, there is an option to select the category (Post Entry in Category)
(a)  The default is "none."
(b) If you've set up categories, you may select one.
© If you click the Preview Post button, the category entry will be retained.
(d) The category can be re-set later using the Edit function.
ii. At the bottom of the screen in the Options section, there is an option to set the way the entry will be published (Add this entry as... drop-down box),
(a) The default is to "Draft" or "Published," based on your default option in Your Blog Settings.  
(b)  You may change the selection before you click the Post New Entry button.
©  If you change the selection and click the Preview Entry button, the selection will revert to the default.
d.  Click the Post New Comment button to post.

e.  If you've saved as "Draft" and want to publish the entry,
i. Make the Entry Options visible if they are not already so by clicking the button.
ii.  Click the Publish button

3.  To Moderate Your Own Blog

Bloggers may choose to apply stricter standards to their blogs than the board does.  If these standards/rules are published, they may not discriminate on the basis of race, religion, gender, or sexual preference.

a.  If you choose to "approve all comments," comments will appear on a pink background, and won't be visible until/unless you "Publish" them.
b.  You may edit or delete comments before or after they are published.
c.  The Entry Options allow you to Edit or Delete the corresponding entry (yours) or comment (other posters').
d.  If the entry or comment is in "draft" mode, use the Publish button to post to the board.
e.  You may toggle between "published" and "draft" for entries or comments.
f.  You may lock an entry "thread."

4.  To Add Photos to Your Blog Entry

a.  Under the entry post box is an Attachments section, from which photos can be added.
b. Adding a photo is a three-step process:
i.  Enter the path and name of the file in the input box or click the Browse button to browse through your files and select one.
ii.  Click the Add This Attachment button.
> The name of the file will appear under the input box.
iii.  Click the Add into Post button.
> In the entry input box, the code [attachmentid=[x]] will appear.
c.  When the entry is submitted, the photos will appear as thumbnails, with "CLICK TO ENLARGE" in small type across the top.
When this text is clicked, the photo appears full size.
d.  Removing a photo is a two-step process:
Delete the correct [attachmentid=[x]] from the post.
Click the Remove button.

[Helene]

How to Notify People of a New Blog Entry

In this version of the software, it is possible to choose to get email notifications of new entries.  You are welcome in your blog announcement on the board to encourage people to choose the option from any entry on the blog:

+ From the blog main page, in the top left, there is an option to "Subscribe to [Blogname]".  Click the first icon "Track this blog", which will send email notifications.
+ Alternately, select "Track this blog" under the "My Blog Links" box in the right hand column.

It is also possible to subscribe to comments for a blog entry by selecting the "Start Comment Notification" button at the bottom right of every post (when comments are enabled at the blog level).

To announce a new entry on Ballet Alert! itself,

1.  Start a thread in the appropriate forum either

a. On the subject of the entry:  Ex:  "Margot Fonteyn's New York Performances" in the Dancers forum.
>Please note that the discussion may expand on the subject beyond your blog entry.
b. As a blog announcement:  Ex:  "New Post in John's Blog" in Heads Up!/BLOGS.

2.  Add a post to an existing thread:  Ex:  "I posted a review to last night's performance in my blog [link to blog]" in the "Week 3 Reviews" thread in the NYCB forum.

Please remember to link back to the thread from you blog entry if you choose this option

[Helene]

How to Goto a Blog

1.  Click the Blogs link at the top right hand side of any page to get to the list of blogs.

2.  If the blogger has chosen "Friendly URL" option and his/her username for the "Friendly URL," the link to his/her blog will be:

www.balletalert.invisionzone.com/blog/[username]

Once you find a blog, you can bookmark it/add it to your favorites.

[Helene]

How to Comment on a Blog

We've asked bloggers to indicate on their blog if comments should be made on the Ballet Alert! site instead of the blog.    If the blog accepts comments on the blog, please note that blogs are self-moderating, and that the blogger may not get to your comment immediately (or even quickly).

If you prefer to comment directly on the blog (and the blogger allows this), please:

1.  Enter text in the "Leave a Reply" box, the equivalent of "Quick Reply" on the board.

2.  Click the "Post" button or select "Use Full Editor" to get regular post formatting options and the preview option.


If you prefer to comment on the Ballet Alert! site, please copy the blog entry URL from the browser and paste it into your comment.  (You may have to "Start New Topic" to create a new thread.)

[Helene]

Additional Options

There are a number of additional options.  Please play around with them, and if you have a question, open up a new thread in this forum.