I think of this blog as belonging collectively to the contributors. If I have done anything at all to shape it, I have done so with the understanding that the contributors wanted it to be a "new gathering" place for former contributors and commenters from dotCommonweal. I have done nothing to recruit new contributors, commenters, or even new readers. While it's a rather small group, the participation rate is high. My attitude toward the blog has largely been (to use the old cliche), "If it ain't broke, don't fix it."
Anyone, whether an official contributor, a commenter, or someone who has just stumbled upon the blog and finds it of interest, is free to invite others to check it out. Anyone with a Gmail account (or any one of number of other accounts) is free to comment without intervention on my part.
I have, and will continue to, grant contributor status to anyone recommended by an existing contributor, under the assumption that the existing contributor is confident the newcomer will "fit in."
A number of people have urged that any longer post should be broken by use of the "insert jump break" button so that only the beginning of the post appears on the home page. As has been pointed out, the button is just to the right of the smiley face on the formatting bar.
For those creating posts using the HTML option rather than the Compose option, the HTML coding for inserting a jump break is as follows:
<!--more--><br />
You may need to experiment by adding another <br /> code above and/or below for appropriate spacing.
David, thanks for the code to make the jump break. I tried to do it on my Cardinal Law post but as when I've tried it before, it doesn't work for me. I just get a big space but then the post continues. Not sure what I'm doing wrong.
ReplyDeleteYou do not see the break when you Preview the post. The code I gave only functions when you Publish. I have not spent a great deal of time experimenting, since I use the Compose option, but so far I have been able to switch back and forth between Compose and HTML in the course of creating a new post. So you can compose in HTML, switch to Compose, and use the icon described above to "insert jump break."
DeleteI did actually publish - I don't ever use preview. And I did try back when the jump break thing first came up to write my post in html and paste it into compose, but when it published, it was all messed up. I tried this a bunch of times back then and then got frustrated and gave up, but I'll keep trying. Thanks for the help.
DeleteDavid, thanks for your input. "If it ain't broke, don't fix it" is kind of my philosophy about these things, too.
ReplyDeleteI do have a question about things saved in "drafts". Can other people see that content, or is it just available to the person composing it? Sometimes it takes me awhile to get my thoughts organized; and something saved in drafts isn't quite ready for prime time.
ReplyDeleteYes, other people can see it. I would not put drafts over there on the off chance that someone publishes it by mistake. I would write drafts in Word or something, and then use cut-and-paste.
DeleteThanks Jean, good suggestion.
DeleteThanks, David, for clarification.
ReplyDeleteYesterday, I managed to hit a keystroke combination by mistake (I am not sure which one) and it turned on email notifications, apparently only for one particular thread. So I started getting email notifications every time someone posted a comment. The emails give me the option to unsubscribe, which I did (or tried to do; I got some message which leads me to wonder whether the request actually was processed). At any rate, the emails have stopped; I am not sure if it's because I was able to unsubscribe from it or perhaps it is just a dormant thread now.
ReplyDeleteJim, just don't press the keystroke combination that empties your bank account.
ReplyDelete