Friday, September 6, 2002
Site maintenance
The site was down for a few minutes while we made some improvements to the service.
How to add Blogging Network blogs to BlogHog
A subscriber has asked how to add Blogging Network blogs to tracking services such as BlogHog. It's easy! Here's how:
- Enter the URL of the blog you want to monitor into BlogHog's Add Blog page. (Personally, to avoid typos, I go to the blog and copy its URL from the URL bar.)
- Click the Add button. You're done!
I just added Blogging Network News to BlogHog this way. This is possible since all blogs on Blogging Network automatically include headlines in RSS format, and support a new standard called RSS autodiscovery.
We'll be updating the Help pages in the coming week to describe these features in more detail.
Thursday, September 5, 2002
Relationships category
We now have some great blogs that cover relationships. These blogs are listed under Personal, which is so generic that it's not a terribly useful category.
So, I'd like to suggest that we add a Relationships category, move any other blogs in Personal to Other, and hide the Personal category for now. If anyone sees a problem with this, please speak up.
Read. Write. Rant.
We believe this new statement better reflects the site's mission. In one short week, we've seen a vibrant community emerge, with powerful voices, intense discussions and reciprocal links.
Changes to Post Excerpts and Number of Posts on Main Blog Page
As requested by several writers, the standard length of post excerpts is now much higher. Post excerpts are shown to readers who have not yet subscribed, included in e-mail sent using E-mail Page, and placed in your syndicated headlines (in RSS format). You can see what the excerpts look like by signing out before viewing your blog.
You can now adjust the excerpt length as well as the number of posts shown on the main blog page. To do so, select "Change display settings" on your blog editing page.
Writer Earnings Now Public
You can now see the estimated earnings to-date for each writer on their Profile page. For more info, see the earlier post on the ongoing transparency effort.
500th Post!
Congratulations to
Tenorman.Net for writing post #500 on Blogging Network!
Wednesday, September 4, 2002
Blogging Network coverage on Paid
Paid has a
post on Blogging Network and the ensuing "raging debate".
Joanne Jacobs on Blogging Network
Joanne Jacobs has an encouraging
post about her Blogging Network experience on her free blog. She also points to a relevant
cartoon "worth 1,000 words".
Service Improvements
We've made a few improvements requested by subscribers, and fixed a critical bug.
- As part of the increased transparency effort discussed earlier, a Stats section has been added to the home page
- A bug that could allow a member to discover another member's e-mail address, by checking "Send copy to me" on the Send E-mail page, has been fixed
- The non-subscriber "sign in" link has been made more visible
- The text on statements has been updated to clarify the end date of the statement period
