Ask MetaFilter questions tagged with blog

Best blog platform for easy commenting but little spam

bystander — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 05:12:42 -0800

Best blogging software to allow easy commenting by strangers but avoiding comment spam. I want to start a new non-commercial blog that encourages comments from readers, but avoids as much comment spam as possible. I realise this is tough, but what is the best current solution? I am not up to date on this area, but I want a middle ground that perhaps avoids a registration stage or moderating every comment. Is there possibly a comment option that allows a comment to be written, but it only goes live after a link delivered to a valid email is clicked? Is there a better solution? I feel captchas are not as effective as they have been, yet I want to avoid robot spam, but also make drive by valid comments be possible. Is this a pipe dream?
I can probably install any suitable software, but my preference is a *nix based solution or hosted. Free is better but not essential.

I need a specific CMS that allows each user to edit one part of a page.

grumblebee — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 14:27:46 -0800

I need a page of bios integrated into a WordPress site. I would like to give each person the ability to update his own bio without letting him mess with other people's bios. It would be awesome if the list was alphabetized. In other words, if you visit the bio page, you'll see something like this:

Fred Alberts has worked at Acme for five years. He lives in New Jersey...

Alice Jordan loves the NY Times Crossword and...

Peter Smith is a gourmet chef who has lived in London and Paris...

If, say, Alice no longer likes the crossword puzzles, I would like her to be able to log in someplace and change her bio, but I don't want her to be able to change Fred's bio.

This system will slowly grow in terms of me adding more people. Currently, there are about 100 people. I will probably add about ten more people to it each year. These people will regularly want to update their bios, and I don't want them to have to email me each time they want a change made.

Ultimately, I want all the bios on to be on one page of a Wordpress blog.

Is this something that exists already, or do I have to code it myself?

Typepad blog question

londongeezer — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 14:08:29 -0800

I have a Typepad blog. I would like to make all my posts that are more than a certain period old - say, a week, but that might change - inaccessible except to people who have registered with me by providing their name and email address. Can I do this using Typepad? There don't seem to be any 'widgets' that provide this functionality. I'm not at all sure that Typepad is capable of being 'programmed' in this way, but I hope that I am wrong. Any suggestions gratefully received.

How to get an RSS feed from a website that doesn't have an RSS Feed.

gm2007 — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 09:40:39 -0800

Setting up an RSS feed for a job board that does not have an RSS feed subscription. Is there a way to do this? I would like to add an RSS feed to my iGoogle pages for USAJOBS.GOV searches that I have set up. USAJOBS.GOV allows you to subscribe to searches and receive them by email, but does not have a way to subscribe via RSS.

I went to feedage.com, which has a tool that they call HTML2RSS, which is supposed to convert any HTML page to an RSS feed, but it doesn't work very well on USAJOBS.GOV.

ANy ideas

Print is dead; help me replace it

TochterAusElysium — Sat, 24 Oct 2009 09:16:34 -0800

What's the best platform for a local community news and events site? I've volunteered to set up a site which will serve as a news source, events calendar, and community hub for an area encompassing three or four small cities. I've done personal blogs, and a single-area blog in Blogger, but for this larger project I'd like to expand my options. Is Wordpress a better way to go?

Are there other platforms I should look at? I know Ning is dead or dying (or so I've heard) but it seemed to have the flexibility to do something like this. I don't mind learning a new system, but I'm not a programmer, so I don't feel ready to build a site from scratch. Ideally, there is a pre-existing community news platform that I can customize to be exactly what is wanted.

Also, do you know of any local blogs or community news sites that are well-designed and useful that I could look at as reference?

Many thanks in advance!

"Just add RSS"-type instablog needed

ignignokt — Thu, 22 Oct 2009 14:47:40 -0800

Recommend a free blog provider that can use an RSS feed as a source for content, but also has a decent comment system. I know Tumblr can create blogs that translate RSS feeds into Tumblr blogs, but - by design - they don't have a robust comment system. You can try to drop in something like Disqus, but I've tried that before, and the results are ugly.

Why I'm looking for this: A friend of mine would like to take his Google Reader shared items feed and present it as a blog that strangers can comment on without too much trouble.

Self-help but I need your help - what should I name my blog?

Chrysalis — Fri, 16 Oct 2009 05:31:37 -0800

Help me name my blog! I'm in the process of turning my life around and changing some really unhelpful mental habits and would like to start a blog basically about the things I'm learning and trying towards enjoying and living life more fully, feeling good in my own skin and having a positive attitude etc, hopefully to a) keep me motivated and on track with this and give me a place to record the journey and b) hopefully maybe give other people some ideas/inspiration. I'm thinking along the lines of each entry being about a little concept or something I've been thinking about or an idea I'm trying, maybe a question, rather than a "dear diary" overly personal to myself style.

I'd like something positive and catchy and easy to match with visual images, so I was thinking of something like "making life sweet" but less cheesy, but am open to any suggestions (on any theme) at all as long as you don't mind if I ultimately end up using your idea :)

Why Should You Use Social Networking at Work?

Jaybo — Wed, 14 Oct 2009 19:06:47 -0800

Many workplaces ban social networking sites such as Facebook, YouTube, Twitter and so on. What are some of the reasons workplaces should allow (and even encourage) staff to use social networking sites? I'm particularly interested in the case you would make to someone in the healthcare field but examples that are applicable to other areas, especially those that may ban social networking site for privacy or productivity reasons, are welcome as well.

How Do I Promote My YA Fantasy Novel?

musofire — Sun, 11 Oct 2009 08:33:51 -0800

I want to promote my Young Adult fantasy novel about Morgan le Fay on the web. The biggest audience should be young women and libraries; Wiccans, medieval re-enactors and King Arthur fans would dig it, too (I hope). How can I best promote the book myself? What sites and blogs should I contact? Are author's tours effective? What should I definitely put my efforts into and what's not worth my time? I've written a fantasy novel about the childhood of Morgan le Fay which is coming out next year. My publisher probably doesn't have huge resources for promoting the book, and I want to do my part.

I've thought of doing a virtual author's tour, contacting blogs and websites for (a) young adult readers (b) Wiccans (c) medieval fans (d) King Arthur fans. What are the blogs and websites I shouldn't miss?

Also, here in Canada, publishers can get grant money to send authors on real live book tours. If I hit four or five major cities, how can I get the maximum buzz out of being physically there? It's not worth traveling to Calgary to sell ten books, unless I can leverage that somehow into radio interviews or ... what?

I'll work up some sort of website about the book and about Morgan le Fay, of course. What sort of content might be the most interesting to readers?

What have I missed?

Slow & Steady

ocherdraco — Mon, 28 Sep 2009 15:07:16 -0800

Why is my website loading slowly, and how can I fix it? My blog (linked from my profile page) seems to load incredibly slowly (sometimes taking up to a minute), even though it's not a content heavy site.

Things that may be relevant:

the blog is Wordpress v. 2.0.4

the admin page for the blog loads up just fine, with no delay

it used to be hosted at the .com version of the url, but after a brief scare in which I lost access to that url (though it was later regained) it was switched to .org, and I'm not certain that I changed absolutely everything that ought to have been

the page displays my Twitter feed, which is the main content that resides on the main page and comes from outside the site itself

Why is it loading slowly, and what can I do to fix it?

For those of us who didn't go to Harvard. . .

Ndwright — Sun, 27 Sep 2009 23:26:53 -0800

Are there any sites or blogs dedicated to pointing out great courses and lectures not to be missed on iTunes U? The Mefi post with this question's origin.

How can I drive traffic to my new sports blog?

ORthey — Fri, 25 Sep 2009 17:23:05 -0800

Another questions about driving traffic to a new blog - but this one is specifically about a sports blog. I have gotten some very good ideas from previous threads, but I'm hoping I can elicit some suggestions that are specific to a sports blog. I have recently begun blogging about baseball, usually about the Oakland A's and San Francisco Giants (site is linked to in my profile), and I'm wondering about ways to drive traffic.

I am a regular at a few related sites, like Athletics Nation, McCovey Chronicles, Fangraphs, and Joe Posnanski's Blog, and have begun to plug the blog in places like my signature and such (as well as re-posting an entry as a fanpost a time or two). I have made a few facebook announcements, and told friends who have interest in this sort of thing. But I'm at a loss as to other ways of getting the word out.

If it helps, the blog is general musings about the A's and Giants and baseball in general (and occasionally other sports), where I am informed by sabermetric/modern statistical thinking but don't go too deeply into analysis - rather, I try to made it funny and chatty and readable for those aren't as interested in that sort of thing but still appealing to those who do. It'll be most interesting to A's and Giants fans, methinks.

Thanks for any advice! And don't be afraid to be brutally honest... I have no expectations of success, only tempered hopes.

How do I create an anonymous blog that I can update from my iPhone?

renyoj — Thu, 24 Sep 2009 13:41:32 -0800

How do I create an anonymous blog that I can update from my iPhone? I have an idea for a blog. I tend to work in a conservative field, so I would like it to be anonymous. If I could update from my iPhone that would be perfect. Is this possible?

Is there a software command center for social networking sites?

Me, The Snake — Sun, 20 Sep 2009 22:05:20 -0800

Hey all, Just a quick question, here. Currently I am trying to manage a number of blog-esque sites, i.e. MySpace, Face book, Word press, and of course Metafilter. I was wondering if anyone knew of programs to help maximize my productivity when updating these. For example, I often post new songs I have created. Is there any program that would allow me to post an update across all my pages from one central hub? How about managing my messages from these sites? Any way to manage those in my regular email, or is there a program that could unify these? Basically I'm wondering if there is some type of "command station" program to help manage multiple sites like this one. Thanks in advance for any help! Hope you all had a great weekend.

What Should I Do To Make My Blog Grow And Kick More Ass Even Though I Have No Free Time?

miss lynnster — Sat, 19 Sep 2009 23:41:06 -0800

Tips on how to keep a blog's potential growing when your available time is shrinking... Okay, so a lot of you guys already know about HiddenLA. I created it 4 months ago when I was unemployed. I had time to update it 2-5 times a day and worked really hard on the design. Then, partly with the momentum of the site, my career started turning around. Now I'm the busiest I've been in 2 years... working full time and commuting 2 hours a day. I'm exhausted. I try to update the event calendar constantly, but it's hard to create posts at work without getting busted so I've just kind of let it slow down.

Thing is... I still have big dreams for what HiddenLA could become... and while the traffic is dwindling as the posts become less frequent, I know the potential is there. I originally told myself I'd give myself 3 years to make it work... and then in less than 3 months it made over 820 Facebook fans. People have really shown a lot of enthusiasm so I can't let this thing die like most blogs do... it needs to thrive. There's so much potential and I think a lot of people really want this type of community site (but better -- because down the road I really want to make it better than it currently is).

I was looking at writing a business plan for the site but am still not completely sure of the big picture so I found myself paralyzed. I feel like what I want to create is something that doesn't exist yet. To start monetizing it, I started a relationship with blogads.com, but haven't had time to put any ads up yet and with with the traffic decreasing while I'm focused on my day job the ads are becoming less valuable I'm sure. I need to figure out the big picture first and get a gameplan for making the site really kick ass. It was really starting to build some serious momentum before I got distracted.

So far everything on the site has just been done by me for free. What I'm looking for is tips on how to make this site successful and not a bear to oversee. I know down the road I'll need to delegate but I don't have much money right now. Even if I could send the copy to someone else and have them import it into WordPress might be helpful since there's less of a chance I'd get busted by my boss seeing the WordPress page on my screen.

Thoughts?

(BTW, I already subscribe to Daily Blog Tips.)

icanwritewhateveryouneed.blogspot.com

SinisterPurpose — Mon, 14 Sep 2009 12:03:29 -0800

Have you ever referenced your personal blog as a writing sample for a job? I've been trying, as of late, to find work actually related to my degree in English. I haven't done any work as a paid writer ever. At best, writing and editing have been small portions of previous employment. But I can't really send a copy of a customer contact letter (or other official document) I edited or wrote previously due to one circumstance or another. Most of the creative writing I have done has been on my various blogs. Content and my affinity for being generally offensive aside, can I reasonably use these blogs as writing samples? Have you ever utilized your personal blog in this way and what were the results? Have you ever hired anyone based on what you saw on their blog?

And obviously if you look at my sites and have design notes you want to give me feel free. I'm all about improvement and I really have no feelings. So go nuts.

Can I complain about a doctor online?

arcticwoman — Fri, 11 Sep 2009 06:45:12 -0800

I had an absolutely terrible incident with a homophobic doctor. I have taken all the steps to report him to the local College of Physicians and Surgeons, and I hope he gets disciplined, but that doesn't address the systemic problem of homophobia in family physicians in my area (and it doesn't help me find a less homophobic doctor to switch to). I would like to blog about the incident, contact gay and lesbian associations, etc, but I am worried about being sued for libel/slander/I don't know. Will I get in trouble if I write publicly about this incident? Can I use the Dr's name? I'm in Alberta, Canada.

How can I rename the default 'Blog' in a fresh Movable Type installation?

jaffacakerhubarb — Wed, 09 Sep 2009 09:47:01 -0800

Just set up a Movable Type blog/site/whatjamacallit for the first time for someone else, and though I'm pretty tech-savvy I can't for the life of me figure out how to rename the path to the blog part of things. Help! The main parts of the site are made up of several pages, and all of that's fine, but I want to repurpose the 'blog' part as a news thingy instead. I'd have thought this would be easy, but adding a new blog brings with it a sort of nesting arrangement. As I said, I've never used Movable Type before as a admin, and while this may be embarassingly easy, I can't figure it out. I hate to waste my AskMe question on something that seems so trivial, but there's a bit of time pressure involved so I don't have time to trial and error the answer like I normally would. Thanks!

P.S. I'm using the latest version off the website (4.31) if that helps.

My Wife Hates Movable Type!

smithmac_99 — Mon, 07 Sep 2009 14:58:51 -0800

Can you import a MT Blog into blogger?

What should I be reading?

csjc — Mon, 07 Sep 2009 03:33:11 -0800

I ask you, educated and oh-so cultured MeFites, what should I be reading? Everything's in order, except for my RSS feeds. I'm in need of a good mix of wit, news, and good ol' amusement from the world over to serve as nothing less than my daily reading material. Help me stock that RSS reader. A little background on myself: I'm a 15 year old, suffice to say "linguistics junkie" from Vancouver, Canada.

As far as news goes, I like to have a variety of angles, political and geographical. Whatever you think would leave me with the most accurate and comprehensive knowledge of world news. Locally, if any Vancouverites could oblige, please do.

Otherwise, I'm open to anything. I haven't done well keeping up with all the news lately, but a couple places I enjoy visiting, are, for example: languagehat (of course), and The New York Times book review. I'm generally a big fan of book reviews, interesting short fiction, food, design, geography, history, travel, theoretical physics, photography and anything linguistics-related. I'd like to have a couple links under each of those headings, at least to peruse during the day.

I know there's a lot out there, but I'm only asking for the bare essentials, or at least your personal favourites.

Anything in French or German would be appreciated too, even Swedish/Danish/Norwegian... if you have anything in mind.

I want my blog posts, not my blog.

jefficator — Thu, 03 Sep 2009 12:26:45 -0800

How do I make the posts I make to my blog show up as integrated posts on a different website? I'm not entirely sure how to explain this question.

I have a blog. Its called blog.blogspot.com. I have a website. Its called website.com. My blog is obviously a blog. I would for their to be a page on my website called "My Blog." Instead of opening my blog in a new tab, instead of opening my blog in the same tab, I want to open a page that looks like every other page on my website. But in the middle of that page, where the content is on every other page, I want the content to be "pulled" from the blog. That means the content is constantly updated automatically every time I update the blog. As a result, no one visits my blog, but they receive the blog postings when they visit my website's blog page.

Does this make sense?

Can it be done?

Can it be done by a person who doesn't know enough to know how to explain what he wants?

del.icio.us --> wordpress

eccnineten — Wed, 02 Sep 2009 18:23:52 -0800

Import delicious.com links to wordpress as 'blog entries' - how? I do not want a feed of my delicious data in my wordpress. I want to migrate all of my delicious data to wordpress. There are plenty of tools to migrate other formats into wordpress. There's nothing particularly exotic about delicious data. I'm going to guess a tool doesn't already exist because of a mental disconnect. delicious is thought of as a bookmark service, wordpress is thought of as a blog / site manager. But my delicious data is made up of (short) 'blog entires' - title, URL, notes, date, categories, etc. Importing this data shouldn't be any more difficult than importing blogger data, for example. But I've been stumped for over a year, and those I've paid to find an answer for me have failed. delicious is not a tiny or obscure service, yet... I'm just not having any success. No success either in converting delicious to something else and then converting that something else to wordpress. Many thanks in advance.

How do I deal with a defamatory blog post?

Anonymous — Wed, 02 Sep 2009 07:51:07 -0800

What counts as defamation/libel on an online blog? A post was created that calls me gay (I am not) and says a lot of very negative and inaccurate things about my character. Any lawyer recommendations in DC? There is someone who, for complicated psychiatric reasons, developed a severe dislike of me. This is an extraordinarily vindictive and immature girl whom I have NOT wronged in any remotely substantial way. She created an anonymous blog and posted alleging falsely that I'm gay and saying a number of inaccurate and very negative things about my character. (Basically, name-calling.) I'm concerned that this will affect future job prospects since the post appears within the first couple of pages of search results for my name. She confirmed to a mutual friend that she wrote the blog but refused to take it down. Google/blogspot says they don't take down defamatory posts without a court order.

What are my options, and what are the criteria under which a defamation/libel suit can be started? Is there something I can do short of a full blown lawsuit just to get the court order I would need to have Google/Blogspot take down the post? Does anyone have recommendations for lawyers in DC who handle this kind of thing? How much time and money is this likely to cost, and can I recover costs from the person who made the post?

By the way, to whatever extent this is relevant, the post itself was made in California but I reside in DC.

I am most grateful for any advice you guys have.

Help me Find Out More About my Musical Neighbors

bluefly — Mon, 31 Aug 2009 07:58:08 -0800

Can you recommend some blogs that focus on the music scene in Washington, DC? I'm interested mainly in hip-hop/funk/soul and indie rock (but not rap). I've been going to some local music concerts this summer mainly by accident, and I've always enjoyed chatting with the other concertgoers about the musicians which they always seem to know so much about. I'd like to know a little bit more about the musicians living among us, so I can intentionally go to some shows this fall.

I read DCist sometimes, but I find it overwhelming to find what I want because of the amount of posts.

How do you write for your blog?

Anonymous — Fri, 14 Aug 2009 05:17:28 -0800

How do you write for your blog? I'm just starting out and would like to know how others approach writing and editing ...and maybe if there is a secret Bloggers Bible no one's told me about? After hanging around the sidelines for a while I've plunged in and started publishing posts on my very own wordpress blog. It's a personal/individual blog, but will likely be related enough in topic to get linked in to my career identity/professional life (ie: it's not about trolls). I listened to an inspiring little podcast by merlin mann and john gruber which talks about being-your-bestest at your one true thing. I can't say exactly what that thing is yet, but I'm okay with the probability that my blog is going to suck for awhile. So I'm keeping it off the market and not telling anyone (nope, not even my SO) until I'm convinced I can keep it up. I feel like my biggest challenge is getting my once-weekly post done and posted. I'm hoping if I just keeping writing I will hear my "voice" more clearly, and figure out wtf my blog is actually about. Does that sound right?

I'd like hear from some long-term bloggers (I know you lurk around here. I've read your blogs). Extraneous advice is also very welcome, and you can email me at whachameanwhatsablog@gmail.com, but here are my concrete questions:

1. Do you write on the fly, or have an editing process? While there are no doubt people in both camps, did you maybe start out your blog one way and change process? Any thoughts on one way or another? I can't decide if writing on Monday, editing Wednesday and re-editing for the post Friday is going to yield better results or just strangle me into dullsville.

2. What keeps you going? I'm sure there are more reasons for starting than you can swing a cat at, but (assuming you don't make cash-money with your blog) what keeps you at it? Any advice on getting through the slumps that will no doubt assault me? Any big no-nos here (like, maybe: Don't write about writer's block)?

3. Can you recommend a book/blog post/podcast/something that really helped you with blogging? I like reading. If you don't have the answers, please, give me something to read. (And yes, I read blogs ;). And if the aforementioned Secret Blogger's Bible does exist, then an Amazon link would be kindly appreciated.

Thanks.