The purpose of this page is to help folks grasp the technical basics of this BLOG.
This is a REAL blog being hosted by Google and your posts are search-able by Google and other search engines, so be aware that anything you say here can and will be used against you.
Home Page
Is the base of the site, it has many sections which contain information about the site and posts.
Search this Blog - makes it easier to find Articles & related comments than previously.
Followers -Lets you see who has asked to follow your posts and will be notified via other systems like Twitter, AIM of Gmail when you post.
Blog Archive - Is an advanced way to store articles/threads. Rather than having to scroll through months of back posts, the reader can go directly to the month and scroll through a smaller number of articles to find what they are looking for.It makes finding the currently active debates easier.
Contributors - All subscribers to Argument Clinic have the power to post comments to published articles. These are the people who are authorized to create articles.
- This is the way Google has set this system up - they intended it to be a soap box for just a few contributors and limit the number of subscribers we can authorize.
- A study of AWC activity revealed fewer than 1 on 8 posters created new original content threads/articles based upon a review of just under a total of 1000 posts/comments.
- Subscribers who desire the permission to post Articles will be granted the privilege as long as they have adhered to the Standards we have set forth AND actually create new and original content posts.
- Because we are limited to the number of subscribers who can have authoring privileges we must insist you either use it (wisely) or loose it to someone who will post.
Subscribe to - allows the subscriber to have this blog fed to other systems using the same RSS feed technology as Google is using.
POSTING COMMENTS
At the end of each article, down by the author's ID is a line which gives you two options:
- Click on the comments option and you will be given the screen to post your comments
- You also have an option to have follow up comments sent to your email account.
- Click on the subscribe option and you will be fed the article and comments made by anyone.
POSTING ARTICLES
Those subscribers who have authoring privileges will have another screen and vastly more powerful editing tools than on AWC.
- Subscribers who want to post original content and do not have a record of creating the static as outlined on the standards page may request an upgrade to Author status and be able to post Articles. Due to the limitation on Authors placed on this blog by Google we need folk with that privilege to either use it or loose it. Simply send a request to Jffrsnsmith@gmail.com and ask for Authoring privileges, please be patient as being an Admin is not a full time. job and I may go several days between checking my emails.
There are two places you can either create a new post (or thread) or edit a previous post. These are highlighted with the two arrows. Click on either areas to get the editor.
The editor is where the real power begins to show: - If you want to post, simply fill in a title and write your text and that's it. You will be given three options at the bottom left
Publish - means post it for the world to see
Save as Draft - Allows you to save your piece and come back to it later
Preview - Enables you to see the final version before you publish it.
Link (under the Title box) allows you to post a link to another website or blog page and make it accessible by merely clicking on the title.
Labels (Lower R corner) - allows you to put "metadata" key words on your post so that others looking for key topics you cover can readily find it. Remember potentially you and your posts will be playing to a much larger universe of readers, so this is a key that allows others to support or "refudiate" your assertions.
