Blogging Tips

“Laughter and tears are both responses to frustration and exhaustion. I myself prefer to laugh, since there is less cleaning to do afterward.”
― Kurt Vonnegut

Posts, Pages and Gadgets

The primary content of a blog resides in its Posts which present the topics for consideration. However, the practical navigation of the blog use Pages [accessible through the horizontal page-link-list under the header] which present

• the latest post [the page titled Next Symposium] as well as
• other information about the blog [eg. this page titled Blogging Tips ].

A blog page can be of unlimited length, contain images and hyperlinks and be formatted by the blog editors to enhance readability [rather than being presented to the viewer as simple text where numbers and blank lines must be supplied manually to enhance readability].

Furthermore, each blog page has the same Gadgets [located on the sides and across the top and bottom] which help you access other features such as

• the Post Archive [which allows you to navigate to prior posts],
• the page-link-list [which allows you to navigate to any blog page] or
• the search box [which allows you to search all blog posts and pages for words].

Comments and Replies

Each blog page [including but not limited to the Next Symposium page] has a small "comments:" link at the bottom which bloggers can click to view and/or enter

• a new Comment on that specific blog page or
• a Reply to an existing comment or to another reply.
• To reply to a comment, use the Reply button immediately after that comment.
• To reply to another reply, use the Reply button immediately after that reply.

Each comment and its set of replies collectively form a Comment-Replies strand capturing and exploring a given train of thought about the subject on the post-page. Combining all the Comment-Replies strands at the bottom of each post-page creates a self-contained e-dialogue consisting of three parts:

• the post-page itself at the bottom of which appear [chronologically]
• all the comments on that post-page followed [hierarchically] by
• all the replies to each comment.

 Signing in

• Due to the presence of malicious hacks and malevolent robots, most blog engines require some sort of "identification" before you can make comments or replies. If you have a Google Account, use it to sign in at the upper right of any blog page.
• If you do not have a Google Account, there are other user profiles available at the bottom of the comment/reply form.
• In case, you wish/need to comment anonymously, just choose Anonymous as your user profile; however, you will get a screen to prove you are not a robot.

Navigating and entering

• At the bottom of every page/post is a link to the comments made on that page/post and an invitation to make your own comment. [The count shown in this link includes both Comments and Replies to comments ... so don't be confused]. By clicking on this link, you will expose a chronological list of all Comments with a sublist [beneath each individual comment] of the Replies to that specific comment.
• When you first click the comment link, you may be positioned to the bottom of the last reply to the last comment and shown the box to enter your own new comment. By paging up you can return to the beginning of the comments and read them by paging down in chronological order to get a better idea of what your fellow bloggers have already expressed and what still needs to be added.
• At the end of each Comment you have an option to Reply to the comment. Replies will be shown chronologically beneath each comment. The replies to any individual comment can be hidden or exposed by clicking on the triangle next to "Replies". By hiding replies you can more quickly progress through the major comments ... although you may miss important thoughts.
• You can enter as many replies as needed [even to your own comments] to extend your ability to complete your thoughts ... some dense thoughts require more words to be readily digestible
• Comments and replies are limited to 4,096 characters [including spaces] and cannot contain hyperlinks. So be concise and use your own words ... good rules in all dialogue. 
• If the comment/reply you entered does not "show up", it may have been flagged by the spam filter [which Google does not allow us to turn off]. We try to check this, but you can also notify us know at newsymposium@gmail.com and we will go into the span filter and retrieve it for you.

Improving readability

• When entering a new Comment, use a heading such as "FEATURED COMMENT by Xxxx Yyyy" if you are a featured symposiast or "INDEPENDENT COMMENT by Xxxx Yyyy" if you are not a featured symposiast but you feel the need to add something to the discussion that cannot be added as a Reply to an existing comment.
• A brief heading to any comment or reply will help orient the blog reader more quickly.
• Use numbers and blank lines to enhance the readability of your comments and replies.

Post Archive 

At the end of each symposium, we add actual pictures and video-hyperlinks to the bottom of the post-page with any final comments needed to "complete" the symposium experience.

Then when the next New Symposium post-page is initiated [to begin a new symposium], the blog automatically moves the last post-page into the Post Archive [which appears in the gadget on the right hand side of every blog page] along with all comments and replies making a permanent record of the blog experience so that bloggers can continue to access the archived post-page.

Share your blogging suggestions with us

These are just a few hints that may help improve your blogging experience. And if you find yourself frustrated, just enter a Comment on this page and either an editor or a fellow blogger will sooner or later reply to your concerns. And above all ... remember to laugh!