YES, BUT WHAT DO I *TELL* THEM 'ABOUT ME'?

Shamus of Twenty-Sided is planning a site update, including tweaking his "About the Author" page, and asks:

What sort of things do you look for when reading about the author of a site? My picture will be there so people will know the basic name / age / gender stuff. But beyond that, what questions do you usually have about the people you read?

My personal preference for an "about me" page is to actually have an "about me" category. You start the category with one post containing all the basic name/age/gender stuff you're willing to share, then use it as a catch-all for any "5 Wacky Things About Me" meme-posts that you do to appease the friends who tag you, and any posts that are essentially nothing more than diary entries about your day, like "Ate lunch at McDonald's today. Yay! Fast food!".

Some folks sincerely enjoy other people's life-trivia. Gather it in one place for them.

HOW TO EMBED YOUTUBE VIDEOS - UPDATED 4-9-07 9:45AM

Everybody else does it, and I wanted to do it to, but couldn't figure out how. When I tried clicking the "post this video" link at YouTube, it didn't list Movable Type as an option, plus they wanted my blog password.

Looked kinda like a dead end.

UPDATE 4-9-07 9:45AM: Blogson Contagion of Miasmatic Review points out in the comments that the embed code is actually provided in the box just to the right of the video at the YouTube site. Looks like I wrote all this for nothing.

So I found someone with an embedded YouTube video, looked at the source code, and figured out what to do.

The embedded source code looks like this [bolding added by me]:

<p><object height="350" width="425"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/gNqiSkd1M6k"><param name="wmode" value="transparent"><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/gNqiSkd1M6k" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" wmode="transparent" height="350" width="425"></object></p>

A typical YouTube URL looks like this [bolding added by me]:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yPxzsFRPQd0

In order to embed a YouTube video, just replace the bolded parts of the embedded source code with the bolded part of the YouTube URL, then put the new embedded source code in your post.

Like this smart dog fetching a tennis ball (link e-mailed to my by Beloved Wife TNT of Smiling Dynamite):

Anyway, here's the plain text version of the code. Just replace the "VIDEO ID" part:

<p><object height="350" width="425"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/VIDEO ID"><param name="wmode" value="transparent"><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/VIDEO ID" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" wmode="transparent" height="350" width="425"></object></p>

Blogger Note: I had trouble getting a video to post at Blogger because it said I was missing a closing tag for the <embed> opening tag. I stuck one in toward the end and it seemed to work fine. Thus:

<p><object height="350" width="425"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/VIDEO ID"><param name="wmode" value="transparent"><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/VIDEO ID" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" wmode="transparent" height="350" width="425"></embed></object></p>

NOTE: [If you've found this post useful enough to blog about, send a trackback or e-mail the permalink to me at harvolson-at-gmail.com and I'll add you to my Bad Example Groupies blogroll. See this post for details]

HOW TO NOT LINK SOMEONE

Every once in a while, you'll see a post on someone's blog so offensive to your sensibilities that you just HAVE to write about it. After all, the urge to rip somebody a new one is the source of many a great post.

However, that raises a problem. When you link to something, you raise its profile on search engines, you reward the writer by giving him the attention he seeks with his repulsive antics, and you run the risk of his readers following your referral and/or trackback and leaving troll-poop all over your comments.

On the other hand, if your readers don't read the article in question, how are they to fully understand what's got you so upset? Sure, you could summarize the piece, but you run the risk of inadvertantly leaving out important context.

Some people might suggest just copying the post in its entirety and including it in your own post, but that gives an unpleasant whiff of plagiarism.

Besides, there might be mitigating explanations in the comments that your reader ought to see.

So what to do?

Well, consider that by mentioning the offending post, you're probably not actually denying the offender site traffic. Chances are that your reader will take the time to Google around and end up at the target site anyway.

With that in mind, I suggest making it easier on your reader by providing a plain text URL (e.g., http://badexample.mu.nu/archives/032786.php). That way you don't help the Google rank of the page, but you DO offer your readers the convenience of being able to find the post by copying and pasting the URL, without giving a link that would draw attention back to your site.

It's not a perfect solution, since the repugnant piece still gets more attention, but I believe that good blogging revolves around maximizing reader convenience, and this technique accomplishes that.

NOTE: [If you've found this post useful enough to blog about, send a trackback or e-mail the permalink to me at harvolson-at-gmail.com and I'll add you to my Bad Example Groupies blogroll. See this post for details]

HOW TO MAKE BLOGCHILDREN

Even though I encourage everyone to start blogging, I must reluctantly admit that it's not for everyone.

As evidenced by the Bad Example Family Milk Carton Kids.

So here's my advice for prospective blogparents who wish to avoid blogmiscarriages:

Only try to blogparent qualified people.

Here's what I mean by "qualified":

1) They comment on several different blogs regularly, preferably daily.

2) Their comments are relevant to the posts they're on.

2) Their comments add either insight, experience, or humor.

Why are these traits important?

Because they indicate that the person reads blogs, understands the concept of blogging, shows some desire to participate, and demonstrates the all-important blogger trait of regularity. If a reader's not inclined to make time for regular commenting, he probably won't be inclined to make time for regular posting, either.

And let's be honest. Blogging isn't something you FIND time for. You MAKE time for it, usually at the expense of time spent doing other things.

Like eating, sleeping, and making love.

But if you're lucky, it'll only cost you a little TV time. And if it's the nightly news you're giving up, you're really better off, since all the GOOD news stories are being covered on blogs, anyway. And with more quality, detail, and accuracy.

Anyway, if you're lucky enough to have one of these qualified commenters, go ahead and send 'em a link to my "How To Start Blogging" post, and just keep nagging until they give in.

A word of warning:

DO NOT encourage friends, relatives, or co-workers to start blogging if they don't already meet the above-listed criteria.

Being a blogger who stands the test of time requires a passion for self-expression. If it's not there, your blogbaby MIGHT be able to drag on for a few weeks out of a feeling of obligation to you, but eventually it'll just seem like too much damn work, and they'll be back to worshipping their PlayStation before you can say "Blogger 404 - Page Not Found".

If you REALLY want to get your friend/relative/co-worker blogging, start by getting them to read your favorite blogs. Once they see how fun and interesting the whole phenomenon is, they might decide they want to join in.

On the other hand, there's also an old saying about leading a horse to water that you'd do well to keep in mind.

Now, having said that, I'll say this:

I could be wrong.

Personally, I think I left a grand total of 3 comments before I started blogging, so there are obviously exceptions to the above guidelines. Maybe the person you have in mind for your blogchild might be a shy-but-eager protoblogger just like me.

Or maybe that commenter you couldn't get to shut up will blog for a week and then just drop off the face of the earth.

You never know.

I'm just saying that in my experience, it's the yappy, yappy, yappy, yappy ones that will go the distance.

NOTE: [If you've found this post useful enough to blog about, send a trackback or e-mail the permalink to me at harvolson-at-gmail.com and I'll add you to my Bad Example Groupies blogroll. See this post for details]

HOW TO MAKE FAKE PICTURES WITH MICROSOFT PAINT

At some point in every blogger's life, they are gripped by an urge to post a picture showing one person's head on another person's body.

I assure you, it's quite natural, as proven by the fact that I've felt the urge myself.

Ok... not a good example.

Anyway, you may have thought that in order to satisfy that desire, you'd have to spend a billion dollars to buy a licensed copy of Photoshop and then spend 10,000 hours learning how to use that unwieldy piece of crap program.

Not so.

Today I'm going to show you how to make a "good enough" picture using the lame-ass Microsoft Paint program that comes with Windows. Now, the finished product won't be the super-slick and nearly seamless sort of image you'd see from Reuters, but it WILL be good enough to serve as a punchline for an amateur blogger's typical rib-pokery.

Let's say, for example, that you wanted to put Matty O'Blackfive's picture on a dollar bill as your way of supporting his impending run for the Presidency.

Here's what you need:

The Google Images search engine
Microsoft Paint
A steady hand
Patience

First, find a picture of Matty O'Blackfive. Which is impossible, because he's never posted it and no one knows what he looks like. So you use the next best thing - a picture of the Pillsbury Doughboy. Plug the term into the search engine and find a likely looking image. Here's one:

Download this to you computer to a folder where you'll be able to find it. I like to use my Desktop.

Next, find a picture of a dollar bill using a similar technique. I'll just download one from Bad Example, since I've got hundreds of them.

Open up MS Paint (probably under Start> Programs> Accessories), and use it to open the dollar bill picture.

Now, MS Paint doesn't allow you to open up a second image in the same window without losing the first image, so you need to open up a second instance of it by doing the same thing you did to start it the first time. Now you can open up the Doughboy picture in the second Paint window.

Here's where the "steady hand" comes in. Click the freehand select button in the toolbar (it looks like a 5 pointed star).

Now, starting anywhere on the edge of the Doughboy's head, click and hold your left mouse button and carefully trace the outline of the part of the image that you want to copy. You may want to enlarge the view to 200% first if you're working with a small picture.

Now release the mouse button and panic slightly as the selection outline reverts to a dash-lined square box.

Don't worry. It's a feature, not a bug.

Go to the menu and select Edit>Copy.

Now go to the Paint window that has your dollar bill picture. Select Edit>Paste.

Panic slightly as Paint displays your pasted selection in the middle of a big white box.

Another feature.

Near the bottom of the toolbar are two buttons with geometric shapes on them. Press the lower one.

This should cause the image you pasted to revert to only the part of the image you originally selected.

Now you just drag it over Washington's portrait, then - if necessary - stretch the Doughboy's head using the corners of the selection box until it looks more or less right.

Left-click somewhere outside the selection box to paste the Doughboy head into place, and you're done. Just save it and it's ready to upload into your blog post.

Some words of caution: I've had trouble getting this to work right using .gif format images. If you absolutely MUST use a .gif image, then after you download it, open it with Paint and then save it as a .jpg before you begin working with it.

Also, you might want to do a quick test drive of the image you'll be selecting from in order to get a rough idea of how the finished product will come out BEFORE you spend 10 minutes carefully tracing the outline. Just do a rough tracing first without worrying if you include a few chunks of background. There have been times when I discovered that I needed to find an image that was bigger, smaller, or needed to be from a different angle to make the final result look acceptable.

Finally, don't worry if the image ends up looking a little rough. It doesn't need to be good enough to fool the Secret Service, just good enough to get your point across.

Now go have some fun, you little devil.

And remember to vote Blackfive '08.

NOTE: [If you've found this post useful enough to blog about, send a trackback or e-mail the permalink to me at harvolson-at-gmail.com and I'll add you to my Bad Example Groupies blogroll. See this post for details]

NEVER LOSE ANOTHER COMMENT

[Inspired by a comment from blogdaughter Michele of Letters From New York City]

How many times have you tried to leave a comment, only to have it timed-out, errored, or otherwise eaten?

Yeah, me too. Some of my best work - gone forever. Far too complex to ever properly reconstruct.

The way to keep this from ever happening again is a simple 3-keystroke trick. It's not even that inconvenient, since - at the time you do it - you're probably going to be moving your hands from the keyboard to the mouse anyway. You just need to add this little habit before you click submit/post/enter, and you'll be safe from loss.

Here's what you do:

Right after you finish typing your comment, but just before you click submit/post/enter, hit the following keys:

Press the CTRL key and the "A" key at the same time.

While still holding the CTRL key, hit the "C" key.

That's it. You're done. Took you less than a second. Go ahead and click submit/post/enter.

What you've just done is put the entire contents of your comment onto your computer's clipboard. Now if your comment does not get published for whatever reason, you can just re-open the comment window, and paste your entire comment back in (Ctrl+V, Edit-->Paste, or [right-click] --> Paste, depending on your personal preference).

One second. Three keystrokes. Do it for a week, it'll become a habit and you'll never lose another comment again.

P.S. This works for saving your blog-posts, too, although I still recommend composing them in NoteTab Light.

NOTE: [If you've found this post useful enough to blog about, send a trackback or e-mail the permalink to me at harvolson-at-gmail.com and I'll add you to my Bad Example Groupies blogroll. See this post for details]

PREVENT "NAKED BLOG SYNDROME" IN UNDER 60 SECONDS

Nothing is sadder than visiting someone with a Movable Type blog and seeing a blank front page, completely devoid of entries - what I refer to as Naked Blog Syndrome.

Turns out you can prevent NBS by editing a single line of code. Allow me to quote this post from Kevin of Wizbang:

In your Main Index template, replace this:
<MTEntries>

With this
<MTEntries lastn="25">

That's it.

And you can change the 25 to whatever you want. I'd recommend 10 at a minimum. I personally use 50, since I've been known to crank out that many posts during a good week, depending on how hard the lemur is shaking.

NOTE: [If you've found this post useful enough to blog about, send a trackback or e-mail the permalink to me at harvolson-at-gmail.com and I'll add you to my Bad Example Groupies blogroll. See this post for details]

BLOGGER'S UNHELPFUL AUTOMATIC LINK COMPLETION - UPDATED 3-16-06

Blogson Peter of Shakey Pete's Shootin' Shack has had a problem with his links for a while. Seems that sometimes his links would mysteriously include his blog URL at the front of the link, taking the reader to Blogger's "not found" page.

I've seen other people with this problem occasionally, too, and since I finally figured out the solution a little while ago, I thought I should probably share.

When you put a link in your Blogger post, you have to include the "http://" at the start.

If you just start with "www", Blogger "helpfully" fills in the first part with your blog's URL in the published post.

For example, "www.powderinc.com/" becomes "http://shakeypete.blogspot.com/www.powderinc.com/" when you click the link.

But if you use "http://www.powderinc.com/" it works fine.

So if you're you're on Blogger and you're hand-typing an URL (or copying the short version from somewhere else), make sure that you've got those "front 7" characters in your link before you hit post.

UPDATE 3-16-06: At Alliance HQ, Basil points out that it's not a bug, it's a feature - and that it's not just Blogger.

NOTE: [If you've found this post useful enough to blog about, send a trackback or e-mail the permalink to me at harvolson-at-gmail.com and I'll add you to my Bad Example Groupies blogroll. See this post for details]

FILL OUT COMMENT FORMS FAST

Do you have favorite blogs that don't remember your information in the comment section from one visit to the next?

Do you use Firefox as your browser?

If you answered "yes" to both of these, here's a handy solution:

The "Signature" extension for Firefox.

Now frequently-used snippets of text are just a right-click away.

[Hat tip: _Jon of We Swear, who also points out these other extensions]

NOTE: [If you've found this post useful enough to blog about, send a trackback or e-mail the permalink to me at harvolson-at-gmail.com and I'll add you to my Bad Example Groupies blogroll. See this post for details]

HOW TO FIND A TRACKBACK URL WHEN THE SERVER'S DOWN

(Inspired by a question from currently blogless nephew Mike, who actually did a guest post at That's Not Very Nice!)

In order to find the trackback URL for a post, you typically have to click a link to make the trackback URL show up in a pop-up window.

An increasingly common problem with MuNu blogs is that the trackback server returns an error screen. It's only a temporary glitch, and always clears up eventually, but you want to ping the post NOW!

What can you do?

Well, the trackback URL *is* buried in the page's source code. Here's how to find it:

Now, at the top of your browser, go the the "View" menu and choose "Page Source" (if using IE, it's "View"->"Source".

Somewhere in that alphabet soup is the trackback URL you're looking for. The way to find it is to search for the following string of text (you can probably just hit "CTRL+F" to make the "find text" dialog box pop up):

trackback:ping

this will be followed by the trackback URL in quotes. Usually something like:

http://blog.mu.nu/cgi/mt-tb.cgi/xxxxxx

It'll definitely have the letters "tb" in it, so you'll know you're looking at the trackback URL.

NOTE: [If you've found this post useful enough to blog about, send a trackback or e-mail the permalink to me at harvolson-at-gmail.com and I'll add you to my Bad Example Groupies blogroll. See this post for details]

LOOKING FOR INSPIRATION FOR YOUR BLOG NAME?

Let's say you want to name a blog but can't think of anything cool. Here are three options:

Random blog name generator

Random band name generator (refresh for a new set of names)

The Word Constructor

They probably won't hand you the answer on a silver platter, but they'll likely spark your creativity if you toy with them for a while.

Hmmm... "Naked Thoughts"...

HOW TO ARGUE WITHOUT FIGHTING

A reader e-mailed me recently and mentioned that, while she had a strong opinion on my current debate with Ogre about the origins of the universe, she was worried that if she posted on it or left a comment, she'd start getting hatemail.

A not-invalid concern.

However, in my experience, I've found that you usually don't need to worry about hatemail as long as you keep your posts confined to ideas and don't make snarky personal comments about another blogger.

Don't get me wrong - I have NO problem with laying out blazing-hot personal invective. But, personally, I reserve that for public figures who are used to that sort of thing and who dismiss me as being a bitter old crank. When it comes to discussing ideas with a "person of blog", though, remember that your name-calling WILL get back to him - maybe through Technorati, or referer logs, or trackback, or an e-mail from a friend - and you WILL have to answer for your cheap shots.

Don't take them unless you're prepared to either defend them or apologize.

For example, in this post arguing about the Iraq war, I called someone a "pecker-head". This personal insult was unprovoked, and when I was called on it, I admitted that I was wrong and apologized for it.

Lesson learned - NEVER initiate name-calling when arguing with another blogger.

Nevertheless, there will be times when you decide to take the plunge and discuss with a fellow blogger a contentious issue about which you feel strongly. This CAN be done without degenerating into a schoolyard shouting-match if you remember one simple rule:

DON'T USE THE "S" WORD

Which in this case is "stupid".

It's fine to call an idea wrong, unworkable, ill-advised, impractical, speculative, or unfeasible - but the minute you call it "stupid", you've just implied that the person you're arguing with is ALSO stupid for holding that idea.

Same goes for any synonyms.

After that, it's the downward spiral of Godwin's Law, and someone is going to get called a Nazi.

So my advice is - stick with the issue

State your position, then state your reasons for believing as you do. If you can't explain your reasons clearly, consult Google or Wikipedia to find some better-written argumentation to support your point and link that.

When reading someone's contentious response, you may feel the need to use the "S" word. Keep in mind that your fellow blogger is NOT stupid. They have very likely put SOME thought into their position, but simply failed to explain of what that thought consisted. ASK them to explain their reasoning. Given enough probing, you may well discover that there ARE reasons why an otherwise intelligent person might accept a notion that you consider wrong. Once you have those reasons, THEN you can debate whether they're sufficient to support the conclusion.

You CAN have a civilized discussion on a hard topic. It just takes a little patience.

For further tangentially related thoughts, see also my posts on:

Rhetoric

and

Trolls

HOW TO DISPLAY HTML CODE IN YOUR POST - UPDATED 9-12-05

So, let's say you have this cool little piece of HTML code you want to tell people about, but every time you try to post it, your stupid blogging software interprets the code instead. How do you get the code to just show up so people can copy it directly?

For an example, I'll excerpt from this post:

<img src="http://www.YourSite.com/FolderName/ImageFileName.ext">

A simple little trick: instead of actually putting "<" in your post, you use the code that tells your post to display that sign instead, which is

&lt;

Just use that in place of every "<" in the section of code you're posting.

So the code above would be:

&lt;img src="http://www.YourSite.com/FolderName/ImageFileName.ext">

And no, you don't have to replace the ">" signs, since replacing the "<" is enough to keep your blogging software from going "Hey! Here's some HTML for me to interpret!"

It's a little more work for you as the writer than just using square brackets and telling your readers to "replace [ and ] with < and >", but it makes your post handier for your readers, since now they can just copy & paste whatever code you're blogging about.

PS Tangentially related, here's a list of codes you can use for displaying other fancy characters, like ™ ½ ® ©

UPDATE: Caltechgirl of Not Exactly Rocket Science points out that there's a fancy little on-line keyboard that'll get you those codes, too.

Dang spiffy, that :-)

UPDATE 9-7-05 7AM: Paul of Light & Dark says

And if you really want to do it the clean way (which will convert ALL the entities to correct html) and fastest, since you don't even have to look for the opening brackets, just go to this page and paste your code in place of the snippet that's there. Click the encode button, then paste the results in your post.

UPDATE 9-12-05: Rich of Blog Rodent has a handy printable chart showing codes for displaying these troublesome symbols. Might want to make a copy & keep it handy.

NOTE: [If you've found this post useful enough to blog about, send a trackback or e-mail the permalink to me at harvolson-at-gmail.com and I'll add you to my Bad Example Groupies blogroll. See this post for details]

ON HANGING UP YOUR BLOG

Bloggrandson SilentWarrior of Ramblings of an Ordinary says that he's hanging it up:

Blogging now became a responsibility for me. To constantly put new material on my site, because more people were now reading it. My passion for writing became a twice weekly exercise in mediocrity. It stopped being fun.

If you were blogging for other people, then yeah, take some time off.

Believe me, I know this feeling. I do a LOT of writing that's often only produced because other people expect me to do it. Like stuff for the IMAO podcast or Alliance assignments. There are times when I'm flat-out uninspired - when forcing myself to do that stuff just crushes my spirit & makes me want to hang everything up so that I can fade back into obscurity - with no one knowing me or caring one way or the other about what I do.

Sometimes I just don't feel like writing.

So I don't.

I've been known to go a day or two without even taking 5 minutes to cut & paste a Love Note.

Why?

Because I just don't feel like it. I feel like watching TV or playing Sudoku or surfing for porn or just staring at the wall for a while.

But what this usually means is that what I actually feel like doing is taking the time to remind myself that I *do* still own my blog, and that I *can* still do whatever the hell I want with it, and that my overwhelming belief to the contrary was just plain wrong.

The mistake I make sometimes is to confuse "connection" with "obligation". I'm connected to the folks on my blogroll and the Bad Example Family because of past interactions. We have a history. But outside of basic human courtesy, I'm not obligated to any further action. This isn't a marriage. There's no contract.

I have to remind myself that 90% of the obligation I feel toward my readers is just a fantasy that I put into my own head. I know this because I've tested the waters with silence enough to know that nobody DEMANDS that I post, and no one will hold it against me if I don't.

And the other 10%? Well that's not really obligation either, so much as genuine affection and a honest desire to interact with people I like.

That's the part that I need to re-connect with, because that's the part that makes it so much fun.

However, if your 10% is buried under everything else, it's time to pull back until you can find it again.

But you don't need to go digging for it. Love floats. Let it rise to the surface in its own time.

And eventually, something will pop into your head that you'll REALLY want to post about for your own amusement. Don't hesitate to post that. It's your blog. You write whatever the hell you want.

The urge to blog is tidal - it comes and goes. Realize that it's ok to float sometimes instead of always swimming.

Your friends will understand, and they'll still be on the shore, waiting for you.

NOTE: [If you've found this post useful enough to blog about, send a trackback or e-mail the permalink to me at harvolson-at-gmail.com and I'll add you to my Bad Example Groupies blogroll. See this post for details]

GET A SCREENSHOT, JUST IN CASE IT GETS DELETED

I can't emphasize this enough.

If another website is embarrassing itself horribly and you want to point fingers: get a screenshot.

If a website you like has been hacked and defaced: get a screenshot.

If you're the #1 (or #5) Google search for some odd phrase: get a screenshot.

Why?

Because ANY web site that's not under your direct control, or is not controlled by VERY close friends of yours, can be changed at a moment's notice, and your VERY "it's a visual" point will be lost forever once those changes propagate.

Lesson learned at the expense of Graumagus of Frizzen Sparks:

Even Google Cache fades away: get a screenshot.

The Internet Wayback Machine might not have the page you're looking for: get a screenshot.

"Fine," you say, "I am the newest acolyte in the First Church of Screenshottery. Now how do I go about getting one?"

Simple.

On your standard 101-key computer keyboard, there is a button - usually in the top row, just to the right of the F12 key - labeled "Print Scrn".

Bring up the site with the image you want to preserve for posterity, and press the "Print Scrn" button.

What you've just done is copy whatever image is on your screen to your clipboard. It's exactly as if you'd just highlighted a line of text and chose "copy" from the menu, except it's a picture of your screen's contents.

Now you can paste the image into any image-handling software. It doesn't have to be anything fancy - even the wheezy little Microsoft Paint program that came with your computer can handle the job. Once it's pasted, you just save the file in case you need it later.

Final hint: before posting your screenshot, remember to trim off the top & bottom parts of the image that contain your browser menus, toolbars, and taskbar. Wouldn't want to embarrass yourself by revealing personal information, like - for example - the last thing you searched for using the Google toolbar:

Unless, of course, it's relevant to the post.

NOTE: [If you've found this post useful enough to blog about, send a trackback or e-mail the permalink to me at harvolson-at-gmail.com and I'll add you to my Bad Example Groupies blogroll. See this post for details]

CHRISTMAS CARD COMMENTS

I found this intriguing.

Mooalex of Moo Alex left the following comment:

The wise Ms.Q (acatnamedpi.blogspot.com) said, "I am starting to figure out that what the Beatles said applies to blog love: The love you take is equal to the love you make."

So, I wanted to stop by today and just say "Hi" because I enjoy your blog, but don't stop often enough and leave a comment. Also, I wanted to invite you to contribute to my "Bloggers Summer Photo Album." Read more about it at mooalex.blogspot.com. I hope you'll want to share your summer fun with the Moo!

(Yes, this is a "form comment," but I mean every word! I swear!)

(God bless you for saying "soft and curvy, the way a woman OUGHT to be!)

At first, I thought "ARRRRRGH! SPAM!"

But then I noticed that she'd taken the time to personalize the last line by making specific reference to one of my posts so that I'd know (or at least suspect) that it was sincere.

Interesting.

Like sending out Christmas Cards, with a little handwritten note on the bottom. Not a bad idea, really.

Maybe not as good as naked pictures, but I still feel warm & fuzzy about it.

Anyway, my only complaint is that the link to her "Bloggers Summer Photo Album" isn't to the specific post.

Now that THAT problem's solved, join in if you've a mind to.

And feel free to express your opinion on "Christmas Card Comments" - "thoughtful kindness" or "tool of Satan"?

NOTE: [If you've found this post useful enough to blog about, send a trackback or e-mail the permalink to me at harvolson-at-gmail.com and I'll add you to my Bad Example Groupies blogroll. See this post for details]

THE THREE PARAGRAPH RULE

Need to post more entries on your blog?

SURE! We all do!

A very general rule of thumb - if you're leaving a comment at someone else's blog, and it stretches past 3 paragraphs, cut it out of the comments, put it into your blog's editing screen, add a link to the post you're talking about, and make an entry out of it.

More material for you, and a link for them. Everybody wins.

NOTE: [If you've found this post useful enough to blog about, send a trackback or e-mail the permalink to me at harvolson-at-gmail.com and I'll add you to my Bad Example Groupies blogroll. See this post for details]

FINALLY! PICTURES AT BLOGGER! (UPDATED TWICE 8-3-05)

300 MB of free image storage space at Blogger. Click the button and upload pictures from your computer to their server. No limit on individual image size that I could find.

Nice little tutorial here. FAQ here.

Yes, it works

Peter's problem may finally be solved.

The only downside is that there doesn't appear to be any way to browse or delete your images once they've been uploaded. I've e-mailed them about that and I'm awaiting a reply.

UPDATE 8-3-05: I heard back with all due speed from Stephanie from Blogger Support:

It is not currently possible to remove published pictures from the photo server. We are working on adding this functionality for a future release and we appreciate your patience in the meantime.

Please note, however, that the photo server is not browseable. If you have deleted the post that included the picture, your photo will not be easily accessible, unless potential viewers already have the exact URL of the picture.

So I give them a 10 for convenience, but keep in mind that - for now - your uploads are a one-way trip. Just hope they have that fixed before the first person hits that 300 MB limit.

UPDATE #2 8-3-05: Mustang 23 of Assumption of Command emphasizes a fact which Blogger only mentions in passing:

But you need to make sure to let people know that if you use the HTML upload vs the Upload from your machine it won't actully up load the picture to blogger photos, IT WILL HOTLINK THEM FROM THE SITE YOU FOUND THE PICTURE!!!!!!

And we know that hotlinking is a bad thing, right?

Review the lecture and let your conscience be your guide.

NOTE: [If you've found this post useful enough to blog about, send a trackback or e-mail the permalink to me at harvolson-at-gmail.com and I'll add you to my Bad Example Groupies blogroll. See this post for details]

HOW TO PUT IMAGES IN YOUR SIDEBAR (UPDATED 1-9-06)

After having a conversation with Richmond of One For the Road, it occurred to me that other people starting out on Blogger might be having a similar problem, and I should probably do a post about it.

It usually happens like this... you're surfing around, and you notice a cool image on someone's sidebar or in one of their posts that you'd love to display on your own site. How can you get it there?

Well, there are a few steps involved, but it's not as hard as you might think. I'll try to simplify this as much as possible, but if I go too fast, give a holler.

How to get the image:

Go to the page where the image you want to use is currently displayed. Let's use this post by Richmond as an example, because it's a got a British flag.

Right click the image, choose "save image as" ("save picture as" in Internet Explorer), then download it to your computer. Now you need to find someplace on the web to upload it to so that you can link to it from your site. As always, I recommend ImageShack (as I explained here) because it's free, and because a LOT of people use it, so if you have problems, you can post a shout for help on your blog.

I'm going to assume at this point that you've uploaded the image file and now have a URL for your image.

Where to put the code:

Your choice - just somewhere in your template under the section that will be headed something like this (leastwise, it'll have arrows and the word "sidebar":

<!-- Begin #sidebar -->

You can experiment with putting the code in different places & see where it looks best. Usually just above or just below your blogroll is a good place, but that's up to you.

What code to paste:

Basically it's just two html commands run together. One to display the image, and one to link where you want to send people who click it. Let's say you wanted that little Brit flag to be displayed in your sidebar and linked to the "Thank You, Tony" site. It'd look something like this:

<a href="http://www.thankyoutony.com/"><img src="http://www.YourSite.com/FolderName/ImageFileName.ext"></a>

The first URL is the target site, and the second URL is the image source.

Once that's pasted into your template and your preview looks good (click the image in the preview screen, just to be sure it takes you where you want to go), save your template, and rebuild. That should take care of it.

<img src="http://www.YourSite.com/FolderName/ImageFileName.ext">

1) Go to the "create post" screen on your blog

2) Click the "add image" button

3) Upload the picture you want on your sidebar (it's easier for this process if you select "none" as your layout, but not essential)

4) Select the "Edit HTML" tab above editing box, and you'll see some alphabet soup like:

<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/7468/195/1600/myimage.jpg"><img style="cursor: pointer;" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/7468/195/320/myimage.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a>

The image you uploaded will be located at the first URL. In this case:

http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/7468/195/1600/myimage.jpg

The other URL is the same image except resized according to whether you selected "small", "medium", or "large" for your "image size" when you uploaded your picture. You won't need that.

5) Now that you've found the URL you need, copy and paste it into your favorite text-editing program like Word, Notepad, or (my favorite) NoteTab Lite, because when you go to edit your template, you're going to lose the URL location from the post, and unless you have it saved somewhere else, you'll never find it again (at least until Blogger adds an image management feature to their image hosting).

6) Now you're ready to follow the instructions at the beginning of the post.

"Why don't I just use the URL of the image where it's already at? That'd save me a lot of time & trouble without all that downloading & uploading hooey"

Yes, it would. This is known as "hotlinking" - displaying an image on your site that's hosted on someone else's server. If you do it to a complete stranger, this is somewhere on the border between rude and criminal, because some people pay for their bandwidth, and you're using their bandwidth for free when you do this. So every time the image gets loaded on your page, someone else is paying (or at least losing resources that they've paid for) for your free ride.

If you want to hotlink an image with a clean conscience, you can e-mail the person whose site the image is on and ask permission to do so. If they say yes, then go right ahead. If they say no, then accept their decision graciously, because it's fairly presumptuous of you to ask in the first place.

"But what if the person with the image isn't paying for his bandwidth? Richmond's getting free image hosting, so it doesn't matter if I hotlink it, right?"

Kinda. At least in the sense that it's not so presumptuous to ask permission. But there's also a practical reason to find your own image host

If anything ever happens to Richmond's image (say she deletes it, or she quits blogging and ImageShack takes it down after a while) you're creek-up and paddleless - left with a broken image in your sidebar and no way to fix it. But if you have a copy of the image on your own computer and YOUR image server goes down, at least then you can find another host for the image and fix the problem.

Generally speaking, there isn't a problem with grabbing images from other sites (except for corporate tight-asses like Disney, The Simpsons & Barbie, who are viciously protective of their copyrights), however, if you do so, please consider putting up a post with a link to the site you got the image from as a "thank you".

UPDATE 7-9-05: See comments for some discussion of copyright issues.

NOTE: [If you've found this post useful enough to blog about, send a trackback or e-mail the permalink to me at harvolson-at-gmail.com and I'll add you to my Bad Example Groupies blogroll. See this post for details]

HOW TO ENTER A LINK-FEST CARNIVAL

(Inspired by a question from blogdaughter FirstBrokenAngel of AAFFLLAACCKK)

Sure, you want more traffic, but entering Carnivals is weird and scary.

What if I miss the deadline?
What if I submit to the wrong e-mail address?
What if I enter a post that's off-topic?
What if my post just plain sucks?
If I screw this up, will I be kicked out of the blogosphere, tarred, feathered, and exiled to a Siberian gulag?

Yes, you will.

That's why Ferdy of Conservative Cat (and his pet human, Bruce) have developed the handy, all-purpose, Carnival Submit Form.

But it's STILL weird and scary! Which Carnival should I pick? What are all those boxes for? Typing cats frighten me!

Well, I can't help you with your Ailurophobia, but I *can* walk you through the form, using one of my posts for an example:

Choose Your Carnival - click on a Carnival name, and a description of it will appear in the box in the lower right corner of the green section. If you can't decide which one to pick, I'd suggest Carnival of the Vanities, which accepts your best post and has no content or topic restrictions. Otherwise, you can just look through the various Carnivals and see which one fits your needs.

Example: Carnival of the Vanities: due Tuesday, 6pm ET

And yes, you can submit the same post to more than one Carnival, but you have to fill out the form again after every submission.

Article URL - This is the permalink to the post on your blog that you want to submit.

Example: http://badexample.mu.nu/archives/096419.php

Trackback - This is the trackback link for the post you're submitting.

Example: http://blog.mu.nu/cgi/mt-tb.cgi/93846

This box is optional. If your blog doesn't have trackbacks, you can leave it blank.

Your Name - This is the name you want the Carnival's host to refer to you by, and does NOT have to be your real name. Most people use the name that appears on their blog. If you blog under a pseudonym, you can use that.

Example: Harvey

Article Title - The title of your post. The easiest way to fill this out is to copy & paste it directly from your blog entry (helps prevent typos)

Example: BATTLE OF THE LINK-WHORES: INSTAPUNDIT VS. THE ALLIANCE (A Filthy Lie)

Your E-mail - Use an e-mail you check regularly in case the Carnival host has a question about your submission. This doesn't happen often, but when it does, it usually comes up within a few hours of the Carnival being posted and needs to be dealt with in a timely manner.

Example: harvolson@gmail.com

Note: your e-mail will NOT be posted in the Carnival, so there's no need to spamproof the address.

Blog Name - Your blog name as you want it to appear in the Carnival.

Example: Bad Example

Blog URL - The link to your blog's front page.

Example: http://badexample.mu.nu/

Comments - Use this box to write a short description of your post. Try to make it provoke curiosity in the reader so that he'll want to click the link.

Example: A parody of the Charlie Daniels Band song "The Devil Went Down To Georgia", used to describe a contest between two bloggers to see who can give out the most gratuitous linkage.

This box is optional. If you can't think of a good summary, you can leave it blank and leave it up to the host to decide how to describe your post.

Note: The Carnival host may use your description verbatim, or he may make up his own. However, since most Carnivals have upwards of 20 entries, anything you can do to make the host's job easier will earn you some goodwill.

Category - Click the circle next to the word that best describes the theme or subject of your entry. If it doesn't seem to fit any of them well, choose "Other" or just leave it blank. This part is mostly an aid for hosts who choose to organize their Carnival by category instead of just listing all the entries with short descriptions.

Example: Humor

All that's left is to click the "SUBMIT YOUR POST" button, and you're done.

Mostly.

As a courtesy to the Carnival's host, you should link the Carnival after it's posted. If you're not sure where it will be, you can monitor the "Carnival News" section of the Carnival Submit Form page (bottom right of the page).

Final Tip - Most hosts list the entries in the order they were received. Since most Carnivals tend to be huge, it's better to be listed near the top. The best time to submit a Carnival post is the day after the last edition was posted so that you'll be near the top of the next week's edition.

However, any link is better than no link at all, and even being dead last will get you SOME traffic, so feel free to submit at any time.

NOTE: [If you've found this post useful enough to blog about, send a trackback or e-mail the permalink to me at harvolson-at-gmail.com and I'll add you to my Bad Example Groupies blogroll. See this post for details]

LATE BLOGIVERSARY PRESENT FROM PHIN

Phin of Phin's Blog gave me the gift of increased visibility:

One thing I noticed was that the date and time weren't being updated on your blogrolling listing. This is pretty easy to take care of we just need to make sure you're pinging the proper places. When you log in, click Weblog Config. Then Click the Preferences Option. From there scroll down and make sure you're notifying blo.gs and weblogs.com when you update. In the Others box add the following lines if they aren't already there.

http://rpc.blogrolling.com/pinger/
http://rpc.technorati.com/rpc/ping

Done.

Something other MT users might consider, as well.

UPDATE: Jo of Jo's Cafe suggests using Pingomatic, too.

UPDATE: Via Physics Geek, the ultimate ping list from Emily of How To Blog:

http://api.my.yahoo.com/RPC2
http://api.my.yahoo.com/rss/ping
http://bblog.com/ping.php
http://bitacoras.net/ping/
http://blog.goo.ne.jp/XMLRPC
http://blogdb.jp/xmlrpc
http://bulkfeeds.net/rpc
http://coreblog.org/ping/
http://ping.blo.gs/
http://ping.cocolog-nifty.com/xmlrpc
http://ping.rootblog.com/rpc.php
http://ping.syndic8.com/xmlrpc.php
http://ping.weblogs.se/
http://rcs.datashed.net/RPC2
http://rpc.blogrolling.com/pinger/
http://rpc.pingomatic.com/
http://rpc.technorati.com/rpc/ping
http://rpc.weblogs.com/RPC2
http://topicexchange.com/RPC2
http://www.a2b.cc/setloc/bp.a2b
http://www.bitacoles.net/ping.php
http://www.blogpeople.net/servlet/weblogUpdates
http://www.weblogues.com/RPC/
http://xmlrpc.blogg.de/
http://www.blogroots.com/tb_populi.blog?id=1
http://xping.pubsub.com/ping/

NOTE: [If you've found this post useful enough to blog about, send a trackback or e-mail the permalink to me at harvolson-at-gmail.com and I'll add you to my Bad Example Groupies blogroll. See this post for details]

FINDING YOUR BLOG VOICE 2: JUST TRY IT

Blogson That 1 Guy of Drunken Wisdom recently accepted the challenge of writing a 1000 word story based on a short plot summary.

I was floored by the result.

Tense, gripping, and totally unexpected. The man has a talent for story-writing that you wouldn't expect from reading his shorter daily musings. I think he should investigate this aspect of himself further.

Which brings me to an important point about blogging - try new things.

When I first started blogging, I didn't know what I was capable of. All I knew for sure was that I had a good vocabulary, could turn the occasional phrase, and could sometimes find an angle on a story that other people overlooked. But in my head, I figured that all I could really offer was a little commentary.

After a few months, though, I stumbled across the IMAO Permalink Contest, and I found an excuse to try something new: making stuff up with no factual basis whatsoever.

The idea was that you were given a question and you had to answer it as entertainingly as possible in 200 words or less.

So I gave it a try.

Did pretty well with it. Came in second in a field of over 30.

After the contest ended, I kept experimenting with the "200 words or less" format, tryiing to create little funny bits. This was a stretch for me, since I never considered myself a comedy writer, but I figured "it's only blogging - I've got nothing to lose here."

Eventually I got better at the technique and comfortable enough with the process to abandon the limitation of the 200 word barrier.

I also branched out into other styles - top 10 lists, skit dialogue, captioning, some photoshopping... stuff I never would've dreamed of trying in the Spring of 2003.

Recently I've tried my hand at Scrappleface-style news-story satire. Mixed results so far, but I'm still tryiing to get the hang of the form. It's harder than the pros make it look, but I'm learning.

And in the last few weeks, I've even branched out into podcasting. When Scott (one of the IMAO editorial staff) first suggested it, I was dubious at best. I'm a BLOGGER, not Rush-freakin'-Limbaugh! As I mentioned in the IMAO discussion board

"Speaking strictly for myself, I'm a writer, not a speaker. Impromptu ad-libbing is NOT my strong suit. Not saying "no", just saying I'm handicapped in that area... Or at least not currently aware of having any talent for that sort of thing."

But then I thought back to when I started writing funny bits and decided I should at least give it a try - maybe I'd find another undiscovered talent.

Well, the jury's still out, but what little feedback I've gotten has been positive. Some folks even say I have a good voice for radio. I'll keep at it and see where it goes.

The point, however, is this: don't be afraid to try something new and experiment on your blog. Post a fictional story. Do a serious journalistic news report. Try a song parody. Make a Top Ten list. Write a screenplay. Blogging is an excellent medium for personal growth. Take chances.

If you're nervous at the prospect, try self-imposing a word-limit. I found that keeping it under 200 words at first helped me keep the writing focused. It also helped lower my expectations ("Yeah, it's not very good, but it's only 200 words, so you can't expect it to be all THAT great").

If there's something you like reading on other blogs that appeals to you, TRY IT, even if you don't think you can do it well. The fact is that before you can get good at doing something, you have to do it badly 10 times first. Might as well start getting them out of the way.

Go for it.

NOTE: [If you've found this post useful enough to blog about, send a trackback or e-mail the permalink to me at harvolson-at-gmail.com and I'll add you to my Bad Example Groupies blogroll. See this post for details]

HOW TO CORRECT WITHOUT OFFENDING

Phin of Phin's Blog brings up a touchy subject in the world of blogging netiquette:

Another thing is a grammatical or spelling issue that may have been overlooked by spell check, but may lead to ridicule. It personally doesn’t bother me when someone points out a spelling / grammar error in the comments section. I’ll typically correct it, thank the person and admit I’m a knuckle head. However with some people I’ve noticed they view comments pointing out their mistakes as a cardinal sin. How dare you go to their site and critique their writing in the comments (even though they make the change in their post)[...]

Should you e-mail someone tips / pointers on changes they could make for their blog to be more readable?
Is it acceptable to point out their error in a playful manner?
Should you simply e-mail them and hope they read it in a timely manner?

The tragic truth of blogging is that when you point out a mistake in someone's blog post, you will embarrass them to some degree. After all, they wouldn't have hit "publish" unless they thought their work was ready for the world to see. Therefore it's always best to e-mail the blogger privately to indicate that you only want to help.

However, there are times when you're in a hurry, or don't have access to your e-mail, or maybe you simply can't find the blogger's e-mail address. In that case, pointing it out in the comments is fine, but realize that you're now embarrassing them in public. This is ok if you have a relationship with the blogger where a little rib-poking is accepted and/or expected. But what if you're just a lurker or an occasional commenter? How can you ensure that the blogger doesn't think you're some sort of troll who's just trying to go "HA-HA! You're an idiot!"?

The best way to do that is to phrase the comment to allow for the possibility that you, the commenter, are wrong. For example:

"This is probably a really dumb question, but did you intend to put "[description of error]", or was that just a typo?"

The appearance of honest confusion on the part of a reader in never offensive, and it gives the blogger a chance to magnanimously rescue YOU from YOUR embarrassing admission of dumbness, which offsets most of the blogger's embarrassment over having a mistake pointed out publicly.

Personally, I assume ANY harshly critical comment from a stranger is based on a misunderstanding, and I'll normally give at least one good shot at trying to clear things up based on that assumption. I had to do quite a bit of that when I first started group-blogging at IMAO. Over there it turned out that - while not gently phrased - the criticism was well-intended, and even well-founded. I don't think I won any converts, but at least they're not out trying to deliberately tear me down anymore, either.

However, some bloggers - especially the larger ones - deal with rude, hateful trolls all the time. As a commenter, you should be both aware and understanding of that, and put a little extra effort and courtesy into your words so as to leave no doubt that your intentions are honorable.

Bend over backwards to be polite, and you'll never go wrong.

[If you've found this post useful enough to blog about, send a trackback or e-mail the permalink to me at harvolson-at-gmail.com and I'll add you to my Bad Example Groupies blogroll. See this post for details]

DONT LET BLOGGER SCREW YOU OUT OF TRAFFIC - UPDATED 5-24-05

When leaving comments on blogs using Blogger's native comment system, you're given 3 options for leaving your name: Blogger, Other, Annoymous. I always choose "Other". Here's why.

If I choose "Blogger", someone clicking the link on my name will be taken to my Blogger profile page. This has a link to my very old Bad Money site that I haven't updated in 2 years, which is very lame, and has no link to my Bad Example site. If someone clicks the link in a comment I've left, that means they think I'm brilliantly witty and want to read more of my stuff. Far be it from me to disappoint them.

If you have a non-Blogspot-hosted site, but choose "Blogger" anyway because you like having the convenience of having your information automatically filled in for you, check your profile page to make sure there's a link to your site there. If someone wants to read you, it's best to make it easy for them.

If you ARE currently using a Blogspot-hosted site, consider using "Other" anyway so that a single click will take a curious reader to your main page instead of having to stop at your profile first. More convenience means more traffic. Don't miss out just because someone on dial-up didn't want to wait for a second page to load.

Finally, if you ARE on a Blogspot-hosted site and you use the "Blogger" option for the convenience of having your information filled in automatically, double-check your profile page to make sure there's a direct link to your site there. Blogger doesn't do that automatically when you sign up, so it might not be there.

As I mentioned in my "Fighting Invisibility" post, leaving on-topic comments at other people's blogs is a good way to get traffic. A well-phrased comment can lead the curious to your front page. It's to your benefit to ensure that you can be found.

UPDATE 5-24-05: [If you've found this post useful enough to blog about, send a trackback or e-mail the permalink to me at harvolson-at-gmail.com and I'll add you to my Bad Example Groupies blogroll. See this post for details]

MAKE A COOL BANNER FOR YOUR SITE - UPDATED 5-24-05

Mustang 23 of Assumption of Command says that you can make spiffy banners at CoolText.

Since his banner is cool, I will assume he's telling the truth.

UPDATE 5-24-05: [If you've found this post useful enough to blog about, send a trackback or e-mail the permalink to me at harvolson-at-gmail.com and I'll add you to my Bad Example Groupies blogroll. See this post for details]

5 MORE HANDY SEARCHES - UPDATED 5-24-05

Fresh from the sidebar of Ferdy of Conservative Cat come these handy search boxes that you might like to include in your own sidebar, as I've done here at Bad Example.

Merriam-Webster Dictionary
Merriam-Webster Thesaurus
Technorati Cosmos
Internet Movie Data Base (IMDB)
TV Tome

I tested the code at a couple of my experimental Blogger sites & it seems to work fine. If you copy it whole from what I list in the extended entry and paste it somewhere in your sidebar, it should do the trick.

HOW TO START A LINK-FEST CARNIVAL - UPDATED 03-25-06

When I first started blogging, I wanted to become rich and famous. Time passed and I decided to settle for becoming non-poverty-stricken and moderately non-obscure.

But how DOES one rise through the ranks from unknown to moderate non-obscurity?

The answer, as I mentioned in my "Fighting Invisibility" post, is by entering link-fest carnivals and presenting your best work to a wider audience than you would be able to reach on your own.

A couple years ago, there was only one game in town: The Carnival of the Vanities. Currently there are dozens to choose from on a staggering variety of topics. Yet despite the plethora of options, people still wonder if there should, perhaps, be another one. Over the months I've seen plenty come and go - even ran one myself for a while - and a precious few have stayed and prospered. For those considering launching a new one, here are some factors to consider:

1) Popularity of the topic - successful carnivals aggregate posts that people would create anyway. Cat-blogging, gun-blogging, recipe-blogging, etc, all have their devotees, and even normal people indulge in them from time to time. Offering up a central collection point for them on a weekly basis is a natural evolution. More obscure topics, like *ahem* pajama-blogging, don't generate the same level of enthusiasm in the blogosphere at large, and aren't as likely to catch on.

2) Well-delineated submission criteria - When originating a new carnival, the creator should have a short paragraph describing what is and is not an acceptable post, including limitations on subject matter, use of adult language or situations, picture content, and - if applicable - recency of the post. For example, Jeff of Ponytailed Conservative recently floated the idea of a Carnival of the Grandparents. Here are some questions he needs to consider:

Does it just have to be about any person with a grandchild, or only about YOUR grandparent? For example, could I do a post about my dad (who DID have grandchildren)?

Are bloggrandparents included?

Try to consider as many scenarios as possible up front to avoid the embarrassment later of having to tell someone their post doesn't qualify.

3) Get a dedicated e-mail address - Most carnivals rotate hosts every week, and sometimes a submission e-mail can be hard to dig out of the host's sidebar. It's better to set up one e-mail address for submissions and just give the username and password to each new host. For example:

grandparents.carnival@gmail.com

If you already have a gmail account you can send yourself an invite and set it up from there. If you DON'T have a gmail account, you probably know someone who does, and they probably have 50 invites that they'd be happy to get rid of. That includes me, and I'll give one to anyone who asks.

4) Notify Ferdy - Ferdy of Conservative Cat has a handy all-purpose carnival submission form. Drop him a line and he'll add your carnival to it. This site is rapidly becoming the hub for all carnival submissions, so don't hesitate to use it.

UPDATE #1 12-30-05:
4a) Notify the Blog Carnival Index - another excellent tracking site for carnivals.

5) Set up a separate tracking page for your carnival - The purpose here is to make your carnival as easy to find and submit to as possible. This page should contain the basic submission information paragraph discussed above, a link to the current carnival, as well as links to past carnivals and links to future hosts. An excellent example of this is the Carnival of the Cats page.

Now, if you're geek-impaired and can't figure out how to design a separate page, don't despair. You can always go to Blogger and set something up there. It doesn't have to be fancy, it just needs to be informative and updated in a timely fashion.

UPDATE 3-25-06:
5a) Let Blog Carnival host your tracking page - The Blog Carnival now offers a free tracking page for your carnival (here's the Carnival of the Vanities tracking page as an example). Using it will also get you included in the Truth Laid Bear's Ubercarnival listing.

6) Get the word out, big time - If you decide to launch a carnival, this is no time to be shy. If nobody knows about it, nobody will submit entries. Post about it frequently on your blog. Enter your launch-announcement post in other carnivals. E-mail every blogger you know. Pester big bloggers, even Glenn Reynolds. But do so with tact. Allow me to quote from "Fighting Invisibility":

Suggested format - Apologize for the unsolicited e-mail, acknowledge that you know [BIG BLOGGER] is very busy, briefly tell why you think this post might be of interest to him, give the URL, thank him for his time, sign your name. END

Keep it brief & to the point. DON'T specifically ask for a link to your post - it's pretty obvious that's why the e-mail was sent so it's not necessary. Also, not asking for the link takes some of the pressure off the recipient, making him feel less put upon, and, paradoxically, MORE likely to link the post (assuming that it's appropriate to his blog's theme).

7) Even rotating carnivals need a dedicated moderator - If you start a carnival, it's yours - at least to some degree - for the rest of your life. You'll have to update the tracking page, link each new edition at your own blog, and post reminders a couple days beforehand. Without regular maintenance, even a popular carnival will die from neglect. Handing off moderator duties is a difficult process. It's not easy finding someone as dedicated to raising your blogbaby as you are. Good foster parents are scarce, so don't start something you aren't willing to follow through on.

Finally, a word of caution. Although starting a carnival - or even hosting one - is looked at as a fast ride to blogging fame, be aware that carnivals are a HUGE pain in the ass. Even a small one can take a couple hours to get all the links & trackbacks set up, and if you want to do a fancy theme, it'll take even longer. And Lord help you if Blogger decides to eat your post halfway through. DEFINITELY compose in a word processing program rather than in your blog's editing window (I recommend NoteTab). Save frequently, since even good computers can crash without warning.

In summary, carnivals can be fun, but they're also a LOT of work to get off the ground if you want to do them right. Go ahead and take the plunge if you're so inclined, but please do so with your eyes wide open.

UPDATE #2 12-30-05: Coyote Blog has some practical thoughts about hosting a carnival

UPDATE 5-24-05: [If you've found this post useful enough to blog about, send a trackback or e-mail the permalink to me at harvolson-at-gmail.com and I'll add you to my Bad Example Groupies blogroll. See this post for details]

PROBLEM HALF SOLVED - UPDATED 5-24-05

Contagion of Miasmatic Review has made it easier for Haloscan users to RECEIVE trackbacks:

The code allows programs that use an auto detection feature for trackback pings to work with blogs that have installed Haloscan comments. This code doesn’t really help bloggers like myself; I still have to do the manual trackbacks. It does help all the bloggers that are using programs with auto detection to quickly and easily leave me a trackback.

Copy & paste, a little quick replacement and BOOM! (as John Madden would say).

SENDING them is still a pain in the ass, but at least now you'll know when an MT user is linking to you.

Now if only Haloscan would implement their damn autodetect feature like they've been promising to do for the last year.

UPDATE 4-13-05: Ogre of Ogre's Politics & Views has a post on the same feature.

UPDATE 5-24-05: [If you've found this post useful enough to blog about, send a trackback or e-mail the permalink to me at harvolson-at-gmail.com and I'll add you to my Bad Example Groupies blogroll. See this post for details]

ON TRACKBACKS - UPDATED 11-24-05

You've heard of trackbacks, but you may not know what they are. Here's an excellent short explanation from Michael of Cruft:

1) The purpose of TrackBack is to let a site know that you are referencing them on your on site.
2) The TrackBack URL is different than the regular permanent link URL.
3) TrackBacks are fun. You should use them.

He also gives a longer explanation, with pictures.

Which is all well & good if you use Movable Type, but how do you send them if you're stuck on Blogger or LiveJournal or some other such blogging software that doesn't do automatic trackbacks?

Well, you can go to Haloscan, which give you the code for installing the Trackback feature. It'll even set it up for you automatically if you have Blogger.

Once you have it set up, you can log into Haloscan, fill out a form with some basic information, and send a trackback.

But here's a little secret: YOU DON'T NEED TO HAVE TRACKBACKS ENABLED ON YOUR OWN BLOG TO SEND A TRACKBACK TO SOMEONE ELSE, AS LONG AS *THEY* HAVE TRACKBACKS ENABLED.

All you need to do is fill out the Wizbang Standalone Trackback Pinger. Truth be told, it's actually slightly simpler than going through Haloscan.

UPDATE #1 11-24-05: You can also send pings using the Kalsey Trackback form.

But what if neither one of you has trackbacks enabled, or you just really don't feel like filling out the forms - either because you're busy or lazy?

Simple. You can use the "poor man's trackback", which is where you just leave a comment on their site like: "Nice post. I blogged about it here:" and leave the permalink to your post. As long as your post is related to their post, this is NOT a breach of netiquette. In fact, it's actually a favor both to the blogger whose post you're linking - everyone likes to know they're being talked about - and that blogger's readers - who might enjoy some further thoughts on the topic (this being the secondary reason for sending trackbacks - bringing yourself some trickle-down traffic).

Even if you have trackbacks enabled, don't hesitate to use the poor man's version (again - IF the link is relevant) if you want to save a little time. The only drawback to it is that some blogs actually display the trackback links under the post, so you might have a little less visibility this way.

Now here's the BIG question: WHEN do you use trackbacks? Are you morally obligated to ping someone every time you link their post?

Nope.

Remember, the purpose of sending a trackback is to let the person whose post you're linking know that you're linking them. If you know that this person is a daily reader of your blog and will see your post anyway, there's no reason to ping them. Although SOME people are fairly obsessive about their pings and want them anyway, so you may ping just to make them happy.

The main people you want to ping are the people who don't know you exist, so you can get on their radar. Also as a courtesy to the host, you should - if you enter a Carnival or link-fest - ping the round-up, just to let them know that their hard work was both noticed and appreciated.

In summary:

Trackbacks are a courtesy to the person you're linking, and not mandatory.
If you have to do it manually, use the Wizbang Standalone Trackback Pinger.
If they don't have trackbacks, you can leave a link in their comments.
Trackbacks can bring you extra site traffic.

CAUTION: ONLY TRACKBACK WHEN YOUR POST IS RELEVANT TO THEIR POST. ONLY COMPLETE JERKS DO OFF-TOPIC "HEY! LOOK AT MY BLOG!" PINGS.

UPDATE #1: 4-13-05 For those using Haloscan comments, Contagion of Miasmatic Review has a simple bit of code that will make it easier for other people to send trackbacks to you.

UPDATE #2: 4-13-05 Ogre of Ogre's Politics & Views has a post on the same feature.

UPDATE 9-1-05: Basil has an excellent primer on trackbacks at Alliance HQ.

UPDATE #2 11-24-05: Basil has important information about how to find the correct trackback URL at Alliance HQ.

UPDATE 5-24-05: [If you've found this post useful enough to blog about, send a trackback or e-mail the permalink to me at harvolson-at-gmail.com and I'll add you to my Bad Example Groupies blogroll. See this post for details]

QUICK AND PAINLESS GUIDE TO ADDING HALOSCAN COMMENTS WHILE KEEPING YOUR OLD BLOGGER COMMENTS VISIBLE - UPDATED 5-24-05

Thanks in equal parts to blogchildren VW Bug of One Happy Dog Speaks and Contagion of Miasmatic Review for inspiration and technical assistance.

Blogger comments suck because they're miserably slow and can be hard to access, depending on how they're set up on an individual's blog.

Bug explains in her link above how to manually install both the Haloscan code and add back in the Blogger comments code so that you can still see your old comments.

The important thing to take from her post is that you need to back up your Blogger template. You can just copy & paste it to your favorite word processing program (I use NoteTab Light) and save it - just in case. If you're REALLY paranoid, you can back up your entire blog and Bug explains how. Whether you think it's necessary is up to you. Personally, I don't think there's THAT much risk involved, but again - your call.

Then Contagion got gutsy and tried an experiment. He used Haloscan's super-nifty AutoInstall feature to add Haloscan comments and - after it was done (and it worked perfectly for him) - he went into his Blogger template & manually added the code to display Blogger comments.

Which also worked perfectly for him.

I tried it out on one of the Blogger blogs I keep around for experimentation purposes, and it worked perfectly for me, too.

What to paste:

 | <a class="comment-link" href="<$BlogItemCommentCreate$>>"<$BlogItemCommentFormOnclick$> <font="1">Pre Haloscan <$BlogItemCommentCount$></a>

Where to paste it:

Haloscan will have placed its code in a section of your template a little below the tag

<div class="PostFooter">

It's the code that starts:

<a class="comment-link" href="http://www.haloscan.com/... blah blah blah...

and ends:

</script><noscript>Trackback</noscript></a>

The code I give you starts with a blank space, a vertical line, another black space, and then the critical code. Be sure to include the blank-line-blank at the beginning so there's space between the Trackback link and the old Blogger comments.

ADDITIONAL NOTE: Looking around in my experimental template, I noticed that the Haloscan comment code appeared twice. Once for the main page, and once for the individual archive [permalink] pages. Assuming it's the same in your template, be sure to add the code I gave you at the end of BOTH pieces of Haloscan code. I didn't see the second one at first, and had no Blogger comments on my permalink pages. One more copy-&-paste and the problem was solved.

SUMMARY: Bacnts.k up your template, sign up at Haloscan, do AutoInstall, copy & paste old Blogger comment code, live a life of joy and happiness free of the evil of Blogger comme

UPDATE: Sissy of And What Next... mentions this in the comments:

If you want to keep the ability to forward a post, you will still need <$BlogItemControl$> this code after the "Pre Haloscan" code.

UPDATE 5-24-05: [If you've found this post useful enough to blog about, send a trackback or e-mail the permalink to me at harvolson-at-gmail.com and I'll add you to my Bad Example Groupies blogroll. See this post for details]

COURTESY LINK - UPDATED 5-24-05

Whenever you enter a link round-up - such as the Carnival of the Vanities - you should always link to it as a courtesy to the host.

Like this week's edition at PunditGuy

The link doesn't seem to be working at the moment, but he's at the other end of it, somewhere.

One thing I'd like to mention. When I submitted my entry, I included a VERY flattering description of my post, which he used verbatim. A *lot* of hosts do that, so, when you enter, try to write your description in a manner that will make Carnival readers WANT to click the link.

There's no shame in a little gratuitous self-promotion.

UPDATE 5-24-05: [If you've found this post useful enough to blog about, send a trackback or e-mail the permalink to me at harvolson-at-gmail.com and I'll add you to my Bad Example Groupies blogroll. See this post for details]

NEW BLOGSPOT FEATURE: POP-UP COMMENTS - UPDATED 5-24-05

This is new, and it's cool.

If you're on Blogspot, you can tweak your settings to get the comments to appear in a separate pop-up window.

MUCH better.

Beloved Wife over at Smiling Dynamite has them. Go check it out at, for example, this post where you can meet the Bad Example Bed, complete with Bad Example Cats & Dogs.

Best part is, if you choose the "other" option, you don't need a Blogger account to leave a comment anymore. Just type in your name and URL.

I swear, Blogger gets to be more and more like real blogging software every day. If they get autodiscover trackbacks, I may move back ;-)

UPDATE 5-24-05: [If you've found this post useful enough to blog about, send a trackback or e-mail the permalink to me at harvolson-at-gmail.com and I'll add you to my Bad Example Groupies blogroll. See this post for details]

FINDING YOUR BLOG VOICE - UPDATED 5-24-05

So you've taken the plunge, started your blog, posted your "about me" entry, and now you're stuck staring at a blank screen, wondering what to say.

Welcome to the blogosphere.

Realize, though, that good blogging isn't so much about what you say, it's about how you say it. More specifically, it's about how to make your typewritten words sound like your speaking voice.

The challenge is that, all through school, we're taught to write a certain way - use complete sentences, indent to start a new paragraph, don't use slang, blah, blah, blah.

As applied to blogging, most of that is crap. You're not writing a thesis, you're talking to friends. Even if the topic is serious, it'll be better-received by your audience if it's written in a friendly, casual manner.

First thing. Put blank lines between paragraphs instead of merely indenting a new line. A computer screen holds a LOT of text compared to a newspaper column or a book page. A nearly-solid block of letters is hard on the eyes and makes it easy for the reader to lose his place.

White space is your friend.

Moving on. In order to make text seem more like speech, the two things you need to reproduce are pauses and emphasis. When you speak, it's not a series of run-together words delivered in monotone, and your writing shouldn't be that, either.

There are several different emphasizing tools: bold, italics, ALL-CAPS, and *asterisks*. I have my preferences on how to use each, but these are suggestions, not laws. Play with it and use what you're comfortable with.

Bold - I use this mostly for drawing attention to a particular sentence in a large quote, or for the subject word if I'm doing a list. Although some people use it to emphasize a paticular word in a sentence, I prefer not to as it can be confused with a hyperlink.

Italics - My technique of choice to emphasize one particular word, mid-sentence, I find it best conveys the slight stress given to words in the course of normal conversation.

ALL-CAPS - Mostly used for a sentence which was shouted, such as "HEY YOU KIDS! GET OFFA MY LAWN!", but it can also be used for single words, mid-sentence, interchangably with italics. I tend to use it this way both for the sake of variety, and because - when I compose posts on my PDA - it's easier than typing in the HTML code for italics tags.

*asterisks* - Good for emphasizing short words where italics wouldn't be very noticable. Particularly useful for emphasizing the word *I*, which is already capitalized and looks too much like an "L" when italicized. Also good for the sake of variety when there are several separate words emphasized in a sentence.

There's also underlining, but it looks too much like a hyperlink, so I almost never use it.

Now for pauses... you have several choices, and they're essentially interchangable, so I won't go into detail about them. You can decide for yourself what length of pause they create, and when it's appropriate to use each.

(Parentheses)
...ellipses...
- hyphens -

But DO use them - they put the rhythm of speech into your writing.

Finally, a few words about colloquialism and regional dialect. Bein' from Wisconsin, ya know, I have my verbal idiosyncrasies, and I type them. The final "g" gets dropped a lot, so I'm not shy about typing it that way if that's what it sounds like I'm saying in my head. Figure if that's how I speak, I'm gonna write that way.

Use contractions, too. You're NOT Commander Data. You-do-not-speak-like-him. Do-not-write-like-him, either. If you habitually say contractions, type them. It's friendlier.

Remember, it's BLOGGING, not a term paper.

A caveat - there WILL be certain times when you want to write a serious piece, and the more-formal writing techniques are more appropriate. Go ahead and use them without guilt. But for day-to-day life-blogging, a more casual approach is perfectly acceptable, if not preferred.

And finally finallly, don't be shy about tossing in onomatopoeic interjections. A well-placed YIKES! or UGH! or DAMN! will liven things up, and even an occasional "um...", "er...", "wha..." or "uh..." can do wonders toward making your writing seem more conversational.

The thing to remember is that your English teacher isn't watching, and when you're blogging, the important thing is to use ALL the tools of the language to convey your thoughts. The only standard you're answerable to is "does this help the reader understand the subtleties of what I'm trying to communicate?"

Forget the "rules".

Have FUN.

ADDENDUM: When teasing or using sarcasm, sometimes it's not obvious from the words alone that you were just kidding. To avoid misunderstandings, I'm fairly liberal with my use of "emoticons". Some people consider them a bit juvenile, but I consider them necessary. Facial expressions are an essential part of verbal communication, and I see no reason not to include them as a type-written substitute. My personal favorites, which are fairly self-explantory:

:-)

:-D

:-P

;-)

:-/

:-(

UPDATE 5-24-05: [If you've found this post useful enough to blog about, send a trackback or e-mail the permalink to me at harvolson-at-gmail.com and I'll add you to my Bad Example Groupies blogroll. See this post for details]

WAAAAAH! I NEVER GET ANY TRAFFIC! - UPDATED 5-24-05

No more excuses people. I don't want to hear about how you can't enter one of the numerous Carnivals & LinkFests that float around the blogosphere because you don't know where it's going to be hosted this week and you can't find a submission e-mail.

Ferdy of Conservative Cat has an all-purpose Carnival submission form that does all the e-mailing for you. Handier than a teenager parked on Lover's Lane.

Go give it a look and then bookmark it.

People read these round-ups. If you've got a post you want to be read by more people, then enter it.

Or you can sit around whining about how much site traffic you don't have.

Your call.

UPDATE 5-24-05: [If you've found this post useful enough to blog about, send a trackback or e-mail the permalink to me at harvolson-at-gmail.com and I'll add you to my Bad Example Groupies blogroll. See this post for details]

BLOGGING TIP OF THE DAY - UPDATED 5-24-05

If you're blogging from work and you shouldn't be, it might be helpful to change the time-stamp on your posts to non-working hours, if your blogging software allows for such things.

That, and other, more ethical, thoughts about the work/blog conflict can be found from Reid of The Daily Whim.

UPDATE 5-24-05: [If you've found this post useful enough to blog about, send a trackback or e-mail the permalink to me at harvolson-at-gmail.com and I'll add you to my Bad Example Groupies blogroll. See this post for details]

GREAT BLOGGING TIPS FROM A GRAPHIC SPANKING SITE - UPDATED 5-24-05

Ok, here's my quandry. Via Erosblog, I discovered that SpankBoss of SpankingBlog has a list of sound, thought-provoking, and sensible tips on blogging.

Trouble is, the sidebar images from some of the advertisers show buttocks that have been beaten until they're welted & bloody. If you're an evangelical Christian, your eyes will be sent directly to hell for looking at them. Even *I* thought they were a bit intense.

But the blog tips are REALLY good.

Tell ya what, I'll give you the first sentence on all of them (and a little extra on some), then let you decide if it's worth it to read the whole thing:

DO: Do blog every day.

DO: Do stick to your theme.

DO: Do make sure you love your theme.

DO: Do plan for the long haul. When you blog, you are building a personal brand. That takes time. If you can't see yourself maintaining your blog in three years, why go to all that effort?

DO: Do make sure you own and control every aspect of your blog.

DON'T: Don't use a "blogging service" -- you don't need it, and if your blog is on someone else's domain, you don't really own it.

Do: Do blog for the search engines. [...] make sure [your post titles] have good keywords. All other things being equal, tomorrow's post will get more search engine visitors over time if you title it "Pretty Feet On The Stairs" than if you title it "I'm Drooling On My Monitor". Google "honest search engine optimization" and follow the advice you'll find.

Do: Do participate in the blogging community.

Do: Do have a blogroll.

Do: Do link generously and profligately.

Don't: Don't worry about link backs.

Do: Do be very wary of negotiated link exchanges.

Don't: Don't feel you have to respond to all the link exchange results you will get (and you will eventually start getting dozens every day).

Don't: Don't fall into the trap of thinking traffic doesn't matter. It does. Remember, you are building a personal brand, even if you never hope to make a dime from it. That means you want readers, and you want exposure. Again, why bother to blog if nobody reads? [...]the traffic you'll earn has a substantial economic value, because you could sell ads whether you choose to, or not.

Don't: Don't advertise at first, even if you eventually decide to do so in order to cover your hosting costs or to make beer money.

Don't: Don't ever vandalize your own blog.

A lot of good food for thought over there. Just watch out for those sidebar ads.

UPDATE 5-24-05: [If you've found this post useful enough to blog about, send a trackback or e-mail the permalink to me at harvolson-at-gmail.com and I'll add you to my Bad Example Groupies blogroll. See this post for details]

BECAUSE THEY'RE BETTER - UPDATED 5-24-05

Pam of Pamibe has a complaint about Blogger's native comment system:

No, I don’t blog there anymore; I’m tired of waiting. In this age of DSL instant on, it’s killing me. I just waited a full 3 minutes to leave a comment at Boudicca’s place, and it’s STILL trying to load, as I type this.

Amen, sister.

I've noticed it, too. The delay on Blogger comments just keeps getting longer and longer. It's time to do something about it.

That something would be Haloscan.

"But html code is evil and scary and it frightens me!" I hear you say.

I understand completely.

However, Haloscan now has an auto-install feature (after you sign up & sign in, it's under the "instructions/code" section). All you have to do is click a few buttons, and everything is done for you. I gave it a run on a test blog and it worked fine on the first try. Other people in the support forum said they had to do it 2 or 3 times but it DID take.

Two caveats.

First, as with any global blog change, save a copy of your original template to your favorite text editor in case something goes wrong or you change your mind. During the autoinstall process, they also offer you the choice to save your template. I recommend it. To find it afterwards, just go through the auto-install process again.

Second, it's not currently possible to import old Blogger comments into Haloscan, so the old Blogger comments will disappear. They'll still exist within your old template, so you can bring them back.

On the other hand, how often do you go back through your old comments, anyway?

One possible workaround is to start a new Blogger site, call it "My Old Blogger Comments" or something, and put your old template into it, complete with the old comments. That way you can look back if you need to.

In the end, it's your call. But if you want more comments on your site, it helps to have a faster and more user-friendly comment service.

UPDATE 5-24-05: [If you've found this post useful enough to blog about, send a trackback or e-mail the permalink to me at harvolson-at-gmail.com and I'll add you to my Bad Example Groupies blogroll. See this post for details]

WHEN BEAL STRIKES - UPDATED 5-24-05

Bloggranddaughter VW Bug of One Happy Dog Speaks asked me in a recent e-mail if I had any good ideas for some mindless filler-posts.

Sadly, on this topic, my head is as empty as the jar in which Dan Rather stores his journalistic integrity.

However, after a little quick Googling, I came across:

Blogideas

This site has tons of... well... stuff... to get your creative juices flowing on those Bealified days. For example:

# How much weight do you want to GAIN?

# I eat out too much.

# Knock on wood and other stupid sayings.

# An update on your Favorite Band.

# Some over used words.

and has a nearly endless supply of such items available in random chunks of five.

When in doubt, think Blogideas.

UPDATE 5-24-05: [If you've found this post useful enough to blog about, send a trackback or e-mail the permalink to me at harvolson-at-gmail.com and I'll add you to my Bad Example Groupies blogroll. See this post for details]

WHITHER COMMENTS? - UPDATED 5-24-05

Due to some discussions with blogson-in-law Alex of Alex In Wonderland (who has Ch3, part 9 of Witch Hunter up now) I've been thinking about comments and where they come from.

Aside from the specific techniques I listed in this post, I believe that comments are largely a function of traffic. I get about 250ish hits per day (so sayeth Sitemeter), and according to that thing at the bottom of my right sidebar, I average about 4 comments per post. Which suggests a comment ratio of something under 2%. This seems fairly typical. Traffic-bloated super-bloggers with about 20 times my audience DO seem to be getting about about 20 times the comments.

Just an observation.

But my working theory is that, in order to get comments, you first have to make your commenters feel comfortable commenting.

Having read some "how I started blogging" posts, I see a pattern. The person will read blogs for a while, but be reluctant to comment. Then one day they'll take a deep breath, close their eyes and plunge into the virtual pool by leaving a few words. Once they discover that the host doesn't respond with something like "stop polluting my blog with the foulness of your idiocy!", and even WELCOMES what they have to say, they'll soon feel comfortable commenting regularly, and getting their own blog usually isn't far behind.

So it would appear that the trick to getting comments is to occasionally have a few low-pressure, non-controversial, garbage-posts about nothing in particular so that someone with some doubts about their writing prowess can feel comfortable chiming in.

Once the ice is broken in the blogger-reader relationship, it becomes easier for the reader to leave increasingly substantive - even controversial - comments on more complex posts.

Unfortunately, like ALL good relationships, this one takes time to develop. It may require dozens - or even hundreds - of Bonfire-worthy posts to cultivate a group of friendly yammerers. There will be ups and downs, with both warm crowds and frozen emptiness along the way. The course of true love never did run smooth.

But in the end, whether the effort is worth it... I leave as an exercise for the reader.

For my part, I'll call it a mixed blessing, and end with a wink ;-)

UPDATE 5-24-05: [If you've found this post useful enough to blog about, send a trackback or e-mail the permalink to me at harvolson-at-gmail.com and I'll add you to my Bad Example Groupies blogroll. See this post for details]

HOW TO START BLOGGING - UPDATED 1-16-06

Jay Tea of Wizbang recently had a woman ask for help on how to start blogging. Brilliant though Jay is, he had no help to offer. Even the commenters were a little sparse on advice, which was both surprising and disappointing. So, for the sake of this unnamed reader, I'm going to toss out my thoughts on starting blogging.

YOUR NAME: Surprising as it may seem, the first step is NOT "run over to Blogger and sign up". The first and most important step in blogging is to choose a name for your blog. Although it seems like such a small task, it's actually the hardest part. Once you choose your name, you're pretty much stuck with it for your blogging career. It's possible to change names later on, but it means throwing away the name-recognition you worked so hard to build up over the course of the previous months.

Take your time with this step. Think carefully about the name you want. Sleep on it. Mull it over. When you finally come up with the right name for you, you'll know it. There'll be an almost-audible "click" in your head. Write that name down, then set it aside for a while. When you come back and read it again, if that click is still there, that's the name for you.

YOUR TAGLINE: This should expand on or explain your blog's name or your blog's general theme. It can be something witty that you create yourself, or even a quote that you find to be particularly appropriate. You don't have to be quite as selective as when choosing your blog's name, since taglines are easily changeable, but do give it some thought, as it will be the second thing your new visitors see, and it will, to some degree, affect how they interpret what you've written.

START WITH BLOGGER & BLOGSPOT: There are lots of blogging software options to choose from, but for your first blog, I recommend signing up with Blogger and being hosted at Blogspot. Why? Because it's free. If you decide later that blogging just isn't for you, you can quit and be out not a single penny. Also, it's user-friendly and has extensive help/FAQ resources

YOUR FIRST POST: Should suck. It's a tradition. Something like "Hey! Look! I have a blog now!" is a good way to test your posting ability.

YOUR SECOND POST: Should be a paragraph or two, introducing yourself to the world at large. Your name/pseudonym, where you're from, why you started blogging, and an overview of what you'd like your blog to be about. It's not your whole life story, just a good, solid "Howdy".

YOUR THIRD POST: And every post after that - whatever you want. It's your blog, and you can do with it as you please. Don't let anyone ever tell you different.

BELLS & WHISTLES: There are three things that Blogger does poorly or not at all, and I recommend that you use third party services to handle these things.

1) COMMENTS: Although Blogger DOES offer a comment feature, I personally find it slow, clumsy, awkward, and unreliable. I suggest using Haloscan. Not only are they faster and more trustworthy, they also give you trackback capability. All it costs you is the time to sign up, and using it is as simple as copying and pasting a single line of code. You can even use the "Autoinstall" option and not have to do any template-tweaking at all.

UPDATE: 1-16-06 - Since this entry was first posted, Blogger has improved their comment system - by allowing people without Blogger accounts to leave comments and by offering a word-verification spam filter - to the point where you probably don't NEED to use Haloscan unless you want to. Over at Alliance HQ, Basil makes a good case for using Blogger for comments and Haloscan only for trackbacks, and explains how.

2) PAGE VIEW COUNTER: Blogger doesn't offer one. Sitemeter does. It lets you know how many people have visited your site & how they got there. Free for the sign-up. Serves no practical purpose, other than allowing you to obsess about how many people are or aren't visiting your site. By which I mean it's the most important line of code you'll ever copy & paste.

3) IMAGE HOSTING: Eventually, you will feel an irresistable urge to post a picture of something. Probably your cat. Don't worry, it's normal. But how do you get that image from your computer to your blog? Blogger doesn't offer image hosting, and the service they recommend - "Hello" - is a cumbersome, unwieldy, user-antagonistic piece of crap. Don't bother. Keep it simple. Use ImageShack. Very simple, very free. You can even use it without registering if you want, but I recommend registering, since it's simple, non-invasive, and makes it a LOT easier to manage your images.

UPDATE 8-10-05: Blogger now offers image hosting, which I review briefly in this post.

That should be enough to get you started. Once you've got a few posts under your belt, then it's time to get yourself noticed, tips for doing which can be found in my "Fighting Invisibility" post.

The thought I'll leave you with is the thought I started with. Before you take the plunge, spend some time thinking about your blog's name and theme, and what you want it to be about.

In tribal cultures, young teenagers are often put through a rite of passage, after which they are given adult names. A blog is like that. Forget what your parents call you. Forget the names you were called in school. Forget the names your family & friends call you now.

This time, you name yourself. Listen to your soul's whisper, and become who you already know you are.

UPDATE 5-24-05: [If you've found this post useful enough to blog about, send a trackback or e-mail the permalink to me at harvolson-at-gmail.com and I'll add you to my Bad Example Groupies blogroll. See this post for details]

12 STEPS TO BETTER BLOGGING - UPDATED 5-24-05

PROLOGUE:

As I mentioned a few days ago, Earl of Brave New World jumped into the blogosphere recently, naming me as one of his inspirations for doing so. Since I never actually TOLD him he should start blogging, that makes me a blog idol instead of his blogfather.

However, in the comments to that post, I joshed him that I'd consider adopting him as a blogson if he finished a 12-step program to overcome a particular bad blogging habit that I'd caught him indulging in (wouldn't want any of my blogkids sucking, ya know). Earl asked what that 12-step program would be, and it got me thinking about certain habits and techniques of posting that I do and don't like. What follows are my thoughts on this topic.

12 STEPS TO BETTER BLOGGING

After blogging for over 13 months, and with nearly 3000 entries under my belt, I've come to realize that's there aren't any absolutely right or wrong ways to post an entry. Given the differing personalities of various bloggers and, more importantly, the constraints of time, pretty much anything goes.

However, assuming that your goal is to be both read and well-liked by your target audience, I've found that certain techniques work better than others in reaching those goals. Most of these fall into the category of "courtesies", so they can be omitted without serious damage to your reputation if you're in a hurry or just feeling a little lazy that day. Doing them consistently, however, does pay dividends in reader loyalty, so take that into consideration.

1) Link to cited facts: For example, if you're writing about something said during a speech given at the Democratic Convention, find a link to the full text of the speech, or at least a news story containing the quote. Yes, your readers know how to use Google, but they'll enjoy your opinion more if they know exactly what you're talking about.

2) Don't link a New York Times story: Not if you can help it, anyway. They, and certain other large newspapers, require free - and very annoying - registration to view their articles. If you MUST link the Times, consider including a link to BugMeNot, so you readers can get a functional username & password without registering. Or, even better, include a working BugMeNot username and password in your post.

3) When linking a blog post, include the site name and the blogger's name: Although the main purpose of linking someone else's post is to provide entertainment for your readers, you should also consider that you have an opportunity here to help build name recognition for your link's target. Although any link is a good link, using "Harvey of Bad Example" instead of just "Harvey" does a better job of advertising, which is always greatly appreciated.

4) Keep blockquotes short: Readers come to your site to read what YOU wrote, not somebody else's stuff. Keep the foreign writing to the minimum necessary to support your point, summarize the rest in your own words, and give a link to the rest of the piece. If you MUST quote extensively to provide proper context, highlight the most relevant passage.

5) Provide links for inside jokes: The blogosphere is growing constantly, and new readers are finding your site every day. They might not know, for example, why Glenn Reynolds is called "the puppy blender". Give them a link so they can figure out what's going on.

6) Make your site searchable: This is sort of a corrolary to the last point. If someone else wants to put an explanatory link to an inside joke involving one of your posts, make it easy for them to find it. Most blogging software contains a native search function. If you're on Blogspot, you can get code for a site search box FREE from Google. If you find that Google's box is too big for your sidebar, see this post on how to give it a smaller footprint.

7) Make your links drive traffic: One of the best links you can give (or get) is one that actually makes the reader click through to the targeted post. My favorite technique works best on list-type entries, but it can be adapted to other posts, too:

a) state your enthusiasm for the post
b) quote your favorite part
c) close with a teasing reference to another part

Other good techniques are stating that a "drink alert is in effect" (i.e. it's so funny that the reader will laugh hard enough to make whatever beverage he's drinking come out his nose) or simply the words "go read the whole thing."

CAUTION: Don't use these words unless they're true. Crying wolf to pimp your friends will adversely affect your reputation. Don't squander your readers' trust.

8) Don't post that blogging will be light or non-existant: It's a waste of time. Your readers will figure out that you're not posting when they come by and see you haven't updated since their last visit. They'll merely shrug and figure you took a day off. Posting about it just tells people not to visit your site, which is the LAST impression you ever want to give.

There are two exceptions to this. First, if you're going to be gone for more than 48 hours and you don't want your readers to worry about you, then go ahead and say something. Second, if you need a crappy entry for the Bonfire of the Vanities, "light blogging ahead" posts are perfect.

9) If you enter a link-fest, link the fest AND another person's entry: This is especially important if you're a regular participant. Giving a courtesy link to the host of a link-fest is just good manners. Linking another participant is good advertising for the fest, since it gives proof that your readers will actually find good material there. Anything you do to promote a link-fest will encourage future readership of the fest, and, consequently, your entries in it.

10) "If you're going to shoot... SHOOT! Don't talk!": Which is my way of saying don't waste precious blogging time telling your readers what you'll be blogging about later. Spend the time writing about the topic instead. Make it part one of a series if you have to, but get something out. Your readers are looking for substantive writing, and "coming soon" posts have none.

As always, however, "I needed a Bonfire entry" is a legitimate excuse.

11) One link per entry: This one is probably just a personal issue, but, especially when I was just starting, I liked to stop by and thank people for linking to me. But sometimes when I hit the original post, I was just one of several links, and I felt... well... not special, I guess. And a little embarrassed about leaving a comment, especially if my link was just a throwaway line, and not related to the main bulk of the post. Since then, my philosophy has become, "if it's good enough to link, it's good enough to deserve its own post."

Now let me be perfectly clear. I do NOT intend by this statement to denigrate or disparge the fine blogging tradition of the link-fest. If you've got a dozen good posts you want to give kudos to, and you're short on time, there's NOTHING wrong with doing a list of links with short intros.

But if it's only 2 or 3 links, consider breaking them up into separate posts as an extra bit of warm fuzzy to the target.

12) No lists: There's nothing more eye-glazingly, mind-bogglingly dull than a numbered list of ostensibly connected thoughts. My GOD, people! Can't you handle the simple task of connecting your paragraphs together? It's SO agonizingly unoriginal. Letterman has been whacking the crap out of that rotting, maggot-infested equine corpse for about the last 100 years or so. Why don't you just tell your readers to go f*** themselves in so many words, instead? It's practically the same thing, and...

DOH!

Nevermind ;-)

UPDATE 5-24-05: [If you've found this post useful enough to blog about, send a trackback or e-mail the permalink to me at harvolson-at-gmail.com and I'll add you to my Bad Example Groupies blogroll. See this post for details]

HELP FOR THE BLOGSPOTTED: GOOGLE SEARCH YOUR SITE - UPDATED 5-24-05

Google bought Blogger a while back, and yet Blogger still doesn't have a native search function included in the blogging software.

Which isn't really a problem... until that day comes (and it will) when you want to find one of your old entries, but you don't remember when you posted it, and you can only remember a couple words from it. Sure, you could manually search 3 or 4 months worth of archive pages, but what a pain in the ass THAT would be.

And even if YOU don't care about your old posts, other people might. What if they want to link one of your old posts, but have no idea where to find it? What if that one link would FINALLY push you up to Flappy Bird in the Ecosystem?

You NEED a search function on your blog.

Fortunately, Google provides free cut & paste code so you can have just that. All you have to do is paste in your site URL where it says "YOUR DOMAIN NAME". Simple.

And freakin' HUGE! This thing is like 10,000 pixels wide!

Fortunately, you can tweak a few things to shrink it to fit into your sidebar. Here's what I've done at my old Blogspot site:

<!-- SiteSearch Google -->
<FORM method=GET action="http://www.google.com/search">
<TABLE bgcolor="#FFFFFF"><tr>
<td>
<INPUT TYPE=text name=q size=25 maxlength=255 value="">
<INPUT type=submit name=btnG VALUE="Google Search">
<font size=-1>
<input type=hidden name=domains value="http://badmoney.blogspot.com"><br><input type=radio name=sitesearch value=""> WWW <input type=radio name=sitesearch value="http://badmoney.blogspot.com" checked> Bad Money <br>
</font>
</td></tr></TABLE>
</FORM>
<!-- SiteSearch Google -->

Just change the bolded items to your URL in the first two spots and the name of your blog in the last one.

You can change the width of the box by changing the "size" variable to something less than 25.

There's also the bare-bones option which appears underneath, the code for which is:

<form action="http://www.google.com/search" target="_blank">
<INPUT TYPE=text name=q size=25 maxlength=255 value="">
<input class="go" type="submit" name="submit" value="Search Bad Money" />
<input type="hidden" name="as_sitesearch" value="http://badmoney.blogspot.com" />
</form>

Again, change the bolded items to your blog name and your blog URL, respectively.

Also again, you can change the width of the box by changing the "size" variable to something less than 25.

How well this works is debatable. It seems to be pretty good about picking up words in post titles. Words in the body of the entry or in comments... not so much. However, it's better than nothing.

If anybody knows how to tweak this code to make it a little more sensitive/responsive, please speak up in the comments.

UPDATE 5-23-05: William of Pirate's Cove has some additional tweaks for the code.

UPDATE 5-24-05: [If you've found this post useful enough to blog about, send a trackback or e-mail the permalink to me at harvolson-at-gmail.com and I'll add you to my Bad Example Groupies blogroll. See this post for details]

FREE IMAGE HOSTING FOR THE BLOGSPOTTED - UPDATED 8-2-05

Even though Blogger has undergone a number of improvements in the last few months, there are still some shortcomings. The most obvious being a lack of image hosting.

(8-2-05: see update at the bottom of this post)

If you're new to blogging and you aren't quite ready to plunk down the cash to register a domain and pay for server space (or your geek skills aren't quite that advanced yet), what can you do?

After a quick Googling, I came across ImageShack. They'll host your images for free.

Catches? Didn't see any. They appear to make their money via Google ads on their site pages. There's also a PayPal donation button.

Limits: Max single image size is 1024kb - more than adequate for your normal blogging needs. No limit to the number of files you can upload. Images stay on their server unless they are inactive for 365 consecutive days.

There's no software to download, and you don't even have to register to use it if you don't want to.

Personally, I would recommend registering, because it's free, and only registered users can delete their uploaded files. It also makes it easier to manage and keep track of your images if you have an account.

I've only toyed with it a little, myself, but it seems to work ok, and they have some positive reviews.

Although I can't make any ironclad guarantees, this does seem like a useful tool.

UPDATED 3-6-05: Sissy of And What Next... has the illustrated guide of how to remove the black bar (the one with the size properties of the full size image) from the bottom of your thumbnails.

UPDATE 5-24-05: [If you've found this post useful enough to blog about, send a trackback or e-mail the permalink to me at harvolson-at-gmail.com and I'll add you to my Bad Example Groupies blogroll. See this post for details]

UPDATE 8-1-05: Sissy of And What Next... found free video hosting at Zippy Videos.

UPDATE 8-2-05: Blogger now offers 300 MB of free image hosting for Blogspot sites, as I explain here.

ON COMMENTS - UPDATED 5-24-05

Alex of Alex in Wonderland is pondering a bit on blogging, traffic, and comments, and wondering what he can do to get a little more reader participation.

I already covered the traffic issue, so I'll only add that building regular readership takes time. Traffic spikes from the heavy hitters come and go, but building your readership baseline is strictly a matter of persistence.

Getting more comments has it's own set of issues. The biggest one is time. Blog readers are often busy and probably have a large list of blogs they intend to visit every day. Leaving a comment is a time commitment for the reader, and sometimes there simply aren't the minutes to spare to wait for the comment window to open and then type, type, type, proofread, correct, type, post. As a blog-host, understand that a lack of comments doesn't necessarily mean a lack of love or readership.

Knowing that your readers are probably in a hurry, consider this technical aspect: How easy is it to use your comments? Do they remember the readers' information from one day to the next? There have been many times that I've not left a comment simply because I didn't feel like typing all my info in AGAIN. And I won't even discuss the misery of having to go to a separate page to log in just to leave a :-) or LOL!

If your blogging software doesn't have user-friendly comments, you might consider using a third party comment service. Haloscan is excellent (and free). You can install that with a tiny pasted bit of code and disable the native comment service. I had to do something like this at my old Bad Money blog for technical reasons, and it worked fine. I chose to leave the Radio comments active so that people could still enjoy stuff attached to the older posts, but I could have just as easily deleted it from the post template code.

UPDATE 2-27-05: ...in the outer... shows one way to display Blogger comments after installing Haloscan.

UPDATE 3-20-05: QUICK AND PAINLESS GUIDE TO ADDING HALOSCAN COMMENTS WHILE KEEPING YOUR OLD BLOGGER COMMENTS VISIBLE

For your readers, the great thing about Haloscan comments is that, once they sign in on ANY blog with Haloscan comments, they will be remembered on every other blog that uses Haloscan. Very convenient.

Once your comments work well, how do you get people to use them? Outside of being very popular or very controversial, it's hard to say, but I have a few notions for encouraging them.

End your post with a question: People leave comments when what you've written sparks an idea in their heads. Asking a question makes the reader answer it, and probably makes them think up a "why" to justify that answer. Since it's skull-floating anyway, there's a good chance it'll get typed up. See this post as an example.

ASK for comments to your post: A more direct version of the above suggestion. See this post for an example. Sometimes shyer readers don't realize that bloggers LOVE comments, and they're hesitant to say anything, even though they have an urge. Inviting them in so many words can tip the balance for an indecisive reader.

Keep your posts to a single subject: Although it's easy to get caught up in your own stream of consciousness and range over a variety of topics, it's often only a single point you make that a reader will want to respond to. If you go off on other tangents, the reader may feel like his comment isn't really "on-topic" and may decide not to leave it. This is not to say that long, rambling posts aren't perfectly ok - they most certainly are - it's just that they're not as comment-encouraging.

Then there's the more indirect approach. These techniques might not yield immediate results, but they help develop a more talkative readership.

Comment on reader's comments: When people leave comments, reward them with a little attention by leaving a comment of your own that responds to what they said. Positive feedback is always appreciated.

Comment on other people's blogs: Reciprocation is the norm in the blogosphere. If you leave comments for other people, you'll get them in return.

Blog about your reader's comments: One of the biggest thrills for a reader is to see that something they said inspired its very own post. It's VERY flattering. I don't suggest that you try to FORCE an entry if you're not truly inspired, but if a comment is particularly stimulating, why not put it on stage with a spotlight?

Finally, there's one more thing you can do, but use it with caution:

Whine about how you never get comments: If you're really sick of seeing "comments(0)", put up a pouty, tantrum-filled post about how hurt your feelings are. The risk here is that these posts often get linked elsewhere, and you may get bombarded with all kinds of weird stuff by quirky-humored bloggers.

I should end here, but I suppose that, for the sake of completeness, I should mention that you can always go the melodramatic route and threaten to quit blogging, just to get people to beg you not to go. Not that anyone actually does that sort of thing.

UPDATE 5-24-05: [If you've found this post useful enough to blog about, send a trackback or e-mail the permalink to me at harvolson-at-gmail.com and I'll add you to my Bad Example Groupies blogroll. See this post for details]

SECRET WEAPON FOR THE BLOGSPOTTED - UPDATED 9-15-05

It's no secret that Blogspot has had yet another bout of the not-user-friendlies lately, and in the comments to a post where Graumagus of Frizzen Sparks also noted this tragedy, someone commented that Blogspot's squirliness had cost him several posts.

Which is the worst feeling in the world.

But there is a cure for this. On a post about some of his favorite software, Reid of Photodude mentioned a program called NoteTab Pro, which has a free version called NoteTab Light that I've used with great success. I've tried several word processing programs in my day, but when it comes to writing up blog posts, NoteTab is without peer.

It's got 2 big advantages over composing your post in your blogging software.

First, while Blogger, Movable Type, Radio, TypePad, etc. give you a few formatting buttons, NoteTab gives you... well, ALL of them (technically, it's double-clicks in the sidebar menu, but it works the same as a button). Take a look at this (please note the position of scrollbar on the right, indicating more choices, and the buttons across the bottom indicating entire new menus):

(click to enlarge)

It's got "buttons" I've never even used, but if I need them, they'll be there for me.

Second, there's no squinting-tiny editing window. You get to use the whole freaking page. Saves a lot of time scrolling up & down.

The one thing it lacks is a preview mode (or at least I haven't been able to find it), but still, you can get 99% of your heavy lifting done with NoteTab, then copy & paste to your blogging software, and just polish up the rough edges there.

It's the best thing that ever happened to me, blogwise.

And I DID mention that it's free, right? And only a 1.8 Meg download.

Go get yourself a copy, and breathe freedom's sweet air.

UPDATE 6-11-05: Another advantage is that - unlike using Microsoft Word - NoteTab composes in completely plain text. MS Word sometimes uses MS-specific characters - especially for punctuation - which will show up as question marks after they're posted (see, for example, this post)

UPDATE 9-15-05: If you're the type of Blogger user who prefers to compose in "Compose" mode instead of "Edit Html" mode, NoteTab Light can still be your friend.

Just before you hit "Publish Post", click the "Edit Html" tab, then copy the entire post and paste it into NoteTab. That way, if Blogger eats your post, you can copy the entire thing back again.

UPDATE 5-24-05: [If you've found this post useful enough to blog about, send a trackback or e-mail the permalink to me at harvolson-at-gmail.com and I'll add you to my Bad Example Groupies blogroll. See this post for details]

ON EXTENDED ENTRIES - UPDATED 5-24-05

In the comments to this post, _Jon of We Swear complained about one of my long posts. He thought I should put it in the extended entry so it would be easier for him to get on to better stuff and not have to scroll, scroll, scroll on past the junk.

It's a fair complaint, and depending on the commentary I get here, I may consider using it in the future. Not using the extended entry is a personal preference of mine. Putting stuff in an extended entry is an inconvenience to the people who want to read it. It's worse for people whose extended entries open in a new window [looking at Matty O'Blackfive], because then the reader has to wait for a new page to load (a serious bummer for folks on dial-up). I have drop-down extended entries, so it's not AS bad, but that's still a mouse click and an interruption of the narrative flow for the people who want to read something. If I DON'T use the extended entry, it's a convenience for the interested reader, and the burden goes to someone who - for some unimaginable reason - chooses to forego the pleasure of my brilliant witticisms. Someone's gotta suck it up, so the "flaming bag of dog-poo" prize goes to who decline to perform their readerly duties.

Now, I certainly think that extended entries have their place. They're excellent for hiding punchlines and graphic photos. But for text that holds no secrets or surprises, I think it's better not to use them.

So, what does everyone else think? Should I start using extended entries for long, wordy posts?

UPDATE 5-24-05: [If you've found this post useful enough to blog about, send a trackback or e-mail the permalink to me at harvolson-at-gmail.com and I'll add you to my Bad Example Groupies blogroll. See this post for details]