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Some overlap in the questions, but then, all the issues interact, don’t they?
If I want to send someone a link to a specific post, in many blogs I can click on “permalink” or on the headline of that post …. here, the url always remains the homepage, rather than a url for a specific post. Would love to be able to direct someone to a particular post.
Email me if I’m not being clear.
Jess,
I'm brand new to blogging, but I think I get your drift. WordPress has a number of themes, each of which has different features. Sometimes it's a tradeoff between features. Some have permalinks and some do not. It's not very customizable, or I haven't figured out how to customize yet.
I just switched to the current theme last night. If you look at the bottom of each post, there's a "permalink" icon. Under the current theme you should be able to do what you want. However, the permalink is for the post itself, not individual comments.
I've tested the permalink and it takes me to the article, not the blog home. I don't know why it didn't do it for you.
Hope this helps!
Tom
Is the moderator the only one with the ability to start a new thread? Thanks.
Mitch,
Yes, for now only the moderator can start threads. We want this to be a multi-source information exchange, but we also don't want it to become totally chaotic.
I expect soon to add more moderators and, in any case, will start new thread on any topic that seems to be directly related to ESPEC's goals and is of general interest.
Got a suggestion?
As an alternative to letting people initiate new threads, I suggest posting “Open Threads” periodically – simply a blog entry with no specific subject, encouraging people to contribute comments concerning whatever’s on their mind. You can see examples of the use of open threads on other community sites such as http://www.dailykos.com .
I think you should change the format of this venue from a blog to a discussion group (e.g., http://groups.google.com/). The blog is suited to publishing one person’s ruminations chronologically with ancillary, subordinate comments. Its (significant) shortcomings are that it is not conducive to ongoing discussion since it is difficult to discover new additions to old blog entries and it is unthreaded making it hard to follow threads within a discussion.
A discussion group would engender a more lively community interaction. It could still be moderated, if need be.
It is, of course, possible that what I see as shortcomings you view as features. But, if not, I think you are doing ESPEC a disservice by retaining this limiting format.
Hi Mitch,
Thanks for your comments. I agree that it would be good to have more lively interaction. I have been dissapointed at the number of comments that have been posted. Perhaps it is the format that keeps them down.
Although I’ve posted “ruminations” from time to time, I’ve used it mostly to pass along new items and event announcements. The blog is much easier to update than the web page. So, I’m sorry to hear that you think the blog is a “disservice”, but I don’t plan to change the format of this blog at present. Still, I can see that another type of venue might be worthwhile. I’ll look into setting up a google group.
Meanwhile, I’ll create an open post to let people say what they want here. Not many people used that in the past either, but perhaps you can help change that.
I think the blog format is definitely limiting the comments/discussion. A blog is designed as a one-way broadcast medium with incidental comments. Hence, no threading. It seems well-suited to one of your goals – keeping the community informed about what is going on. It does not encourage lively discussion though. The Open Comment topic is a good idea, but I think it will quickly become a bin for miscellaneous thoughts with limited readership.
It is very easy to set up a Google group and that would be a great adjunct to this medium.
I’m working on the Google Group. Should have it set up this afternoon. We’ll give it a try and see how that goes.
Oops. Just haven’t had time to do this. Sorry. I’ll try again.
So you succeeded! It would probably be good to alert people that it is available.
Mitch- You mean with the Google group?
Well, I set it up, and started to figure out how it works, and then got distracted by final exams and graduation, and then forgot! I’ll get back on it now.