Today's tip: Start a blog! (Why and how)

[Rebecca Petris]

Why start your own dry eye blog?

• It's a friendly format for certain types of posts. Sometimes bulletin board posting just isn't right for what you want to do.
• It's easier to find what you've written. Once a thread becomes stale, your post can be hard to find.
• It's a great format for when you really just want to post an update. Once you start a bulletin board thread, you have no control over it - it can take on a life of its own. Your blog is yours to control.
• It's great for keeping a journal of your progress. That's almost impossible to do on the BB unless you keep updating a single thread.
• It's great for concentrating your news/thoughts on a specific topic, making it easy for others to find updates on your specialized topic.
• For those who like posting news and studies, it's a great way to keep them all in one place, and a really nice service to others!

How do I start a blog?

1. You need to be logged in.
2. Click on "Blogs" in the blue bar towards the top of the screen.
3. Under "Actions", click on "Blog Control Panel". This is where you'll find all the settings for your blog.
4. (Optional) Click on "Blog Title and Description" if you want to name your blog.
5. (Optional) Check out the other blog settings to make changes to how it works - for example, whether others can comment, whether you get email notifications, etc.
6. Start blogging! Just click "Post to your blog" to get started on your first entry.

Please note that the same rules that apply to the forum apply to blogs.

If you need help, post in the Help Desk (towards the bottom of the list of forums).

Enjoy!

[Rebecca Petris]

Alright... isn't somebody out there somewhere gonna start a blog?

Terri and I are getting awfully lonely over there.

[liz56]

Publishing the Blog?

Hi.

Does anyone have advice for how to make the blog entries visible? I posted my first entry, but I cannot find it unless I log in and choose "Your Blog." Suggestions for what I am doing wrong?

My blog is going to retrace my steps from this time last year until now for people who are just starting the process of figuring out what rce's are and how to handle them.

Thanks,
Liz

[Rebecca Petris]

Oh hurrah! Liz is joining us........

My one real complaint with this blog feature is I haven't found any OBVIOUS way to simply see a list of blogs! I'm going to post a few tips separately about navigating blogs.

Liz... does your first blog post show up when you go into your blog? It's not showing up publicly at all (even for me ). You can tell by going into the Blogs button, then click on the number after "Total blogs" - this brings up a list of blogs. I don't see one for you there. The only thing I can think of is if the wrong boxes are checked in your Blog Control Panel. In the Options screen, at the bottom, there is a box called "Everyone else may..." - The "View your blog" box has to be checked. If it is and it's still not working for you let me know and I'll see what I can do.

[liz56]

Hi, Rebecca.

I figured out the problem. It was saved as a Draft, and in that mode, there is only the option to "Save" or "Delete" but not to "Post." So, I deleted the draft and copied it into a new post and finally saw the post button.

Thanks!

--Liz