Blogs are running!

[TechDawgFan]

Click on the Blogs link in the navigation bar. Only Inside Dawgs can post blogs for now, but everyone can comment.

Chris

[TechDawgFan]

Now that things have slowed down just a bit, let me give this announcement the attention it deserves.

Saturday night, I installed a new feature to the website that was released by our forum developer called vBulletin Blog. vBulletin Blog is a fully featured blogging add-on that enables BB&B members to create their very own online blogs within Bulldog Barks & Bytes. Giving members a place to post thoughts, ideas and musings will hopefully keep members returning to the community again and again.


About the Blog System

This blog system is feature-rich, with support for fully formatted WYSIWYG posts, attachments, comments, trackbacks and pingbacks, draft posts and categories, and integrates fully with the rest of the site.

Available via a single click from any vBulletin page, the blog home page pulls together from all member blogs into a single page – with information about the most recent and highest rated blog posts, recent comments, a featured blog post (selected by the administrator or at random), full support for browsing posts by date and overall blogging statistics.

Site wide and per-blog RSS feeds also allow syndication to external readers, and full support for subscriptions lets members join their favorite blogs and receive regular email updates.

The Blog Control Panel lets you control every aspect of your blogs, from permission controls (who has access to view and comment on the blog), to full management of blog categories, draft posts, trackbacks/pingbacks and subscriptions. You also have the ability to moderate comments on your own blog.

How Is This Different?

Some of you may ask how this is any different than a message board. Well, that's a good question. In a lot of ways it isn't any different. You make a post and people respond. The main difference is that your thoughts don't have to be in any sort of category and can be more informal or general information. Blogging is a good way of sharing your thoughts about issues or life in general and can be sorted so people can see all of your posts. Some people will use it, others won't.

Who Can Use It?

For an introductory period, I'm going to open up the blog system to ALL registered users to post entries. There is no cost for using the system. It is here to help generate interest and keep people coming back here. In the future, we will probably add some minor restrictions on who can post entries. What I'm thinking is that you will need to make a donation to the site (either for operational expenses or supporting one of our projects like the ATAC effort), but that will come later.

What Can I Post?

It's all fair game. Your blog entries don't have to be about Tech or anything else relevant to this forum. They are your thoughts and what interest you. We do ask that you continue to abide by the forum rules for content (no sexual stuff or profanity), but as long as it is in good taste, it's fair game.

If you have any questions about how to start your blog or use the system, please let me know. I'm new to blogging systems so if you see an area for improvement or change, PLEASE let me know!!!

Chris

[TechDawgFan]

To get to the blog system, simply click "Blogs" on the navigation bar or scroll down to the bottom of the home forum page and click Dawg Blogs.

Chris