Blog FAQ
What is a blog?
A blog is a place where a member of PH can scribble down their thoughts on pretty much anything they feel like. Some of it might even be programming related! These writings are then available to be read by anyone else visiting the site. A blog can be used like a diary about yourself or some project you work on, for giving advice, for moaning about how much things suck or for sharing cool code snippets you've made. Some are all four of these simultaneously, and more.
How do I create my Programmer's Heaven blog?
First, make sure you are logged in to Programmer's Heaven. Then visit the
Blog Start Page and follow the link on the right hand side to create your blog.
You need to think of a title for your blog (be as creative or uncreative as you feel like) and write a short description of what you expect it will cover. Don't worry about getting this perfect right at the start - you will be able to change it as time goes on.
We also ask you to select a category for your blog. Select the topic that you expect to blog about most, or if you are not sure just leave it on "General". Again, you can tweak this later if you wish.
Then click the button at the bottom of the page and...excellent, you now have a blog. Welcome!
Is the Programmer's Heaven blog service free?
Yes, this is a free service and will remain free. Like the rest of the Programmer's Heaven site, the service is supported by advertisements on the pages.
How do I post in my blog?
To post in your blog, you should be logged in and should have
created your blog already. Visit your blog by going to the "My Page" link on the sidebar, then clicking the "Blog" tab. You will see a "Your Blog" bar containing a "New Post" link. Click this link to go to the new blog post page.
To make a blog post you should enter a title for the post and the post itself. Note that HTML is not allowed, but you can use our style tags to format your post and incorporate links and images.
What are tags?
Tags are words that describe a blog post. For example, if you posted about generics in C#, you might tag your posts as "generics, C#". Note that multiple tags are separated by commas. You should try to re-use the same tags across multiple blog posts, so every post about C# is tagged with "C#".
Why should I associate tags with my posts?
We build a list of tags in a column to the right of your blog. This allows people visiting your blog to see the topics you blog on and just see posts on the topic they are interested in.
Additionally, we are currently deploying a site-wide tagging system. We will soon start to map the tags that you have used in your blog onto our site wide tags. That means that we will be able to direct users interested in, for example, C#, to your blog posts tagged with C#.
If you want to blog about your pet cat and tag it as such that's fine, since we probably won't have a site wide cats tag; they're not really a common programming topic. That's a shame, because we could have some really cute kitten pictures on the site if they were.
Why do tags show up in different sizes in the right column next to my blog?
We size each tag depending on what proportion of your posts are tagged with it. This is commonly known as a tag cloud. If you blog a lot about COBOL, but only occasionally about C#, then COBOL will show up larger than C#. It's a nice visual indication of what the main topics that you discuss in your blog are.
What is a permalink?
Permalink is short for "permanent link". While the front page of your blog only shows the latest posts, a permalink points to a particular post. This link will always be a valid link directly to the post, unless the post is deleted. Therefore if you want to link to a post in somebody else's blog you should always use the permalink.
How do I censor or remove SPAM/offensive comments from my blog?
Make sure that you are logged in. When you are viewing your own blog, you will see Edit and Delete links next to each comment. You can use these to remove SPAM comments and edit comments that contain inappropriate content, but are generally worth having otherwise.
It is considered bad etiquette to delete or edit a comment just because you do not agree with the point of view of the person who wrote it. If you want to form a community of regular readers around your blog, etiquette matters.
Is there an RSS feed for my blog?
Yes, every blog gets its own RSS feed. If you visit a blog, you will see an RSS icon with a link to the RSS feed close to the top of the page.
Do you ping any blog aggregation services when I post?
There are a number of blog aggregation and search engine services out there and they can help more people to find your blog posts. We automatically notify a selection of them when you make a post in your blog, saving you from doing it yourself by hand.
How do I delete my Programmer's Heaven blog?
If you wish to delete your blog, you should
contact us, using the email address that you signed up to Programmer's Heaven with. We will then remove it for you.
How do I report an abusive blog post or comment?
If you spot an abusive blog post or comment, please
contact us, providing the permalink of the post that is abusive or has an abusive comment.
I have another question. What should I do?
If you have a question that is not answered here or comments and suggestions relating to our blog service, please
contact us and we will try and get back to you as soon as possible.
