· 25 words: Want the gist? See headline links and the first 25 words of each post, links to the rest.
· Full version: Browse the latest blog posts as you have all along.
· A "tag cloud" is a visual index of topics "tagged" -- described on the fly -- by bloggers: Buddy, budget, Celona, Pawtucket, beaches, Firefox, Trinity. Larger type means more blog posts on that topic -- click the tag to see them all.
· Photos: A page of thumbnails of the most recently published photos, each popping up at a click to a larger image.
· Comments: The most recent writings by readers on all posts.
Want to know everything?
The MultiBlog merges all the news from all projo blogs into one chronological stream.
Latest headlines from all blogs display in realtime on one blog dedicated only to that task.
So will all posts by your favorite author, thumbnail photos, comments, a "tag cloud," and "author cloud" each on separate pages.
Changes
· Comments will no longer need approval before publishing; instead, each comment will display a "Report Abuse" link. Use it to tell projo staff about inappropriate language or content. Please don't abuse it.
· Tags: We're migrating from filing posts in formal categories to assigning descriptive tags on the fly.
· Photos: More, larger, the news in pictures. Galleries of thumbnails of every uploaded photo.
What's ahead?
We're starting from scratch with some of these features. When we tag enough posts and add enough photos to the new database, our tag clouds and thumbnail galleries will fill out.
There's more to come -- the tool is flexible, and we're seeing how far we can extend it. If there's a feature that you, the reader, or our journalist-bloggers want to see, we'll try to build it. Watch us work.
Some next steps are basic, such as captions. Scrollbars and ads on enlarged photo pages. An RSS feed for MultiBlog. (Under way now: Getting kinks in its "author cloud" and "tag cloud" links worked out.)
The tag cloud gives weight to topics as they rise and fall. We can group the most popular tags, the most recent, those with the most posts, the orphaned single. Choose the top ten, a swarm of 50, more. Today only, just Scott MacKay's tags, and, eventually, last year's top tags.
Readers as writers: Open comments let blog posts become instant publishing tools for news-gathering and microlocal reporting: "What happened in your neighborhood today?" could be a nightly "open thread."
Suggestions: Please use this post's comments form.
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I prefer the full blogs, the way it's been. I dislike having to click through to stories and then click back to a list of headlines. Minimize clicks!
Re: the "report abuse" solution to comment moderation -- I appreciate that moderating is tedious, but with the "reprt" function you run the risk of rampant "flagging" a la Craigslist forums, where people go on vendettas against posters whose opinions they disagree with.
Still, I'm game to try anything new. I love the 7 to 7 news blog and rely on it during the day for updates.
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This is the full blog, the way it's been, Elizabeth. It was my choice to "jump" that post -- it's quite long, and it's intended to stay at the top of the blog today, so I didn't want it to interfere with your view of the latest posts that will come after it.
We'll see how it goes.
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Thanks, Sheila. I was responding to this in your original text:
"How do you want to view this blog?
" · Headlines: In a hurry? Scan the latest headlines, each linked to a complete blog post and its comments."
I must have misunderstood; I thought you wanted us to "vote" on how the blog would appear -- as a list of headlines with links, as a list of annotated headlines with links, or as a full blog as it has been up until now. If it will still be the full blog, hooray!
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Ah, I see. No, it's not a vote. They're all available to you: Bookmark your favorites. The MultiBlog is my favorite innovation -- entries from all projo blogs merge in a chronological "river of news."
Thanks for the feedback. I edited the original post to make it clearer that it's up to you to decide how you want to view the blog.
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You really need to get these blogs into the Projo domain 'cuz the current aggregation under Beloblog does nothing for your comScore.
Formatting note - running FF2 on OSX 10.5 - comments, not post just comments, absolutely flush left. No margin.
Big ups, all y'all.
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The formatting -- I fixed it for later posts, then managed to break it on my own blog. At some point, I copied in the wrong direction. I'm rebuilding that one now.
All Belo blogs -- hundreds of them -- share beloblog.com. And that's the way it is...
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The links to Multiblog are 404 Not Found. Hope it's fixed soon because I think it's a good idea.
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Dub, they're fixed. And the MultiBlog link on the top nav has always been right: MultiBlog
(At 4 a.m. I outsmarted myself and apparently typoed them. Sorry.)
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Censorship via 'flagging' didn't take long, did it? Obviously it is politically incorrect to include links to Center for Disease Control (CDC) and Merck articles about silica-caused cancers, especially when certain RI politicians' names are in the article.
Years ago it was asbestos, a fabulous natural insulator mined in places like the Asbestos region of Quebec, and lead paint. Nobody brags about bringing in terrific asbestos companies anymore.
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