Joining WikiFray

Anyone can. That means you.

You will need a Google Account, but that's because Google owns Blogger, and not because WikiFray is just some devious trick to get you to sell your soul to big brother or anything like that.

Email wikifray@gmail.com, Subject: I'd like to join WikiFray.

In reply to that email you'll receive a Gmail Invitation and a Blogger Invite. You can register for a Google Account using your regular email address, or you can use the Gmail Invitation to create your Google Account. It's entirely up to you. Once you have your Google Account set up, simply follow the instructions contained in the Blogger Invite. If you run into trouble at any point you can post your question(s) as a comment in reply to any post on WikiFray, or email wikifray@gmail.com and an Administrator will help you.

Assuming there are no problems, that's it, you're free to begin posting. There are, however, two technical notes:

Labels:

You must label your posts with your name or nickname. This is how the label cloud in the WikiFray header is generated and updated. If you forget to label your post, someone may remind you in a comment, or an Administrator may be so kind as to label it for you, but the responsibility to label your posts remains yours. Labels other than your nickname are allowed for series only. If you have a question about what constitutes a series please ask or see the label cloud for current examples.

Post Summary:

When you go to create a post you will find the following in the text box of your post:

Type your summary here
<span id="fullpost">
Type rest of the post here
</span>

If you don't want to apply the post summary option to your post, simply delete this text.

If you do want to summarize your post, replace "Type your summary here" with the summary of your post that you'd like to appear, and replace "Type rest of the post here" with the remainder of your post. Do not delete "<span id="fullpost">" or "</span>". Publish and double-check that you formatted your post correctly.

Feel free to try it even if you’re not sure how to do it. If you mess it up, it's okay. You can go back and edit your post, either trying again, or deciding not to use post summary and simply deleting the blockquoted text above from your text box.

That's it. The rest of this post is an explanation of the various parts of WikiFray and how you can take advantage of them, but as far as posting is concerned, you have everything you need.

Profiles: The Profiles button in the header is put there primarily to satisfy curious visitors. Clicking on it shows WikiFray's profile where a visitor can find all the profiles of WikiFray contributors. In this way, if someone takes an interest in you, they can click on your profile to find, for example, your email address, or your personal blog. With this in mind, take a few minutes to customize your Blogger Profile so that it tells interested parties what you want it to tell them.

Comments: The first sidebar is devoted solely to your comments. Whether you’re commenting on a post posted today, last week or last year, your comment will be displayed in the first sidebar.

Favorites: Favorites is the top element in the second sidebar. There are three menus in Favorites.

Neighborhood is a list of the known/active blogs of current and former fray posters and WikiFray contributors. If you want your blog added to this list, please drop wikifray@gmail.com a note. In the unending effort to keep the Neighborhood menu comprehensive, current and most of all, useful to you, please also notify wikifray@gmail.com if you discover a deficiency, dead link or other questionable item.

Fray/Slate is the list of known frequented Fray/Slate destinations. If there is a Fray board or Slate column that you regularly visit but is not included in this menu, please drop wikifray@gmail.com a note and it will be added. The aim of this menu, like the others, is to make WikiFray a useful tool for navigating the Fray and Slate. If this menu is not useful to you in that respect, then it's not serving its purpose. Do not hesitate to request the addition of your Fray/Slate favorites.

MBTUs is similar to both the Neighborhood and Fray/Slate in that it lists our MBTUs and the MBTUs of posters we like to read. If your MBTU is not included, or the MBTU of a poster you like to read is missing, email wikifray@gmail.com and yours/theirs will be added.

Network Feed: The Network Feed is a combined feed of contributor's posts on their personal blogs, and the comments posted on those blogs. The list of blogs that comprise the Network Feed can be found here. If you are a contributor and want the feed from your blog included, but find that it is not, email wikifray@gmail.com and it will be added.

Recommended is the second element in the second sidebar. It shows the last 3 articles, websites, fray posts, etc. from around the web which have been recommended by WikiFray contributors and readers. Use ma.gnolia to tag your recommendations with "wikifray" to have them appear under Recommended.

If there is a recurring theme it is that if you have a question, notice a problem, or have a suggestion, email wikifray@gmail.com. WikiFray is a hub, a way station, a mother ship, a community, and that's just for starters. If you see that it's not serving its purpose, or you notice a way that it could be doing something better or something more, play a part.