Zero to Hero: Day Sixteen
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It’s Day 16! Time to put your publishing hats back on.
Today, you’re going to learn to use writing prompts for your own ends, so you’ll have a tool in your kit for days when writer’s block strikes. Learn more on the Zero to Hero main page.
Use this space as a place to ask questions and seek feedback from fellow bloggers, or just to talk about blogging, why you’re here, and how your month is going.
Please refrain from posting links to your blog unless you’re seeking feedback — this is a place for discussion. Irrelevant comments and spammy links will be deleted. Instead, give your posts the “zerotohero” tag to enable other participants to find you.
The Daily Post has a weekly open thread on Sundays called “Community Pool,” for peer feedback. If you’re looking for general feedback on your blog or feedback unrelated to this challenge, please visit that thread.
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Good idea! While I think what to write I have ping back etiquette questions:
When I have published to daily prompt before, some of the people who post seem to pingback to every pingack on the thread. So I get lots of notifications, which turn out to be (much appreciated) ping backs. Thing is, I am pretty sure lots of these people haven’t even read my post. Is this the ‘nice’ blogger thing to do? Is it bad if you don’t do it? I tend to just do ping backs to really relevant posts?
Also, some times I go through my archives and post something from there onto the daily prompt – I have had a couple of really good fits. Is that cheating ‘-)
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I’ve also been curious about the pingbacks. Do people find each one manually and enter it, or is there some automatic way of doing it?
I wrote a post earlier in the week that deals with reputation and unconscious bias, so I think I might skip publishing on the topic today so as not to sound repetitive or redundant. You can read the post here: http://nextpagenewchapter.com/2014/01/13/the-cigarette-break/ -
@saschoolcraft. Utterly compelling writing. So glad to have found your blog. The post is a perfect tie-in to the reputation theme.
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Played yesterday a bit with colors and fonts. Decided to stay with the Flounder Theme like it is. But maybe I will adding the ad-free stuff to my personal domain. Fiddled around with the widgets and changed a bit the positions, deleted some and added some. Design is nice. But content is king.
So thinking about the daily prompt now. In german there is the saying “Ist der Ruf erst ruiniert, lebt es sich völlig ungeniert.” meaning: once your reputation is gone, you have less to lose. We will see. -
@cogitoergomum, it’s not bad at all if you don’t do it, and it’s certainly not expected.
Also, yes, it is a bit of cheating. The prompts aren’t there as traffic-builders, they’re there for inspiration. For all prompts and challenges, we ask that anything you link be original for the task.
@luthersjournal, there’s a lot to unpack in that saying!
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re: pingbacks
Please see here > http://en.support.wordpress.com/comments/pingbacks/@michelleweber
I’m so glad posted this:Also, yes, it is a bit of cheating. The prompts aren’t there as traffic-builders, they’re there for inspiration. For all prompts and challenges, we ask that anything you link be original for the task.
The bloggers are supposed to be generating a single pingback and the confusion is arising because they don’t realize the software does that for them provided they have their blogs set up correctly. The bottom line is that all they have to do is provide a single properly formed link to the challenge in the text of their post and that’s it – the software does the rest.
http://en.support.wordpress.com/links/What I have seen has made made me want to scream. I see posts with no relevant content that have scrolls of pingbacks that don’t belong in any post in the post. I also saw at the end of the post scrolls of Zemanta related links (thank goodness it’s gone).
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@michelleweber
Is there going to be a day or series of days devoted to learning how to muse search utilities and how to get up close and personal with the support docs? I’m asking because in less than two weeks time those whom we have been providing high quality handling support equivalent to paid consultant support are going to be on their own. Hopefully, the nature of support we have provided during the challenge is not going to lead them to believe that they have no responsibility to search the forums threads and the support docs before creating support threads after they are fledged from this challenge. -
@timethief, that’s a very good point. The information is out there and not difficult to access. For beginners like me it takes some patience and trial and error, but it’s pretty rewarding when you figure something out “on your own” (I mean with the help of the support forums and the provided tutorials, etc). One of the reasons I purchased a premium theme besides the customization is that I feel at the price it’s more than worth it and to support the support staff! I hope my logic isn’t backwards. Right now I’m figuring out widgets in the premium theme I’ve chosen and am sorting through the vast information on how to get them to appear, but it’s all there.
I really enjoyed today’s assignment, being a closet confessionalist. This 30 day challenge so far has totally changed my approach and feelings regarding blogging! -
@timethief, we don’t have days planned specifically around support docs/bloggers helping themselves, but I can certainly emphasize that where appropriate in the remaining tasks, and here on the threads. It’s a good point. (And thanks for everything you do!)
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@birgerbird
Right now I’m figuring out widgets in the premium theme I’ve chosen and am sorting through the vast information on how to get them to appear, but it’s all there.
re: widgets
All widgets on all themes are selected, configured and installed and uninstalled here > Appearance > WidgetsGo to the support docs again http://support.wordpress.com
look hard at the page and locate “Topics” and scroll down to Widgets & Sidebars
When that Page opens you can click the link for detail info on any specific widget and end up on a page devoted to it alone.re: premium theme support
Infoway is a premium theme and part of what you purchased is support direct from the theme’s designer. See the support docs at http://support.wordpress.com
Type “premium theme” into the searchbox and the result is
http://en.support.wordpress.com/themes/premium-themes
Scroll down to “premium theme support”
http://en.support.wordpress.com/themes/premium-themes/#premium-theme-supportThe person with the username account who purchased the theme can post to the Premium Theme Support forum for the theme to get help with it http://premium-themes.forums.wordpress.com/forum/infoway in the Premium Theme Support forum.
re: CSS support
The CSS forum is here > https://en.forums.wordpress.com/forum/css-customization
To create a thread click this link there https://en.forums.wordpress.com/forum/css-customization#postform -
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Phew, my longest post yet! I usually accuse my husband of having walls of text and today I did the same thing.
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@michelleweber – Yey me on the ping backs. Boo me on the posting archives – noted and thank you.
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@michelleweber
Thanks for the response. I am deeply disappointed to know that learning how to search utilities and use support docs are not being included in this challenge for two reasons.1. The expectation that Volunteers will spoonfeed bloggers answers who don’t search first and use the support docs will conflict with reality as soon as the zero to hero challenge ends. Reality is that they will be told to search forum threads and support docs first, before they start a new support thread and ask for help.
That may lead to unhappiness because, rather than teaching them how to fish (search) for the information they need, you and I have been doing the fishing, the filleting, the cooking and then serving them full meal deal. And any blogger who cannot or will not use search utilities and support docs may find themselves dead in the water and waiting for support for days.
2. It’s only from feedback provided by those bloggers who use the search utilities and cannot locate what they need and/or use the support docs and cannot locate what they need that we Volunteers and Staff can see what needs to be better expressed in the support docs.
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@saschoolcraft
I’ve also been curious about the pingbacks. Do people find each one manually and enter it, or is there some automatic way of doing it?
Please go to the WordPress.com support documentation main page here http://support.wordpress.com and note that link appears on the bottom of your Admin page on all of your blogs.
Type pingbacks into the search box and click.
http://en.support.wordpress.com/?s=pingbacksThe top result is http://en.support.wordpress.com/comments/pingbacks/
Please read the full pingback section a couple of times and then michelleweber and I know if you have any questions, so we know what’s not clear to you. Then we can provide answers if required, and have the support doc updated for greater clarity if required.
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Thank you, @timethief!
I wrote a new post focusing less on reputation and more on the ‘show us you’ part of the prompt.
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I also want to apologize for not having consulted the support documents prior to asking my question. I’ll definitely take advantage of them in the future. :-)
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