Thursday, March 15, 2007 3:28 PM
Community Q&A
by Katie
Heather is on vacay (Aruba -- I'm so jealous!) so I thought I'd post for her. Since I know we're still having trouble with the new community, I want to use this post to answer some questions I've seen some of you asking.
What was wrong with the old system? Nothing really, but this format is so much better and more advanced (okay, well it will be once we fix some bugs). Remember how only a few of you could figure out how to insert pictures into the blog? And once you did, it often messed up the entire right hand sidebar? That problem doesn't exist anymore. That's just one example of why this new system is so great -- and will be even better.
Can you still use the old blog system? Yes, and we know many of you are, but eventually that style of blog won't exist and your old blogs will be transfered over to the new system.
What happened to my old posts and comments when transfering to the new system? We know a lot of these got lost and we are going to recover as much of them as possible. The blog entries should be no problem. The only things that won't transfer over are the comments left by random users who don't have accounts. In this system, you must have an account and username to comment on someone's blog.
What are the benefits to this new format? There are so many. It's so much easier to type in, to post pictures, to give links, to write longer posts. It's more secure -- so annonymous people aren't leaving shady comments. And the best part is that it is an expanded community format. You can pretty much make scrapbooks of all your favorite Nestie things (wedding, house, pets, vacations, etc) and choose to share them with your online friends (or keep them private). So that bio any of you had trouble with is a lot easier to build!
How can you read the recently posted blogs? Go to http://community.thenest.com/cs/ks/blogs/ or a shortcut: TheNest.com/blogs
This can also be found by going to the Talk page (TheNest.com/Talk) and clicking on the button directly under [the nest] logo that says Blogs.
Here, you will find all the most recently updated blogs, including a Next Page link that will keep you scrolling.
Where did the message board search go? Click on a board or a post and you'll see it at the bottom of the page.
Will we separate The Knot blogs from The Nest blogs? Yes!! How annoying is it to see all this wedding talk?? I'm with you on this one -- this is changing.
How can you find a friend or keep track of friends' blogs? Here's what you do: To find a friend, click on the tourquoise "My Nest" tab. This is to the right of [the nest] logo on the link I gave above.
This is where you'll find your profile (if you need help creating a profile, see the next question). Here, you'll find a link called "My Friends" -- it's in smaller print, directly under the Living tab. Click on My Friends.
Type in one friend's username at a time. Her picture should pop up (or a girl icon) and check the box that says "Add to Friends." Do this until you've added all your Nestie friends. Their icons will appear in your My Nest profile so you can check in on them regularly
To save a blog as a favorite: If you're reading a new blog and want to make it a favorite, click on the link that says "Add Weblog as a Favorite" at the top of the page, to the right of the blog's name.
If you like one of your friend's blogs, click on her public profile (her name) and scroll to the bottom of the page. You will see a heading that says: My blog. Click on her blog and then click on the link that says "Add Weblog as a Favorite."
The list of your favorite blogs will be kept in your profile, in the My Blog area (there's a sub-heading that says "Favorite Blogs").
How do you create a profile? The coolest part (in my mind) about the Profile tool is creating photo albums. Think of this as an advanced bio.
Click on My Nest. Directly under the My Nest tab is a row of smaller links you should play with. Start with "My Profile" and you can make sure your info is correct and add anything you want.
When that's done, click on "My Photos."
You will see a link next to your username that says "Add Photo." Click on that.
On this page, go over to the left hand side, and click on Common Tasks >> Publish New Photo.
Upload your photo and then tag it as the name of the album you want to create.
Keep in mind that every tag you write creates a new album -- so you might want to keep your tags general, like "Wedding" instead of "cutting the cake" unless you want a whole album on cutting the cake (which you might).
Then you can write a caption for the photo, credit your photog, and hit Save.
To keep adding photos, click on Add a photo and repeat the process.
Are we crazy? Ha! Maybe. But we truly believe it's a better format and once the $&*# bugs are fixed, it will be so much easier to use.
When will everything be fixed? We don't know for sure. It will be a gradual process. But believe me, we want it done even faster than you do. People here are working around the clock. I'm not an IT person, and to tell you the truth, some of these seem like "easy 10-minute fixes" to me, but after much pestering, I'm told that they're complicated. Please, bear with us. The system that is set up now, is pretty great. It does have some kinks, but it's useable and we think you'll start to love it.
Feel free to post new questions as comments and I will try to answer them -- or get someone to answer them throughout the day.
Thanks for being patient you guys!!