Blotanical News

You may have noticed the About Me form in your Plot has now been updated. It will remain in a beta state over the weekend - the reason: I'm heading off for a few days to celebrate my son's 13th birthday. So, nobody break it please! :-)

The update is part of some site modifications that I've been performing since the start of the year and will continue to do over the next few weeks - almost there! The impetus to make the changes though has come about through some of the conversations that we've having through this blog here and also discussions with some of our most active participants.

Let me explain the changes;

1. Display Name - some of you will remember that late last year I created a stir in the community by asking everyone to make their Username conform to 16 characters and only use alphanumeric ones or underscores. All went well until a few found a loophole that allowed them to change it back. Alas, this loophole has now closed and everybody will now have to conform to the new rules.


2. About Me with BBCodes - you may enjoy this new feature as it allows you to format your tag line about yourself in your Plot. If you go and look at mine, it looks a little odd at the moment with a few weird tags in it but when I get back it and continue the roll-out you will notice that it's quite a handy feature. Go and try it for yourself and you will see what I mean.


3. Status Emoticon - as per our previous discussions you can choose your current participation status. The three options are; (1) Active (2) On Vacation, and (3) Unwell. Each choice changes the emoticon and lets others know how you're doing.

There are a few other little modifications that you will notice as you play around with this form but I won't explain them here.

I'm keen to know if you have any problems with the new format so please share them via the comments. I'm already aware that the About Me tag doesn't update immediately and this is to be fixed next week.

Posted by Stuart at 8:33 PM | Permalink | Comments (10)

Towards the end of last year VP asked the question, How Much Is Your Blog Worth?. It was so successful that it hit the front page of the Popular Posts in a matter of hours. We shared some discussion about this and titillated with possibilities of all becoming instant millionaires - if only someone were interested in buying our gardening blogs.

As subjective as the discussion was it highlighted an interest that many people have in relation to making some money with their blogs. So, imagine if you could make some money and still KEEP your blog.

The idea that your content has value, or could have value, has been one that has been bandied around for some time - mostly with negative connotations. Ideas of sponsored posts, reviews for cash and paid editorials have been discussed ad nauseum and it seems that there are two conflicting parties - those for and those against. I am fairly entrenched in the "against" camp mainly because I know there are better ways to generate income from your posts without having to sell out.

For instance, one of my posts on my blog Gardening Tips 'n' Ideas has made more than US$180 from Adsense alone since I wrote it more than 18 months ago. That's possibly not that exciting except that $55 was made since January this year and the growth has been exponential.

Now, consider there were multiple posts earning that kind of money (and there are) and they kept earning as long as they remained live on the internet. Would it change they way you blogged? Would it change the way you viewed your posts? Would you be giving them away for free to newspapers who don't seem to value your articles as highly - or at the most will pay a once-off fee for them?

Some of you are probably thinking that I had to sell my soul to achieve this - and, you're entitled to your opinion. The truth is I just started to realise that people were more interested in using the internet to find answers to their questions. So I began answering them and they kept turning up.

Has it been worth it? Well it regularly pays the mortgage at the moment and allows us to buy a few toys so that can't be a bad thing. Plus it keeps me focussed on helping people become better at, or at least more knowledgeable about, gardening. And that's not a bad thing either.

Why am I writing this post - is it just to boast about something I've achieved? Not at all. I hope it inspires you to think how your blog might help you through this dire financial period and not become the hobby that kept you away from a "REAL" job. I hope it helps you see that your time and effort can be rewarded and you don't have to sell out to some advertiser wanting to purge your blog for their own interests.

Your posts can have value and if you're willing to invest some time into studying those who have gone before and the tips they give then it's possible that you might be able to make some extra cash too.

Let me know your thoughts.

Posted by Stuart at 9:52 AM | Permalink | Comments (14)

Observant members have been noticing, and mentioning, some of the changes that have been occurring over the past few weeks. These are to aid a few major changes that are in the pipeline but also to tweak some user-requested features.

I'm keen to unveil a few that you may, or may not, have noticed. So here they are with the reasons for the improvement.

Join instead of Submit
Unless you've joined Blotanical since the past weekend, chances are this one wouldn't have come up on the radar. In fact, it's more of a change for my benefit than yours but will ultimately streamline a few other projects already in progress - namely Reviews which work will start on next week.

The problems that have been remedied are;

1. Bloggers can now become members instantaneously just as a non-blogging Blotanist can. Their blogs will still wait to be manually checked for appropriateness but they can immediately start perusing the innards of this site and meet other members from day one.


2. No more duplicates - bloggers aren't able to add a title for their blog that will conflict with another members on Blotanical. They will now have to differentiate it somehow.


3. The non-blogging membership form is now very lite and streamlined.


4. There is now a form that lets Blotanists add an Additional Blog. If you author another garden-related blog it is much easier to add the details for this blog.

My Posts with easier Ordering options
Until now, My Posts were always ordered by the number of Picks each post attracted. Thanks to Helen - The Patient Gardener, and others, the suggestion was made to order these by date as well. Now it's possible to order them by date (ascending order) or (descending order).

In the future, you may also be able to order them alphabetically and by number of Picks ascending.

TANGENT ALERT!!!!
While we're on the subject of My Posts, some members have been pointing out that they're seeing posts from other blogs showing up in their list. The reason for this is because some of our members are multi-tabbed picking. That is, rather than waiting for the blog post to load they may open multiple separate tabs with different posts opened from the Picks lists.

This happens because each tab opened holds a session variable, ie a piece of data such as the title of the post, the blog id and other information. The problem occurs when these variables get caught up and used at different points in time relating to the wrong blogs. Unfortunately, this is a programming limitation so it is outside of my control.

The way to combat the problem is just to expect that everyone is happy to sit and wait while your blog takes 20 minutes to download all the uncompressed images, sidebar gadgets and title banners. But this probably isn't going to happen.

The solution that I would suggest is that we offer members the option to view picks in formatted text only - as an opt-in/opt-out preference. This would mean that after clicking the post link that takes you to the Picks page you will see only the post as formatted text instead of all the other images and gadgetry. Those who are happy to remain with the current arrangement can do so while those who are on limited time schedules will have the choice. Plus, you can always click the "Read in a New Tab" link to open the page as the owner formatted on their own page. (This will be the only way you could add comments as well).

Until this change occurs, I will have to manually remove any impending Picks meaning that the Pickers will lose points and it may have effects on the Popular Picks as well.

New Garden Blog Posts
This page has undergone some changes in order to help promote those blogs that are new to Blotanical. A list of Popular Picks for the Newest 200 Blogs and also a pictorial survey of some of our new Blotanists are the key improvements. Would love to know your thoughts on this, especially from some of the new bloggers.

Terms of Service (TOS)
Since every other social media site has a TOS, it seemed like something worth offering here as well. Basically it outlines the unwritten community guidelines that we're trying to project with this site - except that they're no longer unwritten. New members have to agree to them before they can join Blotanical and in the next few weeks all members of Blotanical will have to agree and abide by them. They're not onerous but they should clear the air and let you know where you stand in relation to the use of this site.

Also, you may remember the username change that happened just before Christmas. Each member was confronted with a screen requesting them to make their username conform to the new standards and promised that they would only see this once. Well...it seems that I forgot to update the Display Name field in the About Me section of their Plot and some members have gone and changed them back or to other names that no longer conform. For these members you will, once I've fixed the loophole, have to revisit this page again in the near future.

Posted by Stuart at 6:23 PM | Permalink | Comments (7)

Thank you all so much for your wonderful input into my recent post Prerequisites for including blogs? Feedback please. I was overwhelmed by the varied, yet well-thought discussions and your feedback has been an enormous help.

From your thoughts I have developed the following summary which you are more than welcome to continue commenting on.

Gardening BLOGS only?
To start with, defining a blog as inclusive of the "gardening" genre is a very hard brush to strike. There are so many varied avenues within our hobby that to create some boundaries of definition is exceedingly hard. Therefore, I think the following points should best fit what we're aiming for;

1. The blog should be focused on plants. This allows for gardeners, horticulturalists, landscapers, flora biologists, homesteaders, sustainable agriculturalists and plant photographers to all be included.


2. For a blog to be listed, and remain listed, content should remain at least 30% covering plants and plant related articles.


3. Content must be original and owned by the blogger.


4. Commercial blogs ARE allowed. To limit this would mean that anyone earning anything from their blog would be excluded from Blotanical. Professional photographers, authors, painters and artists and even those who write for garden magazines or newspapers should have an equal chance to put forward their posts and their blogs.

I'm planning on introducing a feature in the near future that will allow Blotanists the opportunity to report blogs that contravene any of these ideals after inclusion. Reporting a blog won't automatically remove it from Blotanical but it will come up for closer scrutiny and may result in some form of penalty or removal.

Minimum Age or Number of Posts?
I really liked your thoughts on this, especially those who shared how their submission to Blotanical spurred them on in the blogging journey. For this reason alone I'm keen to make any minimums - minimal and would suggest that at least one post has been published. With the introduction of the reporting feature, blogs that go off track after inclusion will then be picked up and removed so it shouldn't pose any problems.

Ongoing registrations?
Some great thoughts and suggestions again on this point and two things that have come out of the discussion, from this post and subsequent emails, are;

1. We shall introduce a way for bloggers who are unable to actively participate for reasons of sickness, vacations or otherwise to signal this on their Plot and still keep their membership alive.


2. Some Blotanists have been *using* Blotanical by simply submitting their site and then enjoying the traffic that gets sent their way. These bloggers don't interact with the gardening blogosphere through this site yet are happy to cream off those who do.

   Therefore, one feature I'm keen to implement is a monthly minimum point system (this will be minimal but enough that members can show that they're active). Failure to earn the minimum points - or signal as #1 above - will result in the blog's feed being removed and any links that send traffic to the blog will cease to operate. The member will remain listed, as too will the blog but it will be harder to find them.

I'm happy for blogs to remain listed even if they don't post for some time (even 12 months or more) provided the 2 points mentioned above are adhered to. No postings means that the blog won't show up in the Picks section where most of the traffic is generated from anyway.

Duplicate Blog Names?
The final issue discussed was in relation to blogs that carry the same name. For obvious reasons people choose names that they like and it's not always possible to ensure that your name is original. Therefore, when new blogs submit to Blotanical they will be given the option of changing their name before approval or accepting that they will become "Example Blog (2)" or "Example Blog (3)" as the case may be. The blog who listed first with that name will just remain as they originally intended.

Back to You
How did we do? Have the points above summarised the discussion well enough and answered some of the questions? Or, is there still some refining to do. Feel free to leave your comments and suggestions.

Posted by Stuart at 3:28 PM | Permalink | Comments (33)

THIS ONLY AFFECTS BLOGS THAT USE
THE FEEDBURNER SERVICE

For Blotanists who have been around for a little while you may remember the problem we had when Google started trying to migrate feeds last September. Well, the problem is about to rear its ugly head again, except that this time we have been warned about it.

Bloggers who use the Feedburner service have now been given until 29 February, 2009 to transfer their feed. Failure to do so will result in a 404 error being produced by sites who read them - namely this one.

There is a handy tutorial to transfer the feed and once completed the only change you need make within Blotanical is to update your Blog Feed url in your Plot > My Blogs to reflect the updated url that Feedburner will now provide.

If you have any problems with this, please report them via the Help Desk.

Posted by Stuart at 4:27 AM | Permalink | Comments (26)