Serendipity Forums

S9Y Newbie question regarding general blog etiquette and/or style:

Suppose I have a blog entry (for example) about my car's gas mileage, and I want to maybe add a note each time I fill up (this is JUST the first example I could think of, not an actual entry on my blog, not yet anyway) ...

is it "proper form" to EDIT the entry (maybe add the literal "[EDIT]" w/time-stamp, etc), or rather, add a new COMMENT (automatically time-stamps, etc.) ? In this case, the new comment would NOT be in reply to a existing reader comment, but as an "update" to the original entry. Which is "proper" ?

I've Googled until I'm tired of Googling, and I can't find any advice on such a thing. This seems as if it should be "obvious" but obviously it's NOT to me. Adding a new comment in s9y seems a lot "easier" than editing the entry, but not quite "right" ...

Any suggestions? Any place to find such "blog etiquette" ?

Sorry if this is already covered somewhere, if so, please direct me ... Typical newbie, I couldn't find anything that made sense to me. Maybe this is one of those things that is obvious to everyone else, and I just have to go sideways for some reason!

Searching confuses me sometimes, too; I searched THIS forum for "edit entry", got 4000+ matches ?! phpBB doesn't allow searching for text phrases?

Thanks in advance!

Feel free to take a look at my own s9y blog at blog.MinstrelMike.com. The most recent couple of entries probably fit this question; I've been adding my own comments; should I edit the original entry instead?

MinstrelMike wrote:is it "proper form" to EDIT the entry (maybe add the literal "[EDIT]" w/time-stamp, etc), or rather, add a new COMMENT (automatically time-stamps, etc.) ?

I have no idea whatsoever about "proper form", but I usually edit the entry and prefix the additional part with something like "EDIT:" (usually in bold or italics). There are also specific html elements for inserted text.

I think this is quite common in the blogosphere.

MinstrelMike wrote:Searching confuses me sometimes, too; I searched THIS forum for "edit entry", got 4000+ matches ?! phpBB doesn't allow searching for text phrases?

Yes, it does. But if you enter "edit entry", it will match both words seperately. Try "edit AND entry"

YL

Hi!

That's a tough question to which I believe there's no "etiquette". Usually, many updates to a single entry are very rare in a blog context. In Blogs you usually see entries chronologically, and not as "articles".

Often, instead of posting updates to an entry, people simply post a new entry.

Commenting on your own blog entry with updates is even more rare than updating the entry itself, I've never really seen people's blog'S do this.

The most often solution for people that often update a single information bit is to use a sidebar item, where you post things. Like a "shoutbox" or "recent comments" information.

Searching confuses me sometimes, too; I searched THIS forum for "edit entry", got 4000+ matches ?! phpBB doesn't allow searching for text phrases?

No, it always uses words. But you can select the radio button "ALL terms" to be sure that all terms are included instead of only a single term match.

HTH,
Garvin

Frankly, if it's going to be updated regularly, it's not a blog entry: it's a web page.

Some blogs create new entries for every update. That's fine, but if you want visitors to visit a single page for updates, you need to make it act as a web page.

You can install the "static pages" plugin for that.

Personally, I like to create a whole category for the updating entry, then set the entry sticky (may need "extended properties of entries" plugin). I include a timestamp manually with each update. That gives people a single place to go for updates, while still allowing me to post relevant news (as new articles in the same category) and keeping an easy editing interface.

yellowled wrote: I have no idea whatsoever about "proper form", but I usually edit the entry and prefix the additional part with something like "EDIT:" (usually in bold or italics).

That does seem most "correct"; probably what I'll wind up doing.

yellowled wrote: There are also specific html elements for inserted text.

Well, yeah, but as far as I can see, the "ins" and "del" tags are meant for editing "inside" existing text, not so much for "appended" text, in this case. Also, they allow "citation" and "time-stamp" on the edits, but I'm not sure if any browsers actually use the "extra" information ...

yellowled wrote: Yes, it does. But if you enter "edit entry", it will match both words seperately. Try "edit AND entry"

Nope. "edit entry" (including quotes) appears the same as w/out quotes: implied "edit OR entry"; "edit AND entry" is not what I was thinking either; I want the word "edit" immediately followed by the word "entry".

Too spoiled by Google-esq search syntax.

BTW, when I searched Google for "edit entry" and "site:board.s9y.org" it returned 24 results. Still no answer to MY question though.

garvinhicking wrote: That's a tough question to which I believe there's no "etiquette". Usually, many updates to a single entry are very rare in a blog context. In Blogs you usually see entries chronologically, and not as "articles".

I guess what I've actually HAD on my blog is not really "many updates to a single entry" either, just a few updates.

garvinhicking wrote: Often, instead of posting updates to an entry, people simply post a new entry.

That fits with judebert's way of having a new category to group a "sticky" entry ...

garvinhicking wrote: Commenting on your own blog entry with updates is even more rare than updating the entry itself, I've never really seen people's blog'S do this.

I guess I haven't really seen it either; only in direct response to a reader's comment.

garvinhicking wrote: No, it always uses words. But you can select the radio button "ALL terms" to be sure that all terms are included instead of only a single term match.

Back to the default OR vs. AND (ALL) ... Damn you, Google! Actually, my favorite was always AltaVista until I realized that Google eventually got MUCH better, smaller quantity of more "relevant" results.

judebert wrote: Frankly, if it's going to be updated regularly, it's not a blog entry: it's a web page.
Some blogs create new entries for every update. That's fine, but if you want visitors to visit a single page for updates, you need to make it act as a web page.

Makes sense; I guess my "first-example-off-the-top-of-my-head" wasn't as useful as what's actually on my blog: an "update" to the original entry, but not necessarily "regularly".

judebert wrote: You can install the "static pages" plugin for that.

I've got a couple of static pages, of type "Article"; they don't appear to allow reader comments, as with a blog entry.

judebert wrote: Personally, I like to create a whole category for the updating entry, then set the entry sticky (may need "extended properties of entries" plugin). I include a timestamp manually with each update. That gives people a single place to go for updates, while still allowing me to post relevant news (as new articles in the same category) and keeping an easy editing interface.

That seems like the way to go if one of my updated entries developed into a "regularly updated" situation. Seems that it would also allow your "normal" blog structure with strictly chronological ordering of different categories, but also allowing to view all entries for a given category.

I'll have to investigate using "sticky" entries and/or the "extended" plugin; I'm not completely sure how that works.

Also, that reminds me of THIS post on this board: Feature Suggestion: "Post Followup" ... That's kind-of what I was thinking of, but seems more "in tune" with judebert's idea above.

Thank you EVERYBODY! You pretty much answered my "etiquette" question: there's no real "rule", but "nobody does that" is sort of a "grassroots rule"!